Help with ignition for Harman P61-2

[carrsallstars]

Hello,
Joined up here to ask a question: I recently purchased a home that had a Harman pellet stove installed.
It's a Harman P61-2. It worked well for a few months. Now it does not work and appears to have a
problem with the ignition? Everything else seems to work OK (auger,
sensors, etc.) but the stove comes on and pushes pellets into the burn area
but they do not ignite. The ignition switch is set to automatic and not manual. (I am mostly ruling I ran the stove until it shut off automatically two
times, and it produced a red light with 5 blinks. I am positive it is 5
blinks. This is very confusing because in the owner's manual I downloaded every
number of blinks is described EXCEPT 5! If anyone can offer any help I'd appreciate it- might save me
an expensive service call!

I also contacted Harman through there online service and they were completely, utterly unhelpful. I waited two days for them to say "Regarding potential repairs of your appliance, we recommend that you work with your local dealer." Good thing i provided them with all that detailed information to get that!

 

[richg]

A 5-blink error means that the stove has not achieved ignition within a certain time from startup....I think it is 15 minutes, could be mroe, could be less.

My suspicion is that the ignitor chamber is filled with ash. This same thing happened to me once or twice, and then I learned how to stay on top of it. Remedy: Open the ash pan door and remove the ash pan. Look at the underside of the burn pot and you will see a plate held in place by two wingnuts. Loosen the wingnuts ( do not remove them) so that you can remove the plate. Get a shop van with a nozzle attachment and clean out the ignitor chamber. Stick your finger in there to make sure that there is no ash. Make sure that the holes in the burnpot are not plugged with ash or scale.

check to see that the burn pot is clean. burning pellets, no matter how good they are, will eventually produce a buildup of carbon scale in the burn pot. There are a nnumber of ways to remove it, including a long slotted screwdriver, hammer and chisel etc...I used a small pry bar. You will be surprised how a burn pot can look clean but is actually covered with scale. To minimize scale buildup, you should scrape the burn pot a coujple of times a day during continuous operation. If the stove hits temp and shuts down on warmer days, then completely scrape out the burn pot of all ash and scale so that it will be totally clean at the next startup.

If all of the above fails, your ignitor is probably shot and needs to be replaced.

 

[carrsallstars]

Rich- thanks for your reply. I will follow your suggestions tonight or tomorrow when I have a moment and let you know how I make out. Your suggestions sound logical- a total lack of maintenance would fit in with the way other appliances and things in the house were cared for prior to our purchase by the previous owner! I had not been keeping it on for long periods of time myself as we haven't needed it as a constant heat source yet so I could be contributing to the problem as well.

 

[Lousyweather]

as usual, Rich is most likely correct...except the ignition cycle is 36 minutes. Its likely a bad ignitor, but before you call your dealer for that warrantee replacement, make sure the ignitor isnt covered in ash, like Rich suggests. That will cost you a service call....lack of maintenance isnt covered under the warrantee. If there is very little ash there, and the ignitor produces no heat, its likely a bad ignitor....call the dealer, have it replaced....10 minute fix.

 

[jo2fst4u]

When I got my P61-2 the guy said the auto igniter didn't work, and has not for 2 years..I said OK I will give you $700 (He was asking $1200) He had it up and running when i got there seem to work great . I got it home used the link below and cleaned it out. installed it ran the pipe hooked up a cold air. Put pellets in hit the buttons and it took right off. the igniter was packed with ash.. but once i cleaned it...it works great....Make sure to unplug when cleaning

Best of luck
Great stove lot of heat out of mine. it will run us out if we don't watch it!



(broken link removed)

 

[carrsallstars]

Well, got my elbows dirty today ( I did have gloves on!)

I used the ash vac to clean out everything inside. Was pretty ashy but nothing was too bad and some buildup on teh walls of the inside of the stove came off pretty easily. I scraped and vacuumed the burn pot- none of the holes were blocked but there was some buildup. Used RIch's instruction to remove the ash plate. Didn't look too bad in there, but once I stuck my fingers in I was able to sweep out some grainy ash. The vacuum nozzle did fit in there too so I think I cleaned it out pretty well. The brick? plate that sits above the burn pot cracked down the middle when I tapped it with the vacuum. i do mean tapped. It was a bit charred at the top already, but I was able to remove it and clean it off and put it back in place. Is it a big deal that it had a crack in it now? Wouldnt think so but...

I also cleaned the glass with a few moist paper towels so I could sit back and watch the action more clearly...

I turned the stove on, cranked up the temp, and sat back. Pellets came down....piled up...and nothing. Still no ignition. The pellets didn't spill over this time but the stove shut off after 25 minutes and then showed the five blinks again. So it looks like a service call to get the igniter replaced is in order.

Thanks for the suggestions and also for those cleaning tips. It still doesn't work but my stove looks like new!

 

[Lousyweather]

carr, your ignitor seems shot, have it replaced. While youre at it, have the tech bring you out a new flame guide, yours is on the way out....its a 'wear" part, not covered under warrantee, but not expensive either, $18-$25 or so. When it cracks, it deviates and eventualy splits. What it does is divert the flame away from the rear of the stove where the firebricks are, keeping the rear of the stove moderately cooler, thusly, keeping your combustible pellets (the ones in the bin) moderately cooler as well.

 

[carrsallstars]

Talked to the nearest Harman service provider, the same people that installed the stove in Jan 2006. They said that they could have a service person walk me through replacing the ignitor if I just want to purchase the part...given the cost for a service call as they are 35 min away I think I will give it a shot. That way I can also pick up a new flame guide and replace that as well. So we'll see how this plan goes!

 

[amick780]

I replaced the ignitor for my XXV, it really was not that hard. If you are just a little bit handy you should not have a problem.

 

[krooser]

Well, got my elbows dirty today ( I did have gloves on!)

I used the ash vac to clean out everything inside. Was pretty ashy but nothing was too bad and some buildup on teh walls of the inside of the stove came off pretty easily. I scraped and vacuumed the burn pot- none of the holes were blocked but there was some buildup. Used RIch's instruction to remove the ash plate. Didn't look too bad in there, but once I stuck my fingers in I was able to sweep out some grainy ash. The vacuum nozzle did fit in there too so I think I cleaned it out pretty well. The brick? plate that sits above the burn pot cracked down the middle when I tapped it with the vacuum. i do mean tapped. It was a bit charred at the top already, but I was able to remove it and clean it off and put it back in place. Is it a big deal that it had a crack in it now? Wouldnt think so but...

I also cleaned the glass with a few moist paper towels so I could sit back and watch the action more clearly...

I turned the stove on, cranked up the temp, and sat back. Pellets came down....piled up...and nothing. Still no ignition. The pellets didn't spill over this time but the stove shut off after 25 minutes and then showed the five blinks again. So it looks like a service call to get the igniter replaced is in order.

Thanks for the suggestions and also for those cleaning tips. It still doesn't work but my stove looks like new!

Are you referring to the Cerra-Brick inside the firebox that's cracked? It's not necessary for the operation of the stove... it purely for decoration. I took mine out of my stove last year after the old stuff crumbled into pieces (8 years old).

Just a note... these pellet stoves DO plug up with ash in places you can't see... lightly hammer on the inside of the firebox and you'll likely see lots of ash and soot cascade out into the ash pan... take a peek at posts here about how some of us use a leafblower to clean 'em out.

Good luck...btw you can use some hand sanitizer gel to start the stove until you have an ignitor installed.

 

[carrsallstars]

If you are just a little bit handy you should not have a problem.

Well, for someone like me I figured that was the kiss of death- something like the "you can't miss it" part in a set of directions! I consider myself somewhat handy, but alas I am related to my Dad so I can only go so far!

But the guy at the store gave me the run through on what to do, and it didn't work out too badly at home. Got the new ignitor in, turned it on, and up in flames went the pellets. It was a nice sight.

I also cleaned things out in the back behind the panels as there was a fair amount of dust and a few stray pellets back there.

We're back in action.

Thanks for the tips guys!