Help! Harman problems!

Luv2burnPellets said:

I have Harman P68. I cleaned the fines box this afternoon, and was unsure that I replaced the cover correctly. If the cover fits nice and flat against the seal, the center of the wing nut is about even with the bottom of the cover. Seems not quite right. If I position the cover all the down the wing nut looks normal over the slot in the cover, but the cover doesn't seem to seat nice and flush, as if the top of the cover touches the frame before the sides seat. I elected to place the cover this way, as at least the wingnut is at the top of the cover plate slot. Is this supposed to be an airtight fit?

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I would say so yes.

On my P61 I have the same issue FWIW , and when I clean it tomorrow I'm going to double check that position again. I wasn't satisfied last week after cleaning in there that it was sitting perfectly on there, even though I positioned it several times. I've heard of people using a small bead of RTV there, now I know why. But that cleaning is the only time I ever smelled any trace of smoke on start up, though it was real smoky inside the firebox with the hard wood pellets first igniting. I still thought that odd.

By looking at your pic for the fines box cover on the P45, the wing nut appears to tighten over a hole for the stud in the center of the cover. On my P68, the cover has a slot on one end only, where the stud is. It seems more practical for your set up on the P45 with the wing nut in the center of the cover.

I put mine in by angling it at about 45 degrees starting at the top, then bringing it down to sit flush against the fines box. It should not move if you take your hand away. Hard to explain, sort of hooks at the top. My wing nut is at the bottom of the feeder cover.

newf lover said:

I put mine in by angling it at about 45 degrees starting at the top, then bringing it down to sit flush against the fines box. It should not move if you take your hand away. Hard to explain, sort of hooks at the top. My wing nut is at the bottom of the feeder cover.

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Ya, same here. On the first shot I missed the hook at the top, I knew it wasn't sitting flush as the wing nut didn't want to come down tight. I didn't force it and just backed off the nut and re hooked at the top. But luv2 is saying as I found as well, for a true fit you need to lift up very slightly on the and then tighten the nut. This catches the original groove in the gasket I believe. To let the cover just hang there doesn't. I think the real question is, is this just a perception thing or is it really not seated 100% correctly ?

Yes, mine is the same. Don't you think it is a bit odd that the wing nut is positioned at the very end of the cover such that half of the wing nut is pressing against the cover and the other half is not pressing against anything?

Luv2burnPellets said:

Yes, mine is the same. Don't you think it is a bit odd that the wing nut is positioned at the very end of the cover such that half of the wing nut is pressing against the cover and the other half is not pressing against anything?

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I suspect it's how the factory seated it against the gasket on assembly. I suspect it will seat in if to let it drop all the way. Mine is seated not quite to the extreme as yours is. But maybe have to lift the cover 1/8" or so to feel the cover fall into the old gasket position ( I suspect that is what is happening anyway). Don't know, I'm going to reassess that today actually and if I don't like what I see I will just grab the tube of RTV and put a small bead on there before I pop the cover back on. Or if the dealer has a gasket I may start over with a new gasket ( seems like a waste of a trip to the dealer to me when I have the RTV or I can move the cover up slightly if it hasn't totally made a new rut for itself over the last week).

I'll post back my findings later today ( Sat March 1).

Luv2burnPellets said:

Yes, mine is the same. Don't you think it is a bit odd that the wing nut is positioned at the very end of the cover such that half of the wing nut is pressing against the cover and the other half is not pressing against anything?

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So I found a little dust on the mating surface of the gasket near the top of the plate. When I put the cover back on yesterday I really made sure it fell into the old groove, you can really feel it catch the groove line when correct. This is nothing more than gasket impression, I'm sure, however if to use a new gasket I think you would be have free reign to let the cover sit as it may. Of course assuming it's on correctly, caught the top tab etc. Then you would be committed to teh new groove till the next gasket change.

Secondly, the cover for the burn pot airway showed signs of leaking. I had a stain line of black ash coming from the lower edge. I observed this closer and now feel it seats better on one side than the other. in other words flipped over. if you run your finger along the edge you can feel the cut off ( it's probably cut with a die and stamped out of a sheet of steel). It seats better one way than other anyway.

After my cleaning this week the stove started with very little smoke and then there was ignition and no smoke. Last week it was full of smoke and took a bit to clear. The house also had a slight odor of smoke last week and none this week. It's burning beautifully since. I think between those two covers I may not have had a perfect burn going on last week..