Fire behind the burn pot of a Harman Accentra FS...

frankie said:

I have the same problem. I just cut a piece of asbestos rope the width of the flame guide and pressed it in so the rope was tight. It held the flame guide from moving. My guide was moving ever so slight when pellets were fed. The pellets were actually making the guide move and allowing the same fire that you have. Try a strip of 1/2 or 3/4 inch rope and see what happens. I cut the rope in 3 inch lengths.

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Hi Frankie
Can you be a little more specific about where you put the rope behind the flame guide ?
Across the top of it or across the bottom or both ?

Yes the flame guide does move ever so slightly So this is definitely worth a try .
I just ran out and got the gasket rope but don't want to put it in until I am sure how you want it...
Thanks ever so much

GeHmTS said:

Here's an article on making your own gasket. Check it out

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...ower-hi-temp-lytherm-gasket-from-sheet.86680/

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Great to know that & where you can buy the material and make your own I think the actual burn pot gasket was only about $10 and it was pretty thick ...
when the tech removed the one that was in there it was still thick ... will have to look into the different gaskets the stove calls for to see if they have the same or varying thicknesses ...
Definitely think have a sheet or 2 of this material to make your own could come in handy...
Since I have made gaskets for other things in the past ( that gaskets were no longer available for ) I have confidence I can make them for this stove...
Thanks so much for that link

Lake Girl said:

For those that have an old flame guide, is it possible to weld a small tab somewhere on the guide to keep it from moving out of place?

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Just relaying what I was told
when I asked the Harman tech that question. He said he would advise against it because of the contraction and expansion of the flame guide and how it rides/ sits on the sides of the burn pot...

Lake Girl said:

Did you follow up with your tech on the apparent overfeed and the potentiometers?

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Hi Lake Girl

HARMAN ACCENTRA2 said:

went over the potentiometers with him and he said everything was working well according to the ddm ... but if I want he will order a new board... told him I just want my stove fixed I do not want to replace things for no reason as this is getting expensive... If he thinks I need a new board I have no problem replacing it if it would cure the situation ... he said he does not think I need a new board everything was working perfectly...
that's my update

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Yes I did
Just keeps saying everything is working to specifications according to the DDM they hook up... so he is at a loss as he has actually seen the flames burning outside the burn pot BUT he does not know what to do except try this air kit that we have been waiting 2 weeks to be delivered from Harman... as far as just replacing the potentiometers he said no way he has never heard of doing that & if there would be something wrong with a customers board Harman suggests ONLY REPLACING the board ... The techs are not allowed to do anything else to the boards ...And he says my board is working perfectly...

Lake Girl said:

If all else fails and you do replace the board, keep the old board and find one of the board repair services to check and/or replace potentiometers. Back-ups are always good

PS - We had a Chev Aveo, computer at local dealer said injection system; husband said fuel pump. When it left me stranded in the city, towed to a dealer and traded it in. Heard later that Hubby was right - fuel pump!

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Thanks we are learning to keep the old parts as back ups... certainly better than being stranded without parts because the dealer takes so long to get them in ...
Definitely not saying dealer is correct ... Just stating what they say...
Absolutely agree with your PS
I have more confidence in the help I am getting on this site from people who own Harman stoves and have fixed issues themselves... I have received a lot of good suggestions and info from everyone
Having to go through ( and be at the mercy of ) a Harman dealer just to get parts and service is the worst thing about owning a Harman stove ...
I have replaced motors and other parts on this stove myself in the past because it was going to take too long before tech could get to it ... just weary of touching the board while it is still giving us perfect heat and keeping the temp. at exactly what it is set at...
Especially when we are getting another 3-8" of snow tomorrow...

Lake Girl said:

Again?

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yep... pretty sick of it this season... can't wait for Spring... Oh wait the 1st day of Spring is tomorrow
Oh well HAPPY Spring to all !!
Hoping this is the last storm of this season

Update
Tried the rope gasket behind the burn pot as suggested.
Unfortunately did not help.
The flames outside the burn pot issue continued ...
Watched it for 48 hours before declaring it a failure...
Was really hoping it would be the answer ...

Still waiting for Harman dealer to call to make appt. for air kit installation ...
He still has not received the shipment from Harman...Not happy.
Will be calling him again Monday morning

In the meantime any ideas are more than welcome .

Ps. 3650 you may want to give this rope gasket idea a try on your Accentra ... cheap and easy enough so I figure it may be worth a try...

3650 said:

I'm interested in what the tech turns up, as I have been burning mine with this issue for about 5 years. Its not my primary but it does see son duty during cold snaps.

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gfreek said:

Where exactly did you put the rope gasket ? Behind the Cast flame guide?..


What is the reason for the OAK & the burn outside the burn pot? I really hope you get this figured out. Something is not right as you know already !!

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Hi gfreek

Yes put it behind he flame guide and pushed it down until it would not go anymore...
made the flame guide very tight against the burn pot and theoretically would not allow pellets to push it out of place
or for pellets to get behind it ... if that would have been the problem...
but in my case it did not fix the problem I still got flames on both sides behind & outside of the burn pot...

The Harman tech feels that by adding that tubing it may help the fire outside the burn pot issue... he really did not explain why ... I did tell him we do not have smoke in the hopper but he said he thinks it will help... at this point I am at a loss as to what is causing the burning outside the burn pot

GeHmTS said:

Did it fail straight away are sometime after the gasket was applied?

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Hi GeHmTS
As soon as we put it in and it started calling for a hotter/larger fire ( had to shut down the stove to do this ) it started ... just like when we did not have it there... usually doesn't burn outside the burn pot with a small fire but when it starts calling for more heat that is when the fire starts behind and down the sides of the burn pot ( Not just in the burn pot )
and when it is really a raging fire it will shoot out the bottom ( totally outside underneath the burn pot ) below the entire burn pot weldment... we waited to see if trying to push it in more etc. would help get better results ... but no adjustment worked... it still started fires outside the burn pot on both sides...
The rope gasket is still in perfect shape it did not burn or get changed in any way by the fire/ heat... it did what it was intended to do by not allowing the flame guide to move but I guess that is not what is causing the problem .

3650 said:

View attachment 156183 I cant wrap my head around what he was doing with the rope gasket. Does it go on top of the flame guide?

I woke up to this several weeks ago.

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That picture looks like a familiar site... my wife woke me up @4 a.m. over a month ago to an even scarier site ... the flame guide was in the raging fire & flames shooting all around & under the burn pot... The flame guide was almost see through red Molten lava color she was hysterical & thought it was going to melt in the fire or start a house fire... that was before we had them replace the burn pot though... but definitely think your and my Accentra have the same problem...

To answer your question
We cut the rope gasket (we used 3/4") O.P. said you could try 1/2 or 3/4" to about about 4" length and as you insert the flame guide lay it on the back (top) of the flame guide and push the flame guide into place then we took a screw driver and pushed (what was sticking up) behind the flame guide as far as it would go in ( you will still see some of it at the top of the flame guide)
But that is o.k. it does not catch on fire or burn...
What this did was make the flame guide impossible to move it created a very very tight fit ...
I don't know the mechanics what else it may be intended to help ( fire outside the burn pot )... but I do know
There is no way the pellets are going to push the flame guide off if you do this...

Since we replaced the burn pot we did not have the pellets moving the flame guide problem any longer...
I still thought it was worth a try because it seemed like the new burn pot with the flame guide had a little more movement when it was feeding pellets and perhaps it was causing the fire to get outside the burn pot somehow ... but not in my case...
Good news is it did fix the O.P. flames outside the burn pot... so worth a try IMHO...
If you try it let me know if it works... Good luck

bogieb said:

P61a has a loose flame guide and I assume the others do too. However, that sucker is heavy (for its size), so it would take a lot to move it.

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Yes I think all Harmans have a removable flame guide too

bogieb I thought the same thing before I had the problem ... once it starts it really does not take anything more than pellets being fed into the burn pot to move it ... I would have found it hard to believe before I actually watched it happen right before my eyes ... I believe the pellets somehow get under the flame guide and lift it so that it is not sitting on the side walls of the burn pot and once lifted up that tiny bit the continue ( each time they feed to push it up and off track more...
Just my thoughts on what I witnessed...