how to replace ignitor on harman accentra ?

nick_ide · Mar 20, 2008

My Harman Accentra is 5 months past the 3 year electrical warranty.
I believe the ignitor has died. I have cleaned everything, the ignitor light comes on,
but it doesn't get warm. I unscrewed the ignitor but the connectors vanish into the back.
I assume you get access to the connectors from the rear, but it isn't obvious to me
exactly where and how you get the thing disconnected.

1. Is there a better manual available that actually describes how to make such repairs
or at least has more complete diagrams than the owners manual that came with the stove ?

2. Anybody tried doing this repair themselves ?

-Nick

MSmith66 · Mar 20, 2008

Did you happen to clean out the port directly under the burn pot, where the ignitor is ? Fines will get into the little holes in the burn pot and clog up the fins in the ignitor so it does not have air to start the process.
IF you have than it is very simple to replace. In the back of the stove you will see two wires going into a rubber gasket, red or black high temp silicone will be around that gasket also. That is were the ignitor is connected. Pull the gasket out of the hole, unscrew the two wing nuts on the front of the burn pot. Then unscrew the two 1/4 screws that are also in the front of the burn pot, they hold the ignitor in place. with the ignitor loose, pull the wires from the back of the stove and unplug the old ignitor and replace with the new one. put the new wire in the front of the burnpot. Using a stiff wire, from the back of the stove push the wire into the gasket hole untill it comes out the front of the burnpot and attach the wires to the stiff wire by using electrical tape and pull the stiff wire throughthe back of the stove. The stiff wire will help guide the limp ignitor wires through the small gasket hole then rescrew all screws and reseal rubber gasket. Thats it.

nick_ide · Mar 21, 2008

Thanks so much for the very detailed reply.

Yes, I did clean the cubby where the igniter lives. I even unscrewed the igniter and knocked a little grit out of it. No improvement. Is there an easy way to verify that the igniter is really bad ? I know the heating coil in my electric water heater can be checked by looking at resistance...

I'll probably try replacing the igniter this weekend and report back. Do I need to use the high temp silicon when I replace the gasket ? Does anybody sell these parts over the internet ? The only place I know to get the new igniter is an hour drive -- and they want $90 for it.

nick_ide · Mar 22, 2008

OK! I'm back in business after replacing the igniter. The job was quite easy. The hardest part was getting the old connectors apart and then getting the new ones together. There isn't much room to work with and the connectors were quite stiff.

Just for reference, the new igniter shows about 40 ohms resistance measured at the connectors. The bad old igniter measured no conductivity. I don't see that you can measure the resistance without pulling the wires out the back.

Thanks again for your clear specific answer to my post.

-N

Hammerjoe · Mar 22, 2008

These ignitors suck and I need replace it again.
This will be the fourth ignitor installed in less than three years.

Monday the dealer I bought the stove from is going to ear a mouthfull and I will demand some action to fix this.
Not a happy camper about this right now.

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how to replace ignitor on harman accentra ?

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