Harman Advance Vibration

[Rick5472]

I just lit off my new Harman Advance pellet stove for the first time this weekend. It appears to work great but I have an intermittent vibration when the feed motor runs. I am running the stove in room temp mode with the feed set on 4 and the temp setting around 70. The stove keeps up and the temp has been steady however, every few cycles of the feed motor there seems to be a vibration coming from the stove. At first I thought it was the panel on the right side but everything seems to be tight. Has anyone else had this problem or can tell me what this intermittent vibration could be? I may have to break down and call a Harmon dealer but from hearing about all the customer problem woes thought I would start on the internet. Thanks...Rick

 

[flashbang]

My Advance vibrates every so often. Sounds like a UH-1 soft base in the far distance. It's the deep base I hear and not the floor moving. I'm not sure what it is as far as the combustion motor, blower motor or the auger motor. Anyhow it seems normal and don't bother me. You have to be wanting to hear it to notice it.
My good guess would be calling the dealer would get a "that's normal" response.

 

[crausch]

That was one of things that had me concerned when I bought my Advance. Prior to the purchase I was researching reviews on the web. There seemed to be many people writing about a vibration. Some of them discovered that the vibration was coming from the Firebrick panel sitting loose. They wedged some metal behind it and it stopped the vibration. I decided to purchase the Advance anyway since my dealer had limited supply of stoves left. I have no problem with mine.

I did notice that sometimes they may not always remember to tighten all screwws down during manufacturing, so if your comfortable taking the back panel off, you can visually inspect many of the components for anything obvious.

BTW, I noticed my Harman model said "Advance-2" on the label on the back of the stove. I asked my dealer what was changed between the Advance and the Advance-2. He told me they improved a few things such as a better igniterm and also went from a ceramic firebrick panel to a cast firebrick panel. Maybe they recognized the vibration problem. Does you Advance say "Advance-2"?

 

[Rick5472]

My vibration noise seems to coincide with the feed motor as I can hear the pellets dropping and the feed motor light is on in the control panel. It doesn't happen all the time but about every few cycles of the feed motor. I will try to look at the internal back this week. I have already run about 3 bags of pellets through and it seems to be consistant.

 

[lecomte38]

My Accentra insert also also a vibration from the auger. On low fan setting it is quite loud when the auger comes on. I have been in back a couple of times trying to find out what it is but no luck so far. ( It is an insert, I can't have the stove burning while I am inspecting it.) I wonder if it is the auger itself crushiing pellets against the feed tube or rubbing on the tube? Be sure to post an answer when you get one.

 

[Rick5472]

Will do...I took the side panels off my Advance. They are not the cause of the vibration. I then thought it was the rear panels however when I heard the vibration, I pushed on the panels and the noise was still there. I will need to remove the rear panels so that I have access to the internal works and then perhaps I can use a non cunductive object ( a piece of wood?) to touch the various components to see if the vibration stops. I am hoping that is a simple fix.

 

[Rick5472]

By the way...when I looked at the model number on the rear of the stove I too have an Advance-2. I am not sure if that is pertinent but thought I would put it out there.

 

[Rick5472]

Today I took off the right (looking from front) rear panel. I lit off the stove and waited for the vibration. It didn't happen (yet). I believe that it could possibly be from the heat shield plate that sits under the auger feeder motor and could be vibrating against the top of the exhaust outlet. I am keeping the rear panel off hoping that I can get over to the stove if and when I hear a vibration and hold that shield in place to see if it really is the cause. Standby for any updates. -Rick

 

[flashbang]

Today I took off the right (looking from front) rear panel. I lit off the stove and waited for the vibration. It didn't happen (yet). I believe that it could possibly be from the heat shield plate that sits under the auger feeder motor and could be vibrating against the top of the exhaust outlet. I am keeping the rear panel off hoping that I can get over to the stove if and when I hear a vibration and hold that shield in place to see if it really is the cause. Standby for any updates. -Rick

God bless you Rick
Sounds like you are on a quest. I thought sit, wait and listen was reserved for snipers only.

 

[Bxpellet]

I think your vibration is the brick panel inside the stove, wedge a metal L bracket in between the brick panel and the metal heat shield

see if that stops your vibration

 

[Rick5472]

I think your vibration is the brick panel inside the stove, wedge a metal L bracket in between the brick panel and the metal heat shield

see if that stops your vibration

Could be however I have yet to hear it today. It will probably wake me up tonight around 0200 and I will have forgot where I put my flashlight and vibration damping stick.............

 

[flashbang]

I think your vibration is the brick panel inside the stove, wedge a metal L bracket in between the brick panel and the metal heat shield

see if that stops your vibration

Could be however I have yet to hear it today. It will probably wake me up tonight around 0200 and I will have forgot where I put my flashlight and vibration damping stick.............

Better a noise wakes you at 0200 and you can't find your stick than your shotgun.

 

[Rick5472]

I think your vibration is the brick panel inside the stove, wedge a metal L bracket in between the brick panel and the metal heat shield

see if that stops your vibration

Still haven't heard the vibration tonight....how did or do you insert the l bracket in if it happens to be the brick panel?

 

[Rick5472]

The wife also wanted the ceramic log set for the stove....which I got. I am holding off on putting that in until this vibration problem is solved. I heard these break very easily. It is strange that on the Advance they attach to the door but on other stoves I have heard they attach closer to the burn pot inside.

 

[Bxpellet]

The plate moves just pull it forward and slide it behind the plate, Slide along the top until the plate doesn't shift.

 

[Rick5472]

Thanks BX but I am having a hard time picturing the placement of the "L" bracket. By the way, I didn't hear any vibration last night with the right rear panel off. Still not sure where it is coming from since it has not recurred. I will put it back together tonight and see what happens.

 

[crausch]

Rick,

Maybe it was one of the rear panels itself. I guess its hard to say if you have not heard it again. Please let us know what you find out.

Also, I am thinking that maybe Harman corrected brick panel problem in the "Advance-2" model. I noticed that mine has a clip/bracket near the upper-left corner of the panel. This seems to hold the panel snug. I don't see where I could fit much of anything behind the panel with this arrangement. I wonder if anyone can tell us if the orignal Advance model has this clip?

 

[crausch]

Well I can put my thoughts to rest on the panel configuration. Thanks to BXpellet who chatted with me on the sideline, and shared how his Advance is setup with the brick panel. It looks as though the brick panel is held in place in the same fashion on both the original and the "Advance-2" models.

 

[Bxpellet]

Don't want to take full credit some one hear told me how to stop the rattle.

 

[Rick5472]

Maybe it was one of the rear panels itself. I guess its hard to say if you have not heard it again. Please let us know what you find out.

I don't think it was one of the rear panels. I only took off the right rear one anyway. When I did hear the vibration, I put my hand on both the rear panels to try and damp the vibration however, it still vibrated. I really believe that it was or is the heat shield that is below the auger motor and above the exhaust. perhaps when the rear panel is on it may come in to play and cause the shield to vibrate. I plan on putting the stove back together tonight and will update if the vibration returns or not.

 

[GVA]

It's probably one of the small plates behind the ash pan (the ones that have the knotch that sits next to the burnpot) once you burn it a couple of days the ash will keep it from vibrating,at least thats where mine rattled.
The difference in the advance and advance 2= alot....... airwash, access to the heat exchangers, I think the advance 1 even had a steel hopper lid, not glass.....some other differences too.
There are many revisions to the advance 2 however.....
Most likley there aren't many advance 1s out there anymore

 

[Bxpellet]

GVA,

My stove was purchased 2 summers ago would that be a Advance 1, now there, are no markings on it that say #2 anywhere on the stove
It has a glass lid for the hopper, and when I purchased the stove he had plenty in stock,
The steel plates do rattle behind the brick face, by wedging that L bracket behind the plate stop both from vibrating

 

[Rick5472]

The difference in the advance and advance 2= alot....... airwash, access to the heat exchangers, I think the advance 1 even had a steel hopper lid, not glass.....some other differences too.

I put the right rear panel back last night but removed it since I apparently did not have it installed tight and it too had a vibration but this is not my original cause I believe. Perhaps it is one of the plates around the burn pot. I started up the stove last night and it did make the vibration sound until it got up to temperature and I guess there was enough ash in the burn pot. It didn't vibrate all night as far as I can tell. Still bothers me not knowing exactly what the vibration is but I guess I will nuke it out and with the help from all here.

As far as the airwash on the front door goes...I have 2 airwash brackets, one on each side of the glass. One is perpendicular to the glass and the other is about and 60 degree angle to the glass. What is the correct positioning for these? I don't see them anywhere in the manual. Perhaps I have an Advance-1 manual and they didn't update it for the Advance-1?

 

[GVA]

the 2 brackets on the door hold the log set.
The airwash comes up through the gap between 2 pieces of steel formed by the base of the stove, if you open the door and look just behind where the door gasket compresses against the stove, it'll be a gap about the thickness of a dime along all 3 sides.
BX
Mine was an advance 2 and was made in about 04.
it should say right on the tag on the back of the stove, the same tag that is pictured inside the cover of your manual

 

[Bxpellet]

GVA, Mine says Advance-2, do you know how to read the serial number to determine what year it was made?