Invincible T Burn pot troubles

xNOCx said:

I have a 92 Invincible T and its not keeping the pot full and burning back to the auger. I have tried adjusting the auger and will keep it full if i burn at a heat setting of 4 and up for an hour or so then it creeps back to the auger. I have checked to see if i am getting air from the hopper but opening the lid doesn't change the flame. checked the door seal, motor seals, cleaned the heat exchanger tubes and vacuumed every nook and cranny i could get too in the process, the flame guide is in good condition.I have cleaned the crap out of this thing and its still doing it. is something misaligned? can the burn pot be removed and reset or is i welded in place? is there a gasket there?

Here is a little back history on it. previous owner never cleaned and control board has been replaced, the burn pot was full of charcoal cooked into the pot and all holes at the edge of the burn pot were blocked. chipped out all the crap and cleaned the holes. cleaned out inside the burn pot where the blower pushes the air to the holes. puts out heat like crazy but want proper operation. thanks

Click to expand...

You are going to want to pull the stove out and remove the auger assembly. Once out, I bet that you have creosote and fines debris clogging the feeder drop chute. if so, it's a bear to clean that out properly. 10 hrs of work the last time I deconstructed the weldment to remove it and clean. I betcha that's it. Do you have inconsistent feed issues??

There is just one rubber band gasket around the auger bushing.

I have the same stove as you, a '93 model. I got it last spring and after replacing the ESP I'm just now getting acquainted with it, and how to adjust the settings, etc. So far I'm very impressed with the heat output. Tonite it's burning nicely on a stove temp setting of 2 1/2, with a feed rate of 5 1/2 turns. You mentioned that your flame doesn't change when you open the hopper lid, and that your hopper seal may be leaking air. When I open my hopper lid the flame leans towards the front glass and a lot of sparks are generated, so if yours wasn't sealed properly I would expect you would see this same type of flame. I think you could save yourself some $$ by replacing the seal with some 1/4" closed-cell foam weather stripping, rather than going to a Harman dealer. Just make sure the seal is continuous at the corners when you stick it on. Good luck.

xNOCx said:

Possibly fixed or atleast fixed 1 part of the problem. I had the bright Idea of using duct tape on all sealed seams on the harman. then i put a small mound of ash right infront of the auger. pressed the start button and poof all the ash few away. GERR.. so now what? rechecked all seals. Grabbed a candle and lit it and blew it out and then used the smoke to follow where the air intake problem is... by accident i found the leak on the door of the hopper. I opened the hopper lid and felt down by the feed block and clearly sucking air. then I noticed there was adhesive remains arround the edge where the hopper lid sits. So i am calling the local harman dealer to ask about a seal. feel stupid for missing that one. so i duct taped the lid and put more ash infront of the auger and pressed the start button and it stayed, opened and closed the door a few times and stayed... well atleast I know this baby is clean and now after i get a gasket/seal for the lid we will do a test burn. I am praying this will fix my feed problem by controlling the air flow but maybe i am being to optimistic

Guess we will see

Click to expand...

That was some fine detective work. But it really is a win/win. Fixed the problem, probably cost you VERY little money, and you won't have to clean that area of the stove for a long time. Well done.

xNOCx said:

OK looks like that was only part of the Issue. I still see the flame crawl back to the auger and a CLEAR difference with the new seal for the hopper lid. I checked my gasket and fixed the area it was leaking. but its still burning back to the auger, it takes a lot more time but the majority of the flame looks to be coming from there instead of the leading edge of the burn pot. is this normal??? .

Click to expand...

With what you are describing it does seem like it may be normal, if I understand right. It sounds like you fixed the hopper lid leak... and the way to confirm that is burning with the lid closed.. and then open.. and observing a noticable change between the flame.

As for the burn pot... my experience is that flame should be coming from the back of the burnpot since the majority of the fuel is fed there and the deepest collection of pellets will stay there... in other words the collection of burning pellets vs ash should be from back to front Pellets then ash... If you have ash collecting against your auger during operation or are getting a layer of ash->pellets->ash then I'd be concerned. if its just Pellets right up against the auger burning like blazes and ash collecting on the ouside of your flame, then its normal as far as I'm concerned.

The only thing that I would question is if your feeder is working is too slow if you are not getting at least a good 3-4 inch wide collection of pellets burning when wide open. For me, wide open feed settings and stove temp mode up as high as it will go, I still don't lose pellets out the burnpot... I end up with an impressive 6" pile of pellets burning like crazy.. but it seems the more pellets that end up in the burn pot.. the more it will burn.

xNOCx said:

Ok no pictures flame was too bright to show what I am thinking is a problem. soo I used my wonderful artistic abillitys and MS Paint to make an illustration

Click to expand...

That is fantastic!


Brown is unburnt, Red Hot pellets, yellow flame.. Is the Ash all collecting in the right of your drawing?.

Tim_M said:

I have the same stove as you, a '93 model. I got it last spring and after replacing the ESP I'm just now getting acquainted with it, and how to adjust the settings, etc. So far I'm very impressed with the heat output. Tonite it's burning nicely on a stove temp setting of 2 1/2, with a feed rate of 5 1/2 turns. You mentioned that your flame doesn't change when you open the hopper lid, and that your hopper seal may be leaking air. When I open my hopper lid the flame leans towards the front glass and a lot of sparks are generated, so if yours wasn't sealed properly I would expect you would see this same type of flame. I think you could save yourself some $$ by replacing the seal with some 1/4" closed-cell foam weather stripping, rather than going to a Harman dealer. Just make sure the seal is continuous at the corners when you stick it on. Good luck.

Click to expand...

HI Tim, I have a 92 or 93 Harman T and have been having heat output issues. I've been reading the back you issues of the forum and discovered your posting above. Are you really experiencing all that heat at a T setting of 2.5 and feed rate of 5.5? I have my stove T on 7 and feed rate at 5 and it's still totally lame in terms of heat output. I have a new motor, new distribution fan, new esp fully cleaned out the horizontal chamber and the two vertical chambers. I've read a post where the burn pot was removed. I never did this, but after removing the two mounting bolts of the burn pot I can't seem to pop the burn pot off from the main stove body. any idea how to get the burn pot off and why the stove is lame for heat? I do have to prop the hopper lid open with a pellet to get a tight flame. Otherwise, the flame is lazy. I've tried everything! Thanks Brian