HELP!! This happened once before where the stove ran out, and when I refilled and started I noticed it didn't start. Then tried restarting again and still no start. Then third time I became suspicious and the auger was rotating backwards - not pushing the pellets into the burn pot. I have had this once before and I can't recall what I did to reverse this. If there is a consistent procedure can someone let me know please!! Its getting cold in here....
Harman P61A Auger Rotating Backwards
- Thread starter mgambuzza
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Good news - after multiple resets, swapping between stove and room temp mode, unplugging and plugging in, setting Feed rate to Test mode, and opening and closing main and top doors, the stove reverted to normal mode and the auger started feeding pellets into the hopper and fired up. What a PITA!! Glad to have heat once again!
Dog gone it - happening again! Going through the same routine but no results yet. The hopper ran out and while still in the shutdown phase, I refilled the hopper, and when I reinitiated the auger was spinning backwards. My only fear was that embers would be fed backwards into the hopper with the fresh fill of pellets. If anyone has any other suggestions let me know.
smwilliamson
The Stove Guy
I am assuming that this in the Quad. The motor for the Quad is DC (direct current) there is a capacitor that powers the motor and it is shorting out. To power a DC motor backwards you just invert the polarity. You will need a new capacitor.
Again after multiple attempts - unplugged and waited approx 20 minutes until stove cooled down. Plugged in and started operating normally.
mgambuzza- you are dealing with aP61, yes? Its unlikely that it is spinning backwards unless you have the wrong motor in there. If the auger is turning and nothing is entering the burnpot its likely you have an obstruction (like a log jam). Those motors are AC and even if you switch the wires around it will still spin only 1 way. If you ran out of pellets then you just need to put the stove into "test" in order to re-prime the auger. good luck
Delta-T said:
yep, those motors only run in one direction....they dont reverse unless you physically remove the motor, and turn it upside down. Harman puts both clockwise and counterclockwise motors in their stoves, depending upon model.......the chain drive models were CCW....the XXV, Accentra, and Advance. If the dealer grabbed the wrong motor by mistake, or if it were mislabelled, you very well could have the wrong gearmotor. I havent seen a harman motor run clockwise one minute, and CCW the next, the reason being exactly what Delta-T said above.
jtakeman
Minister of Fire
Lousyweather said:
I didn't think the AC shaded pole motors went backwards either. Unless you flipped the stack on it anyway. Had me scratching the noggin on this one! Some are saying the bixby stove will turn the motor backwards to clear a jam. But I don't think its possable to do that.
To the OP,
Are you physically watching the auger go backwards on the P61a? And then seeing it go forward again? Strange!!
smwilliamson
The Stove Guy
Jtakeman-if the bixby uses a DC motor it can be reversed, I've seen that same feature on a couple other units (Lennox Bella for 1), and of course they have DC motors. DC can be reversed just by switching the Pos and Neg of the power supply, so easy stuff.
jtakeman
Minister of Fire
Delta-T said:
Delta T, As far as I know the Bixby's are AC motors as well. Maybe Rona can verify this for us? I know some of the quads are using DC motors and they can reverse to clear jams. But I have never heard of an AC motor doing this unless there was reverse built into the windings. Plus the control would have to be able to switch between the different windings. Probably not worth the added expense to complete the task.
smwilliamson
The Stove Guy
Delta-T said:
You'd be making the motor then. Pellet stove manufacturers are merely resellers of re-purposed parts. Not a bad idea though...using a DC motor would make much more sense.
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