harmon blower fan noise

[ashes]

problem- blower fan (not exhaust fan) making humming,rattle or vibrating noise. first opinion/guess would be that the fan bearings are worn. real problem is fan blades are dirty causing out of balance spin.
have a Harman Accentra Insert, in a raised hearth. fan is located under the stove about 3" from floor. only way to get to it is by putting rug remnant face down with two, 4x4 ontop of rug. pull stove out till lip is on-top of 4x4 and every thing slides out as one piece.back of stove will be on hearth and stove lip on 4x4. ( watch wires when pulling) everyone else will have to get jacks.
fan is a drum type, having vertical blades (as opposed to a horizontal bladed fan). this drum fan is about the diameter of a coffee-can with 3" blades every 1/4 inch. the drum-fan has a 1/4 inch flex between the fan and it's housing. overtime,(5yrs in my case) thick dust builds up between the blades causing a "out of round" spin.
now for the good news, the cleaning is tedious, working space is minimal. suggest you get a child's toothbrush or wrapping a couple pipe brushes together to get between the blades. a vacuum hose will not fit.

this will also help reducing the humming noise of the fan motor. most of this noise is caused by the cheap, nickel/dime made in china, rheostat type switch mounted to your control panel. the fan knob everyone has dead-spots in. the one you have to play with to work. the one everybody hates, but lives with. the 5cent piece of crap that harmon wants 200 for because you cant fix/replace the switch, only the whole control panel, which will last ABOUT ONE SEASON...DUH! WTG HARMON

to know if your a candidate for the above problem is easy. stand facing your stove with the fan on high. run your hand along the air-vent above the glass door. if you feel a larger/stronger volume of air between each side then it is likely your motor is getting clogged and building up dust

retraction - my comment -" nickel/dime made in china, rheostat type switch " is incorrect. they are made in india. sorry harmon didnt want to imply you have a quality issue, you have turned your back on. or robbed us for a temp fix for problem you created. your due dilligence to preclude electronic saftey concerns/liabilites are the best. a level only toyota can compare with. (ya, but toyota's can be shut off)

 

[forya]

try tuner cleaner spray on that fan speed pot. it does a good job at cleaning dead spot on potentiometers. They usually have it at radio shacks.

I am not looking forward to cleaning that blower fan. Did you take yours out?

 

[ashes]

ty, will try the tunner cleaner. have been using wd40, helps for a while.
did not take fan out due to tight space. removing a bracket will help with confinment, but wiring harness leading to fan has little play and is a bear to tread. if ever fan has to be replaced, your better off cutting old wires from underside and splicing in new fan/ wires on that end. (quick connects)

 

[camdids]

I've had the same issue. Started at the beggining of the season. I had'nt cleaned this blower before. I had to remove the door and tip the stove onto a few pellet Bags, to give me room to get to it. Still didnt feel I got to it all. The fan had quite a bit of build up right in between the blades. the noise I get is similar to what you describe. More so at lower settings. Its kind of a hum and a feint rattle. It also makes the the Air sound like its coming out of a Hollow wind Tunnel.
After I close it down for the year soon I hope, I will be giving it a better clean and hope this solves the issue.

 

[wil lanfear]

No need to replace the controller, use these to repair your circuit board if your handy at soldering.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-Harman-Pellet...054?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1704d966

 

[ashes]

I've had the same issue. Started at the beggining of the season. I had'nt cleaned this blower before. I had to remove the door and tip the stove onto a few pellet Bags, to give me room to get to it. Still didnt feel I got to it all. The fan had quite a bit of build up right in between the blades. the noise I get is similar to what you describe. More so at lower settings. Its kind of a hum and a feint rattle. It also makes the the Air sound like its coming out of a Hollow wind Tunnel.
After I close it down for the year soon I hope, I will be giving it a better clean and hope this solves the issue.

yup, your not alone...fyi, if you can fit your finger between the blades (sharp in places) you can feel the majority of build up is on the top end of the blade. unfortunately the air-vent is at the same spot. if you try use your fingers to clean the debris you also end up pushing dirt into the above cavity. this will either blow out upon restart or fall back into the blade section. using a couple twisted tobacco pipe cleaning rods with a little hook at the end should help at removing the upper clumps.

 

[ashes]

No need to replace the controller, use these to repair your circuit board if your handy at soldering.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-Harman-Pellet...054?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1704d966

wow!! YOUR THE BEST! WHO KNEW???? NOTICED THIS BIT OF GREAT INFO NEVER NEVER CAME FROM my STOVE DEALER. GTG PLUG MY IRON IN, TY @ HAPPY HOLIDAY.

made my day

 

[Lousyweather]

No need to replace the controller, use these to repair your circuit board if your handy at soldering.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-Harman-Pellet...054?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1704d966

wow!! YOUR THE BEST! WHO KNEW???? NOTICED THIS BIT OF GREAT INFO NEVER NEVER CAME FROM my STOVE DEALER. GTG PLUG MY IRON IN, TY @ HAPPY HOLIDAY.

made my day

most likely because your dealer doesnt sell potentiometers

 

[ashes]

No need to replace the controller, use these to repair your circuit board if your handy at soldering.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-Harman-Pellet...054?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1704d966

wow!! YOUR THE BEST! WHO KNEW???? NOTICED THIS BIT OF GREAT INFO NEVER NEVER CAME FROM my STOVE DEALER. GTG PLUG MY IRON IN, TY @ HAPPY HOLIDAY.

made my day

most likely because your dealer doesnt sell potentiometers

have been googling "control panel" for 2 yrs, looking for a aftermarket,,,this is even better.

 

[Lousyweather]

No need to replace the controller, use these to repair your circuit board if your handy at soldering.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-Harman-Pellet...054?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1704d966

wow!! YOUR THE BEST! WHO KNEW???? NOTICED THIS BIT OF GREAT INFO NEVER NEVER CAME FROM my STOVE DEALER. GTG PLUG MY IRON IN, TY @ HAPPY HOLIDAY.

made my day

most likely because your dealer doesnt sell potentiometers

have been googling "control panel" for 2 yrs, looking for a aftermarket,,,this is even better.

I believe the control boards are proprietary to harman, so its somewhat unlikely you'll find something aftermarket.....and some folks have the exertise to replace potentiometers, etc....I know I cant...Im all thumbs!

 

[CJ-SR4ever]

The blower needs to be cleaned once a year. The dust builds up in the fan and throws it off balance and wears down the bearings. Lack of cleaning causes the blower to make noise. Now that you have waited 5 years to clean it, the noise will probably not go away and blower will need to be replaced. As for the control board, there is no aftermarket board for the HARMAN stoves. To get a new board you will need to buy one from a Harman dealer.

 

[forya]

The WD-40 will actually cause dirt to stick to the inside of the POT, so you are much better off skipping that and using the turner spray.

 

[ashes]

The blower needs to be cleaned once a year. The dust builds up in the fan and throws it off balance and wears down the bearings. Lack of cleaning causes the blower to make noise. Now that you have waited 5 years to clean it, the noise will probably not go away and blower will need to be replaced. As for the control board, there is no aftermarket board for the HARMAN stoves. To get a new board you will need to buy one from a Harman dealer.

sorry to disappoint, noise did go away. the control board issue is misleading, will go without before paying for known low quality parts, should of been upgraded years ago. their intent is obvious. do not need harmon, harmon needs me, the consumer.

 

[CJ-SR4ever]

not disappointed. Just trying to give some tip on cleaning for future reference. Honestly about 90% of issues I see are cleaning issues. From time to time parts will fail. Harman got bought by HHT ( Hearth and Home Technologies ) which also owns Quad and a few other stove companies. They have only made minor changes to stoves. There is really no reason to upgrade parts if they have worked fine for many years. If it aint broke then dont fix it. Some things they had to change for more safety features on the stove. If you keep your stove happy with regular cleaning and maintnence, it will keep you happy =) Glad the noise went away. Happy Burning!

 

[Lousyweather]

The blower needs to be cleaned once a year. The dust builds up in the fan and throws it off balance and wears down the bearings. Lack of cleaning causes the blower to make noise. Now that you have waited 5 years to clean it, the noise will probably not go away and blower will need to be replaced. As for the control board, there is no aftermarket board for the HARMAN stoves. To get a new board you will need to buy one from a Harman dealer.

sorry to disappoint, noise did go away. the control board issue is misleading, will go without before paying for known low quality parts, should of been upgraded years ago. their intent is obvious. do not need harmon, harmon needs me, the consumer.

what was the issue, though, Ashes? was it stuff on the fan or something else? inquiring minds want to know! Glad you fixed it on your own tho!

 

[ashes]

No need to replace the controller, use these to repair your circuit board if your handy at soldering.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-Harman-Pellet...054?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1704d966

wow!! YOUR THE BEST! WHO KNEW???? NOTICED THIS BIT OF GREAT INFO NEVER NEVER CAME FROM my STOVE DEALER. GTG PLUG MY IRON IN, TY @ HAPPY HOLIDAY.

made my day

most likely because your dealer doesnt sell potentiometers

have been googling "control panel" for 2 yrs, looking for a aftermarket,,,this is even better.

I believe the control boards are proprietary to harman, so its somewhat unlikely you'll find something aftermarket.....and some folks have the exertise to replace potentiometers, etc....I know I cant...Im all thumbs!

hey lousy weather.

just wanted to give you a update and a "thankyou" for the potentiometer information you gave me. received the 100k's yesterday (all 3 nobs are 100k) just finished soldering in a new one dfot the fan, reinstalled the control board and it is running like new on "test". (will do a burn on a cooler day this week.) soldering was a little tricky, had to drill the old post out etc, but am good 2 go now. ANYWAY, i ordered extra potentiometers and will gladly send you one (free) if you are in need. know you consider yourself all thumbs, but if you can pull your control panel out (3 wires and a wiring harness)

you could bring it to your local tv repair for the install.

thanks again.

 

[Czosie]

This whole post seems very troubling to me. If your fan is still making noise I can give you tips to cleaning the fan. As far as soldering things onto the control board is your stove so old you would want to void the remainder of the warranty or is the warranty gone? Saving a few bucks on getting the correct part and putting yourself at code and insurance issues.. Seriously doesn't seem like a smart idea. I want to strongly advise everyone NOT to perform this. Message me if you have any questions.

 

[ashes]

good points but,. stove was cleaned by same dealership for first 2 yrs. bottom fan was never touched/cleaned by them. passed on the fix to help others since dealership only contributed to the neglagence. greed appeared to answer my neglect questions . stove is now out of warranty, replacing with another soddy circuitboard 200.00. repairing with defective component 10.00. if i can do it, why cant dealerships? oh, the insurance concerns,,, are we talking about a circut board that shutdown/ or the part about the backfeed fire problem if the hopper lid is ajar? understand why you dont want everyone to perform this and am sorry that a company would put their customers thru these quality issues.

 

[Czosie]

IREPLYING I understand your frustration and it's really too bad that the lack of customer service has put you in the position your in. That is why I as a dealer and tech am putting my number and knowledge out there because I have heard the concern from many people who have called me. If you are still having problems I'm sure that I can help with anything you are currently experiencing. But to anyone reading do not perform the above fix.

 

[PerfectaDude]

No need to replace the controller, use these to repair your circuit board if your handy at soldering.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-Harman-Pellet...054?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1704d966

If you aren't handy with a soldering iron or you are afraid you might really mess things up send it to these guys...

http://www.heiligkuh.com/agora/agora.cgi?product=Services&xm=on