Harman P38 issue

[m159267]

Hi All

I've read the troubleshooting site and still have a question. 3 year old P38 has been working great until yesterday. Fired up the stove in the A.M. and it ran fine until late afternoon when the fire died (no auger movement). All blower functions work fine and it had plenty of good pellets. Cleaned out the pellet chamber to check for any jams - none found. After it cooled down I tested the auger by turning the feed rate to turbo (not trying to start it - just test). The auger turned and I heard a few pellets fall. So I lit it - everything worked. Auger turned and it was feeding pellets -- all blowers worked fine. After 15 to 20 minutes the auger stopped again. After it completely cooled down I again tested it and sure enough the auger turned. I have completely cleaned the unit. Any ideas...?

 

[HEMI]

not sure but it seems like it senses the door open or hopper lid open, are the gaskets good?.....anything obstructing the hopper lid?

 

[m159267]

Everything is sealed nice and tight - gaskets are in great shape. Auger turns for a few minutes after lighting - gets a real good flame and then it stops turnng....

 

[exoilburner]

If the auger just stops it is probably loosing draft (neg. pressure) in the fire box causing the Low Pressure switch to inturrupt the auger motor power. Could be a bad or clogged Low Pressure Switch, leaky gasket or something causing an air leak in the fire box. Try opening and shutting the fire box door and see if that will get the auger driving.

Like Hemi says if it has a Hopper Lid Switch that will also stop the auger from driving. Push it with your finger and see if that gets the auger going.

 

[summit]

if the auger stops turning (as long as it does not run outta pellets for over 20 minutes), but the exhaust fan keeps running thru till complete shutdown, then you probably have the following likely easy to solve scenarios:

exhaust OR air inlet are getting plugged or stuck
worn seals
esp probe not reading higher temps correctly

I will stress that most of the time, its one of the first two, so don't always assume mechanical failure.

 

[m159267]

I believe I have discovered the problem...and easy fix. I have an outside air kit installed that is very short -- less than 2 feet. Due to the colder temps the pipe was sweating pretty bad so I added a good layer of insulation - unfortunately there was no vapor barrier so the pipe froze. I believe the low pressure switch is mounted on top the air inlet extension so it very likely froze also. I removed the insulation (the entire length of the pipe was covered with ice) and put a heater on it. Everything seems to be back to normal. Good thing as temps here tonight might get to double digit below zero -- was -9 this morning. Do any of you have OAKs that sweat? Is there a solution? Thanks all...

 

[exoilburner]

Interesting problem and fix. Thanks for posting the solution.