Harmon stove pulsating?

[ChuckT]

Cool site! Never knew this exsisted.

So I've had my Harmon 25th Anniversery stove for two years now and I love it. Lately its been acting funny though. When its running, it has this pulsating sound coming from it. I mean when there is a nice flame going, the flame will start pulsating. Doesnt do it all the time, but its annoying. The dealer asked if the air intake was blocked and no it isnt, then he asked the usual "is it clean" and yes its very clean. I am a machine technician by trade so I have a pretty good skill level. (at least I would like to believe so). Any thoughts on this? The intake door stays open the entire time its running, I figured it may be bouncing closed causing the dancing flame.

Any thoughts? Oh by the way the window also gets black real quick also leading me to believe its not getting air.

Thanks for any help!!

 

[humpin iron]

are you burning a new type of pellet? New to u? sounds like too much fuel in the burn pot

 

[ChuckT]

na, same type of pellets i've always burned. Still kinda wierd, when the stove drops the flame level it works fine. When its got a big flame thats when I notice the pulsating sound the most.

 

[swalz]

If you find out what it is let me know; mine has been doing the same thing since installed. The dealer is no real help on the problem and it never seems to act up when they are out. This year it is not as bad as last year but I have only been burning for a couple of weeks and mostly at night. When you open the feed hopper door does it really get loud when it is happening?

 

[tinkabranc]

My stove has a low rumble every once in a great while like it is
starving for air but it usually only lasts for a minute or two.
Every time it happens I find there are holes in the burnpot
clogged up.

 

[ChuckT]

Great both of you have XXV's. I was also thinking about the holes in the burnpot being clogged up since, correct me if I'm wrong, that is where the fresh comes through?

When I first got the stove, the window would only get a light soot at the top of it. Now it seems like it gets really black at the bottom of it. The dealer told me that it was a lack of air getting into the stove. Do you think its a related issue?

 

[GVA]

Sounds like it's sucking air from somewhere else through a gasket.
here's an old thread
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/8291/
Try the dollar bill test, or given the current state of the economy you can use a piece of paper ;-P

 

[richg]

My P61A was doing the same thing. I replaced the door gasket and it seems to be fixed. No amount of adjusting the draft screw, cleaning, changing vent configuration etc had any effect.

 

[ChuckT]

I was starting to question the door gasket also. It almost looked as though it was below the sealing surface in one particular spot.