Harman XXV lighting problems

[vermontah]

We replaced the igniter on our 2008 Harman XXV last year, because the first one got fried in a power surge.

A year later, the stove won't auto-light itself again, but I'm not sure it's the igniter. Here is the evidence I've accumulated. I'd love any help with interpreting it:

1. When the igniter is turned to "automatic" the red light next to "igniter" is on (so the igniter is getting a current)
2. The igniter has 15 fins (which my stove guru tells me means it's a new one)
3. When I took the igniter out to take a look at it, the white insulation around the wires had some crusty, powdery stuff on it.
4. We just gave the stove a thorough cleaning- cleaning out the ducts with a brush, even disconnecting the ducts from the stove and taking the back panels off the stove to clean it thoroughly, and also cleaning all around the igniter to make sure it's getting air.


Any ideas about what's happening here? We'd appreciate any feedback.

 

[Lousyweather]

in my experience, a igniter either works or it doesnt. if you could test the resistance across the igniter connectors, you should get roughly 45-49 ohms of resistance. If the igniter is bad, you will have no continuity. Likely you will have to disconnect the igniter to test this......for what its worth, the newest 15 fin igniters we have found to be VERY reliable. The old 13 fin ones, not so much. I guess i would tell you to push the yellow and the baby blue wire from the back of the unit through the pblack plug, giving yourself some slack iunder the burn pot, pull till you see the spade connectors, disconnect them, and test the resistance. if its good, reconnect and MAKE SURE YOU PULL THOSE WIRES BACK, otherwise, you'll burn them and cause a short, causing God knows what other issues!

The lights on the stove board only indicate that the igniter is being powerered, noth that its actually working. Dummy lights.

 

[Jim H.]

another thing I notice on mine, if I have a couple of inches of ash towards the edge of the burn pot it actually will light way faster then after I do a really good cleaning....maybe the ash insulates a little and makes the heat go towards the auger area where all the pellets are stacking up....? Try it again after the initial no light to see......

Jim