Harman PC45 quits running at below 0 temps!

[bowyer2002]

I am pretty handy but dealing with my pellet stove's shutting down for no apparent reason is driving me crazy please help!

I have a Harman PC45 and I am burning hard wood pellets, the stove is relatively clean and airtight.

Our Harman PC 45 will shut off (LED light blinks 6 times = insufficient burning) and will not restart when it is unseasonably cold, like right now -2F (when I want it to work the most!)

I have noticed that ice will build up on the exterior of the air intake pipe. Could it be icing up elsewhere in the system and just need time to thaw out? If so, how can I prevent this from reoccurring?

It will restart if I leave it alone for 5-8 hours and then try to restart it. I don't know if it is thawing or resetting.

This is VERY frustrating and the local dealer (whom I bought it from and who installed it) says they don't know how to work on my pellet stove! At $80/hr I am not paying for them to "learn" on my stove.

ANY suggestions will be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

 

[1kzwoman]

Hi I'm new member too and not burning pellets, but I have been rerearching OAK for my stove.

I searched pellet mill forum for OAK icing and found a thread or two that may be useful to you.

 

[Hoot23]

My OAK ices on the outside also, but the air on the inside should be bone dry. Try scraping your pot and cleaning the holes out. Also loosen the the wing nuts on the front of the pot, take that plate off and clean that out(careful of the igniter). That should all be part of your monthly cleansing.

 

[john193]

Have you tried disconnecting the OAK from the back of the stove?

 

[Justin M]

From the manual:
6 blink status may be caused by several things:
1. Blocked or partially blocked flue. 2. Blocked or partially blocked inlet air. a. backdraft damper on the inlet pipe may be stuck closed. b. if outside air is installed the inlet cover may be blocked. 3. The air chamber under the burnpot may be filled with fines and small bits of ash. 4. The holes in the burnpot may be getting filled with ash or carbon buildup. 5. Combustion blower fan blades may need to be cleaned. 6. No fuel in hopper.

 

[bowyer2002]

I got up this morning and turned the stove on and it started right up.
I suspect icing - I will look into your suggestions when I get home later today.
Thanks for the suggestions!!

 

[m159267]

Several years ago I (poorly) insulated my 2' long OAK intake. During a sub-zero cold snap the stove suddenly shut down. Suspecting the OAK I pulled off the frozen insulation and placed a small heater pointing at the inlet pipe. After15 minutes the stove started and I never had another issue. To this day the pipe remains uninsulated (and frosty during sub-zero temps) w/o any issues.

 

[Bioburner]

My OAK ices on the outside also, but the air on the inside should be bone dry. Try scraping your pot and cleaning the holes out. Also loosen the the wing nuts on the front of the pot, take that plate off and clean that out(careful of the igniter). That should all be part of your monthly cleansing.

He has a PC45. Does not have the usual burn pot design with igniter but a removable burn tray with a pressure igniter at the mouth of the auger tube . Icing, not the good stuff on a cake, is likely restricting the intake. Missouri has a bad blend of high moisture and cold. Another reason to change OAK intake to 3 inch, instead of that goofy 2+.

 

[Hoot23]

Did not know that. I knew it came with two pots. Just figured the p- series pots were the same except for the corn pot.

 

[mikkeeh]

Does your stove have a flapper valve at the air intake where the OAK connects. Maybe its sticking/freezing closed. Maybe shoot a hair dryer at that area when the stove fails to see if that helps? Just a thought

 

[bowyer2002]

I don't know about a "flapper" which MAY be getting frozen shut.
I am going to try and alleviate this freezing problem by drilling a hole into the intake pipe so that it will draw warm air from the heated room into the pipe along with the exterior combustion air to provide a warmer & dryer air mixture. I will eventually valve it so it can be opened/shut as conditions require.
I'll keep you posted!

 

[Dougsey]

I have the same trouble with my Accentra. I did away with the oak and did away with the problem.

 

[bowyer2002]

Please excuse my ignorance but, what is an "OAK"?

 

[m159267]

Does your stove have a flapper valve at the air intake where the OAK connects. Maybe its sticking/freezing closed. Maybe shoot a hair dryer at that area when the stove fails to see if that helps? Just a thought

My P38 has the flapper at the air intake inlet. I suspect it froze and the heater thawed it.

 

[Dougsey]

bowyer- oak= outside air kit (fresh air intake from outside)

 

[Bioburner]

Please excuse my ignorance but, what is an "OAK"?

Outside Air Kit

 

[Harman Lover 007]

Please excuse my ignorance but, what is an "OAK"?

Outside Air Kit or in your case air intake pipe.

 

[bowyer2002]

it got down to 2*F last night and my stove didn't want to work, again!
Drilling one 1/2" hole hasn't stopped the stove from shutting down, so I am drilling a 2nd 1/2" hole to see if that will help keep it running.
MEANWHILE, the stove blower doesn't automatically turn on. If I go to test mode (for the blower to activate) then switch it back to regular feeding then it will run for a while but I have to keep doing this to get heat out of the stove.
I used a 'laser' temp gun that read the exterior stove temp to be above 350*F when the blower was manually switched on by me.
So, is my blower temp sensor shot (and where is it?) or are there other areas I need to look into for the problems I keep having?
Thanks for ANY advice!

 

[Bioburner]

How about just trying to let the stove use inside air till things warm up. The stoves ESP may be thinking the stove is cold since its senses exhaust air. My garage Harman did not like this cold either. There is no room air fan sensor on that Harman. Morning visiblity here near zero and 2 degrees, winds topping forty.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

I am going to try and alleviate this freezing problem by drilling a hole into the intake pipe so that it will draw warm air from the heated room into the pipe along with the exterior combustion air to provide a warmer & dryer air mixture. I will eventually valve it so it can be opened/shut as conditions require.

If you mix warm, moist air from the house with sub zero air from outside it will likely snow inside the air intake. Really. Not a good approach.

 

[bowyer2002]

Harvey - good thought but, our basement is as dry as desert toast, I don't think we'll have any meteorological occurrences inside of the pipe.
We'll I'm in the process of giving it another thorough cleaning and firing it back up with the anticipation of -5*F temps tonite.
I'll keep you posted on the results.
thanks for all of the feedback!

 

[bowyer2002]

How about just trying to let the stove use inside air till things warm up. The stoves ESP may be thinking the stove is cold since its senses exhaust air. My garage Harman did not like this cold either. There is no room air fan sensor on that Harman. Morning visiblity here near zero and 2 degrees, winds topping forty.

that is my plan 'B' - glad to hear I'm not alone on this idea.

 

[Bioburner]

Wind chill right now is-37. I would do everything I could to try and not have to play catchup with heat. I have the backup stove on idle. Never had to use the propain stove with it being this cold.

 

[bowyer2002]

I did drill 2 more holes into the pipe, which prevented visible frost build up downstream of these holes, so the 'warm air intake' is working. I also cleaned out the exhaust flue (which was about 1/3 restricted with ash!) something that i REALLY overlooked as a potential problem and removed and cleaned the exhaust sensor probe.
After all of this was done it ran from 19.50 hrs to 07.15 hrs this morning when I was adding more pellets before heading to work.
Since it was -3F with windchills about -20, I may have my stove issue resolved.
My problem seemed to be maintenance - which is all on me, I will be more vigilant about it from now on for sure

 

[Bioburner]

Nothing like a cold boot to the bum to remind us to keep things clean. When they predict ugly cold around here and the weather is fair we try and get things filled up and stoves cleaned. -24 here this AM. No wind so will chase the snowblower till I get cold, probably about 15 minutes