Help with Accentra

[loonbox]

I purchased a used Accentra unit about 2 months ago. Its an older model, I think 2008. Cleaned it real well prior to installation and started burning. I burned about a ton of quality pellets before running into issues. First off, being new to the pellet stove world, I didnt realize that I was going through pellets quite fast. I struggled to get 12 hours out of a 40lb bag of pellets regardless of what setting it was on. sometimes only getting 10 hours out of a bag
Then out of nowhere the stove started over feeding. I noticed it one day while it was in room temp mode that there were unburnt pellets spilling over the edge of the burn pot. thinking there was an issue with the thermostat I switched it over to stove temp. The stove continued to overfeed until I shut it off. Next problem.... When I shut the stove off it refuses to stop. It no longer overfeeds but will continue to burn until the hopper is empty.

I replaced the ESP which was in rough shape. Stove runs fine for maybe 8 hours then starts overfeeding again

I replaced the control board which was original to the stove. Stove runs fine for hours but then begins to overfeed again.

Any Ideas? Im totally lost as to where to go from here.

Thanks

 

[Bioburner]

Have you checked the door gaskets for proper tightness, AKA the dollar bill test? Leaking gaskets can keep the air from going thru the pot for poor burn and cooled air going thru the exhaust bumps the feed rate up to try and compensate. Anytime I bring home a used stove home I now automatically put in new gaskets in the doors. Low cost as a kit at the local home improvement store is under $10

 

[loonbox]

No. The door felt tight and the gasket while squished semi flat didnt appear frayed so I didnt. Ill check that right now though. Thnaks

 

[Bioburner]

It may well have some good areas and other bad. Need to check all the way around.

 

[loonbox]

But a poor gasket wouldn't effect the stoves shutdown right?

 

[Peterfield]

I purchased a used Accentra unit about 2 months ago. Its an older model, I think 2008. Cleaned it real well prior to installation and started burning. I burned about a ton of quality pellets before running into issues. First off, being new to the pellet stove world, I didnt realize that I was going through pellets quite fast. I struggled to get 12 hours out of a 40lb bag of pellets regardless of what setting it was on. sometimes only getting 10 hours out of a bag
Then out of nowhere the stove started over feeding. I noticed it one day while it was in room temp mode that there were unburnt pellets spilling over the edge of the burn pot. thinking there was an issue with the thermostat I switched it over to stove temp. The stove continued to overfeed until I shut it off. Next problem.... When I shut the stove off it refuses to stop. It no longer overfeeds but will continue to burn until the hopper is empty.

I replaced the ESP which was in rough shape. Stove runs fine for maybe 8 hours then starts overfeeding again

I replaced the control board which was original to the stove. Stove runs fine for hours but then begins to overfeed again.

Any Ideas? Im totally lost as to where to go from here.

Thanks

Two bags a day equals 12 hours a bag, normal for many users.

The stove is supposed to burn until the burn pot is empty, part of its normal shut-down procedure.

If you have run a ton of pellets through your stove, you need to do a good cleaning again. About 70-80% of problems relate to cleaning issues and it sounds like a sensor is covered with ash or is not reading properly. Make sure you remove ash from the "clean-out chamber" under the burn pot, commonly overlooked..

Read the sticky post on "how-your-harman-works-what-your-manual-doesnt-tell-you" as there is a lot of good info there.

 

[dhall28]

Do you ever get any dark black ash on your glass? if you have any dark black on the glass that is soot and is an air flow issue, either not enough air flow through the stove or air entering in the wrong place. stoves rarely ever overfeed, what they do is under burn because of a lack of air. Very unlikely but it could be an overfeed issue except that would go away with a new control board.

 

[loonbox]

Replaced the gasket today and am waiting for the silicone to dry before firing it back up. Also ran the brush through the tubes a couple times pulling a considerable amount of buildup out.
The stove wouldn't just burn what was left in the burn pot when shut off, it would burn until the hopper was empty. That problem has been resolved with the new control board.
I was getting a lot of soot on the door, enough to have to clean it every time i would scrape the pot

 

[loonbox]

These are before and after a good cleaning and a new door gasket after 8 hours of running. I had to put a snake through the vent on the left to get around the back and through a blockage....hooked the loop on the brush to the snake and pulled it back through the cleanout door and through the vent chamber backwards.... Happy stove so far. Thanks for all the advice and quick responses.

 

[Peterfield]

Love it when a plan comes together and now you know more about your stove than you did before. Great forum, isn't it?

 

[Bioburner]

Lot more air going to the fire as it should and not around

 

[Bank]

I had this same problem with my Accentra. I noticed the two of the four allen screws that hold the glass were not tight. I hand tightened them up and low and behold, black soot on glass disappeared.

 

[F4jock]

You'll find that most late after install Harman problems can be solved by a good cleaning, an ESP cleaning or replacement, a control board reset, potentiometer replacement or, if all else fails, as a last resort board replacement. Always start with the simplest, least expensive solution.

For the record, my Harman shuts down and restarts 100% of the time (In room temp.) by itself. When I manually shut it down 90% of the time it stops feeding immediately. The other 10% it feeds minimally for about ten minutes then quits.