First time cleaning Harman 52i - did I reassemble the medallion right?

[Kyle6286]

We bought our Harman 52i earlier this spring and have used it a handful of times in the spring as well as a few times already this past month, as we've had some cooler weather here in New England. Anyways, I decided to do a more thorough cleaning today after experiencing what I think is an igniter issue (tried turning on the stove this morning and the pellets were feeding but after 20 minutes nothing was lit. This is the first time this has happened) following along with the instructions in the manual for the monthly maintenance as well as watching a video Harman posted online for how to do a total clean. My question is - did I assemble the heat exchange covers and medallion correctly? The video only shows how to disassemble these pieces, and doesn't really show the proper way to reassemble, nor can I find a picture online of what the finished product should look like.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[Overfireinthehole]

Looks good. Did you clean under burn pot? If so, is burn pot getting warm when you try to start it? If so, take the igniter out and nock the ash out of its fins.

 

[Kyle6286]

Looks good. Did you clean under burn pot? If so, is burn pot getting warm when you try to start it? If so, take the igniter out and nock the ash out of its fins.

Thanks for your response. I did a very thorough cleaning today since I initially suspected maybe the stove was just dirty despite scraping the burn pot and emptying the ash pot weekly. Today I scraped the burn pot, removed the heat exchange covers and medallion and cleaned all of the surface areas, brushed the firebox, removed the clean out cover under the burn pot.

I don't think I did anything to the ignitor specifically. In fact, I couldn't even locate it. Looking at my manual right now, it sounds like it should be visible when the cover to the clean out is removed. Maybe I missed it then. I'm going to give it a shot again right now and see if I can find it and give it a quick clean. Will keep you posted.

Thanks again.

FYI - we've probably only burned about 10 or 15 bags since buying this stove. I'm a little frustrated that I'm already experiencing issues. Hopefully it turns out to be something small.

 

[Kyle6286]

And yes, when I went to clear the buildup of pellets in the burn pot from not being ignited, the pellets did seem warm/kind of hot.

As mentioned above, I'm going to clean the cleanout chamber right now and see if there's buildup near the ignitor.

This is the error message I received earlier, by the way.

 

[Overfireinthehole]

When ash sits in your stove over the summer it draws moisture. If it sits on top of your igniter it gets stuck to it and you have to remove the igniter to get it out. If you Remove the two screws in the front of your burn pot you can pull the igniter and bracket out to where you can see if it’s clogged up. If it is, that’s probably your issue. When putting it back in, it’s helpful to have a small Allen wrench time use to line up the holes for those screws as the first one can be hard to line up. You’ll see what I mean. Also, did you remove the exhaust blower cover, because if it’s not locked in right it will have trouble igniting. Were the pellets in it all summer? They may draw moisture and be hard to light. Finally, mud daubers and wasps like to build nests in pipes which will cause stove to either not feed at all or take forever to light and burn dirty. My money is on an igniter acmes with damp ash. Good luck!

 

[Overfireinthehole]

Oh, and unplug your stove anytime your working on it!

 

[Kyle6286]

When ash sits in your stove over the summer it draws moisture. If it sits on top of your igniter it gets stuck to it and you have to remove the igniter to get it out. If you Remove the two screws in the front of your burn pot you can pull the igniter and bracket out to where you can see if it’s clogged up. If it is, that’s probably your issue. When putting it back in, it’s helpful to have a small Allen wrench time use to line up the holes for those screws as the first one can be hard to line up. You’ll see what I mean. Also, did you remove the exhaust blower cover, because if it’s not locked in right it will have trouble igniting. Were the pellets in it all summer? They may draw moisture and be hard to light. Finally, mud daubers and wasps like to build nests in pipes which will cause stove to either not feed at all or take forever to light and burn dirty. My money is on an igniter acmes with damp ash. Good luck!

You nailed it! I unscrewed the two screws earlier today and must have gotten distracted and forgot to look in there. I just did this again and gently hit the front of the burn pot and a lot of ash came out. I then took the little brush that came with the stove and got in there really good and was surprised at how much ash was still coming out. Screwed it back in and turned it on and it's off an running in five minutes.

Thank you so much for the reassurance and for help talking me through this. Truly appreciate it!

 

[Overfireinthehole]

Good deal!

 

[Paulinator]

I vacuum inside the burnpot where the igniter is using my ash vac with a small tube attachment monthly. It works great for sucking out all the ash. Another thing is to keep the holes in the firepot clear. I use an allen wrench to clear out the holes. Your stove won't light if those holes are clogged. Speaking from experience here

 

[Kyle6286]

I vacuum inside the burnpot where the igniter is using my ash vac with a small tube attachment monthly. It works great for sucking out all the ash. Another thing is to keep the holes in the firepot clear. I use an allen wrench to clear out the holes. Your stove won't light if those holes are clogged. Speaking from experience here

Ha, yes, I too learned that. My weekly maintenance routine is to really scrape the burn pot with the tool that came with the stove and clean the holes with the allen wrench they provided. I just used the shop vac for the first time the other day to clean the chamber where the igniter is, and now that I know how important that is, I'll probably clean that area on a monthly basis at the least.

 

[Paulinator]

Ha, yes, I too learned that. My weekly maintenance routine is to really scrape the burn pot with the tool that came with the stove and clean the holes with the allen wrench they provided. I just used the shop vac for the first time the other day to clean the chamber where the igniter is, and now that I know how important that is, I'll probably clean that area on a monthly basis at the least.

I use a mechanics pry bar I bought from Walmart to scrape the firepot. It works great.