Help! Harman P61 Making a Horrible Noise

[Zcamper]

Hello Everyone,

This evening I was sitting at home when out of no where I started hearing a sound coming from my basement where my pellet stove lives, after I walked down stairs I realized that it was what was making this noise. It sounded like a wire hitting a fan so I took the back plate off and look and there was nothing touching any moving parts, it was quite dirty so I cleaned it the best that I could given the fact that it was hot. However after cleaning it and turning back on it was still making this noise (I will post a link to the video of the noise in here) Does anyone have idea what is making the noise and if I can fix the part of if I need to replace it?

It was the first time I took the back plates off my stove, the house came with it and it looks like it needs a deep clean. It looks like when the stove people came in to clean it they only cleaned the chimney, lesson learned just do it my self next year.

In the mean time any ideas?

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Thanks,
Zac

 

[Big papa]

Tear it down and clean everything,bet ya $10 that you will find the issue before your finished cleaning.

 

[Zcamper]

Yea im thinking since it stopped for now and its supposed to warm up later in the week ill shut her down while I am work and tear it down when I get home, not that I know what im really tearing down but I am sure I will figure it out...

 

[Big papa]

Download the manual for your stove it will show you how,when and where to clean,you tube works as well to get this info.most stove problems begin from not cleaning regularly. Let me know what you find.

 

[Tonyray]

Yea im thinking since it stopped for now and its supposed to warm up later in the week ill shut her down while I am work and tear it down when I get home, not that I know what im really tearing down but I am sure I will figure it out...

sure sounds like a fan blade hitting a shroud.... but, we'll see..

 

[Big papa]

sure sounds like a fan blade hitting a shroud.... but, we'll see..

Glad your here tony I'm sure you can help him with cleaning and finding the issue

 

[mik_kane]

Probably the distribution blower or the combustion motor. You should scrape the ash out of the burn pot once in awhile and also check the holes in the burn pot

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[Harman Lover 007]

Sounds to me like your combustion fan might be the culprit. The planned deep cleaning is the first place to start. You'll probably see the combustion fan covered in dust when you pull the left rear shroud off.

 

[Golfeur]

If you can try to run the combustion motor without the motor distribution in this way you will know which of the two motor is noisy

 

[Bioburner]

Just go ahead and do the proper cleaning of the stove and make sure you take the exhaust fan cover off and clean the fins and the housing. Be careful when brushing the exhaust path past the fan as the probe is close to the end. Go to youtube and view a video or two. Good luck

 

[daryl]

Check the heat plate between the auger motor and exhaust pipe.

 

[boo boo]

Also make sure the Allen screw on your combustion fan is tight and the fan has no horizontal play on the shaft

 

[Jack Morrissey]

I'm guessing the combustion motor, mine was like that last year before I replaced it. When you 1st turn the stove on, does it make that noise, or does it not start until your distribution motor kicks in?

 

[Zcamper]

I'm guessing the combustion motor, mine was like that last year before I replaced it. When you 1st turn the stove on, does it make that noise, or does it not start until your distribution motor kicks in?

It does not make a sound at first, i think it took a few seconds before it started up this morning (Its kind of a blur) which is the distribution motor?

 

[Bioburner]

Distribution fan, AKA room fan, convection fan. Usually comes on after the stove has come up to temperature after several minutes to blow the heat off the exchanger into the room.

 

[alternativeheat]

In the video the sound got louder as you went around towards the back of the stove on the right side facing the stove. T hat is where the distribution fan housing is located. It's an open squirrel cage fan. Anything can get in touch here, from dropped pellets to a mouse. Cat hair, you name it. As stated, clean everything, including all that.

 

[Bioburner]

Removal of the distribution fan is fairly easy. Two 7/16 headed bolts, but will need a socket on a extension to get at the inner one. The fan fins really build up some dirt and dust bunnies

 

[Tonyray]

Removal of the distribution fan is fairly easy. Two 7/16 headed bolts, but will need a socket on a extension to get at the inner one. The fan fins really build up some dirt and dust bunnies

WOW
Just checked mine today and barely any dirt at all...
last check year ago..didn't look any different..

 

[alternativeheat]

WOW
Just checked mine today and barely any dirt at all...
last check year ago..didn't look any different..

Yeah mines never been that bad LOL !! Usually some fine cat fuzz on the fan blades. But it's an open fan so anything can get in there.

 

[Tonyray]

Yeah mines never been that bad LOL !! Usually some fine cat fuzz on the fan blades. But it's an open fan so anything can get in there.

I used my 2" paint brush and just gently brushed the fins then vacuumed..
Real full Boar cleaning today.....Soup to nuts.
exhaust was the end result of all those Energex and Stove chow hardwoods november-thru feb[ 2/half tons burned].. Lot of ash crud came out.
more than Last year but forgot I was burning 24/7 this year so 3 tons or more on the exhaust..

 

[Zcamper]

So after two hours of cleaning and exploring it was the fan on the back left if you were standing at the front of the stove. Cleaned it still there then I used a little wd-40 on the outside part of the motor (not the part by the ash fan) and it quoted down considerable. It looked like nothing was cleaned back there in years if I had to guess. If the noise starts back but I guess I'll just replace that motor. Looked fairly simple and tear down and put back together was easy. Now that it was apart I'm thinking of doing the cold air intake on it over the summer.

Thoughts?

 

[Bioburner]

Replacement of the exhaust fan is an exhausting struggle as one usually has to cut the fan shaft and get a new fan as well. If one can get a air compressor and blow and chase the dust bunnies out of the motor windings while using a shop vac to abate their eviction into the room. Try to save the motor for as long as possible

 

[Zcamper]

Replacement of the exhaust fan is an exhausting struggle as one usually has to cut the fan shaft and get a new fan as well. If one can get a air compressor and blow and chase the dust bunnies out of the motor windings while using a shop vac to abate their eviction into the room. Try to save the motor for as long as possible

Thanks for the advice, I'll grab a can of compressed air and see what I can do with that and my shop vac.

 

[alternativeheat]

Thanks for the advice, I'll grab a can of compressed air and see what I can do with that and my shop vac.

Yes, also WD40 really isn't a long term lube, you might want a little more refined oil to put on that bearing if you can get at it.

 

[Zcamper]

Yes, also WD40 really isn't a long term lube, you might want a little more refined oil to put on that bearing if you can get at it.

Yea it's what I had in the house and as a quick fix to get the heat going it worked for now, which made the wife happy and a happy wife happy life.

I'll grab something after work tomorrow for a more permanent solution.