Harman p38 making black ashes

wolfie78 said:

Can somebody please post pics or video of what it should look like. Please.

Click to expand...

Here's a video of my P43, not the same model but same burnpot and stuff. I just gave the burnpot a quick scrape a few minutes before doing this.
As for running it at night and while at work, mines running 24/7 even when I'm away overnight.

76brian, my glass looks just like yours, was thinking my gasket was bad, but if your stove is a 2011 and doing it, maybe it is normal. Could not remember if it did it new or not.

feed rate should be at 3 or 4 and let the esp control the amount of fuel needed to heat. if u let it run on the lower setting then the fire will burn deep in the burn pot and not up where the air holes are for good combustion, plus eventually on the low and deep fire it will eventually burn the tip of your auger off and or even can burn a hole in the auger tube.
inside air for combustion at 70 degrees or -10 air directly into the combustion air intake that will quench the fire to a certain point. arguments for both. had a stove with outside air and in -20 degree temps the air intake frosted up, the vacume switch did not alow the auger to turn untill the fesh air pipe was unhooked.

My P-61 is making black ash as well this year. always since the stove was new any ash buildup on the walls and bottom of burnpot was light grey. This year it is black. can't seem to get a clean burn this year. Have been over everything that I know, full cleaning, checked oak, cleaned combustion fan, exhaust port, flue, burnpot, inside burnpot, all several times over so far this year. Unhooked oak and let run from inside air, no difference. Flame sometimes burns white and clean, other times dark, rolling and dirty. My stove also seems to be putting 2 bags/day through no matter whether temp setting is on 3.5 or 5.5. Burns worse on lower settings, burns close to normal on higher settings. this is in stove temp, feed 3-3.5. The heat output of the stove corresponds to the temp setting, but the pellet consumption seems to be the same.
Anyone have any ideas? Combustion blower? Ash bin door gasket?
I had creosote issues for the first couple months of heating season, and thought it was the due to incomplete combustion because of the dirty burn, but realized a bad flame guide was causing the creosote, new flame guide and creosote burned off in a few hours and has not been back. But still can't get a clean burn.

superchips said:

wolfie78 said:

I dont have a OAK hooked up.

Click to expand...

Unless you live in an open barn, you need an OAK.

Click to expand...

not true.

superchips said:

After 10 bags it should be fairly bad. I recommend that you do a quick clean every day/ bag and empty it at least every 4 days/bags. That ash buildup is going to end up in your exhaust fan and pipes.
You also should consider reading the stoves orpeating manual.

Click to expand...

I always kept the ash in front of the burnpot cleaned out, every day, my first year burning. then I started letting it build up and push over the edge, and noticed that it seemed to burn a little better and hotter. I have a infrared heat gun that I point in the same spot by the centre heat exchanger. Once it got the ash buildup to push against seemed to burn brighter and more consistent. Just wondering if there is really any difference or what the proper way is? I do scrape the carbon off every two or three days.

I don't know, your fire looks dull and dark to me, mine looks more like the video 76brian posted. Very bright and lively. Maybe an air flow issue??

Harmanator said:

My P-61 is making black ash as well this year. always since the stove was new any ash buildup on the walls and bottom of burnpot was light grey. This year it is black. can't seem to get a clean burn this year. Have been over everything that I know, full cleaning, checked oak, cleaned combustion fan, exhaust port, flue, burnpot, inside burnpot, all several times over so far this year. Unhooked oak and let run from inside air, no difference. Flame sometimes burns white and clean, other times dark, rolling and dirty. My stove also seems to be putting 2 bags/day through no matter whether temp setting is on 3.5 or 5.5. Burns worse on lower settings, burns close to normal on higher settings. this is in stove temp, feed 3-3.5. The heat output of the stove corresponds to the temp setting, but the pellet consumption seems to be the same.
Anyone have any ideas? Combustion blower? Ash bin door gasket?
I had creosote issues for the first couple months of heating season, and thought it was the due to incomplete combustion because of the dirty burn, but realized a bad flame guide was causing the creosote, new flame guide and creosote burned off in a few hours and has not been back. But still can't get a clean burn.

Click to expand...

Last years Greene Teams did this same thing to my P68 and a friends XXV. No matter what settings we used, always the same result. Not bad heat for shoulder months, but was a real pain to clean the stove. Previous year's Greene Team did not do this, not trying them this year. Last 2 year's and this years' Spruce Pointe (cold weather pellets) are fine. This years MWP are fine too; easy cleaning and decent heat for shoulders. After about 70 bags since last deep clean, I did a deep cleaning including venting and ESP last night; it was a piece of cake.

Unless price goes sky high, I'm sticking with the Spruce for cold weather months. 3 years and not an issue....ever. Will test and use others for shoulder months, but any sign of black buildup on the walls, then it's time to find another. I will sometimes get a darker looking ash coming out of the burnpot, but it's what is on the walls and how dark it looks in the ash bin that I pay attention to.

Point is...what pellets are you using and have you tried different brands? If my stove is clean; functioning properly; and the burn is poor, it's been the pellets.

My P38 is now set at 2 and the flame looks like the one posted by 76brian. Glass looks the same also after days of burning.

gbreda said:

Harmanator said:

My P-61 is making black ash as well this year. always since the stove was new any ash buildup on the walls and bottom of burnpot was light grey. This year it is black. can't seem to get a clean burn this year. Have been over everything that I know, full cleaning, checked oak, cleaned combustion fan, exhaust port, flue, burnpot, inside burnpot, all several times over so far this year. Unhooked oak and let run from inside air, no difference. Flame sometimes burns white and clean, other times dark, rolling and dirty. My stove also seems to be putting 2 bags/day through no matter whether temp setting is on 3.5 or 5.5. Burns worse on lower settings, burns close to normal on higher settings. this is in stove temp, feed 3-3.5. The heat output of the stove corresponds to the temp setting, but the pellet consumption seems to be the same.
Anyone have any ideas? Combustion blower? Ash bin door gasket?
I had creosote issues for the first couple months of heating season, and thought it was the due to incomplete combustion because of the dirty burn, but realized a bad flame guide was causing the creosote, new flame guide and creosote burned off in a few hours and has not been back. But still can't get a clean burn.

Click to expand...

Last years Greene Teams did this same thing to my P68 and a friends XXV. No matter what settings we used, always the same result. Not bad heat for shoulder months, but was a real pain to clean the stove. Previous year's Greene Team did not do this, not trying them this year. Last 2 year's and this years' Spruce Pointe (cold weather pellets) are fine. This years MWP are fine too; easy cleaning and decent heat for shoulders. After about 70 bags since last deep clean, I did a deep cleaning including venting and ESP last night; it was a piece of cake.

Unless price goes sky high, I'm sticking with the Spruce for cold weather months. 3 years and not an issue....ever. Will test and use others for shoulder months, but any sign of black buildup on the walls, then it's time to find another. I will sometimes get a darker looking ash coming out of the burnpot, but it's what is on the walls and how dark it looks in the ash bin that I pay attention to.

Point is...what pellets are you using and have you tried different brands? If my stove is clean; functioning properly; and the burn is poor, it's been the pellets.

Click to expand...

When I tried some Green Team's in my P35i my flame was violent! White and blue, very tight. Almost like a blowtorch. The Green Team's also caused my whoofing noise to intensify, but that's for another thread.

I'm pleased with the Green Team's but at $5.70 a bag I'd rather spend the few cents more and burn Barefoot's, far less ash and fines.

fmsm said:

When I tried some Green Team's in my P35i my flame was violent! White and blue, very tight. Almost like a blowtorch. The Green Team's also caused my whoofing noise to intensify, but that's for another thread.

I'm pleased with the Green Team's but at $5.70 a bag I'd rather spend the few cents more and burn Barefoot's, far less ash and fines.

Click to expand...

Good to hear that they burned great for you . Was probably something about the batch in the area last year. They werent bad heat, just left a tough coating all over the stove that was difficult to clean. This year, I decided to try MWP at 4.00 a bag and those worked out great for the fall. I agree, 5.70 a bag is way too much for the Greene Teams or any shoulder pellet. That is more than I paid for Spruce this year.

By the way, the glass shown by 76brian is typical of any pellet after a few days.

fmsm said:

gbreda said:

Harmanator said:

My P-61 is making black ash as well this year. always since the stove was new any ash buildup on the walls and bottom of burnpot was light grey. This year it is black. can't seem to get a clean burn this year. Have been over everything that I know, full cleaning, checked oak, cleaned combustion fan, exhaust port, flue, burnpot, inside burnpot, all several times over so far this year. Unhooked oak and let run from inside air, no difference. Flame sometimes burns white and clean, other times dark, rolling and dirty. My stove also seems to be putting 2 bags/day through no matter whether temp setting is on 3.5 or 5.5. Burns worse on lower settings, burns close to normal on higher settings. this is in stove temp, feed 3-3.5. The heat output of the stove corresponds to the temp setting, but the pellet consumption seems to be the same.
Anyone have any ideas? Combustion blower? Ash bin door gasket?
I had creosote issues for the first couple months of heating season, and thought it was the due to incomplete combustion because of the dirty burn, but realized a bad flame guide was causing the creosote, new flame guide and creosote burned off in a few hours and has not been back. But still can't get a clean burn.

Click to expand...

Last years Greene Teams did this same thing to my P68 and a friends XXV. No matter what settings we used, always the same result. Not bad heat for shoulder months, but was a real pain to clean the stove. Previous year's Greene Team did not do this, not trying them this year. Last 2 year's and this years' Spruce Pointe (cold weather pellets) are fine. This years MWP are fine too; easy cleaning and decent heat for shoulders. After about 70 bags since last deep clean, I did a deep cleaning including venting and ESP last night; it was a piece of cake.

Unless price goes sky high, I'm sticking with the Spruce for cold weather months. 3 years and not an issue....ever. Will test and use others for shoulder months, but any sign of black buildup on the walls, then it's time to find another. I will sometimes get a darker looking ash coming out of the burnpot, but it's what is on the walls and how dark it looks in the ash bin that I pay attention to.

Point is...what pellets are you using and have you tried different brands? If my stove is clean; functioning properly; and the burn is poor, it's been the pellets.

Click to expand...

When I tried some Green Team's in my P35i my flame was violent! White and blue, very tight. Almost like a blowtorch. The Green Team's also caused my whoofing noise to intensify, but that's for another thread.

I'm pleased with the Green Team's but at $5.70 a bag I'd rather spend the few cents more and burn Barefoot's, far less ash and fines.

Click to expand...

I put on a new combustion blower, appears to have cured the problem. Getting a completely different burn. clean and hot. Still get whoofing on low burn. I am now getting smaller sharper flame, and better heat. The inside of firebox has the gray fluffy ash instead of heavy black soot. also the burnppot is not building up with nearly as much ash, stays blown out for the most part. Nice to see a clean burn, been scratching my head and troubleshooting this whole season. Right before I did my blower I put a few bags of Maine through, and they burned better. I did a full clean, put on my blower, and went back to my original pellets, and they were fine and have been for 4 days now. All I can figure out is that the blower was weak enough that it was just on the borderline of blowing enough air for some pellets, and not enough for others? Dunno, mystery to me, but in the end everything seems to be fine now.

gbreda said:

fmsm said:

When I tried some Green Team's in my P35i my flame was violent! White and blue, very tight. Almost like a blowtorch. The Green Team's also caused my whoofing noise to intensify, but that's for another thread.

I'm pleased with the Green Team's but at $5.70 a bag I'd rather spend the few cents more and burn Barefoot's, far less ash and fines.

Click to expand...

Good to hear that they burned great for you . Was probably something about the batch in the area last year. They werent bad heat, just left a tough coating all over the stove that was difficult to clean. This year, I decided to try MWP at 4.00 a bag and those worked out great for the fall. I agree, 5.70 a bag is way too much for the Greene Teams or any shoulder pellet. That is more than I paid for Spruce this year.

By the way, the glass shown by 76brian is typical of any pellet after a few days.

Click to expand...

I realize what you are saying about the glass, after seeing several pics of different stoves they are all pretty well the same, harmans anyhow. Not worried about the gasket anymore. Since the new combustion blower, way less dirty glass, still getting the one on the right, but not as quick and after 5 days the ones on the left by the handle have not appeared.

harmonator: New comb motor. How old is the stove? No other indications of the motor beginning to fail? I'll keep this one in the memory banks.

How's the OP making out with their similar issue?

wolfie78 said:

How do you get your fire to burn higher in the burn pot. I added more pellets when i started it this time worked good for about an hour now burning low in the pot again. Feed rate just bumbed up to just about 4.

Click to expand...

Follow the instructions in the manual regarding setting the feed rate, then forget about it. Mines about 4.5 or so. It will be different for you.

If you're running the stove on room temp mode, the flame will only be as big as it needs to be, to keep the stove as hot as it needs to be, to keep the room at your set temperature.

wolfie78 said:

My stove is the old model. There are only two settings on mine. Feed rate and blower only two trim pots on mine .

Click to expand...

2 pots? What is printed on each pot? Not familiar with that setup. A pic of the control panel might help.
Maybe one of the Harman techs/dealers on the forum can chime in.

My stove is 5 years old. I came to trying new combustion blower only because I tried everything else I knew of and that I could find in threads here. I knew I was getting a horribly dirty burn, the black soot inside the firebox which I had never experienced before and dark rolling flames and a bit of smoke outside. The only thing I could figure out is that it was not getting enough air. I didn't think the blower should be gone already, but it must have been getting weak. Talked to a tech and he told me if the armature was hot on the motor it was starting to go, it was. However, the new one is just as hot, so I don't know. I understand you can test the voltage somehow, but I do not now how. Maybe someone on here knows? I'm still not out of the woods yet, stove is running way better, but there is something else fishy, getting an inconsistent feed rate now, feeds a bunch, burns high in the burnpot, then slacks way off letting the burn go way low, then feeds a bunch and gets to where it should be again and repeats the cycle. Tried a spare ESP probe I have, no difference. Have to clean my flue, It could be getting buildup from all the dirty burning since fall. Also something funny going on with the burnpot, have higher flames on one side than the other.