Harman PC45 auger noise, esp issue and cleaning question. lol

[bob huehne]

I am just curious I know I have read a lot of people say Harman's are noisy. My auger always made a rather loud grumble every time it turned, was kinda bad could hear it all over the house. I expected it to fail eventually. Stove is only on it's second heating winter so hasn't been used much. Well I started to have problems with the stove shutting off once or twice a day. Just stop for no reason, I am running on manual room temp mode during this cold snap so it shouldn't be shutting down at all. So after some reading I read the ESP probe could be dirty causing it to shut down so today I decided to shut the stove down and tear it apart for a good cleaning. I cleaning it very well, distribution fan blades, the exhaust fan behind the ash box, all pipes and pulled the probe as it looked to be caked in crud. the first season it was burning a corn/pellet mix by the previous owner which I know is messier. So I clean it with alcohol and a cotton ball and some paper towels. Carefully of course to not damage it. Checked the box with the wing nut for fines and was empty as I just cleaned that a month ago. Soaked the burn pot cleaned it up spotless and fired it back up. Auger noise is mostly gone, can hardly hear it turn now. Thing is, I never pulled or touched the auger! lol Only thing I can figure is maybe the wing nut wasn't tight enough on that box that it was rattling? I dunno I wouldn't think so as it sounded like the auger turning hard with a bad motor before. I am just curious as I didn't do anything that should of cured the auger noise so has anyone else had problems with a really loud auger and cured it somehow?

Far as my esp issue with the stove shutting down it's ran beautifully since and hasn't shut down but it's only been on for the past 5 hours or so, not long enough to know for sure. Hopefully I fixed it but won't know till it runs a few days.

 

[Bioburner]

The fines box cover being loose has been an issue of several maladies, but never heard of the auger noise being one of them. Errant shut downs yes as stray air getting through causing shut downs.

 

[bob huehne]

The only other explanation I can figure is that I did scrape the wall behind the burn pot up nice and clean maybe the build up on there had the actual burnpot rattling bad when the auger turned. i am happy it's gone just curious if anyone else had this issue or not.

 

[Bioburner]

This year I had squealing because of carbon buildup. I have a long handled brush to get at the ESP from the ash pan area when cleaning the fan. Stove is going to get a major cleaning this weekend when temps get to freezing. The distribution fan is in a filtered separate box that helps keep the dust and fan noise down. Wish the Harmans had more power in that department.

 

[bob huehne]

I was afraid to take a brush to the ESP after reading how sensitive people say they are. As for my noise the more I think about it I do believe it was the carbon build up behind the burn pot itself on he back wall. I think it was thick enough to hit the pot causing that assembly to rattle each time the auger turned. It's all I can think of that would make sense. It was so loud before you would swear something was about to break so that is why I posted in the first place. I also am not hearing a loud clink noise every now and then when the auger stops. before it would sound like a piece of steel snapping or almost breaking at times when the auger would stop. Haven't heard that either since I cleaned it. That's weird too as I wouldn't think that would be related to the carbon behind the burn pot.

 

[bob huehne]

Stove was out at 4am this morning. No error codes. So since it's nice and clean should I start by replacing the esp probe?

2 hrs later it's out again and the auger is jammed. UGH -15 right now and even colder past few days. Perfect time to have it screwing up all the time.

 

[Bioburner]

Auger feed issue. What caused it? Earlier had noise. I would suspect the problem is there with the feed system or with something in the pellets.

 

[bob huehne]

I am running menards Indek pellets. I know some people don't like these cause of the ash but they do get hot and throw a lot of btu in this stove. Wondering if I need to pull the auger and clean the housing, is this something that needs to be done regular? It doesn't look easy or fun to get out.

 

[Bioburner]

I used Indeck last year as they were very cheap but a lot of ash. Much happier with Marth product that I got on a preseason sale. Now leaning toward using a lot more corn at almost 25% cheaper than pellets. Yes it will be a pain to get the whole assembly out but may well be the problem IMO.

 

[bob huehne]

I got a feeling you are right. There isn't really anything else it can be that I can think of other then build up in the auger. I may run it longer and see how it goes, it's only the second auger jam since I got it back in December so maybe I can sneak through the rest of this winter with only a few more jams before doing that. would like to save that for the spring total tear down and clean up. Pretty much did that yesterday other then the auger. lol

 

[Bioburner]

Supposed to have a big warm spell this weekend. A lot of winter to go!

 

[bob huehne]

That is true! I think I am going to replace the esp probe for sure and maybe pull the auger and clean. Wish I would get a blink code to get a better idea if something is failing but we'll see. I am still wondering about the esp probe as its the old black style.

 

[bob huehne]

I used Indeck last year as they were very cheap but a lot of ash. Much happier with Marth product that I got on a preseason sale. Now leaning toward using a lot more corn at almost 25% cheaper than pellets. Yes it will be a pain to get the whole assembly out but may well be the problem IMO.

Only other brand I have tried far as pellets was I bought a skid of Country Boy White Lighting from the dealer. Of course according to them these are far superior to indek that the box stores sell. Well on the country boy I didn't get near the btu's out of it and they was hard to light. if in auto mode several times the stove would not re light. When running the indeks you could damn near fry an egg in a pan on the stove which was not the case on the hard oak country boys. Paid $25 more for that skid then I could have got the indeks on sale for at the same time and burned em up faster with less heat. I know there is a ton of other brands but to me the ash isn't a big deal in the harman as it just augers off the end anyway into the tray below. I am going to continue to go for price and btus from the indek. They just had them on sale for $185 for a pallet. hard to beat that price.

 

[Bioburner]

With Menards current promo of 11% off rebate even on cards its hard to beat the price if you stack using the cards for purchase too. 22% off 4.19= 3.27 or 163 a ton