At the end of my rope! Harman guru please help!

I am having some serious problems with my Harman Accentra insert. At first the circulation blower moter was seized and not working, and I had to replace it about 3 times (due to being worked over by the place I bought it from, I won't go into the details). Then back in October I was having trouble with the stove as a whole working. I thought it was the main circuit board, but the tech told me to try a new igniter instead. I took his advice and it worked great up until about two weeks ago. The issues I am having now are that when I turn my stove on everything comes on as normal, but when it is time for the corculator blower to come on nothing happens, and when I turn all of the knobs off it has no effect and it may stay on for hours. I can unplug it, but as soon as I plug it back in everything turns right back on, regardless of the fact all the knobs are still off. I currently have taken the circulator moter off and given it a thorough cleaning, as well as tested it independantly of the stoves electronics and it works like a charm; I have replaced the main circuit board, and I changed the ignitor last October. I really have no idea what else to do. I really can't afford a service call, I would much rather do what I can before I resort to that.
Thank you all in advance for any advice you can offer.
Noah G.

Some other details will get some better help. Age of stove. Vent length and last time cleaned. Last time ESP cleaned. The ESP on Harmans are vital for the stoves control. Check the thread titled Harman ESP Test.

Thank you for the reply. The stove will be 5 years old in april. I am no tore how to chech the length of the vent, but the stove gets cleaned about twice a week. As for the ESP, I understand that is used only when the stove is running on the "Stove Temp" setting. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that, but I only run it on the "Room Temp" setting, so I'm under the impression that the ESP isn't a factor.
Noah G.

you say that if you unplug the stove and then later plug it back in everything comes right back on even though the knob is in the off position but how long do you wait to plug it back in? when the stove is in the off position but continuing to run is the status light still on or off or possibly blinking? I'm trying to narrow down the possible issues you may have, even if you unplug the stove and then plug it back in if you did not wait long enough to let the stove cool down it will automatically regardless if you have it in the off position try to cool the stove down properly, which yes in many instances includes feeding pellets for 3-5 seconds out of every 60 seconds to try to slowly decrease the heat but if there is a problem with your distribution fan the stove will have a very hard time getting to a low enough heat to stop the "feed idling"

I will have to check the status light next time I test it. And most of the time when it's cold it will not just turn back on when I plug it in, but occasionally it will. Also I'm not sure about the distribution blower, if I have tested it seperately from the stove and it runs like a champ, could it still be a bad motor?
And apparently I can't spell, as the line in my last post about the vent should have read "I'm not sure how to check the length of the vent". lol
Noah G.

most likely if you plug your motor directly into power and it runs like a champ it is a perfectly fine motor, i would with the stove plugged in but turned to the off position and all the lights are off except the power light turn the feed rate to the test mode, in test mode all three motors (combustion, distribution, and auger) should run, if your in test mode and you cant feel air blowing out of the heat exchanger you either have a bad motor, bad wiring/wire connection, or bad control board

Read the top of the page "How your Harman Works" Explains the vital role the esp plays in the control of your stove. The ESP controls feed rate in both room or stove modes.

The ESP is the single most important component of a Harman Stove. It is needed/used for the stove to operate in either mode. When was the last time you cleaned it (the ESP) AND the venting beyond the stove?

You may have something wired backward through the commons. Most stoves have a common wire (white) which all of the components tie into and the control board sends the power by switching off the hot leads...you will notice that on your harman, each component has a white common wire which comes back to the control board independently, you may have the igniter and the distribution blower commons reversed, check the white wire coming off the vac switch and make sure its going to the board not the room blower and visa versa.

Sounds like a bad esp. ESP. The esp controls almost all functions of the stove. Regardless of if it is in stove temp or room temp.

concur....bad ESP, OR clogged air tube leading to the ESP, OR the esp chamber in back is loaded with ash.....you can access this area if you pull the stove out and remove the combustion fan................

it is the esp that turns the dist. blower on but if the esp is reading hot enough to keep the feed motor going even when the stove is in the off position, assuming what we are being told is accurate, then unless he is running it in stove temp manual light (fire viewing mode) he should have the dist. blower on as well trying to cool down the stove...its tough to say though with out knowing more info. or being there to test things with a ddm or dmm

Where abouts are you located? Adding that info to your Avatar may help with a service person (on the cheap) or a Member that may be close with some time and knowledge to help.

Update: After finding a really good explanation of how to clean the stove fully as well as the original manual, I have found out that I have not replace the circulator motor, but the combustion blower. I have located the circulator and tested it with external power and I can hear the motor trying to work, but the fan is not turning. I am going to clean it as best as I can and try it again. I have also cleaned the ESP sensor and its chamber really well.
Thank you all for your replies. I will keep you posted.
Noah G.

Thanks for the heads up on this. It was a really informative article, especially for a total newbie like me.

So I am trying to get to the circulator blower assembly, but I only have a couple of inches underneath the stove to gain access to it. Is there any way to get to it from the top or do I just need to figure out a way to get the stove high enough to get it from underneath?

if you have a raised hearth you may be able to put together something to slide the stove out onto and work on it that way, if its floor level i normally put down a folded up moving blanket and lay the stove down on its face (glass down) if the blanket is thick enough and folded enough it wont put enough stress on the handle to damage it

Maybe a little oil and a good cleaning will get you through the season and give you time to get line on a reasonably priced replacement.
Good luck

when we replace them, we generally raise the stove slightly....disconnect the pipe, put the stove up on blocks...

I'm having a similar issue with my Accentra insert. A few days ago, I had a three flash code (ESP) and the distribution blower would not start - but it was humming like it was getting power but would not spin.

I pulled the insert out and cleaned the whole thing from top to bottom. I pulled the distribution blower and cleaned it thoroughly. You could eat off it the thing was so clean.

I put it all back together and it worked fine until this morning, when the distribution blower would not spin again. Once again, it is humming like it has power, but will not spin. I suspect the ESP is bad, but there is no "three flash code". Maybe my distribution blower is dying? I hope not - they are $400 here in Canada.

Before I start replacing parts, any thoughts are appreciated!

to test the motor you can shut the stove down and turn the feed adjuster to "test" mode all three stove motors should come on, just open the front door to prevent the stove from feeding pellets and let it run for a while. you should see the distribution blower light light up on the control board. If you feel the air blowing out the front of the stove let it run for a while and see if it stops, maybe the "bearing" is seizing up once it gets hot. try it out and let us know what happens. (usually the control board will alternate the speed setting of the blower while in test so if it speeds up and slows down about every minute as long as the light dims and brightens on the control board as the blower speeds up and slows down the stove is acting normal for test mode)