Help Diagnose: Pellet Stove

[StovePig]

Hi, new here...

After a full cleaning and vacuuming (including flue pipes) I can smell a smokey smell coming from distribution blower and chunks of pellets are hopping out of the burn pot. Both things did not happen before the cleaning.

Thinking maybe the gasket connecting the stove to the pipe might need to be re seated and that might fix the smokey smell, maybe the little bit leaking is getting sucked into the distribution fan?... But the pellets hopping out of the pot is a mystery, it's almost as if the cleaning allowed for much more air flow to the pot so now the half burned pellets are getting blown right out.

it happens a lot when the auger feeds more pellets but still happens while no feeding is going on, which makes sense as the pellets are being moved around. The pot is not too full of pellets in fact actually might not be full enough?

The stove is a Harman P-61-2, and has been working great for months but now this. My fear is that the large half burn pellets could be flown all the way out of the top of the chimney onto the roof causing a fire.

Any thoughts? I'm probably gonna call the stove guys tomorrow but am looking for some opinions.

 

[Jason Knapp]

What kind of stove?

 

[StovePig]

What kind of stove?

Harman P-61-2

 

[Harman Lover 007]

Three things. You will need to re seal the connection to the stove. If you cleaned the fines box in the right rear of the stove, double check to see if the cover is attached properly. Lastly, check that the two wing nuts are tightened on the front of the burn pot .

 

[StovePig]

I'll tackle the connection tomorrow... The other two thinks are good. The connection would not have anything to do with the hopping pellets though right?

 

[Harman Lover 007]

I'll tackle the connection tomorrow... The other two thinks are good. The connection would not have anything to do with the hopping pellets though right?

Right

 

[tjnamtiw]

The pellets are probably jumping out of the pot because you have less back pressure on the exhaust fan because of the mystery leak which means you have more air blowing up through the pot. That blows the pellets up and out. I hope you aren't running the stove like that or you have a couple of good CO detectors between the stove and you tonight.

 

[StovePig]

The pellets are probably jumping out of the pot because you have less back pressure on the exhaust fan because of the mystery leak which means you have more air blowing up through the pot. That blows the pellets up and out. I hope you aren't running the stove like that or you have a couple of good CO detectors between the stove and you tonight.

No it's 55deg tonight thankfully... So if the exhaust port of the stove is not sealed properly I could loose back pressure? As it shut down I did notice the dampener was flapping a lot (could hear it closing as if it were tapping).

 

[StovePig]

Replaced tailpipe gasket with fiberglass rope and sealed any leaks I could find... Pellets still jumping... I just switched pellets out to different brand and adjusted the draft control... Didn't seem to do much

 

[Harman Lover 007]

Replaced tailpipe gasket with fiberglass rope and sealed any leaks I could find... Pellets still jumping... I just switched pellets out to different brand and adjusted the draft control... Didn't seem to do much

How are you adjusting the draft?

 

[StovePig]

Next to the lights there is a small screw you can turn... The service guy a while back told me to adjust it for this occasion but it didn't seem to do anything with a half turn down... Not really sure what I am doing with that adjustment so I didn't do much... I hear you need some voltage meter and stuff?

 

[Harman Lover 007]

Next to the lights there is a small screw you can turn... The service guy a while back told me to adjust it for this occasion but it didn't seem to do anything with a half turn down... Not really sure what I am doing with that adjustment so I didn't do much... I hear you need some voltage meter and stuff?

That's not something that should be tinkered with without a DDM (harman tech tool) attached so you know what you are doing.

 

[StovePig]

Didn't do anything so I'm gonna return it to original position and see how it goes

 

[Vinnie 1965]

Make sure all your holes in your burn Pot are clean make sure the underside of your brown pot is vacuumed out where your igniter is !

 

[Bioburner]

Draft control is the little screw on the control board. One needs to adjust to the proper draft using a manometer tapping into the burn chamber from the port on the left side of the stove as you face it. You can make a easy cheap manometer, search google or youtube. Install manual details the proper vacuum setting and when to test the stove.
Hopefully the problem was resolved as the thread was started in Jan, 2014

 

[Vinnie 1965]

Did You find your problem and fix that yet ?

 

[Harman Lover 007]

Since the original post is approaching two years old now, I'd say he probably figured it out.....