Another ignitor bites the dust

Dayyum that stinks. I'd probably be inclined to
manually light my stove in that case.

There was a thread on Harman ignitors last month:

DAKSY said:

Harman had a BAD run of igniters up until last year...
Their inventory of the crummy ones should be pretty well
depleted by now.
If you run the resistance test on em before they're installed,
you should be getting a reading of 45 - 49 ohms.
Those are the good ones...
The bad ones were in the 49 - 54 ohms range.

Click to expand...

Hope this helps,
Jay
Harman Advance

Also remember to pull the ignitor wires under the fire pot away from heat. From my manual: "It is very important that these connections are to the inside rear of the feeder body. Also, the extra wire of the igniter wire service loop must be pulled out through the rear of the feeder and tied up so that it will not be damaged by any moving parts."

Also, I've done well using charcoal lighter fluid instead of gel (didn't have any). DO NOT pour fluid into the burn pot but take about 3 cubic inches of pellets in a can and soak them lightly with about 1 oz charcoal lighter fluid. Mix the pellets in the can by rotating it for at least a minute until the liquid is absorbed evenly. Empty the treated pellets into your burn pot and light as if you used gel.

Best of luck,
Jay
BurningMan
Playing with fire since 1955. :coolsmile:
Harman Advance

How many fins do the new ignitors have that have been put in your unit? If they have 13, they are the new style, if they have 10 then they are old (not so good).
Cleanliness under the burnpot also helps with ignitor life, as restricted airflow burns those out quick... also, proper door seals make a huge difference, because it allows extra air to suck in around the door instead of by the ignitor, causing it to burn up.

Quadrafire (their parent) had a batch of the same ignitors. Why do I suspect somebody outsourced to cheap Chinese crap?

my ignitor just burnt out. I am now using the 'sheet of paper and a match method"

Turn my accentra on to manual ignition mode & feed pellets into the pot
roll the paper into a pointy tube
open door to stove
stick the pointy end into the pellets
pile a handful or two of pellets on top of the paper
light the end of the paper that is sticking out
let it burn with the door open until the fire is inside the burn pot, next to the pellets
close the door - the flame gets blown out, but the fire keeps creeping along. in a couple of minutes it's under the pellets. a couple of minutes after that, you have ignition

I got no igniter, never did, Gel is my best friend, once i fire my stove up and it run's a week between cleanings there's no need for it.

I must be getting the bad ones. Gone through three this winter. Last month or so been using Hand Sanitizing Gel. Works great. 90% alcohol so it burns great. Will get a new ingniter when I have the technician do the annual Spring Cleaning.

Does anyone do preventive replacement before the igniter breaks? I'm finishing my second season and maybe replacing on my Harman would be a waste. I don't mind starting manually if I'm home. But wouldn't want to lose temperature control if I am out of the house early and back really late.

Are you running in stove or room temp. My advice is if you have to have it in room temp put it into manual mode.

Eric

Eric, thanks for the suggestion.

Double check my measurements without the fins

3/8" diameter > 3 1/2" long > 350 watts > TEMPCO Serial : HDC00263

4NJF7 in the Grainger Catalog p. 4065 $21.35

gel? ugh that sounds messy and annoying. When I bought my stove 2 seasons ago, I picked up a torch and 1 can of propane. I haven't replaced it yet, and I'm able to start my fire in a couple of minutes with out having to mix anything or buy more gel.

The whole issue with the ignitor is why I was kinda happy to go with the entry level pellet stove, that didn't have an auto ignite feature.


Sorry to hear of those that are having issues :/