Ignitor Stays on During Startup- Harman Accentra

[Matt715]

I gave my stove a good beginning of the season cleaning on Monday. After the cleaning, I fired it up to make sure everything was working properly. It went through the automatic start up process normally until the fire pot filled with pellets and the fire started. The auger quit feeding pellets and the ignitor stayed on after the fire started. I waited about 10 minutes and flipped the stove over to manual room temperature mode. At that point the ignitor turned off and it started to feed pellets normally and the distribution blower kicked in once the stove got warm.

I turned the stove off, let it properly shut down, and unplugged it for about 15 minutes. I went through the auto start up again and the same thing happened.

Did I damage the exhaust temperature probe when I cleaned the exhaust?

My stove is out of warranty and I'm not wild about my dealer's service technicians so I would like to troubleshoot it a bit before I spend any money on parts.

 

[Lousyweather]

possibly, Matt- did you go to town cleaning the outlet tube and maybe bend the ESP? If not the ESP, maybe the circuitboard- rectify, or it may very well be the ignitor too

 

[Harman Lover 007]

I gave my stove a good beginning of the season cleaning on Monday. After the cleaning, I fired it up to make sure everything was working properly. It went through the automatic start up process normally until the fire pot filled with pellets and the fire started. The auger quit feeding pellets and the ignitor stayed on after the fire started. I waited about 10 minutes and flipped the stove over to manual room temperature mode. At that point the ignitor turned off and it started to feed pellets normally and the distribution blower kicked in once the stove got warm.

I turned the stove off, let it properly shut down, and unplugged it for about 15 minutes. I went through the auto start up again and the same thing happened.

Did I damage the exhaust temperature probe when I cleaned the exhaust?

My stove is out of warranty and I'm not wild about my dealer's service technicians so I would like to troubleshoot it a bit before I spend any money on parts.

If I'm not mistaken the ignitor cycle is a timed thing (control board) and the ESP doesn't have anything to do with it. The ignitor will stay on after the fire starts and again, if I'm not mistaken, it stays on until the distribution blower starts (which IS controlled by the ESP). I'll have to look at mine tonight and see.

 

[Matt715]

I did clean the ESP probe as I do twice a year but I wasn't rough with it. It still looks straight.

Is there a resistance test I can do to the probe? I would think that it should have certain resistance readings at certain temperatures.

That would stink if it's my control board. My guess is that it's fairly expensive.

 

[Bioburner]

My 2 pc45s will run the ignition system till the distribution blower comes on which is controlled by esp coming to set temp. I reduced the time to when dist. fan comes on by increasing the pellet feed rate bringing the stove to temp faster.Takes a long time on low feed rate. Hope this helps.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

I did clean the ESP probe as I do twice a year but I wasn't rough with it. It still looks straight.

Is there a resistance test I can do to the probe? I would think that it should have certain resistance readings at certain temperatures.

That would stink if it's my control board. My guess is that it's fairly expensive.

Matt,
I'm not sure you have a problem, the ignitor stays on until the dist fan comes on. Let us know if that's the case.

 

[Matt715]

I just gave it another try a few minutes ago and it went through start up into the normal burn without any issues. The ignitor ran as long as I remember it doing in past years; not abnormally long as it did the last two times I fired it up. Hopefully it will stay working normally.

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[Bioburner]

Another self healing Harman!?

 

[tsmith]

I am on my first year with my Accentra, how often do you guys clean the ESP? and just wipe it down with a wet rag correct?

 

[Matt715]

I clean mine twice a year when I clean the chimney. Once at the beginning or end of the season and once in the middle.

I take my shop vac and get up in the exhaust and suck out most of the ash and then lightly brush it off with a paint brush that I use to clean the stove with. I've never had any kind buildup on it besides light ash. This year I bumped it with my chimney brush fairly hard which made me think I possibly damaged it.