Harman P68, Dancing pellts in burnpot

Hi everyone, new here but everyone seemed so helpful and knowledge thought it would be a good place for some reliable help

So I bought a new house and it came with a Harman P68 which is great really. I am finding an issue that I am not sure on how to solve. I used Home Depot cheap pellets for a while but after cleaning out the ash pan a few times in a matter of weeks I decided it was time to research better pellets. This of course lead to a whole new world lol. So after some reading I ordered a Ton of Vermont pellets.

So here is the problem. after endless adjusting it seems these pellets are lighter. They seem to pile up on the burn pot rather then push outward and also dance which end in them getting blown out of the pot. I am afraid I am just tossing money into the ash pan.

The fire line is pretty far back and the ash is very minimal. The pile seems to be burning pellets which never seem to burn off lol. The dancing pellets are fairly large and get tossed when they are larger then a pencil eraser.

Ok so this is all new and this is what I have tried. Complete cleanout between switching pellets. Scraped the burn pot found no build up since switching. Adjusted feed rate up and down in combination with adjustments with the temp. I use the stove temp setting not room temp to go for a steady even burn.

1900 sqft, 2 floor, stove is in the center 1 doorway between it and the stairs up.

Any help would be greatly appreciated just looking to make it as efficient as possible as I have been using it as the only heating source. Thanks for the time

SininStyle

First of all, welcome to the forum!

I have not burned Vermont this year, but I know someone who burned a ton in her XXV. Great heat , but she had to turn the feed rate down to 1 no matter what the heat setting was.

What is your feed rate?

Edit: I wonder if you have the burn pot with 5 air holes down by the auger?

Welcome SininStyle, put up some photos of your setup and burn-pot. I am sure there is a story behind your screen name!!

I have tried anywhere from 4 to 2 on the feed, beyond 2 I started to fall behind on heat upstairs. I will work on pics and maybe even video. Working right now but will do what I can shortly, Thanks

Welcome to the forum...

You would be dancing too if someone was trying to drop you into a fire!!

Good luck, I'm sure someone will be able to help you! I'm with Defiant, let's see some pictures!

Agree, feed rate of 1 would starve the stove in order to heat 2 floors. She heats only 1 floor.

My P68 is in basement and heating 3 floors total: well 2 floors and a little on the third. Even so, my feed rate at this time of year for North Country is 2. Spruce Pointe more towards 3, MWP soft is up around 4 or above due to length of pellet.

Do you recall if there is a single row of air holes right in front of the auger?

Yes, single row apart from the front rows that sits right in front of the auger and the pile sits between these if not right ontop of the line of holes by the auger. if that makes sense

That burn pot design was around for a very short time. Harman went back to the style without those air holes.

Some say it caused issues at the auger tube end, but dont worry about that if you dont have issues.

BUT, with the size of those Vermont pellets so small and the fact that they burn so quick and efficient, the air coming thru there may be bouncing some around a bit.

I read about that and poked around a bit. Didn't see of anyway to easily remove the burn pot and replace it with another version. Read alot of complaints about the tips of augers being melted off and at $120 a pop I would rather skip that lol

Agreed on the replacement if not having auger issues. What is the manufacture year of the stove? May be warranty? But that would require finding the selling dealer to honor that.

Edit: I dont know if anyone had success in closing those holes off ?

Replacement is not that hard on the P series, 4 nuts and it's off.

I think he is also not wanting to spend the $$ for a new burn pot.

Anyone try closing them off with furnace cement as it is an easy R and R?
Would furnace cement even adhere to the steel pot?

*update: 3rd pic shows huge red pellets toward the front that have been blown off the pot and landed back on it. These litter the bottom of the ash pan.

Forgot to add, the first Pic is what it normally burns at , the 2nd pic is during feeding. I will be posting a video shortly. It will have normal burn with feeding halfway and at the end it will show a pellet spring out from the pile and land to the left on the burn pot. Not exactly what i was trying to show but close enough. Cant really see the dancing well in the video. Some happens int he center of the fire line but the fire glare washes it out mostly.

That is one sharp tongued fire. I've done a short term trial of of plugging holes with a cut down tight fitting nails. Easy enough to pull out if the idea does not work and good enough to leave in. There is a little bit of exaust fan adjustment +- 10 percent on the board.

Nice website by the way. Not often I trip on a site with quick links for thumbnails and video. Makes life so much easier.

My 12' vertical venting appears to give me some wicked good air flow. I put an adjustable blast gate on the air intake and restricted the air flow just enough so the smaller embers would dance in place but not blow out. I don't have that row of air holes near the auger though. As suggested I would plug those up first.

I honestly don't know anything about the venting. Be easier to just take a picture of it and you guys could probably break it down better then I ever could.

just go to a dealer and see if the replacement can be done under warranty. Eventually you can erode your auger tube and auger. Filling those holes with nails, cement, etc is stopgap at best and not the right way to do this.

another reason for dancing pellets is a high draft......are you hooked to a chimney or thru the wall?

Connected to the chimney .

I tried to drop feed down to 1 and lost a lot of flame and it seemed to get worse. more pellets being tossed

Venting

everyone mentions a way to turn the air down. where would that adjustment be?

little potentiometer on the curcuitboard

There is feed rate, stove temp controls. stove temp High - Low adjusts the fan that blows heat out but has no effect internally.

Doesnt seem to be any kind of damper control or fan control for internally. I dont see any levers or anything

*update: found the small white screw under dust and turned it fully counter clockwise. Had zero effect and pellets continue to bounce out of the burn pot. google says it only effects low draft burning.
Must be a way to slow down the air blowing through the pot isnt there?