Weird Harman Ignitor Issue

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Bank

Feeling the Heat
Nov 27, 2008
363
S. Maine
Ok, here goes. I have a 2007 Harman Accentra that works great. I am burining LG Granules. I do a fairly decent cleaning every Sunday morning. So here's the issue. When ever I re-start the stove after cleaning it; including, under the burn pot, it takes any where from 15-19 minutes for the pellets to ignite, the burn pot starts to fill up pretty good. It's almost as if I'm better off not cleaning under the burn pot. Normal start up is anywhere from 4-8 minutes when I don't clean it!

Any suggestions out there?
 
you may have slightly excessive draft, causing too much air to pass through the burnpot, cooling the igniter. As the stove dirties up a bit, it reduces the draft a bit and "viola" it lights up a bit quicker.....thats my theory right now.
 
have you had the magnahelix on there to measure the draft, or ever tinker with the draft adjustment before??
 
Interesting theories. I have never tested the draft. I usually just place my finger under the burnpot and pull all the loose ash out. Thanks!
 
you can adjust the draft via the very small potentiometer sunken into the control board just to the left of the igniter LED light. clockwise increases combustion blower speed, anti-clockwise will reduce. you could give it a 1/4 turn down and see how that effects things. I also like to recommend using a little paintbrush to poke at the igniter when cleaning. the bracket that holds that sucker in there sometimes acts like an ash catcher.
 
Thanks Delta-T, I'll give a try.
 
I dont think there is anything wrong with draft or anything else. When you scrape out the burnpot and do a very detailed cleaning and vaccuming out the burnpot to get it as clean as humanly possible you are sucking some of the pellets out of the auger tube. So when the stove augers fuel into the clean totally empty burnpot it does not fill up high enough to get to the igniter and the stove sits and after a period of time it augers more fuel in and it finally gets up high enough to get to igniter. Next time you clean turn to test mode until there is a couple of tablespoons of pellets in the bottom of the burnpot the back to normal settings and I am pretty sure this will cure the delayed ignition.
 
Thanks Rickwa, another good suggestion!
 
rickwa said:
I dont think there is anything wrong with draft or anything else. When you scrape out the burnpot and do a very detailed cleaning and vaccuming out the burnpot to get it as clean as humanly possible you are sucking some of the pellets out of the auger tube. So when the stove augers fuel into the clean totally empty burnpot it does not fill up high enough to get to the igniter and the stove sits and after a period of time it augers more fuel in and it finally gets up high enough to get to igniter. Next time you clean turn to test mode until there is a couple of tablespoons of pellets in the bottom of the burnpot the back to normal settings and I am pretty sure this will cure the delayed ignition.

I had never considered that, and its brilliant! I thank you for that as well sir.
 
I would agree with a good cleaning also. Make sure the holes in the burn pot are clear. I had to replace the ignitor in my Advance after about 4 years. It just didn't get hot enough any more.
 
I just signed up for this forum today. I was having Harman Ignitor issues. I have had the stove for 4 years. The settings have not changed but my pellets have. They are smaller and seem to be more slippery. Meaning they don't seem as porous. My point is maybe it takes more to ignite them. I think maybe my ignitor is going and needs to be replaced after four years of use. I have worked as a Production Mechanic for years and heating elements seem to go and burn out. So it seems that this is my issue.
What is happening is that just as the stove goes to shut itself off due to no flame it starts to smoke. So I unplug it and plug it back in. Then it starts. I like the answers here. Very informative.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.