We have a 2-year old Harmon PC-45 with 4" vent stack that goes up 3-feet then out and an outside air intake. This is the first real use in the winter and everything works great when it's warm outside, but the colder it gets, the longer it takes to light. Now, at -30 Celsius, it takes longer than the ignition cycle allows for and so it just quits trying to light. Oh, I should tell you that in Saskatchewan in the winter, 'warm' means 'above -15C' (5F), 'cool' is colder than that, but not yet -30C (-22F), and cold is -30C and colder. -40C (-40F) is not exactly common, but we get 10 days or so every winter.
Is this a known issue? I'm also going to phone the new dealer (old one is out of business), but I've learned from the last one to take everything with a grain of salt. This is our primary source of heat, so failure to restart at 2 am is a problem. If we were living out there, which we plan to do when we retire, failure to restart when we run to town for supplies could be a disaster (frozen plumbing is not fun at all!).
Other information that might help troubleshoot the problem:
* cleaning: obviously, the further into the season we go, the more likely it is that we need to clean things up a bit, but we've used less than 500 lbs so far this season and I started the season with a thorough cleaning (at least I thought it was!). It could be that the ignition is taking longer not because of the dropping temperature, but because of some kind of build-up.
* frequency of use: this is at our cabin and we only go there on week-ends, so even the inside temp is way down there when we go to fire up. Note however, that even after the place has warmed up, a restart is challenging.
* I can see the igniter is a good bright red and it seems like a pellet or two will start to glow, but then the feed motor cycles and it seems like it has to start over. This makes me wonder if it is even possible to self-ignite at those temperatures.
* the fire has never been as clean as we were led to expect. The glass door gets dirty at the top and down 2/3 the way on both sides by the time we've gone through the first 40 lb bag. The firebrick in the back is always dark. That said, we rarely smell anything outside except during start up.
* Before I gave up and just packed up and came home last week-end, the feed motor light was lighting, but the feed motor was not running. This seems to be an intermittent problem that may be associated with draft problems, although I seldom see the 5-blink code except after ignition failure. Test mode does work, so I don't think we've got a motor problem.
* Frosty intake: The outside of the fresh air intake is covered in frost, right from the wall all the way to the stove. I don't know if that was there while the stove was running, because I only noticed it while I was trying to get the stove lit. If there is frozen condensation inside, especially where it can interfere with moving parts, then that can't be good.
* When it didn't light on its own when we got down there, I lit it manually. That worked fine and it ran for about 5 hours before dying. After that, even a manual light wouldn't work because the feed motor wouldn't actually run. As I mentioned earlier, the feed motor works fine in test mode.
One of my biggest concerns right now is that there is something inherent to the design that makes it unsuitable for use in the Saskatchewan winter. This stove is no good to us if it won't reliably self-ignite at -40.
Is this a known issue? I'm also going to phone the new dealer (old one is out of business), but I've learned from the last one to take everything with a grain of salt. This is our primary source of heat, so failure to restart at 2 am is a problem. If we were living out there, which we plan to do when we retire, failure to restart when we run to town for supplies could be a disaster (frozen plumbing is not fun at all!).
Other information that might help troubleshoot the problem:
* cleaning: obviously, the further into the season we go, the more likely it is that we need to clean things up a bit, but we've used less than 500 lbs so far this season and I started the season with a thorough cleaning (at least I thought it was!). It could be that the ignition is taking longer not because of the dropping temperature, but because of some kind of build-up.
* frequency of use: this is at our cabin and we only go there on week-ends, so even the inside temp is way down there when we go to fire up. Note however, that even after the place has warmed up, a restart is challenging.
* I can see the igniter is a good bright red and it seems like a pellet or two will start to glow, but then the feed motor cycles and it seems like it has to start over. This makes me wonder if it is even possible to self-ignite at those temperatures.
* the fire has never been as clean as we were led to expect. The glass door gets dirty at the top and down 2/3 the way on both sides by the time we've gone through the first 40 lb bag. The firebrick in the back is always dark. That said, we rarely smell anything outside except during start up.
* Before I gave up and just packed up and came home last week-end, the feed motor light was lighting, but the feed motor was not running. This seems to be an intermittent problem that may be associated with draft problems, although I seldom see the 5-blink code except after ignition failure. Test mode does work, so I don't think we've got a motor problem.
* Frosty intake: The outside of the fresh air intake is covered in frost, right from the wall all the way to the stove. I don't know if that was there while the stove was running, because I only noticed it while I was trying to get the stove lit. If there is frozen condensation inside, especially where it can interfere with moving parts, then that can't be good.
* When it didn't light on its own when we got down there, I lit it manually. That worked fine and it ran for about 5 hours before dying. After that, even a manual light wouldn't work because the feed motor wouldn't actually run. As I mentioned earlier, the feed motor works fine in test mode.
One of my biggest concerns right now is that there is something inherent to the design that makes it unsuitable for use in the Saskatchewan winter. This stove is no good to us if it won't reliably self-ignite at -40.
