Too much ash in burn pot?

Fadelight · Oct 9, 2014

I am sure this is a silly question, but I am new to pellet stoves.

I have a Harman Advance, and it seems like too much ash is building up in the burn pot. I am wondering if this is a problem that I need to address, or if it is normal.

I am running it on room temp, low and have my feed rate set to about 3.5 right now. The stove is keeping the house the temperature it is supposed to be at. The stove is set to 66f, and the outside temperatures lately have been mid to high 50s during the day and low 40s to high 30s at night.

I started with 2 bags of Stove Chow right after I got the stove. It was convenient and I just needed something to get things started. After I started noticing what I would assume was an excessive build-up of ash, I cleaned the stove thoroughly... scraped everything out of the burn pot and the flame guard. vacuumed out the fans. Then I switched to Energex softwood pellets.

The buildup in the picture is after about a day and a half of running... half a bag of pellets.

It seems to me - and keep in mind I don't know much yet - that the ashes are not being pushed over the edge like they are supposed to be. Is this the case, or is something else going on? Or am I just paranoid and everything is fine?

Thanks in advance.

alternativeheat · Oct 9, 2014

Just FWIW, I scrape off the burn pot two to three times per day with Energex Soft pellets in my Harman P61a. They do build some ash but I don't let them build to the extent that you have in your Advance. Not sure what would happen if I didn't do that but I do know that in the colder weather when the stove is cranking out two bags a day that the ash builds enough over night to distort the flame. LaCretes did not and of course Douglas Fir pellets do not. And that said there are worse pellets, more ash, like Natures Own.

Also, do some more reading up on your controls. if you have the stove set in Stove Temp mode you are not setting it 66 deg. You are setting it just over temp level 3 though. The degree indication is for when it's in Room Temp Mode. If the room is where you want it it happens to be coinciding with the degree scale.

acowherd · Oct 9, 2014

You burned a 1/2 bag in 1.5 days... Ash will build up like that! That's a very slow burn rate. Stove fires up...runs some..then shuts off. Just rake the ashes out and quick scrape, and carry on! Once you start burning 3 bags in 1.5 days ash wont build up like quite like that anymore.

Fadelight · Oct 9, 2014

alternativeheat said:
Also, do some more reading up on your controls. if you have the stove set in Stove Temp mode you are not setting it 66 deg. You are setting it just over temp level 3 though. The degree indication is for when it's in Room Temp Mode. If the room is where you want it it happens to be coinciding with the degree scale.

Yup... I read the post in this thread about Harman stoves and the things the manual doesn't tell you. I stated that I had it running in room temp mode and set at 66 degrees.

I spent quite a bit of time reading before I got the stove, but everything changes once you have one. Some of the things that didn't make sense before are crystal clear now, and some of the things that seemed straight forward before will leave you scratching your head and wondering why you seem to be the only one that can't make it work right now.

My major concern is that it seems the ashes would be pushed over the edge and the pellets would take up more of the space in the burn pot. I read a lot of write-ups on adjusting your feed rate so that you have about an inch of ash from the edge of the burn pot to the pellets at maximum burn rate. I guess I just figured that's closer to where they should be at any given time.

I am also still trying to find something decent for pellets, but its hard to find anything where they are ranked by quality. Something that one person loves, another one says you couldn't buy any worse brand. The two I tried are Home Depot and Aubuchon so far. I don't know who else in the area sells pellets or what they sell. A lot of the local companies aren't expecting any deliveries until mid-November, so I might be stuck burning crap pellets for the next month. The Energex softwood came from Aubuchon, and they didn't have very many bags left. I bought the last 6. I can't remember what he said he was getting in November... All I remember is that it was "___ Gold", and that it was softwood.

Stoves were easy to find information on the good, the bad, and the ugly. Pellets... Yeah, not so easy at all.

alternativeheat · Oct 9, 2014

Fadelight said:
Yup... I read the post in this thread about Harman stoves and the things the manual doesn't tell you. I stated that I had it running in room temp mode and set at 66 degrees.

I spent quite a bit of time reading before I got the stove, but everything changes once you have one. Some of the things that didn't make sense before are crystal clear now, and some of the things that seemed straight forward before will leave you scratching your head and wondering why you seem to be the only one that can't make it work right now.

My major concern is that it seems the ashes would be pushed over the edge and the pellets would take up more of the space in the burn pot. I read a lot of write-ups on adjusting your feed rate so that you have about an inch of ash from the edge of the burn pot to the pellets at maximum burn rate. I guess I just figured that's closer to where they should be at any given time.

I am also still trying to find something decent for pellets, but its hard to find anything where they are ranked by quality. Something that one person loves, another one says you couldn't buy any worse brand. The two I tried are Home Depot and Aubuchon so far. I don't know who else in the area sells pellets or what they sell. A lot of the local companies aren't expecting any deliveries until mid-November, so I might be stuck burning crap pellets for the next month. The Energex softwood came from Aubuchon, and they didn't have very many bags left. I bought the last 6. I can't remember what he said he was getting in November... All I remember is that it was "___ Gold", and that it was softwood.

Stoves were easy to find information on the good, the bad, and the ugly. Pellets... Yeah, not so easy at all.

Sorry about that, somehow I got in my head you were running in Stove temp, must have confused it with another thread. Anyway, Energex softs aren't the best or the worst, mid road pellets are what they are. Just scrape the ash off your pot now and then and see how that goes.

The 1" of ash thing is for a full out burn as a test. As a test you can run it full out and full feed rate, if ash or pellets spill over the front of the pot trim the feed back till you get 1" of ash. You got to run about half hour like that to form the ash line. I did that test with DF pellets and had trouble forming an ash line cause they kept blowing off the pot !!

killie11 · Oct 9, 2014

The ash should be fine I left my harman go for a couple days like that. Though not sure why you would scrape the burn pot several times a day especially on a harman, my stove is also a p61a.

acowherd · Oct 9, 2014

I'll do it just because......

It will keep the flame looking better, and ash won't choke down the flame.

Mr. Spock · Oct 9, 2014

Room temp auto or manual? When it's running full go you want to see about 1" depth of ash from the front edge of the burn pot. In my experience a feed rate of 3.5 to 4 achieves this with most pellets when the stove is at full go for a time to satisfy the temp sensor. Based on the info so far It looks like your burning mostly in maintenance mode or it isn't cold enough to get a good long burn going.

alternativeheat · Oct 9, 2014

acowherd said:
I'll do it just because......

It will keep the flame looking better, and ash won't choke down the flame.

Absolutely, much better flame pattern. As soon as I see it distort I just scrape the ash pile off, it takes all of 15 seconds to do. So to those who ask why, I ask why not do it ? It's silly not to. If you are away from home or asleep in your bed then no, I'm not getting up to do it. But I'm right there in the living room anyway or just walking by. The flame is distorted and it's a quick enough fix that doesn't cost a dime..

Tim Linden · Oct 10, 2014

I noticed mine did this when I had ignitor set to manual. This tells it to keep a low burn which seems to generate more ash.

In the end it doesnt matter too much as long as its not making the flame go out. Which by design the Harman shouldnt ;-)

Fadelight · Oct 10, 2014

Ahh, the one setting I did not specify. I am running it in Auto.

I don't scrape the burn pot because it needs it. I just scrape it because if I am in there scooping the ash over the edge, it never hurts to give it a once-over.

m159267 · Oct 10, 2014

Any time I notice an ash build up I simply open the door and use the Harman tool to scrape the buildup into the ash pan. Takes about 5-10 seconds.
When burning continuously (stove temp) this would occur about once a day.
Pellet brand choices in the Midwest are average quality at best.

Fadelight · Oct 10, 2014

Do you shut the stove down to do it? The reason I haven't been doing that more frequently is because I was under the impression you aren't supposed to open the door while its running.

alternativeheat · Oct 10, 2014

Fadelight said:
Do you shut the stove down to do it? The reason I haven't been doing that more frequently is because I was under the impression you aren't supposed to open the door while its running.

Yes to scraping, open he door the flame will go all whacky. Take the Harman tool scrape it under the fire toward the auger. And pull it back out. Now use the tool to take off that excess ash build up. Give a couple of light taps on the burn pot to shake ash down and off the igniter. Close the door, in seconds the flame will re establish. This takes me all of 15 seconds and was instructed to me by my dealer.

Fadelight · Oct 10, 2014

Ah, very good to know. Thank you for that.

alternativeheat · Oct 10, 2014

Fadelight said:
Ah, very good to know. Thank you for that.

Yes, and actually I rake the big batch of ash off first. Then scrape under the fire. And rake off the excess.

Ctcarl · Oct 10, 2014

Fadelight said:
Do you shut the stove down to do it? The reason I haven't been doing that more frequently is because I was under the impression you aren't supposed to open the door while its running.

I use a thick leather welding glove when I go in there with my scraper.i average about 2 or 4 times a day pending if I have the time.

alternativeheat · Oct 10, 2014

As to shutting the stove down , no. I said yes but I meant that to be that I leave it running to rake the ash off the burn pot !!

lessoil · Oct 11, 2014

As stated above, I open the door while running and knock that ash into ash pan.
Usually shut stove down to scrape "carbon" buildup from burn pot.
I have found that the Harman tool does not work well on this buildup. (Have not tried sharpening it yet!)
Some folks use a gasket scraper. I use something similar.
I do a full cleaning when ash pan is full. 3-5 weeks through Winter

Fadelight · Oct 13, 2014

Just as a follow-up...

I went to HD yesterday (after a ton of research) and picked up 4 bags of Blazer pellets. Wow - I thought Energex was a somewhat decent brand. As far as I am concerned, they were no better than Stove Chow.

These are the Blazer pellets after 24 hours... and I haven't cleaned the burn pot or scraped any ash out since I put them in.

I definitely need to figure out what pellets from the east coast perform this well, though... since it is highly unlikely I can get enough Blazer to last the winter. The manager of Home Depot said that corporate just sends them whatever they have.

Of course, he also said the customer doesn't get to choose which one of the three different brands of pellets they are buying when they buy by the ton. His words exactly were "It's just whatever we can get to the easiest. The customer really can't pick which ones they get."

alternativeheat · Oct 13, 2014

Fadelight said:
Just as a follow-up...

I went to HD yesterday (after a ton of research) and picked up 4 bags of Blazer pellets. Wow - I thought Energex was a somewhat decent brand. As far as I am concerned, they were no better than Stove Chow.

These are the Blazer pellets after 24 hours... and I haven't cleaned the burn pot or scraped any ash out since I put them in.

I definitely need to figure out what pellets from the east coast perform this well, though... since it is highly unlikely I can get enough Blazer to last the winter. The manager of Home Depot said that corporate just sends them whatever they have.

Of course, he also said the customer doesn't get to choose which one of the three different brands of pellets they are buying when they buy by the ton. His words exactly were "It's just whatever we can get to the easiest. The customer really can't pick which ones they get."

Well it's a Harman, it will burn what ever pellet. If need be just rake off the pot now and then if you pick up something that doesn't burn super ash free. Energex are "half decent pellets" and rated about 500 BTU more than Green Team. But nobody ever said they were not ashy, believe me there are more ashy pellets out there that produce less heat though ! You might have to move away from box stores to get some of the less ashy pellets consistently if that is what you are after.. Go around buying two or three bags at a time of some various pellets to get a handle on what works for you. Try some LaCrete's if you can find them and definitely DF's along the way.

Tim Linden · Oct 13, 2014

Also when you do a comparison make sure you're using the same stove temp
setting. When it's room mode and burning higher/lower it can change how much
ash is generated. When mine is on the highest stove temp it generated barely
any ash compared to when it was on low.

Fadelight · Oct 13, 2014

Burning hot is good. Low ash is going to be a big priority for me though. The ash buildup from the first pic was after a few hours and I don't want to have to worry about it while I'm at work during the day.

I love the Blazer pellets. Something similar would be awesome.

I have no love for the box stores but there isn't a lot else in my area and most other places aren't getting any in until mid November.

Ctcarl · Oct 13, 2014

Fadelight said:
Just as a follow-up...

I went to HD yesterday (after a ton of research) and picked up 4 bags of Blazer pellets. Wow - I thought Energex was a somewhat decent brand. As far as I am concerned, they were no better than Stove Chow.

These are the Blazer pellets after 24 hours... and I haven't cleaned the burn pot or scraped any ash out since I put them in.

I definitely need to figure out what pellets from the east coast perform this well, though... since it is highly unlikely I can get enough Blazer to last the winter. The manager of Home Depot said that corporate just sends them whatever they have.

Of course, he also said the customer doesn't get to choose which one of the three different brands of pellets they are buying when they buy by the ton. His words exactly were "It's just whatever we can get to the easiest. The customer really can't pick which ones they get."

For me I noticed a big difference with green team Pla

Fadelight said:
Burning hot is good. Low ash is going to be a big priority for me though. The ash buildup from the first pic was after a few hours and I don't want to have to worry about it while I'm at work during the day.

I love the Blazer pellets. Something similar would be awesome.

I have no love for the box stores but there isn't a lot else in my area and most other places aren't getting any in until mid November.

i got green supreme platinum from lowes and my heat and ash is amazing .ut was pricey with no bulk discount.still got 4 tons .

alternativeheat · Oct 13, 2014

Fadelight said:
Burning hot is good. Low ash is going to be a big priority for me though. The ash buildup from the first pic was after a few hours and I don't want to have to worry about it while I'm at work during the day.

I love the Blazer pellets. Something similar would be awesome.

I have no love for the box stores but there isn't a lot else in my area and most other places aren't getting any in until mid November.

Ok I looked it up Blazers are Douglas Fir pellets ( DF). That explains the difference. Nothing burns less ashy than DF. But Blazer is not the only DF pellet in the world. I have two tons of Okanagan DF for my mid winter pellets.

Too much ash in burn pot?

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