Harmen p35i auger issue

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Eric12421

New Member
Dec 3, 2015
3
Easton mass
Hello,

First off just wanted to say thanks for all the great information on here already, I've been lurking for a while.

My wife and I just moved from Maine to southern mass into a small house with an open fireplace and electric heat, the previous owners said electric bill was around ~$400 / month during the winter. My uncle sold me a harmen p35i pellet stove that he hadn't used for the previous winter because natural gas ran by his house.

I took his word that everything worked fine (probably paid a hair extra) which the wife wasn't overly happy about haha. I got it home and had it installed, we were both really excited to get it fired up, but once I turned it on it, only the distribution blower and combustion blower status lights came on, no feed motor and the auger wasn't running (in test mode) also the ignition light isn't on, but I've left it in manual for now.

So since then I've been troubleshooting everything (with lots of help from posts in this forum).
- wired feed motor directly to the wall to ensure it was still functioning
- cleaned everything top to bottom
- I'm going to call the dealer tomorrow and see if they have a low pressure switch (p/n 3-20-6866) to switch out for the one I have in the pellet stove now

If anyone else has any suggestions on other items to inspect while I have it apart I'd appreciate it! Thanks for all the help thus far.

Eric
 
Call Kirley Masonary in Mansfield (next town to you) and have them come out, they are great people!
 
Eric12421 said:
Hello,

First off just wanted to say thanks for all the great information on here already, I've been lurking for a while.

My wife and I just moved from Maine to southern mass into a small house with an open fireplace and electric heat, the previous owners said electric bill was around ~$400 / month during the winter. My uncle sold me a harmen p35i pellet stove that he hadn't used for the previous winter because natural gas ran by his house.

I took his word that everything worked fine (probably paid a hair extra) which the wife wasn't overly happy about haha. I got it home and had it installed, we were both really excited to get it fired up, but once I turned it on it, only the distribution blower and combustion blower status lights came on, no feed motor and the auger wasn't running (in test mode) also the ignition light isn't on, but I've left it in manual for now.

So since then I've been troubleshooting everything (with lots of help from posts in this forum).
- wired feed motor directly to the wall to ensure it was still functioning
- cleaned everything top to bottom
- I'm going to call the dealer tomorrow and see if they have a low pressure switch (p/n 3-20-6866) to switch out for the one I have in the pellet stove now

If anyone else has any suggestions on other items to inspect while I have it apart I'd appreciate it! Thanks for all the help thus far.

Eric
Click to expand...
On my P61 the auger didn't feed one time and I had not closed the hopper lid down tight. Closed it , latched it, and off it went. Make sure a stray pellet isn't sitting on the hopper gasket holding it open a bit.
 
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Is the auger supposed to feed when it is in manual and there is no fire? I don't know as I usually use auto and never turn it to manual unless the stove is already running.
 
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bogieb said:
Is the auger supposed to feed when it is in manual and there is no fire? I don't know as I usually use auto and never turn it to manual unless the stove is already running.
Click to expand...
No igniter light in manual would be normal I know. But it should have run through the test mode ok. He got no auger feed in Test mode, Bogie. Made me think of my hopper lid incident.
 
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A way to verify the vac switch w/out a guage is to put in auto, room temp, and turn stat way up and let it try to start for 30 sec. or so. Then open the door and see if the burn pot is heating up. If pot is hot and no feed them auger motor is bad. If no feed and no heat in burn pot then vac switch is not sending neutral to auger and igniter. Vac switchesvery rarely go bad. I think I have only replaced 1 in 9 yrs of servicing. It only takes like .1 in WC to close it and the stove typically pulls .4 -.6.
 
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Might be as simple as a bad door gasket not allowing the vac switch to close. Moving used stoves seems to tweak gaskets and make them leak.
rickwai is on the right track to identify the problem
 
All the above suggestions are good and should be looked into but start with the simplest first. BTW, Welcome! As mentioned your igniter is not going to work when you have it set in manual so that might explain the no light there. Have you tried manually lighting the stove? In test it should feed but may stop at a point if there is no fire.
 
And the door gasket not letting the switch work is also and excellent point Bio.
 
alternativeheat said:
No igniter light in manual would be normal I know. But it should have run through the test mode ok. He got no auger feed in Test mode, Bogie. Made me think of my hopper lid incident.
Click to expand...
Thanks, wasn't sure, now I know :)
 
fmsm said:
Call Kirley Masonary in Mansfield (next town to you) and have them come out, they are great people!
Click to expand...

I have a technician from Kirley coming over on Thursday if I can't figure this out before then! I've bought a few parts from them so far and they have been nothing but easy and pleasant to deal with.

rickwai said:
A way to verify the vac switch w/out a guage is to put in auto, room temp, and turn stat way up and let it try to start for 30 sec. or so. Then open the door and see if the burn pot is heating up. If pot is hot and no feed them auger motor is bad. If no feed and no heat in burn pot then vac switch is not sending neutral to auger and igniter. Vac switches very rarely go bad. I think I have only replaced 1 in 9 yrs of servicing. It only takes like .1 in WC to close it and the stove typically pulls .4 -.6.
Click to expand...

I tried this and still had no auger and the burn pot did not heat up. I ended up picking up a new vac switch from Kirley for ~$27 but alas, it didnt solve the problem.

bags said:
All the above suggestions are good and should be looked into but start with the simplest first. BTW, Welcome! As mentioned your igniter is not going to work when you have it set in manual so that might explain the no light there. Have you tried manually lighting the stove? In test it should feed but may stop at a point if there is no fire.
Click to expand...

I did light it manually to see if it would kick start it, but again, no luck. The stove does not feed even in test mode.

bags said:
And the door gasket not letting the switch work is also and excellent point Bio.
Click to expand...

I will replace the door gasket and the hopper gasket today when I get out of work, I'll keep everyone posted, hopefully it is that simple. I've looked through my manual to see if there is a specific part number for the gaskets but it doesn't appear to be in there. Would generic wood stove gasket rope work?
 
I pickup graphite impregnated stove rope and adhesive kits at a local home improvement store for about $10. Bring in a piece of the old gasket to match up.
I would do a simple jump around the vac switch to rule out a vacuum issue
 
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Bioburner said:
I pickup graphite impregnated stove rope and adhesive kits at a local home improvement store for about $10. Bring in a piece of the old gasket to match up.
I would do a simple jump around the vac switch to rule out a vacuum issue
Click to expand...
Same here, the hardware store down the street stocks it ( actually at times they have plain and graphite, I think the last one I bought was plain and it works fine at least on the ash pan door.). I bumped my ash pan door gasket up one size and it fits tighter now without being in a bind. I had an ash pan door leak early on with this stove but it did not stop operation of the stove but in checking the seal of the stove with a grill lighter the flame was getting sucked in in one location, so I replaced the gasket.
 
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Hey guys, wanted to let you the pellet stove is up and running!! The technician from Kirley came by, I told him that the feed motor wasn't getting power, so we plugged it in and he knew what it was instantly by the sound, the combustion motor fan was covered in dust and wasn't spinning and wouldn't allow it to feed.

Took him all of 10 minutes to fix and now I'm sitting here sweating!! Thanks for all the help guys, I know so much more about my stove now that I've tried to troubleshoot this issue.
 
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Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new-to-you stove. Looks like you got a crash course on getting up close and personal with your stove. Lots of Harman owners here to lend a hand...
 
Eric12421 said:
Hey guys, wanted to let you the pellet stove is up and running!! The technician from Kirley came by, I told him that the feed motor wasn't getting power, so we plugged it in and he knew what it was instantly by the sound, the combustion motor fan was covered in dust and wasn't spinning and wouldn't allow it to feed.

Took him all of 10 minutes to fix and now I'm sitting here sweating!! Thanks for all the help guys, I know so much more about my stove now that I've tried to troubleshoot this issue.
Click to expand...
Seems as though if you haven't found it already you will need to perform a routine cleaning as outlined in the Harman Video.:
<iframe width="1016" height="456" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tEf3_QDvi3U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Eric12421 said:
Hey guys, wanted to let you the pellet stove is up and running!! The technician from Kirley came by, I told him that the feed motor wasn't getting power, so we plugged it in and he knew what it was instantly by the sound, the combustion motor fan was covered in dust and wasn't spinning and wouldn't allow it to feed.

Took him all of 10 minutes to fix and now I'm sitting here sweating!! Thanks for all the help guys, I know so much more about my stove now that I've tried to troubleshoot this issue.
Click to expand...

This dovetails into what a repair technician reported after five years of keeping records on all brands. A thorough cleaning solves around 70-80% of problems he encountered.
 
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