Expired Pellets?

[little bear]

hello everyone,
i am new to this forum and apologize if my question is
redundant -
we have been using our harman pellet stove for four years
without fail, and we really enjoy it.
sometime last night, the stove turned itself off,
and the house filled with the odor of smoke. there
were still plenty pellets in the hopper, and we had just cleaned
the unit the week before. we went through all the troubleshooting
tips outlined in the manual but the stove will not engage, although
the control panel lights are on.
yesterday, we filled the hopper with a bag of pellets that were
left over from the beginning of last season. my question is,
could the pellets have expired? (a few years ago, a pellet dealer
told us that he had no luck trying to burn season-old pellets.
we have been burning ones from january 2007 for 4 weeks now with
no incident. the bag in question is several months older.)
as i type this, my boyfriend is cleaning the chimney pipe
and shopvaccing the inside of the unit again, just to cover all the bases.
any help is much appreciated. thanks for reading this!

 

[Souzafone]

Not the pellets. Check the stickies at the top of this page, I bet the answer's there. What kind of Harman is it? Do you clean the area under the ignitor? The manual is lacking for most stoves, there's almost always more to clean.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

The Pellet Pigs will be running a collection of all expired pellets. So go to one of the Pellet Pig collection site and turn in your expired pellets. If your bags of pellets do not have the Pellet Pig Institute date stamp on them, they are expired. Turn them in for a voucher for a Junior Pellet Pig membership.

Thanks
Eric

 

[imacman]

YES YES....please turn in all expired pellets. PM me for the address.....just by luck, the location is VERY close to me, so i can meet you there. I'll even provide a truck you can load them into, and I'll personally get rid of them for you. :cheese:

 

[little bear]

it is a Harman P61A-2
i agree that the manual leaves much to the imagination,
as most manuals tend to.
i just checked the dates on the bags:
the bags we've been burning all month are dated 8/06, with no incident.
the bag we used last night is dated 1/07. both bags are older than i had thought,
but the one we were using during the stove failure is 5 months newer!
what is a pellet pig? somebody please hip me to the insider lingo

 

[slls]

Expired, you mean died. Well keep them dry, if they absorb moisture they will rapidly expire.

 

[rayttt]

it is a Harman P61A-2
i agree that the manual leaves much to the imagination,
as most manuals tend to.
i just checked the dates on the bags:
the bags we've been burning all month are dated 8/06, with no incident.
the bag we used last night is dated 1/07. both bags are older than i had thought,
but the one we were using during the stove failure is 5 months newer!
what is a pellet pig? somebody please hip me to the insider lingo

pellets wont expire.
if they get wet...they wont be any good..but people have burned 3 and 4 year old pellets that have been kept dry
with no ill effect.
does the stop not light or does it light and go out?
if it lights then goes out..whats the flame like??

 

[little bear]

ok, good to know they won't expire. thanks!
the machine will not light or even attempt to light.
the control panel lights are on but when the
switch is turned with the intent to ignite, nothing happens.
we turned the unit off and on, hoping it would serve as a
'reboot', no luck.

 

[Xena]

Welcome to the forum little bear!

As has been suggested, I'd have a read through
the troubleshooting thread first.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/13422/

 

[little bear]

thanks everyone, for your suggestions.
if i am able to land on the solution to our stove woes,
i will follow up with a post.

 

[trogers]

it is a Harman P61A-2
i agree that the manual leaves much to the imagination,
as most manuals tend to.
i just checked the dates on the bags:
the bags we've been burning all month are dated 8/06, with no incident.
the bag we used last night is dated 1/07. both bags are older than i had thought,
but the one we were using during the stove failure is 5 months newer!
what is a pellet pig? somebody please hip me to the insider lingo

Hi Little Bear. I'm sure that you can sense the sarcasm in some of these responses. A Pellet Pig is a "member" of some fictisios group started on this forum for people who buy several tons of pellets at the begining of the season. I've only been on the forum for a few months now, but I have come to realize that there are a bunch of folks on here that if not for this site, might be attending a Star Wars convention dressed in character and holding a lightsaber.

You are what they call a "newbie"...which means they will respond to your question, but they'll make fun of you while they do it.

Good luck with your stove

 

[kbd627]

it is a Harman P61A-2
i agree that the manual leaves much to the imagination,
as most manuals tend to.
i just checked the dates on the bags:
the bags we've been burning all month are dated 8/06, with no incident.
the bag we used last night is dated 1/07. both bags are older than i had thought,
but the one we were using during the stove failure is 5 months newer!
what is a pellet pig? somebody please hip me to the insider lingo

Hi Little Bear. I'm sure that you can sense the sarcasm in some of these responses. A Pellet Pig is a "member" of some fictisios group started on this forum for people who buy several tons of pellets at the begining of the season. I've only been on the forum for a few months now, but I have come to realize that there are a bunch of folks on here that if not for this site, might be attending a Star Wars convention dressed in character and holding a lightsaber.
You are what they call a "newbie"...which means they will respond to your question, but they'll make fun of you while they do it.

Good luck with your stove

LOL
Any nominations for Darth Vader?? Probably snowy there

 

[little bear]

i find it totally cool that
a utilitarian appliance such as a pellet stove
has banded together such a compassionate community!
messageboards are great fun and have been
very helpful to us in the past, on
a variety of subjects!

 

[firewarrior820]

it is a Harman P61A-2
i agree that the manual leaves much to the imagination,
as most manuals tend to.
i just checked the dates on the bags:
the bags we've been burning all month are dated 8/06, with no incident.
the bag we used last night is dated 1/07. both bags are older than i had thought,
but the one we were using during the stove failure is 5 months newer!
what is a pellet pig? somebody please hip me to the insider lingo

Hi Little Bear. I'm sure that you can sense the sarcasm in some of these responses. A Pellet Pig is a "member" of some fictisios group started on this forum for people who buy several tons of pellets at the begining of the season. I've only been on the forum for a few months now, but I have come to realize that there are a bunch of folks on here that if not for this site, might be attending a Star Wars convention dressed in character and holding a lightsaber.

You are what they call a "newbie"...which means they will respond to your question, but they'll make fun of you while they do it.

Good luck with your stove

With that avitar well um,,, ,do you want us to break our addiction to sheep?

 

[Souzafone]

Littlebear, I don't know how similar your stove is to mine, but I had a similar problem with our stove, also 4 years old. Turns out the fan for the combustion motor wouldn't turn. When this happens, all the lights work and there is no blinking fault code, but with no combustion motor the whole process stops. With advice I got here, I carefully cleaned the area behind the fan, removed the blade, and put a few drops of machine oil on the shaft. The fan was hardly stuck at all, just touching it with my finger freed it up. If this is your problem, take care with the fan as it's very flimsy and easy to knock out of balance. Something else to add to the yearly maintenance, though not mentioned in the manual. Good luck and let us know how you make out. Stuff like this helps the next guy out whether you fix it or not.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

it is a Harman P61A-2
i agree that the manual leaves much to the imagination,
as most manuals tend to.
i just checked the dates on the bags:
the bags we've been burning all month are dated 8/06, with no incident.
the bag we used last night is dated 1/07. both bags are older than i had thought,
but the one we were using during the stove failure is 5 months newer!
what is a pellet pig? somebody please hip me to the insider lingo

Hi Little Bear. I'm sure that you can sense the sarcasm in some of these responses. A Pellet Pig is a "member" of some fictisios group started on this forum for people who buy several tons of pellets at the begining of the season. I've only been on the forum for a few months now, but I have come to realize that there are a bunch of folks on here that if not for this site, might be attending a Star Wars convention dressed in character and holding a lightsaber.

You are what they call a "newbie"...which means they will respond to your question, but they'll make fun of you while they do it.

Good luck with your stove

NH Pellet Head, I am your father!

Sorry my best Darth Vader attempt.

Eric

 

[little bear]

souzafone, thanks for your input.
my situation is similar, but i do in fact get the
error message via a blinking light pattern that,
according to manual, will correct itself if i
turn off the stove and then turn it back on. no luck.
we did clean the areas you mentioned, very carefully (!)
and nothing has changed. it seems like it might be
an issue with the electrical signal path in the machine.
haven't heard back from the dealer yet, which isn't surprising
given that it's the weekend. sitting tight!

 

[Justaddwater]

souzafone, thanks for your input.
my situation is similar, but i do in fact get the
error message via a blinking light pattern that,
according to manual, will correct itself if i
turn off the stove and then turn it back on. no luck.
we did clean the areas you mentioned, very carefully (!)
and nothing has changed. it seems like it might be
an issue with the electrical signal path in the machine.
haven't heard back from the dealer yet, which isn't surprising
given that it's the weekend. sitting tight!

Hi Little Bear,

Turning "off" the stove won't do the trick. You need to unplug the stove for it to reset it's self.

I have Harman xxv and all the electronics are the same for all Harmans.

Good luck

 

[little bear]

Little bears worse half here . Our problem is this : 3 blink error message (esp probe) no matter how many times the stove is unplugged and rebooted . I cleaned the esp probe with a brush while it was still installed in the exhaust pipe a few times . Still 3 blinks . I took the probe out and inspected it and found that it looks just fine . I shined it up with a rag and it looks brand new. Put it back in and same 3 blinks. The status light blinks 3 times twice around and then just the power light stays on like it's ready for work. If you turn the knob to the running position the 3 lights indicating blower , feed , and igniter come on but nothing happens. I cleaned everything inside and out : the exhaust pipe, the exhaust fan, circulator fan, inside of stove, pellet fines container etc. This is the first problem we've had and we are in the 4th season of use . We have been loving this stove . I am getting a tech service call Mon. morning and hopefully that will sort it out. I'll post the exciting conclusion !