No pellet adjustment PC45

[mjcj1990]

Hi first post so hope all goes well. I have a older PC45 that has started to act strange. The control board is one of the first ones I believe, because there are no dip switches on it. It all of a sudden will not increase the pellet feed past low fire or just a little above that. I have replaced the ESP and thermistor lately and cleaned it. I have performed the ice test to make sure the thermistor is working but it will only feed at the lower rate. It will decrease the feed rate if I raise the temp of the thermistor. I don't have any blinking lights or any other things such as strange noises. I have tried running it in stove mode and room temp but it acts the same in either one. I have read about the pots going bad on the board, but I am not sure what symptoms that shows. Any help or suggestions would really be great.

 

[Bioburner]

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear of your maladies considering the cold blast heading your way. -5 here now so you will get nasty wake up call tomorrow. Now on to trying to figuring out this problem.
Now if the stoves venting is not clean that can keep the ESP toasty because the exhaust fan can't get the heat moving and not want to increase the stove feed. You have not said if this stove is a new to you with recent install or how many tons since cleaning etc.
If the stove control board has went south and who could blame it as according to the weather man every state on the continent has snow this morning it may be sent in to get repaired or a new replacement is $250

 

[mjcj1990]

Thanks for the quick reply. The venting is clean and it has run fine for awhile, I have had it a couple years now, just maintenance and the ESP and the thermistor replaced. Any idea about the pots on the board maybe causing it?
Thanks

 

[Bioburner]

The most problematic of the pots seems to be the fan on off switch. Just controls to much, so is so easy to foul up. Ebay has them and or Brenners bit and pieces, sometimes is one and the same.
If one is replacing pots on the board I would suggest doing them all. I think the cost is around $40 for all by the board repair place. The switches can be bought for about $5 each.
Still concerned about exhaust and possibly the exhaust fan going bad. Does the fan spool up good when you turn the switch to test?

 

[mjcj1990]

All fans spool up fine on test, but the stove is already up to temp so I am not sure if the igniter should fire also?

 

[Bioburner]

All fans spool up fine on test, but the stove is already up to temp so I am not sure if the igniter should fire also?

No, the test function will not run the igniter but should run all fans and auger at full speed. Have you got the stove on a good surge suppressor? With all the static because of the dry air you could have zapped the board
Have you downloaded a manual from Harman?

 

[mjcj1990]

Which manual are you referring to the owners, if so I have that copy? Back to the pots for second could a bad one cause this problem?

 

[Bioburner]

Yes I was referring to owners manual.
Yes a bad pot can lead to several issues. If you read the ad posting on Ebay they say the replacement solves several issues. I have one going on a ten year old board, in that it changes fan speed by just touching it. One month to go of burning I hope.

 

[mjcj1990]

Maybe I should start with replacing the pots before getting to far, at least that would be the lesser of things cost wise. I will probably clean it again and go ahead and do the gaskets also. Thanks for trying to help me out.

 

[Bioburner]

If you still have the old ESP that was working before you replaced it, I would put it back in. The ESP is a major part of the stoves brains and of the fire control system.

 

[mjcj1990]

I don't have that one any longer that's why I replaced it. Just started checking the pots, looks like 2 of them have dead spots, fan control and pellet feed. The strange thing is the fan control in stove temp starts reading at around 1 ohm or so and goes up to about 39 at the off position, then starts coming back down to 1 again when I reach max on room temp. They are 100k pots, I don't think I have run across that before. That sound normal, I am not familiar with the circuit on these?

 

[Bioburner]

You have as you said a old stove -board and all bets are off. The new boards allow for draft adjustment and if plugged into a UPS will pulse the exhaust fan and shut the auger off in a power outage. I have seen a fair change in the main burn algorithm too. The dip switches allow for different fuel feeds if you upgrade the pot-tray and go with a red ESP.

 

[mjcj1990]

When you say upgrade the pot tray do you mean the burnpot assembly from corn to pellets, if so I have the pellet burnpot with a black ESP probe? If I upgrade to the new board with dip switches, I will have to change to the red ESP probe as well?

 

[Bioburner]

No need to get a black EPS as all one needs to do to is flip the #5 switch. New EPS red is cheaper, I think someone said its $50.
There was a upgrade for the stove to get some more btus out of it and it came with large holed exhaust fan cover and the tray is open on the end to let the ash just fall off the end.

 

[mjcj1990]

Sorry for the confusion. I have the black probe installed now along with pellet burnpot. If I understand you right the new board won't work with black probe? I was hoping to use it until it went bad before getting a red one.

 

[Bioburner]

No problem as new board can handle both ESP switches. Attached file has some info on the dip switch settings

 

[mjcj1990]

Thanks for that info. Just one more question, would you know the actual part number for the upgrade board?

 

[Bioburner]

Oh would I! Bought a new board last fall and the problem was a shorted room temp probe connection

 

[mjcj1990]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the help. Hope I can return the favor one day.