Harman P-61 slide plate

[grandfanda]

I'm hoping someone can help me with what I'm sure is a simple issue. We are burning Okanagans this year purchased at BJ's. We love the heat output but apparently this was "bad" batch of okies because they are loaded with fines. Which brings me to my problem.
Pellets are not feeding on my Harman P-61. The auger motor and fan are working properly and the auger turns just fine. I suspect that the fines from the pellets are affecting the slide plate and/or the feed tube. I removed the wing nut and piece that exposes the slide plate assembly but I can't remove the slide plate itself. The part of the slide plate I can see appears to rest in slots on the vertical piece that straddles the screw, but it won't lift up. It doesn't seem to be "stuck", it just won't lift. Space is pretty tight in there, with a wiring harness and the control board not too far away. Since people talk about removing the slide plate on their stoves like combing their hair, I'm sure it's a simple thing I'm missing, such as how much of the slide plate assembly actually comes out. I don't want to screw my stove up by doing something wrong, but at the same time I don't want to have to call the dealer out here for basic stuff like this. Thanks!

 

[gbreda]

I too have a bad batch from BJ's in Portsmouth, NH. Same as you describe, allot of fines, very dusty, and small crumbly pieces. I started burning them last week and they are by far the hottest pellets I have burned and keeping the house far warmer than the Greene Teams. So far so good with the P68 but I intend on cleaning the fines collecting area weekly behind the silver plate with the wingnut. The only thing I noticed was more groaning of the auger after first changing over, but that subsided quickly. Hopefully I wont have any issues.

I have not had to remove the slide plate yet, so I am curous on this too. Hopefully someone will chime in here.

Keep us posted on the issue you are having.

Geno

 

[grandfanda]

BTU, ever on the ball, has sent me a private message indicating that BJ's is selling a bad batch of okies made in Feb. of last year in clear bags w/green lettering on a white background. But they still burn far superior to other pellets I've tried. Newre batches should be in bags that are all white.

 

[gbreda]

Hmmmm, I have been talking about this for a few months and asking this. About time someone owned up to selling a bad batch instead of having us think it was BJ's and bad handling. It happens to the best of companies.

They do burn hotter than hell, but I' rather know that it is a bad batchthan think otherwise. Thanks for passing along the info.

I just picked up some Spruce Points to try out. They probably wont go in until late week or next weekend when I have time to clean the stove first.

Keep us posted on the slide plate as that does have my attention.

 

[Bigjim13]

Are you talking about the fine deflector? It's a slide plate that once you remove the wingnut you can see the fines and sawdust that it has collected to keep out of the burnpot. I think it is because on my P61A its right behind the control board once you remove the bottom side shield. It actually is slotted and the first time you take it off it does come off fairly hard. The top is slotted and there is a notch that it slides into, you have to lift it vertically a bit to get it off the notch, once you do it should come right off.

It can be a pain to come off and a bigger pain to get back on since you can't really see in there or get in there all that well, you just kinda have to feel around until you feel it slide back in. Once I get it back on I test it a time or two, trying to pull it off horizontally, if it doesn't come than your good to go.

Hope this helps and is what you're looking for, otherwise I just rambled on about the wrong thing! LOL.

 

[grandfanda]

Are you talking about the fine deflector? It's a slide plate that once you remove the wingnut you can see the fines and sawdust that it has collected to keep out of the burnpot. I think it is because on my P61A its right behind the control board once you remove the bottom side shield. It actually is slotted and the first time you take it off it does come off fairly hard. The top is slotted and there is a notch that it slides into, you have to lift it vertically a bit to get it off the notch, once you do it should come right off.

It can be a pain to come off and a bigger pain to get back on since you can't really see in there or get in there all that well, you just kinda have to feel around until you feel it slide back in. Once I get it back on I test it a time or two, trying to pull it off horizontally, if it doesn't come than your good to go.

Hope this helps and is what you're looking for, otherwise I just rambled on about the wrong thing! LOL.

Yeah, that piece at the top is what slides back and forth to feed the pellets. It actually does move up maybe one hundreths of an inch when I push up on it(so I know it's not stuck). It almost seems as if it would need to be lifted on both sides of the plate to clear the slot, but of course there's no way to access the other side.

 

[smwilliamson]

Remove the lower angle acces plat from the back of the stove, makes getting in to the fine collector much easier. I have the stove and love it.

 

[gbreda]

Yes, if cleaning the sawdust from the feeder and it is the plate/cover (with the wingnut) and not the actual sliding plate that allows pellets to drop from the hopper and into the auger, remove the black lower access panel. If you still want more room, also remove the black center access panel. Very easy to get to then.

Let us know how you make out.

 

[grandfanda]

Remove the lower angle acces plat from the back of the stove, makes getting in to the fine collector much easier. I have the stove and love it.

Yes, ,I had removed that, but getting my hands on the fine collector isn't the problem. Getting the slide plate out is the problem. There must be a trick to it, because I can't get anything to budge.

 

[grandfanda]

What I really need to do is remove the slide plate( the actually moving plate that you can see in the hopper) so that I can get at the feeder hole where the problem is. The slide plate moves toward the feed hole but stops short of it because of the blockage. I'd like to just remove the auger and try to get at the problem from there, but the manual says the slide plate must be removed before you can pull the auger.
Thanks for all your help. I really enjoy this website.