Harmon P68 igniter

[notolucky]

I'm a real novice. I believe I have a bad igniter. Where on the stove do I go after the igniter? Do I have to remove the back or some other panel? I can see it from the front but don't think I could get it out that way. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bcb1]

How old is your stove? I have a practically new Harman Advance that was taking forever to ignite, and it was caused by the buildup of all the ash in the ignitor area. Once I cleaned it out, it fixed the problem immediately.

The ignitor is located right underneath the burnpot area. You'll see a metal plate with two wing nuts - just unscrew them and remove the metal plate. Take a vacuum (and use your fingers) to clean all the ash and fines out of the ignitor area, then put the metal plate back in place and fire the stove up.

Though the instruction manual calls for cleaning out that area once every ton of pellets, I clean mine out once every week or so, and even in that short amount of time it really fills up.

 

[notolucky]

It is four years old but used infrequently. I have burned a total of 4 tons. I cleaned that area as you said once a ton. I suspect it is not bad because I was doing my annual cleaning at the end of last winter and when finished I lit it to make sure everything was okay and it lit fine. I shut it down and when winter came this year it did not light. I have only burned half ton this winter but have lit manually each time. Once I left the stove lit when I was going away for an extended time while it was still warm weather in the fall. When I returned the pellets had been fed but the stove did not relight. I had an ash bin full of unused pellets.

 

[DAKSY]

+1 on the cleaning, but you should feel SOME heat
by touching the burnpot near the ignitor mounting
screws. They are located above the cleanout plate.
If you HAVE to replace the igniter, you may be able
to pull the wires thru the unit & into the burn pot cavity.
Disconnect the mounting screws from the underside of the
burnpot - should be 1/4" zip screws.
Unplug the spades & plug the new unit in. ou'll have to
remove at least one of the rear shrouds, using a
5/16 wrench, socket or a nut driver. Once you have
the shroud(s) removed jiggle the igniter wires or try
to pull them through the front (in the burnpot cavity)
& watch to see what wires are pulled from the back.
You will have to use them to pull the wires back thru
from the front. re-mount the igniter & replace the cover
& the shroud.

 

[notolucky]

Thanks for the help. I'll give that a go and see how I make out.