Harman Accentra insert, not shutting off self inflicted..

[bdud]

Bought this Harman Accentra insert ~7 years ago and other than a replacement ignitor has been great. Recently the stove has not been shutting off from the wall timer and resorted to opening hopper lid to stop feed of pellets. I read the threads on here and did the 5 minute shutdown / hard reset but same results. Had down a thorough cleaning (so I thought) at beginning of heating season and minor cleaning since then. I don't use as much recently since pellet boiler install, just 2 hours in morning & evening.
Last year I built a cleaning / sliding frame from some posts I saw on here from 1" square tubing. This enables me to slide complete unit out so easy. Using the cleaning brush supplied with the stove, I had previously only pushed the brush in the left exhaust port maybe 3/4's it length, it was not enough, I thought it had hit a 90degree port that fed into the right side port and could go no further. When I removed the cleaning plate at the rear where the esp sensor / exhaust fan lives, the end of the brush was not coming into that chamber. The brush was pushing / moving ash into that chamber from a port I had not noticed before, oooops. Reshaping the brush end a bit so could get round a bend or angle, I was able to push the brush all the way to the chamber at the rear, it came with quite a bit of ash. The handle end of the brush was almost all the way into the entrance of the left port, way further than I had ever pushed the brush. I cleaned out all the ash, thorough clean everywhere, including the distribution blower underneath. The esp sensor was not that dirty.
It has been 3 days and stove has been shutting off correctly ever since maybe its first ever real clean.
I am hoping the ash build up was causing the stove to not shut down and it is now fixed.
Having the cleaning frame certainly helped in seeing what I was doing wrong.
Hopefully this will help other Accentra insert folks.

 

[Lake Girl]

Thanks for the info on your experience with cleaning the Accentra insert ... I do recall comments about a difficult section to clean. Many of us have rigged a tube to a shop vac attachment (with drywall bag) to get to the hard to reach places once we have run a brush through. Just have to make sure ash is cold and dead out. Would be nice if these stoves came with a diagram showing internal exhaust pathways ...

 

[bdud]

It does explain cleaning these tubes quite well in the manual.
"The Left side tube follows straight back then makes a right turn, across the back, to the combustion chamber. You will need to use the entire length of the cleaning brush handle to properly clean this tube."
I did not push the brush hard enough, I thought it was at the end..

 

[Bioburner]

And again the moto of "clean it again" before blaming the or thinking the stove is at fault Now I'm going to work off the roast beef sandwich by chasing the snowblower in -5 degree winter bliss

 

[Lake Girl]

Better than the -9F/-23C we are at. It was warmer yesterday when it was snowing.

 

[Bioburner]

Well that was at 5:30 If you would mind, close the freezer door your letting all the cold down here

 

[fedtime]

Bought this Harman Accenture insert ~7 years ago and other than a replacement ignitor has been great. Recently the stove has not been shutting off from the wall timer and resorted to opening hopper lid to stop feed of pellets. I read the threads on here and did the 5 minute shutdown / hard reset but same results. Had down a thorough cleaning (so I thought) at beginning of heating season and minor cleaning since then. I don't use as much recently since pellet boiler install, just 2 hours in morning & evening.
Last year I built a cleaning / sliding frame from some posts I saw on here from 1" square tubing. This enables me to slide complete unit out so easy. Using the cleaning brush supplied with the stove, I had previously only pushed the brush in the left exhaust port maybe 3/4's it length, it was not enough, I thought it had hit a 90degree port that fed into the right side port and could go no further. When I removed the cleaning plate at the rear where the esp sensor / exhaust fan lives, the end of the brush was not coming into that chamber. The brush was pushing / moving ash into that chamber from a port I had not noticed before, oooops. Reshaping the brush end a bit so could get round a bend or angle, I was able to push the brush all the way to the chamber at the rear, it came with quite a bit of ash. The handle end of the brush was almost all the way into the entrance of the left port, way further than I had ever pushed the brush. I cleaned out all the ash, thorough clean everywhere, including the distribution blower underneath. The esp sensor was not that dirty.
It has been 3 days and stove has been shutting off correctly ever since maybe its first ever real clean.
I am hoping the ash build up was causing the stove to not shut down and it is now fixed.
Having the cleaning frame certainly helped in seeing what I was doing wrong.
Hopefully this will help other Accenture insert folks.

On very rare occasion, my Harman insert will not shut off on its own. I've solved the problem by shutting off the power to the stove, letting it sit for a few minutes, then turning the power back on.

However, I second the comments on thorough cleaning solving many problems. I too have rigged flexible hose to my vac to allow cleaning of the left port that goes all the way around the back of the stove to the blower chamber.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

...never heard of an Accenture......

 

[Lake Girl]

...never heard of an Accenture......

Don't know what you are talking about.. Better?