Harman Advance Newbie Qs

[zinfendel]

I just purchased a used Harman Advance and have been burning it for a few days now (not continuously). Prior to starting it up, I read the manual a few times, looked at some YouTube videos and took it all apart to make sure I knew all the parts. The seller had cleaned it up pretty good.

When I first ran it, I got a rogue flame shooting out of the side of the firepot, between the pot edge and the flame guide. It was constant. After shutting the stove down overnight, I took the brick back plate and flame guide out, made sure there was no buildup between them and made sure the guide was seated well on the pot in its grooves.

Flame is gone, but a get a good stream of smoke from that side now, and the glass is getting sooty on that side.

Can't see it real well in this pic, but you get the idea. I will shut the stove down again and check it all out. Any ideas/suggestions for what to check? Other than that the stove seems to run real well, I am amazed at the output. But this is my first pellet stove so I am not quite sure what is right. Very little visible smoke out of the vent outside once it has stabilized.

Thanks for any help.....

 

[greg13]

That is one of the Harman traits, left window will smoke over. There are numerous posts about advance here. They are a great stove, I do a quick cleaning on ours about once a week and a more complete every other week. Don't forget to empty the fines box (right side of the stove) once in a while. Leave the feed rate at 4, it will work best at that setting.

 

[P38X2]

Sounds like the flame guide wasn't seated correctly. That smoke doesn't seem right though.

 

[New Hampshire Jim]

I have the exact same stove and I get the flame and smoke on the left side facing the stove as you do. This only happens on a cold start up and as the stove warms up It will go away. I think that this has to do with how the stove was engineered. It seems the exhausted smoke gets pushed to the left side of the fire box hence the dirty left glass.I cleaned my stove today and after 1/4 bag of pellets the left glass Is sootie already.It has run like this for 3 seasons so I guess Its normal. It Is a great stove and during the coldest weather we have had In Plaistow N.H. we were very comfortable
Enjoy
JimH.

 

[zinfendel]

Actually after I took that pic, and let it run in stove mode on 6 for a while I noticed that the smoke stream was gone. Interesting to know that it is not unique to my stove. I'll still pay attention to that area next time I clean it and make sure it seats well...

 

[New Hampshire Jim]

I set the feed rate between 4 and 5.I run in room temp Auto set at 70 degrees. The Distribution blower Is set to run about mid way ( 12:00 looking at It) And I will not have to touch these setting no matter what the outside temp Is. The fan will ramp up and down all by Itself.I leave these settings for the heating season. Let the computer in the stove do Its thing(You spent big bucks for this feature) And I know at least for me It Is a lot smarter than I am at combustion efficiency.
Jim

 

[zinfendel]

Jim, where do you have your room temp sensor located? I'm still trying to work that out.....

 

[New Hampshire Jim]

The stove is located in a corner of my 14x20 living room. I ran the wire to the temp sensor to the diagonal corner of the room up the leg of an end table to the base of a table lamp. So it Is about 20 feet from the stove. This works for me as I set the stove at 70 deg. and when the room reaches about 72 on a wall thermostat the stove will start to ramp down. My house Is a 24x34 cape well insulated with new windows.Farthest room from stove will be 68 Deg. And upstairs will be 67 deg. YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY
Jim

 

[zinfendel]

Well I've concluded that proximity to the stove is not all that important, but exposure to heat wash, drafts, baseboard heat (of turned on), etc is. I read that you can just put it on the wall behind the stove and it should work there, but I think it may be influenced by radiant heat there. I would like it away from my stove, but I really don't want to see it. I would put it at baseboard level, except I have a long baseboard heater next to it on one side, and an exterior door on the other. I suppose I could run a longer wire along the wall and get it past the baseboard heat.

Wondering if any other advance owners can share what has worked for them for probe placement.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Ran a cable inside the wall directly behind the stove and down the same wall as the thermostat. I set the stove to ~70deg, fees rate to 4.5 and the fan 1/3 up.

 

[greg13]

Well I've concluded that proximity to the stove is not all that important, but exposure to heat wash, drafts, baseboard heat (of turned on), etc is. I read that you can just put it on the wall behind the stove and it should work there, but I think it may be influenced by radiant heat there. I would like it away from my stove, but I really don't want to see it. I would put it at baseboard level, except I have a long baseboard heater next to it on one side, and an exterior door on the other. I suppose I could run a longer wire along the wall and get it past the baseboard heat.

Wondering if any other advance owners can share what has worked for them for probe placement.

Our's is on the wall behind the stove about 3' up. The fan pushes warm air forward from the stove, so the air behind the stove has been circulated. seems to work just fine.

 

[New Hampshire Jim]

Here Is a picture of my Stove Room If you look at the end table with the light on you will see the room temp probe at the base of the lamp

 

[rickwai]

Actually after I took that pic, and let it run in stove mode on 6 for a while I noticed that the smoke stream was gone. Interesting to know that it is not unique to my stove. I'll still pay attention to that area next time I clean it and make sure it seats well...

If fire back was not seated correctly on top of burnpot and stove ran and burned out of the side you will get some creosote on outside of pot. After correcting problem creosote will burn off for awhile. when scraping, hit the top edges of burnpot. Sometimes they look clean and when u run the scraper down them there was a build up that will flakes off