Help, My pellet stove is driving us crazy!

[Drobin]

Here is my situation.
I bought a used Harmon Invincible Insert about 2 month ago.
It never ran great.
Symptoms
Pellets wouldn't burn all the way
Combustion blower wouldn't come on when it was supposed to, combustion blower wouldn't blow on high
Ironically when we ran on test all motors seemed to run fine and on high, for a while then not to well.
I replaced the ESP probe and circuit board.
It ran great for two days I mean perfect, then my wife said she got shocked touching a knob, and it's not burning the pellets all the way and blower does run on high
I've checked for air leaks from door, gaskets are fine, I've cleaned everything in stove really really well.
I'm totally lost and ready to call the tech.
Any last ditch advice before I call a tech.

 

[Lake Girl]

Plugged into a surge protector? The shock is what you have to track down ... loose wire? Anything scorched?

Unplug when working in the cabinet.

 

[rona]

The wiring on a Harman is really simple so take the shields off and look for pinched wires or a ground that came loose. You could have a wire that laid on hot exh and melted or rubbed the insulation off or pinched by the auger motor or by the mechanism that shuts the slide above the auger . If you take your time you should be able to find it.

 

[TStark]

As been said,
Something isn't grounded right, and sounds like the chassis is floating or getting pulled high.

Correct that and the motor speeds should recover.

If you are electrically savvy, a meter and the wire diagram on the back cover perhaps, will get you far.

If not, then get someone with an E brain to check it out thoroughly

 

[gfreek]

The shock was it from static electricity or actual 120V shock ?? In the dead of winter when my house is dry sometimes I get a little zap when I touch my stove..

 

[rona]

The shock was it from static electricity or actual 120V shock ?? In the dead of winter when my house is dry sometimes I get a little zap when I touch my stove..

If I touch the cats nose before the stove I don't get a shock

 

[Drobin]

It was a real shock, says she saw parks, the wiring is simple that why I'm confused. Sounds like I have to pull out the stove and go through each wire. Really frustrating but I guess that's the way it goes sometimes when you buy stoves. I love this stove but starting to think it's never going to run right.
Guys I need to clarify
I agree I have a wiring issue (sparks)but this started when I changed the mother board
The pellets not burning all the way and the blowers not coming on when they should has been an issue from the start with the new and the old motherboard.
Do you still feel it's solely an electrical issue.
no surge protector but I did notice a wire was exposed through the rubber coating so I wrapped in electrical tape

 

[Lake Girl]

Get a surge protector! Did you get the right ESP for your stove? Harman folks will be able to guide you on that one.

 

[Drobin]

I Def have the right ESP and its unplugged
Now
Maybe I'll order a new wiring harness

 

[Drobin]

I'll get a surge protector too

 

[Lake Girl]

no surge protector but I did notice a wire was exposed through the rubber coating so I wrapped in electrical tape

Where is the wire located? What knob was she touching? Wiring harness sounds like a good idea & hopefully you haven't fried your new board.

 

[Drobin]

Ok, wiring is all set, completely cleaned, new mother board with settings correct and new ESP probe. Fire it up and combustion blower running strong and then dies out. Sort of like the motherboard tells blower to stop running. Manual says distribution motor and combustion should immediately go on when starting stove. Only combustion motor goes on and then dies out after 3minutes. Both distribution and combustion motors run fine on test. Help anyone?

 

[Mt Bob]

Ok, wiring is all set, completely cleaned, new mother board with settings correct and new ESP probe. Fire it up and combustion blower running strong and then dies out. Sort of like the motherboard tells blower to stop running. Manual says distribution motor and combustion should immediately go on when starting stove. Only combustion motor goes on and then dies out after 3minutes. Both distribution and combustion motors run fine on test. Help anyone?

Both blower lamps will come on,only combustion will start,convection will ramp up as stove warms up.I really recommend an electrician check your house wiring.He can also check stove wiring while there.

 

[alternativeheat]

I'm curious ( as was mentioned), what wire you taped up ?

You need to know that you have proper volts and ground coming from your wall socket, do you have a volt meter and know how to use it ?

 

[MButkus]

Is the hot wire in the plug reversed ? Get one of those 3 way power checkers for reversed wires and no ground. If that was grounded... you should never get a shock.

 

[Drobin]

My brother in law is an electrician and said he is gonna come tomorrow to check things out in more detail
It was a green wire that got taped
Maybe I have some wires reversed, very possible

 

[Lake Girl]

My brother in law is an electrician

Good brother since it was his Sis that got shocked ... let us know what you find.

 

[Drobin]

Lol!
Other side of family, my sisters husband, great guy still the same!!
I'll let you know

 

[Lake Girl]

50/50 chance

 

[Mt Bob]

Ok was going to go into a long thing,Will not,1 probably has/had a power wire shorted to ground,happens a lot with inserts.2Would not be surprised to find the outlet has a loose ground/and or your house feed/power/circuit breaker panel,has a bad connection,hard to check without a heavy load,can cause intermittent problems,is still a prominent problem with houses that are fed with aluminum feed lines,usually just tightening the Allen screw within the feed panel fixes it for a while.Also,your new,new board is probably fried.have your bro check.

 

[Drobin]

Ouch
How do I know if the board is fried?

 

[Drobin]

Hey Guys
So sorry to get back to you so late. My wife got neurological Lymes disease.
Anyways, I finally called "uncle" and called the pellet stove repair guy out. 1 1/2 hours later he noticed 2 loose screws that secured the front glass. Tightened them up and it's been running great now. I replaced an ESP and mother board for nothing ugh. Oh well at least it runs good now
You guys were very kind in helping me!
Than you

 

[rona]

Hey Guys
So sorry to get back to you so late. My wife got neurological Lymes disease.
Anyways, I finally called "uncle" and called the pellet stove repair guy out. 1 1/2 hours later he noticed 2 loose screws that secured the front glass. Tightened them up and it's been running great now. I replaced an ESP and mother board for nothing ugh. Oh well at least it runs good now
You guys were very kind in helping me!
Than you

Most of the time the answer is simple once you figure it out. The stove has a vacuum tester and possibly the loose screws let enough air in that that was the problem. Your ESP probe is not wasted as it is listed as a potential problem for many of that stoves ailments If something happens later you can use it and eliminate some guessing.