Hopper Door Question :Help Please

[HillofBeans]

My Harman 52i was installed last February. Ran like a champ the last few months of winter. This heating season, which began in October for me, began where we left off last year. The stove worked great. I am almost through my first ton. Here's where the problem begins. My flame was very lazy. I assumed it needed a cleaning and did a standard weekly cleaning. No luck. Eventually, the flame started going out and I was getting status light flashes. First five flashes, then six. Called my dealer and he made me aware of a few problems. He suggested I clean out the exhaust with a brush. I did. Stove started up, but quickly fizzled out. Called for a service, and have had the stove turned off since then. Tonight I decided to start it up one more try.

Now mind you, I was so perplexed that I actually pulled the unit out of the wall (its an insert) and cleaned out the auger (real groan to get to by the way). I also took out every last pellet in the hopper to see if there was something in the hopper bin restricting the feeding of pellets. Nothing. I refilled the hopper with a few pellets and what do you know, it's working like a champ. So here is my theory and I'm asking for all of your expert opinions. Might I have unknowingly left the hopper door open during all of this and caused an issue with the vacuum that is created by having the door closed. There's not much in the operation manual about this, only a vague warning not to burn with it open b/c of exhaust issues. Would this have caused my unit to shut down so quickly even if it was now in working order.

Two: Can you overfill the hopper, leading to issues? I generally like to pack the hopper as much as I can so that I don't run out of pellets on a cold night. Should I not be pushing pellets to the back of the hopper in an attempt to get more into it?

I'm convinced that the stove needed the deep cleaning that I gave it and would have run perfectly if I had not left the hopper lid open (which I'm not really sure if I did or not). Anyone have this issue before or know enough about how these things operate to square me away. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[Bioburner]

Other theory may be had something stuck in auger?! Been there.

 

[HillofBeans]

Other theory may be had something stuck in auger?! Been there.

Could very well be. The auger was not loading pellets into the burn pot at one point. It was spinning, just not loading, which led to my cleaning out the hopper.

 

[Bioburner]

Ok, have you checked and cleaned the fines box?

 

[Lake Girl]

Apparently there is a sensor in the hopper as the hopper lid forms part of the vacuum seal. If you over fill and don't get the lid closed well, it could mess up the feed. However, if the auger was turning but not feeding, likely a bridging/jamming problem...

 

[HillofBeans]

Ok, have you checked and cleaned the fines box?

Yes. Frequently clean out the fines box. Not sure if it's the pellets I use or not, but it gets dirty pretty quickly. I clean it out about once every 10 days as I have start up problems when I don't. Once cleaned, igniter works perfectly.

 

[HillofBeans]

Apparently there is a sensor in the hopper as the hopper lid forms part of the vacuum seal. If you over fill and don't get the lid closed well, it could mess up the feed. However, if the auger was turning but not feeding, likely a bridging/jamming problem...

In your experience, can these "jamming" problems rectify themselves. As I've said, it seems to be working perfectly now.

 

[Lake Girl]

When I was using Trebio pellets, they would "float" over the auger and after a point the stove would go out. Happened three times before I caught on that I needed to "stir" the pellets to get them to settle down farther in the hopper. I haven't had the same problem with Sure Fire, Heartlands, LaCretes, Fire Master or even the horribly ashy Indecks. Pellet sizes are all comparable - no unduly long ones in the Trebios just hardwood stock used.

 

[Big papa]

I don't believe the new 52i has a hopper switch I've left mine open for quite some time and the auger still feeds flame burns low but doesn't shut down

 

[Bioburner]

Yes. Frequently clean out the fines box. Not sure if it's the pellets I use or not, but it gets dirty pretty quickly. I clean it out about once every 10 days as I have start up problems when I don't. Once cleaned, igniter works perfectly.

Is it possible your confusing the fines box with the igniter cover? Fines box you have to access from back of stove. I never heard of anyone filling the fines box with sawdust anywhere near that often.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

Yes. Frequently clean out the fines box. Not sure if it's the pellets I use or not, but it gets dirty pretty quickly. I clean it out about once every 10 days as I have start up problems when I don't. Once cleaned, igniter works perfectly.

As Bioburner says, I think you are confusing the fines box with the igniter cavity under the burn pot. You would have to pull your stove out to access the fines box and it has a cover secured by a large silver wing nut. Have you ever cleaned it?

 

[HillofBeans]

As Bioburner says, I think you are confusing the fines box with the igniter cavity under the burn pot. You would have to pull your stove out to access the fines box and it has a cover secured by a large silver wing nut. Have you ever cleaned it?

I think you are all correct. I did clean out the "ignitor" cavity (weekly or so). If the "FInes" box refers to the rectangular box in the back of the unit that houses the back end of the auger, then I did clean out that as well. Very hard to reach, by the way. I guess my next question would be "what are fines?" Does the term refer to the "fine" sawdust left behind from the bags of pellets? When I opened this box, it was pack with dust. I was able to reach my vacuum hose back far enough to vacuum out most of this dust.

 

[Bioburner]

I think you are all correct. I did clean out the "ignitor" cavity (weekly or so). If the "FInes" box refers to the rectangular box in the back of the unit that houses the back end of the auger, then I did clean out that as well. Very hard to reach, by the way. I guess my next question would be "what are fines?" Does the term refer to the "fine" sawdust left behind from the bags of pellets? When I opened this box, it was pack with dust. I was able to reach my vacuum hose back far enough to vacuum out most of this dust.

If the fines box fills with dust etc the slider mechanism may stick or jam and not allow pellets to properly charge the auger.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

I think you are all correct. I did clean out the "ignitor" cavity (weekly or so). If the "FInes" box refers to the rectangular box in the back of the unit that houses the back end of the auger, then I did clean out that as well. Very hard to reach, by the way. I guess my next question would be "what are fines?" Does the term refer to the "fine" sawdust left behind from the bags of pellets? When I opened this box, it was pack with dust. I was able to reach my vacuum hose back far enough to vacuum out most of this dust.

Yes that is what we are talking about...
To get back to your original question, if your hopper was open, I believe it would affect your burn. It does on my P61a. It does not however, affect it enough to shut it down. I can't run mine with the hopper open as mine is of the vintage that has hopper switches that require the lid to be closed and latched to operate properly.

 

[Bioburner]

For some odd reason the hopper being open affects some stoves more than others. Some have had flame flutter etc.

 

[HillofBeans]

Great info. Thank for the help. Ran all night like a champ. Hopefully the issue has been resolved. I guess the irony is that with each of these little problems that come up, I learn more and more about the system and how it operates. Thanks again. Enjoy the heat and the holiday's everyone.

 

[bogieb]

Two: Can you overfill the hopper, leading to issues? I generally like to pack the hopper as much as I can so that I don't run out of pellets on a cold night. Should I not be pushing pellets to the back of the hopper in an attempt to get more into it?.

I would think that packing it tight could lead to bridging under the right conditions. The pellets could "lock" into place just like one of those old stone compression bridges that don't use mortar for support - just a tight "keystone" fit.