HarmanP61A shutdown ?

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Bigjim13

Bigjim13

Minister of Fire
Jan 5, 2009
588
Central Vermont
Did a search on this and didn't really find much. I have been praising the P61A for awhile now, so I guess I was due for an issue, here goes...

Called my wife from work today to let her know I was on my way home and asked her to shut the stove off. I planned on cleaning it. This was around 1:30 PM. The stove kept feeding and running in the off position and finally at 4:30 the stove had not shut off and actually was still feeding and burning pellets. At this point I knew it was going to be getting colder and wasn't going to have the light to do the cleaning I wanted to, so I turned it back to stove temp and let it go.

I'm a bit concerned for 2 reasons. 1) if I let it run out of pellets to shut down then clean it will I have an issue restarting? 2) What could the problem be that only affects shutdown? All other functions of the stove, whether room or stove temp seem to be fine.
 
Damn, nobody has any thoughts on this??
 
I have never had or heard of this problem. I always run on stove temp and when I shut it down I also turn the setting as low as it will go. Do you happen to to turn it to the lowest setting when you are shutting it down?
 
rex66 said:
I have never had or heard of this problem. I always run on stove temp and when I shut it down I also turn the setting as low as it will go. Do you happen to to turn it to the lowest setting when you are shutting it down?
Click to expand...

I turned the dial to the off position, after awhile when I noticed it wasn't shutting down, I turned the temp all the way off. It's weird that it won't shut down. I'm giving it another try this morning. I emptied the pellets out of the hopper so eventually it will have to shut down as it will have no fuel...
 
It is one of 2 things. The esp probe is bad. It is not reading the correct temp, or the circuit board is bad. try shutting down and doing a very good cleaning before changing parts. I think i can remember this scenario on a very dirty plugged up stove. try unplugging stove for a few seconds and plugging back in and see if that breaks the cycle. let us know the outcome
 
I wish I could be more help. I've had my p61A 6 years and it has not done that yet. I do often wonder how long that ESP probe is going to last. It looks like hell but I'll probably wait to have an issue before I change it.
Do keep us updated.

I'm cleaning mine this morning as I do most Sunday mornings in the coldest part of winter and feeling pretty lucky that I've had so few issues. CB potentiometers have been about it.
 
rickwa said:
It is one of 2 things. The esp probe is bad. It is not reading the correct temp, or the circuit board is bad. try shutting down and doing a very good cleaning before changing parts. I think i can remember this scenario on a very dirty plugged up stove. try unplugging stove for a few seconds and plugging back in and see if that breaks the cycle. let us know the outcome
Click to expand...

Waiting for it to shut down and cool off now, i emptied the hopper of pellets-which is funny since the manual actually says the best way to shut down is to let it run out of pellets. Then I am going to give it a good cleaning and hope that helps. If it was the circuit board though, wouldn't I be having problems elsewhere? And if it was the ESP probe wouldn't it do the opposite when I was running it? WOuldn't it just keep getting hotter and hotter?
 
rex66 said:
I wish I could be more help. I've had my p61A 6 years and it has not done that yet. I do often wonder how long that ESP probe is going to last. It looks like hell but I'll probably wait to have an issue before I change it.
Do keep us updated.

I'm cleaning mine this morning as I do most Sunday mornings in the coldest part of winter and feeling pretty lucky that I've had so few issues. CB potentiometers have been about it.
Click to expand...

I hear ya, it's my 3rd year with the stove and I also have had almost no issues! Matter of fact I really love the stove!

After the hopper was emtpy though I did notice that there seemed to be alot of sawdust in the hopper and now that I can see into the auger/burn area I see alot of sawdust. Wondering if the sawdust has clogged the stove up somehow.

Anyway, just waiting for it to cool now and shut down. If it doesn't shut down soon I may just unplug it to shut it off.
 
Bigjim13,
Do you also remove the burn-pot clean out cover from underneath and get all of the fines (sawdust) out? I make sure I do this every week. If they bunch up down there they can wreak havoc on start ups. Some pellets give off a lot more than others. I have never had an issue with them gathering anywhere except under the burn-pot and the feed mechanism itself which I only clean out once a year and there are not too many in there.
 
rex66 said:
Bigjim13,
Do you also remove the burn-pot clean out cover from underneath and get all of the fines (sawdust) out? I make sure I do this every week. If they bunch up down there they can wreak havoc on start ups. Some pellets give off a lot more than others. I have never had an issue with them gathering anywhere except under the burn-pot and the feed mechanism itself which I only clean out once a year and there are not too many in there.
Click to expand...

I cleaned that out about 2 weeks ago, figured I would check it again now while the stove is off as I was seeing alot of sawdust in the stove. There was a decent amount in there, not as much as the last time I cleaned it out though. I just pulled out and cleaned the ESP probe, dirty but not overly so. Vaccumed out the combustion fan, and the exhaust pipes leading away from the stove, cleaned the burnpot, the igniter area, heat exchangers, took an old paintbrush to the exchangers and the walls to get the fly ash. I know I must be missing something, taking a 5 min break now as I have been at it for about an hr.
 
Bigjim13 said:
Did a search on this and didn't really find much. I have been praising the P61A for awhile now, so I guess I was due for an issue, here goes...

Called my wife from work today to let her know I was on my way home and asked her to shut the stove off. I planned on cleaning it. This was around 1:30 PM. The stove kept feeding and running in the off position and finally at 4:30 the stove had not shut off and actually was still feeding and burning pellets. At this point I knew it was going to be getting colder and wasn't going to have the light to do the cleaning I wanted to, so I turned it back to stove temp and let it go.

I'm a bit concerned for 2 reasons. 1) if I let it run out of pellets to shut down then clean it will I have an issue restarting? 2) What could the problem be that only affects shutdown? All other functions of the stove, whether room or stove temp seem to be fine.
Click to expand...

I have seen this on our stove also. At least it sounds the same.
It seems like it could/might be a bad spot on the control knob pot or program on control board hung up????
I have cycled power off then on once I think the knob is in the OFF position.
This usually takes care of the situation.
I probably should contact the dealer about this after the heating season is over.

Hope this helps!!

Side Note: We love the stove and will be saving over $600 this season by burning pellets.
4 tons@199/ton vs 500 gal oil at $2.89/gal (Budget Plan) 500 gal is the reduction seen. 925gal before 425gal after
 
lessoil said:
Bigjim13 said:
Did a search on this and didn't really find much. I have been praising the P61A for awhile now, so I guess I was due for an issue, here goes...

Called my wife from work today to let her know I was on my way home and asked her to shut the stove off. I planned on cleaning it. This was around 1:30 PM. The stove kept feeding and running in the off position and finally at 4:30 the stove had not shut off and actually was still feeding and burning pellets. At this point I knew it was going to be getting colder and wasn't going to have the light to do the cleaning I wanted to, so I turned it back to stove temp and let it go.

I'm a bit concerned for 2 reasons. 1) if I let it run out of pellets to shut down then clean it will I have an issue restarting? 2) What could the problem be that only affects shutdown? All other functions of the stove, whether room or stove temp seem to be fine.
Click to expand...

I have seen this on our stove also. At least it sounds the same.
It seems like it could/might be a bad spot on the control knob pot or program on control board hung up????
I have cycled power off then on once I think the knob is in the OFF position.
This usually takes care of the situation.
I probably should contact the dealer about this after the heating season is over.

Hope this helps!!

Side Note: We love the stove and will be saving over $600 this season by burning pellets.
4 tons@199/ton vs 500 gal oil at $2.89/gal (Budget Plan) 500 gal is the reduction seen. 925gal before 425gal after
Click to expand...

That could be it, after i emtied the hopper (there was a bit left) i let it run for a little while then shut it off again. After about 30 min it finally shut down. I'm just about done cleaning now so we shall see. The odd part is that it didn't affect the temp controls in stove or room temp mode, I don't know. As long as it starts back up and cranks out heat I will be happy.

On a side note: This is our third year with the stove, this year we will save around $500 as well figuring that we could have locked in a pre buy for oil at around $2.80/gal x 500 gal = $1400. With pellets 4 tons @ $230= $920. If oil keeps going up, and I suspect it will, the stove will have just about paid for itself in 3 years.
 
I just remembered one other thing.
Last year I attended a free Harman seminar.
Here is a copy of what I posted:

We are entering our 3rd year with our Harman.
We run in “Room Temp†mode as it will hold room temp if outside temp goes up or down.
I attended a seminar last year put on by the Northeast Tech.
Here are the highlights

He covered maintenance & cleaning items and answered many questions.

Key items that I picked up on:
1) He noted that if the best part of a Pine tree and the best part of an Oak tree were used to make pellets, there would be little difference in performance.
He did give a slight advantage to softwood for ash. The main differences are introduced by the manufacturer.
2) The combustion fan speed should be set to middle position. Ours is maxed out which he said can lower the burn pot temp.
3) The �Fines� catch box needs to be cleaned every 1-2 yrs. I plan to check every year.
4) The new style ignitors have 15 fins vs 13 on older ones.
5) Clean the ESP probe gently with water, alcohol and even Gin. I�ll drink the Gin instead!
6) If the ESP probe gets bent even a little, it is most probably bad. Thin wire inside is not supposed to touch the sides.
7) He said that running the stove in �Room Temp� mode is the most efficient mode.
8) Suggested spraying a light coat of WD-40 to the inside for Summer months to prevent rust. Spraying burn pot area OK also.
9) Stove shutdowns: Have noticed that the stove actually feeds pellets while shutting down. (Turning temp down)
This is normal and is an attempt to prevent fire making its� way past the auger and into the hopper. GOOD IDEA!!

*****See #9****
 
lessoil said:
I just remembered one other thing.
Last year I attended a free Harman seminar.
Here is a copy of what I posted:

We are entering our 3rd year with our Harman.
We run in “Room Temp†mode as it will hold room temp if outside temp goes up or down.
I attended a seminar last year put on by the Northeast Tech.
Here are the highlights

He covered maintenance & cleaning items and answered many questions.

Key items that I picked up on:
1) He noted that if the best part of a Pine tree and the best part of an Oak tree were used to make pellets, there would be little difference in performance.
He did give a slight advantage to softwood for ash. The main differences are introduced by the manufacturer.
2) The combustion fan speed should be set to middle position. Ours is maxed out which he said can lower the burn pot temp.
3) The �Fines� catch box needs to be cleaned every 1-2 yrs. I plan to check every year.
4) The new style ignitors have 15 fins vs 13 on older ones.
5) Clean the ESP probe gently with water, alcohol and even Gin. I�ll drink the Gin instead!
6) If the ESP probe gets bent even a little, it is most probably bad. Thin wire inside is not supposed to touch the sides.
7) He said that running the stove in �Room Temp� mode is the most efficient mode.
8) Suggested spraying a light coat of WD-40 to the inside for Summer months to prevent rust. Spraying burn pot area OK also.
9) Stove shutdowns: Have noticed that the stove actually feeds pellets while shutting down. (Turning temp down)
This is normal and is an attempt to prevent fire making its� way past the auger and into the hopper. GOOD IDEA!!

*****See #9****
Click to expand...

Very interesting, I wonder if because we had been running it on a fairly high temp (its been really cold here the last week) that it just took longer to shut down than normal?

I just finished the cleaning, it needed it. Started it up and heard a whine coming from somewhere in the stove. I narrowed it down to the combustion blower behind the ash box (I scraped alot of flyash and cleaned that area out good) or the combustion blower behind the stove.

It lit up fine and is heating like a champ, just can't seem to find where that whine is coming from. I'm going to let it run for a bit and check it out later...
 
As far as i know, the stove uses the ESP sensor reading when shutting down.
It has to below a certain temp before the combustion blower shuts down.
Stay warm as below 0 temps are on the way again!
 
noelp68 said:
Is that wine only when auger is feeding pellets? If so clean fines with vacuum from slide plate.
Click to expand...

Nope, I did clean the slide plate and the fine deflector area. It was a constant whine whiel the combustion blower was running. I cleaned a good amount of ash from the fan blades though and may have jarred someting out or got something caught. It seems to have gone away though, gonna keep an eye on it too!
 
since no one has mentioned it yet..
When you say it keeps feeding pellets, is it the normal feed or only a small amount?
if it's a small amount the stove is trying to control how fast it cools down, cast iron cooling too quickly causes cracking. (almost looks like maintenance burn)
At some preset temp it will stop feeding pellets, then wait till they burn out and the stove ESP hits another preset temp then the Comb blower will stop.
If the stove has been cranking away at a high temp it can take a while to shut itself off.
never heard of 3 hours though
 
GVA said:
since no one has mentioned it yet..
When you say it keeps feeding pellets, is it the normal feed or only a small amount?
if it's a small amount the stove is trying to control how fast it cools down, cast iron cooling too quickly causes cracking. (almost looks like maintenance burn)
At some preset temp it will stop feeding pellets, then wait till they burn out and the stove ESP hits another preset temp then the Comb blower will stop.
If the stove has been cranking away at a high temp it can take a while to shut itself off.
never heard of 3 hours though
Click to expand...

I think it was hinted at above and now thinking back to it I think that may have been the issue. I guess what threw me was that it took nearly 3 hours and it was still very warm after that 3 hrs had gone by. I don't know, I let it run out of pellets today and it shut down ok, so who knows.

I guess I have been running it hotter than I am used to, its been cold here, so that may have attributed to the issue.
 
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