intermittant ignition

[Johne]

I have a 3 year old Harmon 52i. intermittently (although more frequently of late) the stove will come on and fill the burn pan with pellets to the point of near overflow. There is no ignition and the stove shuts down, as it is supposed to do. I do have an ignition light during this process. I cleaned the burn pan, turned the stove off then back on again same results. I turned the stove off cleaned the pan again. I accessed the ignitor and it felt warm I closed it up and turned the stove back on. this time it lit, although the flame started from the left side of pan and not from the middle. as the flame worked its way across the pan the stove continued to feed pellets, pushing unburned pellets from the right into the ash pan, I noticed this on several occasions of late. I cleaned the holes in the burn pan last week so I don't think that would be the problem.

 

[Mt Bob]

Probably an airflow problem.Clean stove and flue pipe completely.Also,very simular problem has been known to happen when the "fines" compartment lid/gasket has not been installed properly,creating an air leak.

 

[Johne]

thanks for your reply. I did clean the flue pipe prior to use this year. I will pull the darn thing out and clean-check again. IS this possibly related??? I noticed that when I lift the fill lid with the stove running i can hear a rumble sort of like a helicopter passing outside. Goes away when I close the lid

 

[Mt Bob]

Possibly related.Make sure to check that lid on the fines box when you pull stove out.

 

[Johne]

will do... I did have that lid off it is a son of a gun to get to maybe not positioned right.....Thanks for your time and info.

 

[Mt Bob]

NP

 

[Tonyray]

sounds like the problem i had with a harman P61A freestanding..
only i side would ignite..
one of the 2 leads to the ignitor was just about disconnected...
faulty ignitor which i had to replace..
use a flashlight and check your ignitor to see if the 2 leads are tight..

 

[Paulinator]

Hi, try pulling the igniter plate, dropping the igniter, then with a flashlight look through the igniter access port make sure all the firepot holes are clear. I had a similar issue, after clearing the firepot holes with an allen wrench it solved the problem.

 

[Zeus]

I have a 3 year old Harmon 52i. intermittently (although more frequently of late) the stove will come on and fill the burn pan with pellets to the point of near overflow. There is no ignition and the stove shuts down, as it is supposed to do. I do have an ignition light during this process. I cleaned the burn pan, turned the stove off then back on again same results. I turned the stove off cleaned the pan again. I accessed the ignitor and it felt warm I closed it up and turned the stove back on. this time it lit, although the flame started from the left side of pan and not from the middle. as the flame worked its way across the pan the stove continued to feed pellets, pushing unburned pellets from the right into the ash pan, I noticed this on several occasions of late. I cleaned the holes in the burn pan last week so I don't think that would be the problem.

You can also loosen up the 2 screws holding the igniter in place just a few threads and gently tap it to see if anything laying on top of the igniter. But I would expect that it is your door seal my stove is around the same age as yours and I had very similar issues at the end of last winter replaced my door seal and its like a brand new stove. so check the door aswell let us know what you find

 

[railfanron]

With all the above checks make sure the pellet door seal is good and the latch is closing it tightly. If the pellet door leaks it could also cause your problem.
Ron