Harman P61A-2 auto ignition problem

[HBW3]

If anyone else has had auto startup ignition problems this may help.
This is a new dealer installed stove, and the second one because the first one would not light at all on its own.
Placement of stove is not unusual so I will not go into that.
After the dealer replaced anything mechanical or electrical in the stove that could affect the ignitor including the ignitor
I demanded another stove.

I am pleased with the design of this stove. All but "Auto Ignition" seems fine.
When the second stove was installed it fired on its own but took quite a few minutes.
I was concerned about the length of time it took to start but at that point I gave in and bought the stove.
After the first go around and the installer replacing nearly everything in the first stove and watching him do it
I figured I probably knew about as much as he did about the stove.

That was in the middle of July, in September I started using the stove and I could see that auto ignition was going to be a problem. Sometimes the pellets were falling into the ash pan before any smoke would appear if anything.
As well as this stove seems to be built I could not imagine that Harman could sell it that way with the auto ignition so unreliable.
Sometimes it will lite on its own sometimes it will not.
I guessed their had to be something wrong with the heat created by the ignitor, or the placement
under the burn pot.

I contacted my dealer and they said that they were not aware of any other problems.
They were willing to send their tech. but I do not need to loose more work and have parts thrown at this stove to no avail.
At least that is what happened with the first stove.

Having a mechanical background I first looked into the location of the ignitor and as I expected the metal shroud surrounding the ignitor was directly below the 1/8" air holes in the burn pot, blocking heat transfir to the pellets.
I removed the ignitor and bent the housing out about 1/8".
Reinstalled the ignitor and the stove has lit on its own within 6 1/2 min. with no ash in the burn pot, from a cold state.

I did this yesterday and have let the stove cool to room temp,cleaned out all the ash, and started under auto mode and have had the same results each time.
I cleaned the ash out because that seemed to be when the auto ignition would most often fail.
The fire started within 6 1/2 min. consistently 4 out of 4 times.
So far 100% success. Before 1 out of 4 tries was the best I could get if I was lucky.
Hopefully this will end this problem.
I have not used the stove when not at home for fear of ignition failure.
I will post if anything changes.

I have attached a picture of the ignitor position as shipped from the factory.
This is viewed using a mirror to see directly through the burn pot air holes.
I hope this helps.

 

[mcmanus]

Hi - I have a quad, not a harman so I'm just pointing to something I read - but did you read this post about an accentra lighting problem ?

Finally he called Harman and they told him to remove the igniter and switch the position of a small plate attached to the igniter. It seems they have been putting these on backwards and it creates a space between the igniter and the burn pot which doesn’t let the pot get hot enough to ignite the pellets. He made the switch and the stove lit right away

and the next poster says there is a tech bulletin on the topic.

maybe the same issue you have?

 

[HBW3]

Yes, I saw that post.
I am not sure if the ignitor is the same as the one in the p61a-2.
The configuration of the ignitor in my stove seems correct, the placement was wrong.
When I had the ignitor out I could see that the threaded mounting hole location on the ignitor bracket was off center.
That is probably why the location to the burn pot holes was off.
I guess the ignitors are made elsewhere.
Thanks for the reply

 

[HBW3]

Update on auto ignition

After a week the stove is still starting OK.
I had a call in to my dealer before I worked on the problem myself.
Their service man called me and informed me that the first stove they installed had a bad igniter install from the factory.
The problem was the same as pointed out above.
I told him what I did and he said that I should look at mine again and see if this igniter was installed incorrectly from the factory. I did and he was right, the plate that holds the ignitor in place was on upsidedown.
This causes the housing to be about 1/16" away from the burnpot base. This allows air to go past the ignitor rather than through it. I flipped the holding plate, reinstalled the igniter assembly, and now the stove starts even faster.

I cannot imagine how many stoves may have this problem in the field and the owners are not aware of it.