Harman slow/ no ignition

[Eng5ive]

I'm still pretty new at all this. We have a P35i that I installed in the middle of October. It's been unseasonably warm so we really haven't used it that much except for a handful of nights it's dipped down into the 30's and 40's. The other night I went to start it and it wouldn't ignite while in room temp and auto ignition. This is pretty irritating considering I've burned maybe 5 bags of pellets and have been anal retentive about vacuuming the thing out before we light it.

I did some searching here and it seems like it's possibly a bad igniter. The burn pot was hot to the touch after letting it cycle and not igniting.

Is there a way to clean the igniter without removing the entire stove and disconnecting wiring? I know that sounds lazy but this shouldn't be the case after such little use. Any other things I should investigate?

 

[Golfeur]

If only 5 bags to burn I do not think that the igniter is dirty but make sure that the holes in the grate are not clogged and not having wet pellets

 

[Eng5ive]

If only 5 bags to burn I do not think that the igniter is dirty but make sure that the holes in the grate are not clogged and not having wet pellets

The holes are almost perfectly clean and my pellets have been stored inside my garage for 3-4 weeks now with no moisture anywhere.

 

[Murph]

Remove cover on underside of burnpot by loosing wing nuts and check for ash. If the burnpot is getting hot then there is a problem with air flow or moisture in the pellets. If this is a new stove it is under warranty so call the dealer to let them figure out what happened and make the needed fix.

 

[Bioburner]

With the wide swings of temps sometimes and the low use of the stove, can get the ash etc to harden and plug the normal operating air paths and sometimes the pellets exposed in the stove can get slightly damp too. Some pellets are just a PIA to light. I had a first year production of a brand and they were very high ash and just would not light on first attempt in one of the stoves. Changed brands, quality, and have not had a misfire all last season.

 

[Golfeur]

when you turn the stove pellets are you hot enough to smoke
if not make sure that the smoke entered air is not obstructed or igniter is free of ash

 

[Eng5ive]

I will take a more careful look at the igniter with the cover off later today. We are burning kind of crappy pellets in the case that we didn't know what we were buying. I have one ton of Green Supreme that I got at the big box store.

Will I damage it if I shove a wire brush in there to remove some of the build up?

 

[HP52NOVA]

I will take a more careful look at the igniter with the cover off later today. We are burning kind of crappy pellets in the case that we didn't know what we were buying. I have one ton of Green Supreme that I got at the big box store.

Will I damage it if I shove a wire brush in there to remove some of the build up?

My opinion - I wouldn't use a wire brush in the igniter chamber, you can damage a wire, etc. I would first unplug the stove, then I use an ash vacuum with a long,narrow and flexible attachment to carefully clean it out. Finger works well too, just see note about unplugging stove first!

 

[bogieb]

I wouldn't use the brush because you could damage the wires and/or igniter. Just stick a couple of fingers in there and scoop out the ashes. Be careful of the wires in there.

 

[alternativeheat]

All I do to clean the igniter itself is bang on the burn pot as Harman suggests. Other that I clean out the cavity below the igniter . I've seen ash build up in there with crappy pellets almost up to the igniter, when you remove the hatch the ash spills out but more can be dug out with fingers or light brushing.'Each time you scrape the burn pot ( I do that daily) also bang on the burn pot with what ever tool you use, that shakes the ash off the igniter. This may sound crude but it's Harmans recommendation as shown in their videos.

 

[bags]

Good suggestions above. With a new stove and very minimal use you should not be experiencing any issues but the crappy ashy pellets would be a great thing to investigate. If you have a small air compressor and blow gun hit the igniter with that to free it of crud. if not literally put your head in close and blow or carefully put the nozzle of a shop vac close by and get it that way.

It is amazing what can and will accumulate in there. The fingers sweep works well and hold the vac up close when you do that. My dealer told me that people not cleaning this area is his most common service call. A bunch of ash and junk inside the igniter will not let it do it's job. FYI. The ash and crud insulate it and therefore the heat does not get to the unlit pellets.

I am still suspect with only 5 bags ran thru. You could possibly have a defective igniter but I also doubt that. IMHO shoulder season can be somewhat rough on the interior of pellet stoves depending on haow they are ran. For example I throttle mine down and the ash doesn't move out as well creating more carbon build up in the pot etc; in a much shorter time frame.

I just fired it again this AM and had some serious carbon speed bumps and build up all over the pot. I have burned maybe 8 bags so far this fall so 5 bags of junky pellets could cause some issues. I am experiencing this with Somersets which are great pellets but when doing low and slow stagnate burns with them things build up quickly too.

 

[Eng5ive]

Thank you to those of you who replied. I did a more thorough cleaning this Saturday when it was nice out. Opened up the bottom of the burn pot and vacuumed it out again and fished around in there to try to clear the igniter. After that we had a fire going pretty quickly, back to normal ignition times. Once I got a fire going I banged some more ash out of the igniter and it seems to be working fine. Getting cold tonight so I started it and and all was normal.

 

[Normbo]

I've got an intermittent igniter problem on a Harman p35i. An earlier thread said that the problem can sometimes be the hopper gasket. I'm pretty new to all this. Does anyone have a picture of an installed hopper gasket so I can get a read on what I should be taking a look at? I don't want to start monkeying around with things that I don't understand.

 

[Bkins]

• Normbo, welcome to the forum.

You will get a much better response by starting your own thread rather then having your questions buried in someone's else thread. Maybe ask a moderator to move your question or just start a new thread.

Also put what brand and model stove you own into your particulars at the bottom of the page as members will be much more likely to help you out if they know what stove is causing a problem.