Harman Accentra-2 Pellet Stove Fuse Blows

[Don0421]

Hey,

I'm new to the forum. Have a Harman Accentra2 freestanding pellet stove. Had all kinds of issues with it this year and eventually figured everything out by reading posts here (thank you all!). The stove just stopped working this AM. I had replaced the circuit board, so knew it had a fuse. Took the fuse out (it was 5A 250W, does that sound right???? have seen a lot of folks mention 6A 250W, but that was the fuse that came with the replacement board). Anyway, replaced the fuse, the stove started, and the fuse blew immediately (with a green flash behind the board). Replaced the fuse again and turned ignition to manual, and the the stove works fine (then flipped the ignition to auto and it immediately blew....just wanted to check).

So I know there's something going on with the igniter (it's probably 4 or so years old and a replacement as we bought the stove in 2009). Question is would it ONLY be the igniter or is the igniter blowing the fuse a sign of some underlying problem. We don't use the stove as our primary source of heat (my office is in the basement, so I usually run the pellet stove during the day in winter months to keep the basement comfortable), so I'm not sure I want to throw a bunch of time and money at figuring out how to fix the auto ignite if it's going to be more involved than replacing the igniter element. I'll just start it manually in the AM and things will be fine.

Thanks for any replies!

 

[Mt Bob]

Your igniter is bad,or a wire to the igniter is rubbed through and shorted somewhere.Do not keep replacing fuse for testing,those control boards are fragile,too many blow fuses and board will die.When you pull the igniter out,you can test it with a meter,to see if it is the problem.If not,inspect the igniter wires all the way up to the control panel board.

 

[Don0421]

Your igniter is bad,or a wire to the igniter is rubbed through and shorted somewhere.Do not keep replacing fuse for testing,those control boards are fragile,too many blow fuses and board will die.When you pull the igniter out,you can test it with a meter,to see if it is the problem.If not,inspect the igniter wires all the way up to the control panel board.

Thanks for the reply Bob. Unfortunately, I think there may be a little more to it. I tried starting the stove in manual mode. Lit the pellets in the pot and left it go for about 20-minutes. Went out and checked, and the feed motor wasn't feeding pellets. Thought maybe this was something Harman built into the stove if it was on manual (have to admit I've only lit the stove maybe twice on manual), so I turned the feed adjustment to test and the fuse blew again (with the same green flash behind the board). Not sure what to do. Guess I'll buy a new igniter and another board and see if that fixes it. I did take the feed motor off and checked to make sure the auger wasn't bound up. It turned fine by hand and the motor is new, so unless I got a bad motor and a bad board, it's likely the board, right? Think I'll buy a surge protector while I'm at it. I like fixing things, but this is getting frustrating!

 

[Mt Bob]

Ya,probably igniter problem took out board.

 

[Don0421]

Ya,probably igniter problem took out board.

Thanks again Bob.