What could be the reason for a large crazy fire that ripples towards the door/glass all of a sudden? We are in our 3rd season with the P68. I clean the stove every week, my husband replaced the door gasket today because we thought that might be it. We have changed pellets but nothing else has changed. I also had to change the feed rate from 3 (whats its always been on) to 1 with these other pellets for whatever reason. Help...anyone?
Crazy fire all of a sudden??
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Another thought on my issue....this seems to have happened right after the last cleaning and the switch to the new pellets. We started the season with Somersets and now we are using American Wood Fibers. The flame is larger then usual and ripples towards the door instead of a more calmer compact flame that shoots up towards the heat exchangers. Hopefully I am communicating this right...this stove makes me nuts sometimes!! ;P
tjnamtiw
Minister of Fire
Are the new pellets a lot shorter? That would make them feed more and increase the flame. See my post on Carolina Wood Pellets.
My response is the exact opposite of Master of Fire's response. (He may be right to) This just my opinion. The Somersets are short. 1/4" to 3/4" max and the American Wood Fiber's are rather long. Averaging about 1" inch to 3". But a pellet change none the less will cause a change in Burn, Ash, and Heat. Maybe the larger pellets are taking longer to burn. The problem I have is bridging of the 3" long pellets across auger feed. Don't have a Harmon, know someone who has one. The bottom feed system is a lot different than my Top "drop" feed Quad. Many knowledgeable people on here that have Harmons and understand them better. Just my 2 cents. Its 2 degrees here in Sullivan, Ohio right now. 76 in the house.. Good luck and hope you get it figured out.
littlesmokey
Minister of Fire
Problem is simple, BAD AIR. Seriously, your issue is with the air adjustment in part and your burn pot for the other. You need to tweak the combustion air to maximize the burn. The flames should be closer to the somerset burn look, but don't expect to dial it in exactly. Add a little air to the combustion at a time and see the effect.
The crooked flame is likely a result of your burn pot not quite seated or an obstruction in the air way. This generally in my experience is because the holes in the burn pot are plugged, or blocked. Pull the burn pot and clean the heck out of it, Brush, scrape, soak, burnish, whatever. Then take a twist drill bit about 1/64th smaller than the holes and ream them out to the max. Don't use the drill, just the bit. clean where the pot mounts carefully and look for cracks or breaks, Reinstall and do the adjustments above.
The changes in the stove are from the changes in pellet brands. Nothing that is seriously wrong, just needs to be re-adjusted.
The crooked flame is likely a result of your burn pot not quite seated or an obstruction in the air way. This generally in my experience is because the holes in the burn pot are plugged, or blocked. Pull the burn pot and clean the heck out of it, Brush, scrape, soak, burnish, whatever. Then take a twist drill bit about 1/64th smaller than the holes and ream them out to the max. Don't use the drill, just the bit. clean where the pot mounts carefully and look for cracks or breaks, Reinstall and do the adjustments above.
The changes in the stove are from the changes in pellet brands. Nothing that is seriously wrong, just needs to be re-adjusted.
Thanks for the help...I'll shut er down again and do another cleaning even though I just did it lol. This seems to be a really touchy stove with pellets. We started with Pro pellets but they didnt seem to burn that hot...Michigans are a dirty dirty pellet that our stove doesnt like. The Somersets burned good but didnt get as hot as some people on here have experienced. For the price I wanted the AWF to do well but I think this is the last ton of those we buy. They are very long compared to anything else I've used. The air thing I don't understand. I've studied the stove guide and I don't think we have any adjustables on this stove for air.
Dexterday we live about 30 minutes from you, lol.
Dexterday we live about 30 minutes from you, lol.
bugzme
New Member
did you test the door gasket after new install to make sure it's tight ?
leaking air could be contributing to burn chamber irregularities.
leaking air could be contributing to burn chamber irregularities.
Is there a fuel gate or fuel adjustment? Tweak that if there is. I decided to use up some OHP's I had and they are 2" to 3" long. The Somersets I was set up for are about 1/4". I had to make a fuel adjustment. My stove always throws huge flames on start up until it levels out.
I'm pretty sure you cant adjust the combustion air on a Harmon though i may be wronglittlesmokey said:
newf lover
Minister of Fire
The only thing you can adjust is the feed rate. You already have it down to 1. Either you have some really funky pellets, or there's a leak somewhere. I've never turned my feed rate down that low. The P68 isn't that hard to keep clean, and since the change came right after you cleaned it and switched pellets, I doubt anything is blocked. Is there any way you can pick up a bag or 2 of some other brand of pellets to try out? If your stove acts the same way, you can at least eliminate the pellets as the culprit. If the stove acts the same when you try another pellet, I agree there must be some kind of leak, or maybe the ESP is damaged? Anyway, I would start by trying another brand which is the simplest thing to do and go from there.
I do have more Somersets. I'm Going to shut it down and clean it again, just to rule that out...I'll do the paper test on the new gasket. I'll switch pellets and see if maybe it's just these AWF's. We recently burned about 20 bags of Michigan pellets left from last season to get rid of them since they dont burn hot and are EXTREMELY ashy. Although I cleaned the stove, maybe those Michigans have the stove gummed up somewhere. In a way I hope it is the pellets because if its an air problem I dont know how I would ever figure it out since everything has been fine till now. I put the feed rate back on 3 as it was getting cold in here (7 degrees out) and I'll be watching the stove to make sure that partially burnt pellets aren't going over the edge before they are fully burnt. Hopefully its not a combination of things or this could be difficult to figure out.
newf lover
Minister of Fire
One last thought. You say you cleaned your stove, how about the venting? Maybe there's a clump of ash that's blocking things.
SmokeyTheBear
Minister of Fire
I love my P68, she eats everything that I throw in there and never even thinks twice about it.
There IS an air adjustment. If your stove was installed by a dealer, they should have set it; It is the small white plastic, recessed screw next to the igniter light. It adjusts for minimum draft. That being said, if it still burns fine with the Somersets, you are just seeing a difference created by the pellets, do not adjust the screw. If I don't clean for a while, sometimes I get what I refer to as 'sidewinders;' flames that come out of burn pot, curl over the top and then around to the front, but it is usually because of carbon build up or lots of ash on the edge of the pot.
There IS an air adjustment. If your stove was installed by a dealer, they should have set it; It is the small white plastic, recessed screw next to the igniter light. It adjusts for minimum draft. That being said, if it still burns fine with the Somersets, you are just seeing a difference created by the pellets, do not adjust the screw. If I don't clean for a while, sometimes I get what I refer to as 'sidewinders;' flames that come out of burn pot, curl over the top and then around to the front, but it is usually because of carbon build up or lots of ash on the edge of the pot.
Well, an easy fix but boy do I feel dumb! I shut the stove down and cleaned and inspected and there is a little door under the burn pot where the ignitor is...its held on by two wingnuts and screws, I must not of got it tight enough because the door slid down a bit (was open). Fixed it and got it going again and its back to normal. Only thing is I did the paper test on the gasket and I was able to pull the paper out but my fire is good, go figure! I also used the Somersets. I'll use the AWF'S when the Somersets are gone. The auger doesn't like those long AWF'S, it makes lots of noise when feeding those and I have to turn the feed rate way down because of the way they burn. Thanks for the help!
Long pellets? Try Lignetics. These are the longest pellets I have used so far, some are almost 2 inches long. Makes quite a noise when my Accentra auger breaks one. AWF's have the shortest of any pellets I have used. My choice so far.
melkyleb2002 said:
Glad you fixed it.
FWIW, I slid my door on from the top so that gravity holds it in place. Still have to make sure the screws are tight, but I clean in there every week or so, so it not a big worry.
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