Boom

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bayfeet

Member
Jan 12, 2009
80
Central Mass
Harman accentra insert, when opening the door to scrape off ashes, I get an explosion. I realize it's not a good idea to open the door while the stove is running, so I always open slowly. Got a delayed bang/explosion a couple of seconds after opening the door. What concerns me is this most recent bang seem to throw ash and embers. Oak installed about six feet up the flue and cap termination with air holes at end if liner. Is this a backdraft situation? Ed
 
you should not open the door well the stove is running it is. it sounds like the the stove is reversing this is causing the stove to be starved of oxygen and in turn you are building up gasses in in the fire box, when the gases meet the air from the room it is causing a small explosion. not good
 
you should not open the door well the stove is running it is. it sounds like the the stove is reversing this is causing the stove to be starved of oxygen and in turn you are building up gasses in in the fire box, when the gases meet the air from the room it is causing a small explosion. not good
Is there any way to eliminate this from happening other than not opening the door? I like to keep the ash of the burn pot. always kept clean. Major cleaning after each ton.
 
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you could try disconnecting the oak that may work
 
I know my stove starts shut down when the door is opened. Should shutdown stove before scrapping burnpot. There is a balance of air in the combustion chamber of the stove created by the exhaust fan that is thrown out of balance by introducing air from the opened door - designed to have air source from the intake pipe that the OAK is attached to. Do not remove OAK ... manual recommends OAK installation.

I know I have seen comments about opening doors to scrape burn pots but why introduce a potential uncontrolled source of fire to your home? Perhaps those that do this idle the stove down... Shut down is the safest.
 
this has nothing to do with normally operation you are changing the pressure in the unit buy opening the door it is a forced system and by the door being open that disrupts the whole system the other thing that is contributing to this if i read your post right is that your oak goes up may be part of this effect of the the boom
 
I have had my stove for over 5 years and have opened the door to scrape the burn pot nearly every day that it is running. I have never had an explosion or felt I put myself in danger doing this. I don't have an insert so maybe this is something unique to that set up, but I don't remember anyone posting about explosions in their inserts. Maybe someone who owns one will chime in here. Seems very odd to me.
 
I have an Accentra insert, (with OAK) and do a scrape on a daily basis with the stove running, and have never experienced this. The person at the showroom where i bought my stove did it as a demonstration to show me how to scrape on a running floor model Accentra insert, several times (not saying that he was correct in doing so,)
 
No issues here either. I tend to slowly open the door while its running to let the flames die down a bit, then scrape away!!

RC
 
I think your vertical OAK is acting like a flue when the door is open.Hot combustion gases rise into the OAK and when fresh room air, drafting down through the embers gets them hot enough they ignite the gases.
 
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I have had my stove for over 5 years and have opened the door to scrape the burn pot nearly every day that it is running. I have never had an explosion or felt I put myself in danger doing this. I don't have an insert so maybe this is something unique to that set up, but I don't remember anyone posting about explosions in their inserts. Maybe someone who owns one will chime in here. Seems very odd to me.

x2!!!
 
On my 3rd Harman. Never noticed anything like that. I think Harman even recommends a daily scraping of the burn pot. If that's the case, I hardly think they mean to shut it down first. The manual also states the ash pan can be emptied DURING the stove's operation. That would obviously mean opening the door (ash pan door)

When's the last time you cleaned/checked your stove's venting?
 
Harman shows in videos scraping the pot while running. I would suspect like P38, you may be having a venting issue. Time to get the brushes out and get dirty. Hope it isn't 15 below like it is here.:)
 
On my 3rd Harman. Never noticed anything like that. I think Harman even recommends a daily scraping of the burn pot. If that's the case, I hardly think they mean to shut it down first. The manual also states the ash pan can be emptied DURING the stove's operation. That would obviously mean opening the door (ash pan door)

When's the last time you cleaned/checked your stove's venting?
About 3 weeks ago, lint eater and shop vac. Probably burned almost a ton in that time.
On my 3rd Harman. Never noticed anything like that. I think Harman even recommends a daily scraping of the burn pot. If that's the case, I hardly think they mean to shut it down first. The manual also states the ash pan can be emptied DURING the stove's operation. That would obviously mean opening the door (ash pan door)

When's the last time you cleaned/checked your stove's venting?
 
About 3 weeks ago, lint eater and shop vac. Probably burned almost a ton in that time.
That's a lot of pellets in three weeks! I run two stoves and have only burned 1 1/2 tons in three months (cold nights in Oct.= burned pellets). I have an 1850 farmhouse with 1800 sq. ft.
 
Your stoves a pig!
 
Bayfeet. That's a lot in three weeks.
 
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