Harman XXV worked yesterday, cleaned fully now won't start

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Maineiac

Member
Nov 10, 2006
35
Scarborough, ME
Harman XXV worked yesterday, cleaned fully now won't start. I cleaned exhaust pipe, removed t inside vacuumed out. Cleaned inside scraping down pot and vacuumed out. Used brush through front of exhaust pipe. Went to start the stove back up and it seems the auger and combustion fan are not operating in test mode. I then cleaned out combustion fan -not bad. Fan spins freely. I checked ESP and it seems like its all right-not bent or broken from the brush. I then cleaned out the fines area near auger. Again some fines but not bad. No error lights blinking on panel and all light up to show power in test mode. When starting in Auto all lights on except distribution fan light. I have also tried unplugging from wall for long periods of time to reset and the same thing occurs.
 
Not sure if this will help or not, but double check to make sure you have
the combustion blower back in with the correct side facing up.
There are engraved markings on it to show which side is up for the XXV.

Had the same problem once after a cleaning and found out this was the reason.
Put it back in and it fired right up.
 
you turn the stove on, comb fan light and feeder light come on, but no pellets feed? is this correct? If this be the case it points to the vac switch or the combustion fan not running. With the panels off the stove you should be able to see the comb fan turn in test mode. If its turning then its very likely the vac switch. Pull off the rubber hose connected to the vac switch and blow through it (sometimes some dust or something gets into the tube and resricts the air). If that doesn't work then jump the 2 wires that go to the vac sensor and put in test mose again. If everything works then you either have some type of obstruction in the exhaust, or your switch is not working. Make sure that the hopper door and the front door close completely (if they are open...no vac). Hmmmm......I can't htink of anyhting else off the top of my head. Good luck.
 
are you hearing the motor attempt to turn the auger with no turning?, are any pellets being fed to the burn pot?, if you getting pellets but no lighting I would say to empty the burn pot and really scrape it hard to make sure everything is clear of the ignition.
 
I checked combustion fan- it is in with "top" at the top where it is suppose to be.

I don't hear combustion fan coming on and the auger does not even attempt to feed the stove. I was wondering if there was a safety switch where neither would work if door wasn't closed tight or something. Seems strange neither would bring an error light or both be not working at the same time.
 
Maineiac said:
I checked combustion fan- it is in with "top" at the top where it is suppose to be.

I don't hear combustion fan coming on and the auger does not even attempt to feed the stove. I was wondering if there was a safety switch where neither would work if door wasn't closed tight or something. Seems strange neither would bring an error light or both be not working at the same time.

Not saying you are wrong by any means and don't know if the new blowers are
even still the same as my 05' stove model, but my blower says "top" on two sides.

One side shows "top" with XXV lightly inscribed under it, and the other side shows "top" with
Advance inscribed. I ended up marking the correct side on mine with a sharpie because it
will not run if the Advance side is up.

I am no expert, but suspect the blower is the problem.
 
I didn't notice the difference. I did put it back wrong but it still doesn't change things with XXV on the top. I also didn't touch the blower until it would not start. I didn't clean it until after I had the starting problem.
 
Make sure you didn't bump a wire or unplug the comb blower from the control board.
No combustion fan= no feed or ignitor but the lights will come on
 
Looks to be all-set. I am getting frustrated because when I originally cleaned the stove I didn't get into the back, so I shouldn't have bumped any wires, re-installed anything wrong or changed anything. The ESP was my first fear (vent brushing) but it looks like it is intact. Man, I hate to even try to get a technician to look at it.
 
Delta-T said:
you turn the stove on, comb fan light and feeder light come on, but no pellets feed? is this correct? If this be the case it points to the vac switch or the combustion fan not running. With the panels off the stove you should be able to see the comb fan turn in test mode. If its turning then its very likely the vac switch. Pull off the rubber hose connected to the vac switch and blow through it (sometimes some dust or something gets into the tube and resricts the air). If that doesn't work then jump the 2 wires that go to the vac sensor and put in test mose again. If everything works then you either have some type of obstruction in the exhaust, or your switch is not working. Make sure that the hopper door and the front door close completely (if they are open...no vac). Hmmmm......I can't htink of anyhting else off the top of my head. Good luck.

In test mode comb fan is not turning.
 
Fear not Maineiac, I'm sure we can figure this out. If the comb fan isn't turning, then there's your problem. Plug it directly into 110V and see if it spins. If no spin then you need a new one. You will eventually get an error code on the control board, but it'll be failure to light (5 blinks) but i'll take about 45 minutes to get to that.
 
If you're good with a multimeter then I would unplug the spade terminals at the comb blower (from the sj rubber cord) and turn the stove on see if you're getting 120 volts or thereabouts.
or even use a test lamp.
The comb blower should start as soon as the stove is turned from off to on and the temp calls for heat..

if you're not getting 120 vac across the hot and neutral then check hot to ground if still nothing go back to the board and check at these connections.
If you have power from hot to ground then the neutral is broken pinched or unplugged (it can happen)
Disclaimer:
If any of the above makes no sense, then I wouldn't touch it...

It's probably either the comb blower, the board, or the wires in between.
But in this case the ESP should not inhibit the comb blower from starting and if it did I believe it would give the 3 blink error.
Again I don't think it's ESP here, but I've been wrong many, many times before.
 
to plug directly into 110v find yourself an old extension cord and cut it so you have the plug part and 2 wires. Plug wires into fan wires. plug into wall outlet and see what happens...as always use caution when playing with electricity, especially if you are standing in the bathtub, or are prone to lighning strikes.
 
Looks like the blower is bad. I am not 100% sure I had a perfect connection by sticking the ends of stripped wire into the end of the clip on the blower but there was no movement of the fan and I wasn't going to hang onto it after plugging it in. Now my next question is where do I get the fan and does the wiring go together easily or am I better off finding a technician to do the work? The clip doesn't look like it comes off to easily plug the new one in.
 
you can replace that yourself man, no worries, you're 3/4 of the way there already. The fan impeller comes off with an allen wrench. Pop that off, take the motor off the plate. Put new motor on the plate, put fan impeller back on, plug in 2 wires and put it back in. You are all set. Thats a common part for almost all the Harman pellet stoves. Local dealer should have 1 on the shelf. Is stove still under warrantee??? Cuz thats covered. Good luck.
 
I just want to thank everyone for their input. I appreciate the help. It looks like I am about 23 days out of warranty-figures.

Hopefully I'll get this machine up and running soon. I have 4.5 tons of LGs in the garage ready to go.
 
Last thing here.
make sure you can remove the fan blades BEFORE you go to the dealer, sometimes they can sieze up on the shaft.
Just trying to save you a trip :)
 
Maineiac said:
Harman XXV worked yesterday, cleaned fully now won't start. I cleaned exhaust pipe, removed t inside vacuumed out. Cleaned inside scraping down pot and vacuumed out. Used brush through front of exhaust pipe. Went to start the stove back up and it seems the auger and combustion fan are not operating in test mode. I then cleaned out combustion fan -not bad. Fan spins freely. I checked ESP and it seems like its all right-not bent or broken from the brush. I then cleaned out the fines area near auger. Again some fines but not bad. No error lights blinking on panel and all light up to show power in test mode. When starting in Auto all lights on except distribution fan light. I have also tried unplugging from wall for long periods of time to reset and the same thing occurs.
Yep he did that (from 1st post)
 
FYI - I went to dealer yesterday and they had the comb blower motor for $108. They also called Harman as to whether or not I am still covered under warranty. Should get an answer today. I was told it is not the date of purchase but the date the warranty card is filled out which should put me within a few days of still being covered.

Anyways new motor did the trick, install was pretty easy except for getting my 200 lb body in and around the back of the stove to hook up wiring etc. Fan removal from the old motor took a little time and patience probably because of the constant heat in the vent pipe. You can bet I will be constantly vacuuming the internal fans on that baby even though there was not much buildup from before.

In short you guys came through for me, Thanks. Service call would have cost me another $150-$200 unless it is covered by warranty.
 
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