Harman Accentra 52i TC questions

[rhanauer]

I bought this Harman insert in May (to replace a 20 yr old Whitfield) & it's now getting regular use as our main heat source during a cold November here in Central MA. For the most part, I love it. I'm burning Wood & Sons pellets listing these specs: 100% Clean Eastern White Pine; fines 0.25%; PDI 99; ash 0.25%; BTU/lb 8,700. I've used about a ton so far. I've got the wireless remote & the stove regularly shuts down & restarts. I've been scraping the burn pot frequently (1-2x/day) due to much rock-hard clinker accretion down near the throat which requires aggressive chiseling to loosen. I'm keeping up with the ashpan cleaning. I haven't done the full cleaning yet (the prompt says only 60%). The problem has been that I've encountered several combustion or iginition error shutdowns, & lately there's a "pop" & much smoke at times upon ignition. Last night I hit reset after an ignition error & then noticed that burn pot was jammed full before reigniting, resulting in a huge, smoky fire for a time before settling down (dirty ignitor?). Should I just do the full cleaning now? Would a change in stove settings (e.g feed rate) or a different pellet brand help with the amount of clinkers, or is this normal? Thanks for any suggestions, & Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[DAKSY]

How's the igniter cavity under the burnpot?
Have you cleaned it & punched out the holes
leading to it thru the bottom of the pot?

 

[jackman]

Whenever my stove starts misbehaving it's time for a full cleaning including the outside air intake and vent pipe.

 

[Dataman]

Try running on Manual. I have Harmon XXV and perfer manual and no start and stops. Burn pot seems cleaner too.

 

[Paulinator]

A full cleaning is perhaps in order. It also sounds like maybe the pellets may be playing a part in the issues you are having. I would suggest a good cleaning, and maybe experiment using a different pellet type. My 52i will eat anything, but some pellet brands can be much dirtier. We scrape daily, and vacuum weekly. Monthly, I simply pull it apart and deep clean it.

 

[rhanauer]

Thanks for your responses! I did a deep cleaning (minus flu sweeping which was done by the installers in May), and she’s igniting and burning much better. Lesson learned: when a PC misbehaves, reboot; when a stove misbehaves, clean! I guess I thought it was too early to need it, but not so. And having never done it, I may have been avoiding the task. It really wasn’t bad, though, & it’ll be easier next time.

 

[minux]

I have the same stove as you. Room Temp mode is garbage. Use constant burn / stove temp mode. Room Temp mode eats pellets.

Set your feed rate to 3 or 4. This is the max pellet feed you will get. Set the Stove Temp to something reasonable. Be done with it.

You already bought the insert, but did you look at heating oil instead? Not sure a any pellet stove is worth $5K. You are pushing hybrid furnace prices. No stove, especially inserts, are intended for whole home heating. What made you go with an expensive insert over freestanding with high capacity? You are up north, right? I spent a lot of time in the boonies of MASS and nothing but trees. Last I saw, they do not grow pellets LOL

Sorry for being critical, but with pellets being $250 / ton and oil being cheap, you really can not justify the cost of a Harman. Period.

The higher you have your stove cranked, the more black cake and crap you will get.

Good luck!

 

[rhanauer]

I have the same stove as you. Room Temp mode is garbage. Use constant burn / stove temp mode. Room Temp mode eats pellets.

Set your feed rate to 3 or 4. This is the max pellet feed you will get. Set the Stove Temp to something reasonable. Be done with it.

You already bought the insert, but did you look at heating oil instead? Not sure a any pellet stove is worth $5K. You are pushing hybrid furnace prices. No stove, especially inserts, are intended for whole home heating. What made you go with an expensive insert over freestanding with high capacity? You are up north, right? I spent a lot of time in the boonies of MASS and nothing but trees. Last I saw, they do not grow pellets LOL

Sorry for being critical, but with pellets being $250 / ton and oil being cheap, you really can not justify the cost of a Harman. Period.

The higher you have your stove cranked, the more black cake and crap you will get.

Good luck!

Thanks for your comments. I have an electric home (no furnace) so pellet heat is a good alternative - and we enjoy the fire. The house had The Whitfield fireplace insert when we bought it, & there isn’t a good place to put a freestanding unit.

 

[minux]

Did you look into a Mitsubishi HE mini-split instead? No pellets to haul. Provides heat and A/C. Heats to -30.

I do like our stoves, but not at $250 / ton, plus hauling and cleaning.

 

[rhanauer]

Did you look into a Mitsubishi HE mini-split instead? No pellets to haul. Provides heat and A/C. Heats to -30.

I do like our stoves, but not at $250 / ton, plus hauling and cleaning.

We do have 3 Mitshubisi’s and love them. MassSave had a 0% loan incentive. I got them mainly for AC, but also use them to supplement pellet heat for areas farthest from the stove.