Harman p43 , getting lots of smoke out of the flue

[Lerxst]

Hi everyone, I have a Harman p43, and I have been running it since September (new stove, floor model) it's been running fine. Now I am getting smoke coming out of the flue, none in the house, all outside. Everything else is apparently fine.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

Give us a little more to go with....smoke on startup? All the time? Describe your venting as well. Thanks.

 

[johninwi]

Also what recently changed, had been working well until? Recent cleaning? Burn pot not seated. Burnpot holes pluged. A door not closed tightly or gasket shifted or broken?

 

[Lerxst]

Well it just started today, it smokes right at start up and continuously after, I have a fresh air intake installed, and the flue goes straight out of the wall, and does not go up. Its goes down to a 45 deg, end piece.

 

[TonyVideo]

I have the same setup. How many bags of pellets have you gone through so far? Have you done a thorough cleaning?

 

[TimfromMA]

Smoke indicates the stove isn't burning as efficiently as it could be. stove could need a cleaning or have you changed pellets.

 

[F4jock]

Hi everyone, I have a Harman p43, and I have been running it since September (new stove, floor model) it's been running fine. Now I am getting smoke coming out of the flue, none in the house, all outside. Everything else is apparently fine.

You've changed nothing? Last cleaning was. . . ?

 

[Lerxst]

been through about 40 bags of Genevas, every week I open the glass door and bottom door. vacuum heat exchanger the walls burnpot basically everything I remove the igniter panel vacuum in there and the panel for the fan clean in there. I don't consider that thorough, so I've never gone beyond that.

 

[TonyVideo]

40 bags is nothing. You must be burning very low fires up to this point.

 

[F4jock]

been through about 40 bags of Genevas, every week I open the glass door and bottom door. vacuum heat exchanger the walls burnpot basically everything I remove the igniter panel vacuum in there and the panel for the fan clean in there. I don't consider that thorough, so I've never gone beyond that.

Sounds like you're due for a bit more thorough cleaning. Consult your owners manual and follow the instructions. Also check for a gasket leak as in the troubleshooting section.

 

[Bioburner]

ESP is not clean and thinks its cold and throwing fuel at the fire. I can tell when the ESP is getting dirty by the consumption increasing in our stove.

 

[TonyVideo]

When the stove starts using the ignitor you see smoke until it ignites then it clears up. Do you ever see it clear up inside or is there always smoke?

 

[F4jock]

ESP is not clean and thinks its cold and throwing fuel at the fire. I can tell when the ESP is getting dirty by the consumption increasing in our stove.

Yeah but constant smoke? Don't you think that if there was that much overfeed there would be evidence of that in the firepot or smoke in the stove itself?

 

[Bioburner]

Nope, Just forced the stove to feed hard the other day on the project stove and was smoking outside and no evidence inside other than the fire a bit high.

 

[F4jock]

Nope, Just forced the stove to feed hard the other day on the project stove and was smoking outside and no evidence inside other than the fire a bit high.

Intetesting. Never saw that with mine but I'll have to look more closely. What color was the smoke? Curious. When you were pushing it did you try increasing the combustion fan voltage to see if that made a difference?

 

[TonyVideo]

You have no control of the combustion fan voltage unless you mean the draft setting which I have never changed.

 

[F4jock]

You have no control of the combustion fan voltage unless you mean the draft setting which I have never changed.

White recessed screw on the control board?

 

[TonyVideo]

Have you switched pellet brands or have pellets that have gotten wet at any given time?

 

[Harman Lover 007]

White recessed screw on the control board?

Yes that's the low draft setting....I've seen you make posts that you maxed your combustion blower voltage. Is that how you did it and did you have a draft gauge attached to the stove when you did it?

 

[Bioburner]

If the OP has been running the stove sporadically with short fires like in the shoulder season things gunk up faster than running the stove hard and long in main heating season.
I just pushed the stove by running the test mode a couple cycles.

 

[Lerxst]

40 bags is nothing. You must be burning very low fires up to this point.

it has been mild in RI

 

[Lerxst]

Problem solved, I posted the thread while I was waiting for the stove to cool down and start investigating.
I had a cluster of about a dozen pellets in the ash box, that was glowing, I removed the box and brought it outside, set it on the cement, and there was a stream of smoke coming of it.
Just finished my weekly cleaning and its running like a champ.
I think it was my error of knocking the cluster into the box, not the stove pushing it either.
Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Lerxst]

If the OP has been running the stove sporadically with short fires like in the shoulder season things gunk up faster than running the stove hard and long in main heating season.
I just pushed the stove by running the test mode a couple cycles.

I've been running mine in test on occasion also less cycling.

 

[Bioburner]

I've been running mine in test on occasion also less cycling.

I run test function when I spend a bit to much time cleaning the exchanger etc while running and want to make sure there is enough fire to satisfy the ESP and keep the fire going.