Problems with the Harmon 2600 Multi-Fuel

[begreen]

Rather than bumping into this in at least 4 different threads, I've started this thread to give one place to give feedback and hopefully provide Jack with some answers. It will also give him a single place to give the forum progress reports.
[snip - copy/paste]
[quote author="jejennings" date="1173352519"]In addition to the relative merits of the stoves you are considering, also consider the manufacture’s service and support policies. I didn’t do this when I bought a Harman Model 2600 multi-fuel central furnace in 2000 to replace an ancient wood and oil burning furnace that we had had for many years. I now regret the choice. Three seasons ago I decided to run the furnace on oil only until my wife recovered from her lung cancer surgery, so that there would be no chance of even a whiff of wood smoke entering the house. When the furnace fired we smelled oil. This has continued right up to this season and we’ve tried everything to get it repaired, complete cleaning and resealing of the oil heat exchanger (twice), various adjustment to the oil burner, chimney cleaning, etc. We even had the air conditioning oil pulled so that the heat exchanger could be inspected for cracks (none found). My heating technician is at his wit’s end and blames it on poor furnace design. Emails, telephone calls, and faxed and snail mailed messages to Harman asking for technical help or referral to a technician who could solve the problem have been unanswered. They won’t even send me a replacement manual. Their standard reply is that all service and parts orders must go through the dealer who sold me the furnace. I of course called the dealer from whom I bought the furnace and was told by the owner’s widow that when her husband died, Harmon pulled her dealership and gave it to someone else, even though they sold 84 Harman units a year. She said her very experienced and qualified service technician would no longer service Harmon products because of the way
Dane Harman and his company treated her. The two Harman Dealers within reasonable driving distance from me do not handle furnaces, only stoves, and do not have service technicians qualified in the oil heat part. The bottom line – Do not purchase ANY Harmon product unless you are absolutely sure the your delaer will remain in business for as long as you own the stove.

Jack Jennings
[/quote]

 

[begreen]

I'm not disagreeing that Harmon has really dropped the ball on support here, but I'd like to see if we can catch something that has been missed. You need to be able to focus on other things besides this furnace, so let's put the installation under the forum microscope.

Can you describe the area where the furnace is installed, maybe take and post some pictures of the installation and the surroundings?

Let's see how well the flue joints are sealed. Is there a baormetric damper on the furnace? Does the furnace have an adequate fresh air supply? Have you tried cracking a window nearby (if there is one). Are there any other combustion devices, clothes dryers, bathroom fans on this floor?

Is there a return air intake on this floor? How well are the return air duct joints sealed?

 

[jejennings]

BeGreen,

Comments inserted in your post.

I'm not disagreeing that Harmon has really dropped the ball on support here, but I'd like to see if we can catch something that has been missed. You need to be able to focus on other things besides this furnace, so let's put the installation under the forum microscope.

Can you describe the area where the furnace is installed, maybe take and post some pictures of the installation and the surroundings?

The Harman 2600 is installed in the center basement, in approximately the center of the house, next to the chimney. The flue pipe has one 90 degree bend. The flue is 8 x 8 tile lined with a cleanout door near the floor. Nine years ago we completely renovated the house adding and additional 1600 square feet. It now has a side basement, a front basement and a rear basement in addition to the central basement. Access is through two Bilco doors, one on each side. I made a log chute that can be placed over the steps of one Bilco, allowing logs to be slid down into a wheelbarrow for transport to the central basement wood storage areas. Two wood bins line opposite sides of the central basement, each four feet deep. Their combined capacity is approximately 4.5 cords and there is an additional wall free that could hold an additional 3 cords when I clean out the junk presenty piled there (including my old multi-fuel furnace that I might move to my workshop if I can weld up the hole in its heat exchanger. Eventually, if we keep the Harman, I will be able to store an entire heating season's supply of fuel in this basement.

Let's see how well the flue joints are sealed.

The flue pipe is well sealed, and was just resealed last summer after a complete cleaning of both furnace and chimney. The flue pipe runs full size from furnace to chimney with no reducers.

Is there a barometric damper on the furnace?

The furnace does have a barometric damper, and it swings freely. During one of the many services in attempting to solve my problem, my heating technician broung a fancy draft meter and pronounced the draft to be more than adequate. The chimney extends from the basement through the first floor, a 15 foot high attic, and reaches at least three feet above the highest peak of the house, I never measured it's entire height, but its probably 30 feet or more.

Does the furnace have an adequate fresh air supply? Have you tried cracking a window nearby (if there is one).

I believe the furnace has an adequate air supply, neither Bilco door is sealed and the basement has a very large volume. All doors into the front, side and rear basement are 4 feet wide. The home was previously heated for 25 years with another multifuel furnace (oil underfiring the woodbox) and no draft problems were ever experienced, so I think this can be ruled out.

Are there any other combustion devices, clothes dryers, bathroom fans on this floor?

There are no other combustion devices in the basement, only an electric water heater and water treatment system.

Is there a return air intake on this floor? How well are the return air duct joints sealed?

There are no air intake registers nor heating registers in the basement. All returns and neating ducts were reworked when the Harman was installed to provide better flow on the advice of my heating technician. The furnace is also equipped with an air conditioning coil and electronic air cleaner. They all appear to be tightly sealed.

One reason I bought the Harman was that it was advertised to have an 85% efficiency while burning oil. Since in my old furnace the oil burner underfired the wood box and used the wood heat exchanger when operating on oil, it was not very efficient. The big plus of this arrangement was that during the fall and spring, when continuous heat was not needed, the wood box could be loaded and when the thermostat called for heat, the oil burner would come on, igniting the wold and then shut off until the wood was consumed.

The oil heat excanger of the Harman 2600 is a series of tubes through which the burner fires. Each tube has a twisted piece of steel inserted in it that swirls the combusting oil as it passes through the tubes, This is one of the secrets of its high efficency. The oil heat exchanger, as the rest of the furnace, is very heavily constructed with much heavier metal than the Yukon or other wood heaters I looked at. The entire furnace weighs over 900 pounds. Luckily I have a tractor mounted boom that I could use to lower it into the basement through one of the Bilco doors (with stair treds removed). It took a pallet jack and three strong men to get it positioned by the chimney.

As you perhaps can tell, I am no novice when it comes to wood heat, having over thirty years experience using it. I Thought I had done my homework when I purchased the Harman. The only thing I didn't look into was manufacturer technical support. I am suffering the consequences now. During my web search in my attempt to find someone else experiencing my problems, I found that I am not alone. Another fellow with a Harman unit was treated rudely when he called the telephone number printed on a Harman brochure. He was told that the number was only for use by dealers and that he should never call it again. It's usually not acceptable to cross post messages or I'd repost it here. I was never treated rudely in my telephone calls to the factory but only got the same response. "It is company policy for all warrantee and service problems to be addressed by the selling dealer".

It is clear that Dane Harman either never considered the possibility of a dealer going out of business, or in my case, the ramifications to the customer when he pulled the dealership from the widow who owned Coal Energy Pus (where I bought my furnace) after her husband died and place it with a competitor. She sold 84 Harman units each year.

 

[begreen]

Good info and impressive setup. Can I assume that you are seeing much better efficiency with the new oil burner and that it has been checked for efficient and clean burning?

It sounds like you have done your homework well and checked the normal list of issues. To reiterate, you've done the following:

1) confirmed that there are no heat exhanger leaks
2) confirmed there are no fuel leaks
2) confirmed there are no flue leaks
3) confirmed that the stove is drafting properly
4) confirmed that both oil and wood fuel are burning at peak efficiency
5) confirmed that there is not a negative pressure situation where the furnace is installed

It sounds like a thorough check. The only thing that is puzzling me is why the oil odor is intermittent instead of constant. When burning wood is the operation odor free?

 

[jejennings]

BeGreen

Comments inserted in your message:

Good info and impressive setup. Can I assume that you are seeing much better efficiency with the new oil burner and that it has been checked for efficient and clean burning?

It is difficult to document better efficiency since my former furnace only had to heat a 1100 square foot home and the Harman must deal with 2650 square feet. There was, however, visible evidence of a clean burning oil flame when my heating technicain pulled the burner and resealed the heat exchanger access cover. While the heat exchanger was open I inspected its interior and could find no trace of soot, which indicates to me a clean vurning flame. I have not yet discounted the possibility of delayed ignition as contributing to the problem.

It sounds like you have done your homework well and checked the normal list of issues. To reiterate, you've done the following:

1) confirmed that there are no heat exhanger leaks

No leaks were found during last month's inspection, when the plenum was opened and the air conditioning coil pulled so that the exterior of the heat exchanger could be fully seen. The inspection had to be done "cold" however, so the possibility of a microscopic crack opening under heat expansion is a possibility. If the problem isn't solved by summer, I'll have the technician open it up again and pull the exchanger so that I can check it with a fuorescent pentrant.

2) confirmed there are no fuel leaks - None could be found
2) confirmed there are no flue leaks - None could be found
3) confirmed that the stove is drafting properly - That's what the instrument indicted
4) confirmed that both oil and wood fuel are burning at peak efficiency

"Peak efficiency" is difficult to determine. The clean heat exchanger indicates that the fuel is being properly combusted, at least after ignition. There is a possiblity that delayed ignition might contribute to the problem, but one of the many "fixes" tried by my technician was to drill a small hole in the nozzle surround and tilt the burned slightly downward, so that any unburned fuel would drain into the heat exchanger. It was assumed that since the heat exchanger was pronounced to be not leaking, any fumes from this oil would go up the stack and not into the house. It didn't work. Two weeks ago the ignition transformer burned out and I thought that a failing transformer might have been contributing to the problem. During the two dayd it took to obtain a replacement transformer I burned wood and it worked perfectly.

5) confirmed that there is not a negative pressure situation where the furnace is installed

I can see no way a negative pressure could exist in my basement (Unless I am down there, since my mind appears to be evacuated lately). This said, since wood burns fine, and requires a good air flow, I assume this can not be a cause.

It sounds like a thorough check. The only thing that is puzzling me is why the oil odor is intermittent instead of constant. When burning wood is the operation odor free?

That puzzles me also, hence the possiblility of delayed ignition or an undetected crack in the heat exchanger. Since there is no odor when burning wood, the problem appears to be strictly oil-related. The odor appears at the beginning of an oil heating cycle, this points toward some oil being atomized by the burner before it is ignited, however, if this was the case, it should still be confined to the inside of the heat exchanger and not leak into the air handling system. I am now trying to find the very best oil burner "guy" in the area to get another opinion. No odor is detected when burning wood.

 

[jejennings]

[quote author="BeGreen" date="1173474279"]Rather than bumping into this in at least 4 different threads, I've started this thread to give one place to give feedback and hopefully provide Jack with some answers. It will also give him a single place to give the forum progress reports.
[snip - copy/paste]

Reply:

It's fine to have a thread devoted to this specific issue, but the complete disinterest and refusal of Dane Harman and his compamy in providing ANY direct support to end users who have exhausted every other avenue of redress is a completely different topic, and one that should be of interest to any member of the alternate fuel burning community who is considering the purchase of a Harman product.

Most customers assume that a company will stand behind their product to some degree. In the farming community, if a equipment dealer cannot solve a problem the factory will send a mechanic to resolve it. It was with this naive mentality that I purchased a Harman product. Some may think there might be a difference between a $200,000.00 combine and a little $4500 furnace, but what I am seeing here appears to be a lack of business ethics.

I only have one side of my former dealer's story, and have no idea of what, if any sales quotas Harman places on its dealers, but Coal Energy Plus (according to its owner) was moving 84 Harman units a year with only two small stores. This sounds like adequate sales to retain a dealership. According to the owner, Harman pulled her dealership in order to give it to another store in the area. She also told me that her Harman certified technician now refuses to work on any Harman products because of the raw deal she got from the company.

Harman has manuals for some of their products availablel online as pdf downloads, but not the manual for the SF 2600 multi-fuel furnace. Two requests to the company for a replacement manual, one by email and one by letter, have produced no results. When I asked Debbie, in their Sales Department about this, she told me I would need to request a manual from the dealer who sold me the furnace... and this was AFTER I had told her that my dealer was no longer a Harman dealer because Harman had pulled her dealership. Even after I explained this to her again, she reitereated the same mantra, It is Harman Company policy that all warrantee and service issues are to be addressed by the dealerthat sold the product." This exact sentence was repeated at least three times during our conversation.

One correspondent pointed out that Dane Harman was a rural Pensylvania welder, who had little business savvy, and perhaps this is the reason underlying the Company's lack of end user support. To me this is hogwash. I have dealt with a lot of welders in my 68 years and haven't foud one who didn't want his customers to be satisfied with his work.

Nuff, said.

Jack

 

[begreen]

That puzzles me also, hence the possiblility of delayed ignition or an undetected crack in the heat exchanger. Since there is no odor when burning wood, the problem appears to be strictly oil-related. The odor appears at the beginning of an oil heating cycle, this points toward some oil being atomized by the burner before it is ignited, however, if this was the case, it should still be confined to the inside of the heat exchanger and not leak into the air handling system. I am now trying to find the very best oil burner "guy" in the area to get another opinion. No odor is detected when burning wood.

It sounds like the oil unit may be occasionally back puffing. Is the chimney interior or exterior? Have you had a good oil-burner mechanic run tests on the system?

 

[jejennings]

That puzzles me also, hence the possiblility of delayed ignition or an undetected crack in the heat exchanger. Since there is no odor when burning wood, the problem appears to be strictly oil-related. The odor appears at the beginning of an oil heating cycle, this points toward some oil being atomized by the burner before it is ignited, however, if this was the case, it should still be confined to the inside of the heat exchanger and not leak into the air handling system. I am now trying to find the very best oil burner "guy" in the area to get another opinion. No odor is detected when burning wood.

It sounds like the oil unit may be occasionally back puffing. Is the chimney interior or exterior? Have you had a good oil-burner mechanic run tests on the system?

The chimney is interior, right in the middle of the house and is of masonry construciton with a tile lining.

As i mentioned, I am now looking for a better technician. i hae learned that there are two outfits that certifiy technicians. One is NORA , the National Oilheat Research Alliance” which is run by the oil dealers association.
They ofer thre levels: The core certification program consists of a Bronze Certification, technical competency established through training and a test. Silver Certification, technical competence established through training, a test, and field experience. Gold certification is established through previous participation in the Silver Certification program, and additional competency in energy efficiency. Unfortunately their website provides no means to find a certified technician in a specife area, so I have written to their director of communicatins asking for this information.

Thye second certification is offered by North American Technician?Excellence, Inc. (NATE) which describe themselves as "the leading certification program for technicians in the heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC/R) industry and is the only test supported by the entire industry." They offer certification through a series of three tests, two in core competancies and one in a speciality, such as oil bheat. The do have a contractor locator and I will start calling outfits listed in my area on Monday.

I must report that I have finally eceived a communication from Harman in the form of a letter from Brian Troup, Dealer Support Technician. He provided a few hints, all of which hae been discussed here and again reiterated the Harman policy, "All customer service and technical support is done through our daler network. No sales, service, or technical support are available from the Harman Stove factory."

Mr. Troup did refer to the Haman 2600 as a "boiler" but I assume that this was a typo and not indicative of his knowledge of Harman products.

I'll keep this topic updated on any new developments.

Jack

 

[keyman512us]

To quote Mr. Jennings:

I am now trying to find the very best oil burner “guy” in the area to get another opinion.

You got a better chance of seeing god than finding an "expert" oil burner guy...and even if you do find him...getting him to show up is the next hurdle.

Sorry if there are any "oil burner techs" out there/reading this...but if you can't tell...I would trust a used car salesman before I would trust an OB Tech...too much bad experience in this dept. I would be willing to place money Mr. Jennings problem is related to how the gun is set.
...'Breech Draft' is where I would start...then go from there.

..Out of curiousity who "makes the gun" on your unit? Beckett, Carlin, Riello?

...If you say Riello...I'm not saying another word....

 

[begreen]

JJ, it sounds like Harman is out of their element with oil burners and hasn't figured out how to cover their butt. I don't disagree that they shafted your dealer, but perhaps their service tech would have not have solved the issue unless his background was in oil heat.

You are on the right track. Best to focus on the oil side of the stove. Keyman brings up some good points. Who makes the burner on this unit?

The information on this unit on Harman's site is very thin. No manual that I can find. Does it have two barometric dampers - one each for the oil and wood chambers? Or is there one common one? I'm just thinking out loud here, but I would think that the draft requirements for the oil side might be different than the wood portion.

 

[jejennings]

JJ, Who makes the burner on this unit?

The information on this unit on Harman's site is very thin. No manual that I can find. Does it have two barometric dampers - one each for the oil and wood chambers? Or is there one common one? I'm just thinking out loud here, but I would think that the draft requirements for the oil side might be different than the wood portion.

My Harman 2600 uses a Wayne Model HS "Blue Angel Plos" burner.

Although the Harman has two separate heat exchangers, combustion products from both systems go out and up one flue, therefore only a single damper is needed. The draft for the oil burner is determined by the burner settings. The draft for the wood box is controlled by a motorized draft control. When the thermostat calls for heat it opens up. As you probably know the use of a barometric damper on a wood stove is at best a compromise. On the plus side, it keeps a hot fire going into a hot chimney from pulling in more combustion air than needed, and also keeps high winds from pulling more air through the wood box than wanted due to the Bernoulli's p0rinciple. On the negative side, the chimney runs cooler and hence builds up creasote faster. It also pulls warm air out of the house. The most dangerous situation would come should a chimney fire develop. In this case, a barometric damper would just open up and provide all the air the fire needs.... a scary prospect.

PS - for physics purists, I should have said that high winds produce increased chimney draw because of the Venturi effect, which is a special case of Bernoulli's Principle.

 

[elkimmeg]

First of all when was the last time your oil pump screen was cleaned? when was you exhaust pipe cleaned? when was the heat exchanger wire brushed and vac out?
when was the last time you injector head was replaced if so was the elcctrode element cleaned and gap set? When was a combustion effeciency draft test done? how long was the burner run before the testing. simple things like bleeding the oil line after servicing getting air pockets out. All these items should be done before further examinations Is the bero damper set right? the only way to do this ie to adjust it while taking a draft test. ˆ've had one burner serviceman visit in 30 yerar not so much so to service my burner this year but to confirm its condition. I have done it all Not a burner tech by any means, but I have solved every problem.

 

[jejennings]

First of all when was the last time your oil pump screen was cleaned? when was you exhaust pipe cleaned? when was the heat exchanger wire brushed and vac out?
when was the last time you injector head was replaced if so was the elcctrode element cleaned and gap set? When was a combustion effeciency draft test done? how long was the burner run before the testing. simple things like bleeding the oil line after servicing getting air pockets out. All these items should be done before further examinations Is the bero damper set right? the only way to do this ie to adjust it while taking a draft test. ˆ've had one burner serviceman visit in 30 yerar not so much so to service my burner this year but to confirm its condition. I have done it all Not a burner tech by any means, but I have solved every problem.

Answers to you Questions:

when was the last time your oil pump screen was cleaned?
I assume last summer. We had an entire service done but I didn't hawk the technician.

when was you exhaust pipe cleaned? when was the heat exchanger wire brushed and vac out?

All done last summer, including a chimney cleaning. These I all observed.

when was the last time you injector head was replaced if so was the elcctrode element cleaned and gap set?

I don't know about the nozzle, but the electrodes were probably adjusted lst week, when the transformer was replaced. Again I didn't hawk the technician.

When was a combustion effeciency draft test done? how long was the burner run before the testing.

really don't know but assumed it was done during the sevice last summer.

Is the bero damper set right? the only way to do this ie to adjust it while taking a draft test.

If this is where a meter probe is inserted through a small hole in the flue, it was done last fall.

I have schedulled a visit by a new service contractor who has 5 NATE certified technicians on staff this coming Thursday. Two certified techs will come, one of them their top trouble shooter. Perhaps some questions will be answered then.

Jack

 

[elkimmeg]

these questions are not to set you on the defensive but to inform you that common srevicemem take short cuts many tinmes all that is done is the oil tank filyter is changed the vent pipe cleaned and the nozzel changed but total cleaning requires the oil pump firter being cleaned this is often over looked. deposits there restricts the oil flow which intrups the oil to the combustion . all can ad up and describe your symptons Did you knoe the ignition also can be timed for more complete ignition burning all the oil leving no oil small there is a time that delays the injection of oil to the time of ignition. the eletrode gap can also be changed wihich spaced properly can strenghten the intensity of the spark. It could be as simple as using the wrong nozzel with the wrong vollume and spray pattern. Whenn the new service man comes out I am telling yo what to ask and be aware of. IF the last cleaners did not take the outer top or jacket off then they did not clen the exchange r coils Your baro damper should be se t to the draft test. Many times they just stick the plobe in ther take the reading and put it back in the case. The problem is the burner is run less than 10 minutes before they take the test it is not run under full demand for hours like whern it is really colf what I'm saying it is easy for the test run abter a short time not to register what is really going on I know no one wants to pay the guy to sit there an hour waiting for him to test it that's why one needs to find a real good service man in the first place one that knows enough to bleed the oil line or knlws enough to clean the oil pump filter screen

 

[velvetfoot]

I found the manual:
http://www.waynecombustion.com/manuals/hs.pdf

I have found with my diesel car that it takes just a little bitty spill to cause a big stink.
It might be possible to look for little leaks all by yourself.
I'm no expert, but Elk seems to say that incomplete (rich) combustion might cause some excess unburned oil.
Maybe you could see the flame through an inspection port and see if it looks yellow or smokey.

 

[jejennings]

these questions are not to set you on the defensive but to inform you that common srevicemem take short cuts many tinmes all that is done is the oil tank filyter is changed the vent pipe cleaned and the nozzel changed but total cleaning requires the oil pump firter being cleaned this is often over looked. deposits there restricts the oil flow which intrups the oil to the combustion . all can ad up and describe your symptons Did you knoe the ignition also can be timed for more complete ignition burning all the oil leving no oil small there is a time that delays the injection of oil to the time of ignition. the eletrode gap can also be changed wihich spaced properly can strenghten the intensity of the spark. It could be as simple as using the wrong nozzel with the wrong vollume and spray pattern. Whenn the new service man comes out I am telling yo what to ask and be aware of. IF the last cleaners did not take the outer top or jacket off then they did not clen the exchange r coils Your baro damper should be se t to the draft test. Many times they just stick the plobe in ther take the reading and put it back in the case. The problem is the burner is run less than 10 minutes before they take the test it is not run under full demand for hours like whern it is really colf what I'm saying it is easy for the test run abter a short time not to register what is really going on I know no one wants to pay the guy to sit there an hour waiting for him to test it that's why one needs to find a real good service man in the first place one that knows enough to bleed the oil line or knlws enough to clean the oil pump filter screen

Thanks for the hints. I do know that the heat exchanger was dleanted because i actually helped. Of particular interest was your comment about ignition timing. The posibility of delayed ignition had crossed my mind.

 

[jejennings]

I found the manual:
http://www.waynecombustion.com/manuals/hs.pdf

I have found with my diesel car that it takes just a little bitty spill to cause a big stink.
It might be possible to look for little leaks all by yourself.
I'm no expert, but Elk seems to say that incomplete (rich) combustion might cause some excess unburned oil.
Maybe you could see the flame through an inspection port and see if it looks yellow or smokey.

I have the manual for the burner, its the manual for the Harman Furnace that I need and that Harman hasn't sent, despite my three requests. Unfortunately the furnace has no inspection port. We'll see if the new repair techs find a mixture problem.

 

[Hammerhead]

I have this model 2600 furnace in my woodshop. I used wood during the cold seasons and oil during mild and damp days. I have no oil smell at all.

I would say that there is a problem with the set up of the flame, maybe a damaged or incorrect nozzle, or possibly a leak somewhere else in your system that perhaps is not near the stove.

is your oil tank vent anywhere where the odor could be cycling back into the home? Once the oil system is pressurized and depressurized under operation, I assume it would be possible for vapors from the tank to be set into motion. Did the oil smell start to occur around the same time as the addition was put on your home? I was told oil vapors are heavier than air, so perhaps that would be a place to look.

Why don't you just replace the enitre oil gun itself, if you think that it is faulty? It seems that you have already spent way more than the cost of a new one.

There is a flame inspection port in the back of this unit. At least on mine, there is a large bolt that you must remove to view the flame. I have a piece of pipe that i use to look through the hole on the furnace. That way I don't need to try and get my face close to the furnace itself. I would advise the same for anyone attemping it.

I had actually written Harman a letter a few months back. I had a similar response from Harman. It actually was Brian Troup who wrote the reply letter. He was actually very helpful and seemed to know what he was talking about. I would certainly be looking into any suggestions he had offered. He did refer me back to my dealer, but he was able to point me in the right direction where I was able to repair the stove wiring myself.

I am not sure this helps at all. But I just had to get on and tell you what's on my mind. I wish you the best with this problem. Hopefully you can return your furnace to proper condition. I love mine. It has been in service for 5 years and I have had never regretted buying it.

 

[jejennings]

Hammerhead,

Snswers insered in your message:

I have this model 2600 furnace in my woodshop. I used wood during the cold seasons and oil during mild and damp days. I have no oil smell at all.

We didn't have any oil smelleither for the first two years,

I would say that there is a problem with the set up of the flame, maybe a damaged or incorrect nozzle, or possibly a leak somewhere else in your system that perhaps is not near the stove.

There very well could be a problem with the burner. We're going to have it completly goie over and setup during the summer. All indications point to a cracked heat exchanger, although it was inspected by my former oile burner technicina and found to be OK. If the eat exchanger were intact, any oil fumes should just go up the flue and not into the house, We will find out this summer when the oil heat exchanger will be taken out and thoroughly inspected. Meanwhile we are burning wood. Our new certifield oil burner technician found insufficient chimney draft. We are getting a quote tomorrow for a chimney liner.

is your oil tank vent anywhere where the odor could be cycling back into the home? Once the oil system is pressurized and depressurized under operation, I assume it would be possible for vapors from the tank to be set into motion. Did the oil smell start to occur around the same time as the addition was put on your home? I was told oil vapors are heavier than air, so perhaps that would be a place to look.

The oil tank is in another room of the basement and is vented outside. No fumes are coming from the tank.

Why don't you just replace the enitre oil gun itself, if you think that it is faulty? It seems that you have already spent way more than the cost of a new one.

The oil gun is a current flame retention model and our new tech says it's good , just a little tricky to set up. He says he's had plenty of experience with them, so we'll keep it. We'll get it tuned up this summer.

There is a flame inspection port in the back of this unit. At least on mine, there is a large bolt that you must remove to view the flame. I have a piece of pipe that i use to look through the hole on the furnace. That way I don't need to try and get my face close to the furnace itself. I would advise the same for anyone attemping it.

Thanks for the advice. I didn't know what that thing sticking out was for, and Harmon refuses to send me a replacement manual.

I had actually written Harman a letter a few months back. I had a similar response from Harman. It actually was Brian Troup who wrote the reply letter. He was actually very helpful and seemed to know what he was talking about. I would certainly be looking into any suggestions he had offered. He did refer me back to my dealer, but he was able to point me in the right direction where I was able to repair the stove wiring myself.

All of Brian's suggestion have or will be followed.

I am not sure this helps at all. But I just had to get on and tell you what's on my mind. I wish you the best with this problem. Hopefully you can return your furnace to proper condition. I love mine. It has been in service for 5 years and I have had never regretted buying it.

You have been helpful. I'll post more when I find out more.

 

[jejennings]

My Harman furnace problem is now resolved and I am posting this update for anyone interested. Since my original post I tried repeatedly to get the Harman company interested in my problem to no avail. In response to one of my letters, I did receive a reply from one of their technicians who provided some hints and gave me the company line, �all service must be handled by a Harman dealer.� I also tried to interest both the local Harman Dealers in sending a technician out to look at the problem but both told me they had no one trained in multi-fuel furnaces and declined. I found a new oil burner outfit that did send a knowledgeable technician who told me that the problem had to be a leak in the oil burner heat exchanger and suggested I have my chimney lined to provide better draft. He agreed to come back and pull the heat exchanger after the chimney lining. I had the chimney line with 7� stainless steel pipe and insulated but when I called the new oil burner outfit, they told me that the technician they had sent was very sick and they had no one else to do the job. Two follow-up telephone calls were not returned. Since Fall was approaching I decided to attempt to find the problem myself. I pulled the oil burner, removed the heat exchanger covers and thoroughly cleaned the heat exchanger. The oil heat exchanger in the Harman furnace is very heavily constructed. The oil burner fires into a large octagonal combustion chamber to a return box at the back of the furnace. The flames are then returned through ten tubes, each containing a twisted strip of steel that swirls them, to the from of the furnace, where they are turned again and pass through ten more tubes to the back of the furnace where they enter the stack. This design is the reason for the very high efficiency of the furnace when operating on oil. After cleaning the tubes I made a test fixture of a lamp socket mounted at the end of a tube into which I screwed a tubular lamp. This allowed me to insert the lamp in each of the heat exchanger tubes and move it back and forth while checking the outside with an inspection mirror. All the tubes passed inspection but when I shoved it out the end of one of the tubes into the return box, I noticed some light coming from a crack where the octagonal combustion chamber was welded to the back tube plate. Further inspection revealed that on four of the eight sides of the chamber the welds had cracked. This was obviously the reason combustion products were entering the air handling system and smoking up our home. I took a picture showing the crack. A posting on this forum had resulted in a Harman technician who felt sorry for my problems telling me the email address of the Harman Sales Manager. Upon discovering that the problem was in fact a manufacturing defect, I faxed a letter to the factory technician and sent an email to the sales manager, mentioning the damage their furnace had caused, our problem with the carbon monoxide we breathed and the fact that we had to have all of our ducts cleaned. The next day we received telephone calls from both the sales manager and the new chief factory technician. The technician asked me to send the pictures I had taken, which I did. They both told me they would investigate the problem and take care of it. When a day passed without any word, I emailed both of them again, this time using the magic phrase, �product liability attorney�. This did the trick. The next week they sent a technician and a person from their R&D;department to my home with a new heat exchanger. With the new heat exchanger in place, the furnace is working fine. My advice however remains the same. Do not purchase a Harman product unless you are absolutely sure your dealer will service it and will be around to do so for the life of the product.