Anything wrong with an older PF100? What is the difference?

[a5t1]

I'm looking at buying an older PF100, owner says around 10 years old. Any major differences between the newer and older ones? I've read about some of the burn pot issues. Was there ever a concrete resolution?

 

[exoilburner]

Mine is not 10 years old but here is a couple of differences from the new PF100s that I know of. Mine does not have the following improvements:

• Muffler in the pellet hopper. The Draft Differential Pressure Switch monitors the draft pressure in the hopper. This fitting is known as the Muffler.
• Pressure ignition system to ignite the pellets. Mine has the old finned igniter which is a coil. I gave up on my finned igniter and light mine manually. From what I am hearing on the forum the pressure ignition system works well but may be very expensive or impossible to install as an upgrade to an older PF100.

Watch for Wil Lanfear's posts on the BURN POT ISSUE. He has provided the best information about it. It appears Harman has not resolved that problem.
Off the top of my head that is what comes to mind. The dealers and repair folks on here will probably have a much better response.

 

[Lousyweather]

well, the muffler mentioned above is no longer in the bin in new PF100's anyways, but they are all pressure ignition now.
As for the burnpot, while there may be issues with some pots, they dont ALL have these issues....quite rare, in fact, given the amount of PF100's out there......
As for buying anything used, be prepared to spend a bit of cash on mechanicals.....ESP? Auger motor? Igniter? Combustion fan? Distrbution fan? Factor that into your prices.....also, note that NOTHING on your unit is covered under warrantee.

 

[dhall28]

burnpot issues are fairly rare. major differences, not really. minor differences on the other hand there are a bunch of them. different ignition system, feeder box, exhaust sensing probe, auger motor and really old control board possibly. also it wont have the feeder air cross over tube. none of this is a deal breaker. all parts are still available. new ones will have better control board logic and much faster ignitions, auger motors for new units are cheaper and the new feed system are less likely to bridge in the hopper where it funnels down to feed system. new esp is cheaper and more reliale and quicker to respond to temp changes. harman is always improving, not to say they were bad before though.
some of these parts are capable of being replaced with the newer versions so the furnace he has if it has been worked on and parts replaced might have newer parts such as a control board or ESP.

 

[a5t1]

I appreciate the responses. I have a few leads on pf100s with asking prices right about 1000, seems like the inconvenience of no warranty may be worth the price?

 

[Ejectr]

Well, today's price is pretty near $6,000. It wouldn't cost that much to replace every part, minus the weldment burn chamber, in the furnace.

 

[a5t1]

I take that as a yes...

We paid more than that for our P38.

 

[Ejectr]

Check it out from top to bottom and caviat emptor.

 

[Lousyweather]

Check it out from top to bottom and caviat emptor.

sure....Caveat Emptor, but its mechanical, and anything mechanical can be fixed....$1000 though is pretty cheap, even with possibly having to fix something.......