Harman p43 not feeding long enough

[C4boom]

I have a harmen P43 stove. Light's fine gets going throttles up. Then for some reason, it does not feed aggressively enough, it keeps a small fire in the pot even when turned up all the way. The level 7 or with the temperature, the probe turned all the way up to 90° it does not feed excessively aggressive. It used to feed and have a very large fire in the box. And heat up the house quite well.

So far, I have taken the ESP probe out and cleaned it with no change.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Whitenuckler]

I have a harmen P43 stove. Light's fine gets going throttles up. Then for some reason, it does not feed aggressively enough, it keeps a small fire in the pot even when turned up all the way. The level 7 or with the temperature, the probe turned all the way up to 90° it does not feed excessively aggressive. It used to feed and have a very large fire in the box. And heat up the house quite well.

So far, I have taken the ESP probe out and cleaned it with no change.

Thank you for your time.

Does it act the same in stove mode? Stove mode would be the mode where it is just based on internal temperature. Say, stove mode, feed rate 4, setting of 4. Also, can you verify it is cold in the room without the stove running? Can you also look at the LED light for the feed/auger. How many seconds does the light stay on, and then time to the next feed cycle.

 

[C4boom]

Does it act the same in stove mode? Stove mode would be the mode where it is just based on internal temperature. Say, stove mode, feed rate 4, setting of 4. Also, can you verify it is cold in the room without the stove running? Can you also look at the LED light for the feed/auger. How many seconds does the light stay on, and then time to the next feed cycle.

Yes, it's actually worse in stove mode. If I put it on stove mode, Max setting, the flame is less than room temp mode. I counted it out on Max setting 6. I'm getting about 25 seconds worth of feed. Rate on room mode and I'm getting about 22 to 23 on stove mode.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Yes, it's actually worse in stove mode. If I put it on stove mode, Max setting, the flame is less than room temp mode. I counted it out on Max setting 6. I'm getting about 25 seconds worth of feed. Rate on room mode and I'm getting about 22 to 23 on stove mode.

Do you have unburnt pellets?

 

[Whitenuckler]

I am signing off, but I think you need to check your air supply circuit starting from outside (if you have OAK) all the way past the flapper and the combustion blower. If you have pellets, and no fire, what you need is air, and a good vacuum (flow).

 

[C4boom]

I am signing off, but I think you need to check your air supply circuit starting from outside (if you have OAK) all the way past the flapper and the combustion blower. If you have pellets, and no fire, what you need is air, and a good vacuum (flow).

So I checked the stove with The draft meter it's within spec. I don't have an external air supply. It pulls from in the house

 

[C4boom]

Do you have unburnt pellets?

No burning well just not feeding fast enough.

 

[bogieb]

A couple of things to check:

Make sure the room probe is well seated into the back of the stove. I've had it loosen up before on the P61aand couldn't figure out why it basically went into maintenance mode after starting up. If it is not seated well, the stove gets confused and doesn't know what to do so just feeds at a slow rate. Once I pushed the connecter so it was firmly seated, the issue went away.

Make sure the business end of the room probe isn't too close to the stove, or otherwise been moved. I have mine looped around the panel door (with door open). Apparently one of the cats brushed by it and closed the door somewhat - resulting in the probe getting heat from the stove instead of room air.

Make sure the feeder speed is set at 4 (although maybe you did this - I'm unclear about whether you were mentioning just the temp knob or both in your description).

Hope you get it figured out!

 

[C4boom]

A couple of things to check:

Make sure the room probe is well seated into the back of the stove. I've had it loosen up before on the P61aand couldn't figure out why it basically went into maintenance mode after starting up. If it is not seated well, the stove gets confused and doesn't know what to do so just feeds at a slow rate. Once I pushed the connecter so it was firmly seated, the issue went away.

Make sure the business end of the room probe isn't too close to the stove, or otherwise been moved. I have mine looped around the panel door (with door open). Apparently one of the cats brushed by it and closed the door somewhat - resulting in the probe getting heat from the stove instead of room air.

Make sure the feeder speed is set at 4 (although maybe you did this - I'm unclear about whether you were mentioning just the temp knob or both in your description).

Hope you get it figured out

I'll check the seating on the probe tomorrow. During the day but the probe is about 20 feet away using
The thermostat wire ( it has been set up like that for the last 6 years.)

as far as this feeder speed nob, it doesn 't matter if I set it at 4 or 6 technically 6 sould feed a max longer , it only runs about 15-20 seconds at most.(usually will feed for 40-50 Seconds)

 

[NS P-68]

Make sure your ESP hasn't come loose from the board or that the wire hasnt been damaged.
It sounds like an ESP issue...especially since it seems to run worse in stove mode.

 

[Whitenuckler]

I'll check the seating on the probe tomorrow. During the day but the probe is about 20 feet away using
The thermostat wire ( it has been set up like that for the last 6 years.)

as far as this feeder speed nob, it doesn 't matter if I set it at 4 or 6 technically 6 sould feed a max longer , it only runs about 15-20 seconds at most.(usually will feed for 40-50 Seconds)

Do all your troubleshooting in Stove Mode to eliminate the room sensor. In stove mode, can you measure the stove temp with everything turned to max after 30 minutes. Keep the room blower off (igniter sw down).
Are you using the same pellets as before?
Let it run out of pellets, and try and see if your auger teeth are clear.
Double check the fines cavity and seal plate, the burn pot holes, and the igniter cavity is clean.
Make sure the hopper lid seals are clean ect.
Inspect the air flapper. If you draw from the house and have pets you are sucking dirty air through your stove. I'd install OAK.
You could try the "Leaf blower trick"

 

[Whitenuckler]

No burning well just not feeding fast enough.

As mentioned, check the ESP wiring, and then after that put a new one in. Your feed times seem good ie 22 seconds, then off for 10S ? so it does not make sense. Later I will put mine on stove mode at max and write down the auger run and dwell times.

 

[Whitenuckler]

I'll check the seating on the probe tomorrow. During the day but the probe is about 20 feet away using
The thermostat wire ( it has been set up like that for the last 6 years.)

as far as this feeder speed nob, it doesn 't matter if I set it at 4 or 6 technically 6 sould feed a max longer , it only runs about 15-20 seconds at most.(usually will feed for 40-50 Seconds)

40-50 second feed time is way too high. It would be feeding pellets almost continuously. I'd have to look it up, but running for 20-25s every minute is max think.

 

[Whitenuckler]

I'll check the seating on the probe tomorrow. During the day but the probe is about 20 feet away using
The thermostat wire ( it has been set up like that for the last 6 years.)

as far as this feeder speed nob, it doesn 't matter if I set it at 4 or 6 technically 6 sould feed a max longer , it only runs about 15-20 seconds at most.(usually will feed for 40-50 Seconds)

I was just watching mine after I turned it back on after a quick clean. It is basically heating the whole house, and sometimes the flames are up to the heat exchanger. Feed for 30 seconds, off for 30 seconds, rinse and repeat.

 

[C4boom]

40-50 second feed time is way too high. It would be feeding pellets almost continuously. I'd have to look it up, but running for 20-25s every minute is max think.

The 40-50 is usually just to get ramped up then it will diel back to about 30 at full run. The stove is runn

I was just watching mine after I turned it back on after a quick clean. It is basically heating the whole house, and sometimes the flames are up to the heat exchanger. Feed for 30 seconds, off for 30 seconds, rinse and repeat.

So I just did a full clean and changed the ESP stove is running good now. I'm pretty sure the ESP was bad because the stove wasn't excessively dirty. It had only gone through. about 1/2 a ton since last full cleaning.


I set the stove to wide open "90⁰ room temp" and checked the timings on the 3 knob board and it does come pretty close to being each number. It equals 10 seconds, 4 = 42. 3 = 30. The stove's running excellent on 4 now. Running perfect with about 1.5" of ash before the end of the pot.



Thank you for all your help

 

[C4boom]

So in the end, the ESP pro I believe was bad as the stove is now running perfectly after a cleaning and a new probe. I did check to see if the probe was loose. It was not. I also checked to make sure that my room temp probe was fully seated, and it was. With single degree temps coming up. I just hail married it and chucked a new probe on it. And it worked great.

 

[Whitenuckler]

The 40-50 is usually just to get ramped up then it will diel back to about 30 at full run. The stove is runn

So I just did a full clean and changed the ESP stove is running good now. I'm pretty sure the ESP was bad because the stove wasn't excessively dirty. It had only gone through. about 1/2 a ton since last full cleaning.


I set the stove to wide open "90⁰ room temp" and checked the timings on the 3 knob board and it does come pretty close to being each number. It equals 10 seconds, 4 = 42. 3 = 30. The stove's running excellent on 4 now. Running perfect with about 1.5" of ash before the end of the pot.



Thank you for all your help

Great - I think I remember reading somewhere that the feed rate is what the stove will use as a starting point, then the control card has a plus/minus bias upon that. I am burning very good pellets, and have the feed at maybe 2 or less. It takes bit of time to ramp up, but eventually gets to that 30 on, 30 off which I think is almost full BTU. It's -12C here with a wind chill, and I have cold air blowing into the back from upstairs. Room Mode - basement at 70F

 

[Whitenuckler]

40-50 second feed time is way too high. It would be feeding pellets almost continuously. I'd have to look it up, but running for 20-25s every minute is max think.

It's very cold here and I'm trying to heat the whole house. For the first time I turned the feed rate up to 4. I was recording 40 second auger run time. The fire is really going - I guess I've never had to use full BTU!

 

[tomasjj]

I'll check the seating on the probe tomorrow. During the day but the probe is about 20 feet away using
The thermostat wire ( it has been set up like that for the last 6 years.)

as far as this feeder speed nob, it doesn 't matter if I set it at 4 or 6 technically 6 sould feed a max longer , it only runs about 15-20 seconds at most.(usually will feed for 40-50 Seconds)

I am experiencing something similar. functioning, but very small fire. My feed motor was going consistently 40 seconds energized & 20 seconds idle. This went on for about an hour. And then it shut down. 6 blinks on the status light. For the life of me, I cannot figure out these symptoms. Anyone have any ideas??

 

[C4boom]

In your case I would check for leaks or a bad esp probe .

 

[Whitenuckler]

I am experiencing something similar. functioning, but very small fire. My feed motor was going consistently 40 seconds energized & 20 seconds idle. This went on for about an hour. And then it shut down. 6 blinks on the status light. For the life of me, I cannot figure out these symptoms. Anyone have any ideas??

Not enough air going through stove (or burn pot holes), unless you are not feeding actual pellets. If the auger runs for 40 seconds there should be lots of pellets unburned if the fire goes out.

 

[Washed-Up]

Time for a deep clean with the leaf blower trick

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[bogieb]

I am experiencing something similar. functioning, but very small fire. My feed motor was going consistently 40 seconds energized & 20 seconds idle. This went on for about an hour. And then it shut down. 6 blinks on the status light. For the life of me, I cannot figure out these symptoms. Anyone have any ideas??

This is not enough information for a good diagnostic, but a good cleaning is a good place to start (as WashedUp indicated).

What was happening just prior to these symptoms? Had you just cleaned it (that would probably mean something was not put back together correctly)? Did you change pellets? Did you change the settings (for that matter, what are your settings - A pic of the control board would be useful).

I would look at a blockage in your hopper as a first step. It should not be feeding for that long without the firepot overflowing, or having a huge flame. Then I would look for blockage of both the air going into the stove, and the exhaust. After that, there are other free things to investigate.

 

[tomasjj]

In your case I would check for leaks or a bad esp probe .

Thank You C4boom. I cleaned the ESP probe. By-passed & reconnected the pressure switch. No blockage with the vacuum line. Clean the area where the auger meets the pellets. Next up is changing the firebox/ash gaskets & checking the entire exhaust line. Interesting that the motor cycling on/off was exactly 40/20 seconds for about an hour before it went into shutdown & activated the status lights. It's as if the system is working fine and is in low gear but something is not letting it get into high gear, i.e. continuous auger activation per the temp settings. Weird.

 

[tomasjj]

This is not enough information for a good diagnostic, but a good cleaning is a good place to start (as WashedUp indicated).

What was happening just prior to these symptoms? Had you just cleaned it (that would probably mean something was not put back together correctly)? Did you change pellets? Did you change the settings (for that matter, what are your settings - A pic of the control board would be useful).

I would look at a blockage in your hopper as a first step. It should not be feeding for that long without the firepot overflowing, or having a huge flame. Then I would look for blockage of both the air going into the stove, and the exhaust. After that, there are other free things to investigate.

Thank You for your comments. I did change pellets - Barefoot to Hamer. And I did change the igniter. Zero issues with the igniter changeout. And I did consider the possibility that Hamer pellets were longer than Barefoot (thus possibly creating a feed issue) - but didn't research that as yet. The first fire-up of the season was perfect. Nice flame. All systems 'GO'. I watched for 5 minutes & walked away. I checked it an hour later. That's when the flame was minimal & I started thinking about possible failures. I can't recall, but it's possible that some Barefoot pellets were in the hopper (supporting the pellet theory). I can't believe that this is rooted in a 'pellet length' issue, but I will look into that. Air intake is fine. But I do plan on checking the exhaust & I will change the hopper and ash door gaskets.