HARMAN STOVES WITH SMOKE IN THE HOPPER!!

[rickwa]

IF YOU HAVE A HARMAN STOVE WITH SMOKE IN THE HOPPER CALL YOUR DEALER! Your stove needs the fedder replaced. Harman has a feeder kit for just this and should be under warranty even if you stove is out of factory warranty! DONT LET YOUR DEALER BLOW YOU OFF

 

[summit]

crossover air tube solves this problem.

 

[Lousyweather]

Rickwa is right, IF its a gummy stove, Harman has been warranteeing the repair. Most repairs of this sort will require the stove be romoved and brought to the shop for a bit...its too invasive and dirty and time-consuming to do it in place....also, the "stuff" can be cleaned out, and, like Summit says, a crossover tube will fix the problem as well, BUT its a VERY difficult cleaning job! And VERY messy.

 

[gbreda]

Does anybody know when the crosover air tube began being installed at the factory? Also, what would I look for to see if my P68 has it? I dont have the build date with me right now. Purchase date was 9/09.

 

[Lousyweather]

you'd open the back of the unit, and look for a translucent silicone tube at the rear of the feeder mechanism......I believe the change was made prior to 9/09 though.......also, about that time, the Ultralight feeder made its debut, and in those, I dont beleive there is a visible crossover tube.....when we started dojng the corssover tubes, 1-2 years before Harman did, we used 3/8" soft copper tubing, but those were all done by us, in-house. Later we also used the silicone tubing. FWIW, this seems to solve the gummy stove/smoky hopper syndrome, after an exceedingly thorough cleaning. Some folks also drilled holes in the mechanism, and its been discussed in great detail in VFERDMAN 's post.....Vladimir says it also solved his problem as well. We never did those, just the crossovers.

 

[Bxpellet]

Had the same problem, the tube worked for me!!

 

[tonyd]

Its not possible to take my stove back to the place of purchase and the two local shops state they won't repair what they didn't sell.???????? The stove is an 05 so it should still be covered but Im not having any luck with my local Harmon dealers. Can the feeder kit be installed by a diyer? Any suggestions.

 

[Lousyweather]

The local guys are not required by Harman to do warrantee work if they didnt sell the unit. Its the original dealer's responsibility to do this work....unfortunately, your dealer is somehow out of the picture (im guessing no longer has the line or out of business). In these rare cases, Harman sometimes ASKS a dealer to do the work, even if they didnt sell the unit, and sometimes it gets done.......we often do this, but usually require more for the repair than Harman usually allows, since we didnt orignially sell the unit (Harman doesnt really pay enough for the repair- money-losing proposition if you are the dealer who didnt sell the unit)....
Also, hate to say it, but since this is the height of the season for pellet work, and since you didnt elect to purchase the unit from one of the dealers still around, im guessing you are fairly low on the priority list.

As for doing it yourself, if you could get your hands on a rebuild kit for the older model of the Advance (chain drive), its do-able, but is pretty in-depth and messy....if you are fairly handy, mechanic-wise, you might be able to do it. As for most folks, I wouldnt suggest attempting it.

 

[tonyd]

Yes its messy, So are a lot of things. I cleaned and re sealed the auger tube out last night. Guess I better not enter the sweepstakes. God only knows who would work on a stove that you paid nothing for. Thanks guys

 

[tinkabranc]

No issues with smoke in the hopper in either of my stoves so far, but good to
know what the solution is should I need it.