Harmon XXV Trouble.........

[Freddie]

Here's my Harman XXV situation, submitted with the hope that someone can help......
I had the stove installed a month ago, & we'd been using it semi-regularly since. Everything was working fine- until yesterday. Suddenly, the pellets aren't feeding. There are no blinking lights to indicate any particular problem.
On test, the igniter, feed moter, combustion blower & distribution blower lights are on. When put to heating modes the distribution blower light remains off.
Can anyone surmise what the problem could be? I know nothing about these stoves, & I guess I'm naive enough to expect no problems?

 

[Lousyweather]

Here's my Harman XXV situation, submitted with the hope that someone can help......
I had the stove installed a month ago, & we'd been using it semi-regularly since. Everything was working fine- until yesterday. Suddenly, the pellets aren't feeding. There are no blinking lights to indicate any particular problem.
On test, the igniter, feed moter, combustion blower & distribution blower lights are on. When put to heating modes the distribution blower light remains off.
Can anyone surmise what the problem could be? I know nothing about these stoves, & I guess I'm naive enough to expect no problems?

Could be alot of things.....failed ignitor, dirty ignitor. I would remove the ignitor cover on the underside of the burnpot, and clean out the area therein....check that first. Problems are guaranteed if the stove isnt maintained.

 

[Freddie]

Thank you for your reply! Please help me understand the working process of this. Would the ignitor be the first thing to engage, & then the pellets will drop? Or do the pellets drop first? And the ignitor light on the control panel indicates it's working........

 

[newf lover]

I have a P68, but I think things are similiar. When you put the stove in test mode, does it feed pellets? It's supposed to. Maybe there is a long pellet in the hopper that caused a jam, maybe a pellet is stuck under the hopper lid. It won't run pellets if that is the case. First things first, does the stove feed pellets in test mode?

 

[Freddie]

No- pellets don't drop at all....

 

[newf lover]

Is the auger turning? If I look in my door with a flashlight, I can see it turning. I would empty out my hopper to see if there is a long pellet hung up somewhere. This can't be an ignitor issue, it won't ignite if there are no pellets there. If all your doors are closed, and there is nothing caught under the hopper lid, I would next check the hopper itself to see if there is a jam.

 

[Freddie]

wow- an interesting turn of events. The auger WAS turning half an inch, then stopping. I tried clearing the area around the auger, and then it began turning fully- with the pellets now dropping.
But- no flame started, and soon enough SMOKE started filling inside, and out of my flue pipe. (By the way, I have an insert to my chimney.) I went outside, and smoke was coming out at the top..............????

 

[keep-in warm]

Smoke inside the stove and out the chimney are good signs. The pellet embers should then produce a flame shortly after you see the smoke. What happens in the next few minutes?

 

[Freddie]

No flame. The smoke was a bit much, too! Whwn should the flame come on, in relation to the pellets dropping?

 

[Freddie]

Is the fact that there were sparks to produce smoke mean that the auto igniter is working properly?

 

[newf lover]

Hard to tell. Did you turn the stove off after you saw the smoke? Mine gets full of smoke, smoke comes out the vent, then I get a fire and the smoke dissipates. This just takes a few minutes. I wonder if you had a pellet jam and that's why the auger was having trouble turning, then there wasn't enough pellets in the burn pot to start a full fire?? I think I would turn it off, it will take awhile for the fans to stop, and try one more time. Before you call your dealer, I would do a thorough cleaning, even though you haven't burned that much. Because it hasn't been real cold and there's a lot of low burning, I am finding the stove is getting dirty pretty quickly. It also depends on what pellets you're burning. But before you call your dealer, I would give it a thorough cleaning. The manual is pretty good for that. It's on the Harman website if you don't have it already.

 

[Freddie]

Whoa!
You're the man! (Or maybe woman?)
I tried it again, & you're right. The fire takes a few minutes. Burning like Hell. The manual gives a few steps to light, & I followed each step exactly. I thank you so much for your help and time! Can I send you a pizza from The Upper Crust in Lexington when I come up to visit my daughter's family at Hanscom?

 

[keep-in warm]

Glad to see you get it going....yes the entire process from spark- smoke and flame can take several minutes or longer if the stove is dirty.

 

[Freddie]

Or, in Eastern Ct.... Some doggie treats maybe? Both of you have been right-on.

 

[keep-in warm]

No worries....its nice to hang out and be able to help others on the forum. I just realized this was your first posting to the forum...WELCOME to the club!

Instead of pizza or treats, how about a picture or two of your stove?

 

[newf lover]

Glad it worked out. This forum has been so helpful to me since I got my pellet stove, I try to return the favor when I can. No need for doggie treats; I'm sure in no time I'll be asking for help on this forum! Happy burning!