Harman pb105 5-Blink Error-Help!!

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pearlset79

New Member
Nov 19, 2008
40
Plattsburgh, NY
This is the 3rd winter that I am going into now....had two great years with a slight learning curve. Have a new problem that I am hoping that great people on here might be able to help me out with. On an irregular basis (but maybe 1-2x/week) I have been getting a 5 blink error light. I did a complete cleaning of the boiler (thought I had burned less than a ton since the start of the season), and also cleaned the vent pipe. Also, my igniter recently burned out, which I replaced and am still getting the error light. Thought the problem was solved, but I was wrong.

The area under the burnpot and igniter are clean and the holes in burnpot are all unobstructed.

another idea i had was dip switch settings....how are people's set? the first three of mine are off, on, off and I also tried off, off, on and still have the problem. switched them back to the original setting, since those worked just fine thru the previous winters.......


Anyone have any other suggestions to try?? Troubleshooting advice?? Thanks in advance for any suggestions...you guys are usually spot-on with your advice....Happy Heating!!!!
 
Are the pellets from this year or last? Did you try some different pellets? Maybe the pellets are a little damp or just harder to light.
 
Does that puppy have an air pump?

If it does when those go it will be difficult to light a fire.
 
Pearlset,

Do you have the new 15 ring ignitor? I found those work much better, but I still have issues with it igniting all the time. I might go two weeks with the PB starting up perfectly or I might only go a couple of days.

I only use the ignitor during the shoulder season. Once November hits I put the PB in the manual mode since I can go up to four weeks without doing a cleaning if I want and the boiler temp never drops below 140 F ( my minimum temp setting). When I tried using the auto ignite feature in the winter I would see the boiler temp drop as low as 120 F before the boiler would get lit.

Andy
 
Hey Andy, I did get a new igniter from my dealer....i had an extra old model so I put that in while waiting for the new one....didn't know what was the difference with the new one, but now I know that it has 15 rings (how many did the old ones have?). I may install it if/when it happens again. I also stopped using the OAT....many people have said that this really doesn't save pellets anyway, and I know in the main heating season that my boiler needs to be up in temp anyway. maybe this will help too??
 
The old ignitor had 13 rings. The new one is higher wattage than the old one so it gets hotter faster. I think the old one was around 300 watts and the new one around 400 - 500 watts.

I'm still using the OAT and I think it is saving me pellets.

I'd suggest putting in the new ignitor and see if that helps your issue.
 
Once I start my Pf100 up, I switch from Auto to Manual.....never a problem, thermostat controls the heat I want.
Only clean once a month also, switch back to auto to start, and then back to manual for another month. I got
better things to do than mess with a unit that gives me a problem, sometimes I think you just look for a problem
and try to fix something that is not bad, in so doing, mess things up.
This is my third year with the PF100, and have no problem with the ignitor (burnpot)
Had to live with bad pellets last year, but this year things are just great....love the heat.
I know, though, something always comes up.
 
That's what I do once November comes around. In September and October I use the auto mode since it's less of an issue if the PB doesn't start.


Red Devil said:
Once I start my Pf100 up, I switch from Auto to Manual.....never a problem, thermostat controls the heat I want.
Only clean once a month also, switch back to auto to start, and then back to manual for another month. I got
better things to do than mess with a unit that gives me a problem, sometimes I think you just look for a problem
and try to fix something that is not bad, in so doing, mess things up.
This is my third year with the PF100, and have no problem with the ignitor (burnpot)
Had to live with bad pellets last year, but this year things are just great....love the heat.
I know, though, something always comes up.
 
don't you find that you waste pellets in manual mode?? what do others think about that?? i know that manual operates so that it always keeps a small amount of pellets burning even when there isn't a call for heat.....
 
Once the heating season starts there seems to always be a call for heat so my boiler doesn't really shut down much. So I could leave it in the auto mode, but I don't want to take the chance of it not starting so I leave it in manual. The 4 or 5 pounds of pellets a day I may use in the manual mode vs. the auto mode are worth it for the peace of mind.

Also, once there is a large call for heat my boiler can instantly react to the demand vs. the 5 - 10 minutes it takes for the boiler to ignite and get a good fire going. I think in the winter you really don't burn more pellets in the manual mode since you have to burn a lot of pellets to have the boiler catch up to the heat demand.

In the shoulder seasons I definitely believe you save fuel in the auto mode since there may be no call for heat all day long.
 
andrew, would have to agree with this and see your point....just installed the new model igniter and it did start up faster and there was less smoldering. hoping this solves my problem. i put everything back to how it was last season (dip switches, OAT connected etc) and I'll see if just using the new igniter solved my probs. they are new pellets that I am using this year, but are premium and seem to be like ones I have used in the past....will keep people posted, but most suggestions are certainly welcomed.....
 
so i had the 5 blink error light again this morning and checked the burnpot. didn't see any pellets in there to light.....so i am thinking that there was a jam at the bottom of the hopper...only problem is that when i reset the boiler, the pellets started dropping like normal....any thoughts on the new development???
 
Knowing that the vac switch has to close in order to energize the auger motor and igniter, I would also be looking at the vac line going to this switch looking for some sort of obstruction in it, preventing it from drawing enough vacuum to close the switch all the time. Remove the vac tubing from the vac switch, blow air through the tubing to insure nothing is obstucting the vacuum.
 
the vac. tube is the one that is clear under the hopper right?? how easy is it to take off and put on?? my abilities are not super, but more moderate....something i can do??
 
Thats it, just pull it gently, working it from side to side from the fitting on the vac switch.
 
ok did that....never cleaned it out before so that may be something.....time will tell if this works....thanks for the suggestions....weird how in year 3 i am getting these probs. thought it might be the type of pellets, but now I know it isn't since after the last error i checked and there were no pellets in the hopper......thanks wil, will report back in a day or so, unless i don't get an error for a few days ha ha
 
Check your ESP probe. If that is dirty the ESP will not detect enough heat to think there is a fire and your boiler stop feeding pellets and the burn pot will be empty when you look at it.
 
ESP probe was just cleaned as I do it each time I clean the stove (which is every ton burned). The stove ran fine for 2 days, then woke up this morning and it was out with a 5 blink light.....now I really have no idea what the problem is. any other ideas?? I do appreciate all the help...have a call into my dealer, but he hasn't proved to be the most helpful. I know it is not the pellets....the stove is going out because there are no pellets in the burnpot to ignite.....thanks for more help....
 
When you get the 5 blink error is there a sudden, large heat load being placed on the boiler? I used to have this problem when I had all three of my heating zones come on at once. I use programmable t-stats and almost every day I came home I would have the 5 blink error. I finally figured out that because I had programmed all 3 t-stats to call for heat at the same time it would drop the boiler temp too much and even though the pellets caught fire they couldn't build enough heat in the boiler for the ESP to sense a fire before the board timed out.

My solution was to have one zone kick on about 45 minutes before the other two and that resolved the issue.
 
5 Blinks: (In Auto Light Mode Only)
Indicates that the igniter has failed to light the fire after 40
Minutes. To reset - Turn the Mode Selector/Min. Temp. to
OFF and then back to the desired temperature.


There are a number of things which can lead to a failure to start. If you believe the unit to be clean, possibly you can rule this out. Make sure the vacuum hose is clear (remove from the switch side and blow), make sure that your igniter is in fact good (test continuity), You may have had an obstruction in the hopper (are you using pellets in a length greater than 1 1/4 inches?), there could be an issue with air flow, a common issue is that some installations have long horizontal runs of pipe for direct vent applications, lastly, is the igniter itself obstructed with ash.

I know these are things which you may have heard already but a failure to ignite beholds a lot of questionable factors. Personally, I'd like to see more reporting from the control board. Something that contains data to process rather than just a blinking light.
 
thanks for the suggestions everyone.....the last think i can think of is something obstructing the hopper, but not all the time.....i have the same tstat settings as last winter and it is only one zone calling for an increase at a time....about to go clean out the hopper as this brand of pellets does have some that are longer......i really go appreciate all the suggestions...have been doing each one!!! the hardest part is that it usually is so intermittent that i can't get a read on what is doing it without staring at the stove for hours or something like that.....
 
ok well checked the hopper and may, and I stress may have found the culprit....looks like the gasket that is around the bottom of the hopper opening has come loose in some areas....this could have prevented pellets from falling, thus nothing to light. i do recall after resetting the boiler from the 5 blink error that sometimes i wouldn't heard pellets falling and have to open the hopper. maybe that slight motion in itself could have jarred the pellets into falling into the moving auger?? i believe that i read on a forum that people had the problem of the foam getting in the way of pellets dropping at the bottom of the hopper....did this happen to anyone on here???
 
bridging pellets?? not sure what this means....gonna see if the foam was the prob since it was coming loose....fines are cleaned out after every ton and rarely is there much of a buildup there.....i appreciate the suggestions smwilliamson!!! also, my dealer is waiting for a call back from Harman. i updated him with things i have tried and he is going to pass that along to them....i love the help i get on here!!!
 
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