Harman Advance stopped feeding on the coldest day of the year (in other words, help!)

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abrucerd

Member
Aug 22, 2007
221
Central MA
got home today to a full hopper and a cold stove. Looks like it shut down 2 or 3 hours after I left for work.

Turned it back on and everything lit up, including the feed motor light but the auger wasn't running. I had noticed over the weekend that it the status light was giving me three blinks, according to the manual: Indicates ESP (Exhaust Sensing Probe) failure. This requires a manual reset*. Manual reset- disconnect power cord for a few seconds and reconnect. If error still occurs call your Dealer.

Unplugged for a minute, but auger still wouldn't budge.

I gave the back of the stove (which was very dusty) a good cleaning (had already cleaned the ash-pan and hopper on Saturday), hoping that would help... still nothing. Just as I was about to give up, I noticed the little white fan near the feed motor (or at least I think it's the feed motor) wasn't turning, so I gave it a nudge, and all of a sudden it started feeding.

It didn't sound right at all though... and as soon as the feed stopped, it wasn't able to start back up again on it's own... I had to keep flicking it to give it a jump start.

Since that isn't much of a long term solution, I called the (sigh) oil company for a emergency delivery... decided to post here while I wait, in case anyone had any ideas or has seen something like this before.

Coldest day of the year... figures.

Thanks in advance!
 
What generation is your stove?
Does it have a chain?

I think I know what the problem is. The grease in the auger motor is cooked, in other words its dried. Inside the box theres a bunch of gear wheels covered with grease. Overtime it dries out and the wheels get stuck.
Thats why when you move the white fan it gives it a jumpstart, but until the gears gets rid of that dried grease it will stuck.

remove the box, open it up, remove the grease inside and make sure you dont let the wheels come out otherwise you are going to have a hard time putting them back.
Put in fresh new grease and you will be set.
 
Or call your dealer and get a replacement motor. They are easy to change out. Cost $125? About a 20 min. job. you will need a set of allen wrenches. You probably have the chain drive. Which takes the 4rpm ccw motor.
 
Yes, it has a chain.

Thank you both for the suggestions. I'm anxiously waiting for the Stove place down the street to open so I can get someone to look at it ASAP.
 
Unless the stove is still under warranty he should save his money and just open the feeder motor and add some grease to it.
Takes 10 minutes to do.

With this said I think its a design flaw of Harman. For whatever reason they use grease that overtime dries out and sticks??? Weird.
 
Rule #1, always have some oil on hand.
 
Amaralluis said:
Unless the stove is still under warranty he should save his money and just open the feeder motor and add some grease to it.
Takes 10 minutes to do.

With this said I think its a design flaw of Harman. For whatever reason they use grease that overtime dries out and sticks??? Weird.

maybe good advice....heck, if the gearbox is kaput, you arent going to HURT it any more by adding the grease! Could also be a bad spot on the electric motor which runs the gearbox tho........as Amar says, be careful pulling it apart, because if those gears come spilling out, youre cooked. Or buy a new gearbox.
 
rickwa said:
Or call your dealer and get a replacement motor. They are easy to change out. Cost $125? About a 20 min. job.

Rick was right on the money. The guy was in and out... the new motor cost 95, and another 75 for labor. Done is less than a half hour... and now the oil is off and the stove has new life.

All is well.
 
Try cleaning the ESP. Pull it out and wipe it clean with glass cleaner. It may have to be replaced if cleaning doesn't work. Very simple to do. Message my and I'll explain how.
 
abrucerd said:
rickwa said:
Or call your dealer and get a replacement motor. They are easy to change out. Cost $125? About a 20 min. job.

Rick was right on the money. The guy was in and out... the new motor cost 95, and another 75 for labor. Done is less than a half hour... and now the oil is off and the stove has new life.

All is well.

Oh man, you couldve saved 165bucks if you tried to grease the motor. I did that last night, and it was pretty simple really.
Removed the old grease and added new one so hopefully this one doesnt dry out making the gears stick.
 
Did the repair guy leave the old motor with you or take it?
could end up being used in the next repair job he has to do :smirk:
 
Grease doesn't always work.
It sounded more like the rotor and stator were binding, or a bad spot on one of the gears.
Must be inflation those motors were under $80 bucks a few years ago...LOL
FWIW I had a spare gearbox on hand at all times mine would always fail on a weekend, still have one now and don't have a stove...Funnny how life works huh?
 
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