Another XXV Auger Tube? --- UPDATE 1/28/10

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marylu

Member
Oct 25, 2006
46
Southwest Wisconsin
After doing a lot of reading here, it appears that I have a similar problem as others with the auger tube. Last spring I noticed that the auger end had become very thin. So much so that I could bend it. When my dealer came for my annual service over summer I pointed it out to him. They came back this fall and replaced the auger as well as the igniter which had failed in the mean time, all under warranty.

This fall/winter I have felt the stove was just not "burning" right, kind of a gut feeling. Came on here and found the posts about the 5 holes in the bottom of the burn pot that are causing problems for some of the older XXV stoves. I checked my born on date and it is October '06.

I plan to call my dealer today and discuss this with him, but wanted to check in here first to see if others think that I do have a failing auger tube. I took some pictures to post. The end of the tube appears to almost be hollowed out at bottom. Hard to see in pictures. There seems to be a crack starting, but not through yet. I should mention that so far my dealer's response to service has been exceptional.

Bummer is that my install date was November '06 which means the first 3 year part of the warranty has expired. I'm wondering if I have any recourse, if the tube is in fact failing, as I had the auger replaced under warranty. It's failure is obviously all part of the same problem; burning too low into the auger tube. Had I been aware of this problem sooner, I would have been able to report it while still under full warranty.

What do you think? Am I right in thinking it is failing/has failed?
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Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Marylu
 
appears you are faily close to auger tube failure there....I think you stove is warranted for 6 years for the stove body against defects in workmanship and materials.....call the dealer....should be ok......be forewarned though that they will in all likelyhood have to pick up the unit and take it back to the shop, so there will be downtime......someone here had it changed out in-house, but, as one dealer, we dont do that....too messy, too much work.
 
Thanks for replying Lousyweather. I was beginning to think no one was going to reply.

I looked back through the other posts concerning this issue, and looked closely at goatman-68's picture of his XXV's pot/tube and there apears to be a lip or edge to his tube where it meets the burn pot. I seem to remember that mine was that was once too. But now there is an actual dip down in the tube. I just went and looked again, and now I am starting to wonder if there is at crack or separation at the front of the tube that is hidden/filled in with carbon? As there seems to be no edge on the bottom at the front. Not sure if I am making this very clear or not. I hope goatman-68 won't mind if I use his photo to show what I mean?

Note the edge/end of the tube in goatman-68's tube where it meets the burn pot.
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note my tube, no edge at the bottom and actually can only see carbon there.
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i think what you're seeing is just the difference between the P-68 burnpot and the XXV burnpot, though it does look like you have a crack forming in the auger tube.
 
Thanks Delta-T, but in the thread where goatman-68 posted his picture, I understood that it was a picture of an XXV stove. He used the picture to show the 5 holes that are located close to the bottom on older Harman burn pots.
 
Louseyweather is right, your tube is very thin on the bottom and probably ready to fail. Probably the only way your not going to pay anything is to deliver your stove to your dealer.

No problem on the photos, thats why they are here to possibly help others............
 
goatman-68 said:
Louseyweather is right, your tube is very thin on the bottom and probably ready to fail. Probably the only way your not going to pay anything is to deliver your stove to your dealer.

No problem on the photos, thats why they are here to possibly help others............

not necessarily......when we do them, the customer doesnt pay, as long as its still under warrantee
 
Wow, so you don't charge for a road call or hauling there and back, thats a good deal. My dealer only gave the first 90 day's totally free. After that service charges are applied.
 
goatman-68, thanks for not minding that I used your photo. I do appreciate it. It really helped me to "remember" what mine used to look like. I had some doubt originally if I was remembering correctly what it looked like when new. Your photo confirmed what I thought I remembered. (not nice getting old...)

Louseyweather, my dealer does charge a "trip" charge for service, but that I don't mind. It is a reasonable amount, especially considering he travels about 60 miles one way. My concern at this point is if there would be a labor charge for the work as it sounds like it is a time consuming repair. My first 3 yr part of the warranty expired Nov. '09.

I called my dealer earlier this afternoon and the salesperson I spoke with had no knowledge of any defect. She is having one of the repair technicians return my call when they get in. Keeping my fingers crossed.
 
I am still waiting to get reimbursed $450 from Harman been over five weeks since they submitted the claim that the stove had been repaired. Also still waiting for the replacement side because the leg was broke when they took it. I hope you have a better experience then I did as of right now I am out $900 for the repair plus the leg is still broke. The dealers that were Harman dealers before being bought out by HHT in my area are no longer Harman dealers and the ones that are now do not have service techs. because of this I had to pay to get the stove fixed and the Harman dealer set up the people to repair the stove and they saw $$$ and tried to screw me. They originally wanted $1400 but I got the BBB and consumer protection agency involved and settled for $900 since I needed to get my stove back, could have got them in trouble but dropped the consumer protection claim sense I agreed with the $900.

If you are dealing with the original dealer then they should cover it, I can see small charge for pickup that is in reason.
 
swalz said:
I am still waiting to get reimbursed $450 from Harman been over five weeks since they submitted the claim that the stove had been repaired. Also still waiting for the replacement side because the leg was broke when they took it. I hope you have a better experience then I did as of right now I am out $900 for the repair plus the leg is still broke. The dealers that were Harman dealers before being bought out by HHT in my area are no longer Harman dealers and the ones that are now do not have service techs. because of this I had to pay to get the stove fixed and the Harman dealer set up the people to repair the stove and they saw $$$ and tried to screw me. They originally wanted $1400 but I got the BBB and consumer protection agency involved and settled for $900 since I needed to get my stove back, could have got them in trouble but dropped the consumer protection claim sense I agreed with the $900.

If you are dealing with the original dealer then they should cover it, I can see small charge for pickup that is in reason.

AND the leg is broke too, Swalz? missed that....gotta replace the whole side panel! ugh
 
marylu said:
goatman-68, thanks for not minding that I used your photo. I do appreciate it. It really helped me to "remember" what mine used to look like. I had some doubt originally if I was remembering correctly what it looked like when new. Your photo confirmed what I thought I remembered. (not nice getting old...)

Louseyweather, my dealer does charge a "trip" charge for service, but that I don't mind. It is a reasonable amount, especially considering he travels about 60 miles one way. My concern at this point is if there would be a labor charge for the work as it sounds like it is a time consuming repair. My first 3 yr part of the warranty expired Nov. '09.

I called my dealer earlier this afternoon and the salesperson I spoke with had no knowledge of any defect. She is having one of the repair technicians return my call when they get in. Keeping my fingers crossed.

mary.....IMHO, your auger tube is covered for 5 years, not 3.......its not electrical, but actually part of the stove body.....
 
Lousyweather said:
swalz said:
I am still waiting to get reimbursed $450 from Harman been over five weeks since they submitted the claim that the stove had been repaired. Also still waiting for the replacement side because the leg was broke when they took it. I hope you have a better experience then I did as of right now I am out $900 for the repair plus the leg is still broke. The dealers that were Harman dealers before being bought out by HHT in my area are no longer Harman dealers and the ones that are now do not have service techs. because of this I had to pay to get the stove fixed and the Harman dealer set up the people to repair the stove and they saw $$$ and tried to screw me. They originally wanted $1400 but I got the BBB and consumer protection agency involved and settled for $900 since I needed to get my stove back, could have got them in trouble but dropped the consumer protection claim sense I agreed with the $900.

If you are dealing with the original dealer then they should cover it, I can see small charge for pickup that is in reason.

AND the leg is broke too, Swalz? missed that....gotta replace the whole side panel! ugh

Have not been happy with Harman not sure why it is taking so long and stove needs to be leveled, I get hit by the door every time I go to clean it. I have some rubber peaces under the leg to keep it up. Dealer keeps saying they will check with Harman and get back to me but they never call me back. I need that $450 and want the leg fixed so I am at the point I might start calling every day until they give me a good answer of when I will get them.
 
Guess I will have to wait until next week for any kind of response. The technician called tonight, but said that our stove number was not among those with the defect. Hmmmm.... Anyway he said I should email him the pictures and he would send them on to Harman. That Harman would make the determination. He also said that they had already closed down their computers for the day when he called, so said that the earliest he would look at my pictures would be on Monday.
 
marylu said:
.... The technician called tonight, but said that our stove number was not among those with the defect. Hmmmm.... ....

Hopefully it will be covered under warranty for you.
Curious as to what he meant by stove number not among those w/defect.

So far my burnpot/tube isn't showing any damage but have been keepin an eye on it since
some here are having problems. My XXV was born 2005.

Keep us posted
 
well, humbly I must suggest that even if the stove "isnt one of the defective ones", given the picture you originally posted, that your auger tube IS eroding, and WILL fail......its pretty obvious.....are we wating till its not under warrantee or someting? AND I beleive the auger tube actually falls under stove body in the warrantee, and should be covered for 5 years, based on your warrantee....maybe another dealer or two cares to chime in here.....
 
agreed, that should be covered by warr. I've never seen a warr claim refused for that fix, regardless of the age of the stove.
 
I spoke with the technician tonight. He said that he spoke with the Harman rep today and has forwarded my pictures on to him. He is now waiting for a reply from the rep.

I also sent the technician links to several threads here discussing this issue, as he had commented to me "just because you read something on the internet that one person had this problem does not mean that you have the same problem."

I do have a question though. It has turned pretty darn cold here. Temps tonight will be down to -5 with wind chills to -20. This is supposed to continue for the rest of the week and possibly even colder temps -10 and wind chills -25 later in the week.

So, can I continue to burn the XXV? With the fire burning low and into the tube, could I have a hopper fire? My husband says he doesn't think it should be a problem, but...... What do you guys think? Should I be concerned?
 
It's tuff to make a suggestion on your issue. I personally would plug up those 5 holes close to the auger and let the stove run. It's those 5 holes that provide the air to burn the pellets so close to auger. If there is no hot ambers around the auger tube I'de feel comfortable with burning. I'd also watch that you run the stove on stove temp vs. room temp so that the stove does not die down to very low burn or shut down since that would put the hot pellets very close to the auger tube. I would suspect you see a big difference in the burn once those holes are plugged. Maybe a tech on here will chime in and give some advice as well.
 
Got a call back this morning from the technician. He said he had gotten a response from the Harman rep. and that in good faith they will replace the burn pot and sounds like the feed tube as well. The tech had not checked out the 2 part #'s yet that the rep gave him to order, but does sound like the feed tube is one of them and the other the burn pot. He said the rep said that we could continue to burn the stove until spring and have the parts replaced then so that we don't go without the stove during the coldest part of winter.

Due to the length of commute between our home and the dealer, the tech said they will probably do the repair on site. Either in the house if during winter or if spring/summer they will take it out to their trailer to do the repair. He said it is my call and to let him know when we wanted to do it.

What's the consensus here? Should we wait, or just go a head and have it done ASAP? My husband thinks wait and my gut feeling is get it done soon.
 
marylu said:
.....What's the consensus here? Should we wait, or just go a head and have it done ASAP? My husband thinks wait and my gut feeling is get it done soon.

I'm with you...get it done ASAP so you can burn the stove worry free.

BTW, their not charging you a "service fee" to come to your house, are they??
 
I believe they will, but as it is $35 and it is approximately 120 miles round trip or about 2 hours travel time. That is their normal service trip fee and I really don't mind paying that. Considering the distance, I feel it is fair.
 
I'm with macman, get it done now, then you won't find yourself checking it every day wondering if it's getting worse...............
 
IMO do it now....while the issue is still fresh on their minds too.
 
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