Harman pellet stove delayed ignition solutions with pics and vids

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.

Don2222

Minister of Fire
Feb 1, 2010
9,110
Salem NH
Hello
Delayed Ignition is sometimes called explosive ignition or very smokey lighting causing an audible pop sound.
It is possible that temporary low voltage or current from the wall outlet could cause this once or twice.
If this happens every time then it can be the following:
In many cases delayed ignition can be caused by a very dirty pellet stove or venting so cleaning the stove thoroughly and event blowing it out with an air compressor of leaf blower may resolve the problem. However in this case, A Harman P61 delayed ignition was caused by faulty semiconductor called a Triac that switches the AC to the igniter on circuit board. By placing an Amp Clamp on the yellow wire, it shows the current draw of 2.21 amps. The normal measurement should be approximately 3.5 amps to light the pellets properly. I have also seen a case where the current draw was only 1.7 amps and the pellets would not even light. Replacing the circuit board solved both of these problems.
See video
Harman Pellet Stove Delayed Ignition total solution - YouTube

Pics 1-6 show delayed ignition
Pic 7 - Limited igniter current draw on yellow wire from bad triac on circuit board causing delayed ignition (Aprox 2.0 amps)
Pic 8 - Full igniter current draw from good on yellow wire from good circuit board giving normal ignition (Aprox 3.5 amps)
Pic 9 - Low igniter current draw on yellow wire from bad triac on circuit board causing no ignition. (Aprox 1.7 amps)

HarmanDelayedIgnition1.jpg HarmanDelayedIgnition2.jpg HarmanDelayedIgnition3.jpg HarmanDelayedIgnition4.jpg HarmanDelayedIgnition5.jpg HarmanDelayedIgnition6.jpg HarmanDelayedIgnition7.jpg HarmanDelayedIgnition8.jpg HarmanDelayedIgnition9.jpg
 
Last edited:
I had 1. 35 amp on my clamp showing when ignitor was off. Wondered why our Electric bill doubled one month. Bad triac kept the ignitor on constant.. looked like this when it gave up lol.

20200210_191450.jpg
 
Last edited:
Whoa….a few lights on that igniter hey? Haha
 
Whoa….a few lights on that igniter hey? Haha
drove me nuts trying to figure out where the extra electric use was..
we had recently got rid of our 15 yr Plasma tv which was known to be a big draw and got new LED smart tv...
exspected some drop in the electric bill but the sucker went up...
what threw me Away from blaming the ignitor was due to very cold month so I was running Harman stove/constant mode on low settings 24/7 and
the ignitor wasn't needed or used..
I would say it was the equivilant of brewing your coffee maker non stop for a month or so...
have a genny for power outages and can hear that puppy SURGE when we brew coffee or use the toaster..
I sent the board to a member here to repair [Steve[slvrblk] but he said besides the bad triac [which he replaced] there was something else
not kosher on the board which was above his pay grade electronically..
so of course ended up buying new board and ignitor...
 
I also found the Wrong Size Harman burnpot can cause this delayed ignition problem too!
That is not the case too often but always something to check if the stove was purchased used!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Washed-Up