Maintenance for Harman p43 auger and assembly

[PJPellet]

Hi,
I have been getting very familiar with my P43. Everything seems straightforward but I am unsure of how to do preventive maintenance on the auger and it's assembly, etc. I have studied the parts diagram and that has helped a lot. Just wondering what other owners of this stove or any of the P-series for that matter, do to keep there auger working smoothly. Do you remove it annually to clean it off? If so how do you remove it? Do you lube any of the auger parts, like at the back of the stove? Any other information about the auger and assembly? I wish there was such a thing as a service manual for this stove. I would love that!

The reason I am asking about the auger is 90% preventive maintenance. The other 10% is because the auger, where it meets the burnpot, is black and sticky looking. I am not getting any noise or anything but it seems to me that there might be something else I should be doing to keep the auger ship-shape. After thoroughly cleaning the P43 this summer and removing the two blowers, the esp probe, and fines holder, etc. I cleaned everything but felt that I neglected the auger and assembly. I just did nothing for the auger, due to my ignorance. This is the one last frontier of my Harman that I am not quite sure about. I need me some auger love, hope I can be schooled on auger maintenance. Thanks!

 

[PJPellet]

Anyone? The auger is now starting to squeak a little now and then.

 

[mark2m]

All I do every now and then it just concentrate on getting a good cleaning at the base of the burn pot and in and around the opening of the auger tube and auger. I found what works the best for me as a scraper is one of the small wonder bar pry bars.

 

[PJPellet]

All I do every now and then it just concentrate on getting a good cleaning at the base of the burn pot and in and around the opening of the auger tube and auger. I found what works the best for me as a scraper is one of the small wonder bar pry bars.

Cool, the wonder bar pry bar is a great idea. Thank You.

 

[Delta-T]

+1 on the good scraping aound the tip. I do not recommend removing the auger unless you must (foreign object). It can be terrible trying to get it realigned. Nothing to lube. I use a cheap, long handled, flat head screwdriver to get the rim of the auger tube.

 

[lbcynya]

The "Holy Grail" of burn pot tools -

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_...1x00003a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=SPM2092168303

 

[Hitch]

Hi,
I have been getting very familiar with my P43. Everything seems straightforward but I am unsure of how to do preventive maintenance on the auger and it's assembly, etc. I have studied the parts diagram and that has helped a lot. Just wondering what other owners of this stove or any of the P-series for that matter, do to keep there auger working smoothly. Do you remove it annually to clean it off? If so how do you remove it? Do you lube any of the auger parts, like at the back of the stove? Any other information about the auger and assembly? I wish there was such a thing as a service manual for this stove. I would love that!

The reason I am asking about the auger is 90% preventive maintenance. The other 10% is because the auger, where it meets the burnpot, is black and sticky looking. I am not getting any noise or anything but it seems to me that there might be something else I should be doing to keep the auger ship-shape. After thoroughly cleaning the P43 this summer and removing the two blowers, the esp probe, and fines holder, etc. I cleaned everything but felt that I neglected the auger and assembly. I just did nothing for the auger, due to my ignorance. This is the one last frontier of my Harman that I am not quite sure about. I need me some auger love, hope I can be schooled on auger maintenance. Thanks!

I recently went to a seminar given by a Harman "factory trained technician" at a local hearth shop. I am really glad that I went, it was excellent.

Questions were asked about the auger. Here's what I learned - you need to do a good scraping done inside the burn pot. If you are running your Harman 24/7, then you should scrap the burn pot twice a week. Scrap as close as possible to the auger tip. It was suggested to us that we not scrap the auger itself. Although it doesn't sound easy to do, you can bend the tip of the auger (affect the circumference). The auger does extend a bit into the burn pot. If you bend the tip of the auger, you likely will also bend the outer edge of the auger and it can then scrap the inside of the channel within which it sits.

The guy said that there are no parts on the Harmans that need to be lubricated. There are no "adjustments" needed. Maintenance, well, you have to do that.

He also said that carbon can build up on the outer edge of the auger. If enough carbon builds up on the auger, it will squeak. The rep. said you can take the assembly apart to scrap the carbon off the auger. However, like above, that does not sound very easy to do. If you can deal with the noise, he said it should go away within a couple of days.

 

[PJPellet]

All Right! You all are giving me awesome information. This is very helpful. Yep, my squeak did go away as mentioned. Taking it all apart looked rather involved so I am glad that there is nothing in there to lube, etc. Thanks.

 

[swalz]

I mix some graphite in with some pellets and let them feed through, seems to keep it running smooth.

 

[Ohio P43]

I was told by my dealer to occasionally open the door the pellets drop through and put the hose from a tank sweeper in and suck it out.

 

[mark2m]

I tend to open hopper lid after I'm done cleaning with the combustion fan running and it will draw a lot of the fines through the auger tube. Open and close the lid a couple times and the auger will turn helping to free up even more to get sucked out. Of course this works best with an empty hopper.