Just fired Harman P61a up...smells and lazy flame

[Jason E]

I just fired up the stove for the first time this year...I spent a good couple hours cleaning it the other day. It has a significant smell to it that seemed to weaken the longer it was running...but more importantly, while the heat output is as strong as ever, the fire is very lazy and wavy, and not very bright. Now that I'm idling it down to turn it off for the evening, the flame looks more normal. When pushing it normal to hard (wanted to see what would happen, so I cranked it) I got a very wavy, dim fire.

Is it possible my chimney is blocked somewhere? I have a nice big 2"-3" chimney that goes out the roof of the room, and its capped. I'd be hard pressed to think its blocked, but anything is possible. It was the only thing I did not clean before I fired it up. To be frank, when the techs replaced the ESP probe back in the middle of last winter, they cranked the pipe bolts so tight into the back of the stove I need to find something better to take off the pipe to inspect it.

Thanks to anyone who can help...I'm still kinda new to this, as this will only be my second full season with a pellet stove.

 

[Nicholas440]

Im not sure about the Harmon, but on my Quadrafire, the Video that came with it shows how to adjust the flame, and they show a high, lazy wavy flame, thats very dim, and say the feed rate is too fast, lower the feed rate a little, the flame will then drop back to a more normal bright dancing kind of fire not lazy and dim.

Your feed rate on the higher setting might be too fast. I dont think your vent is clogged or the stove wouldnt run a normal flame on lower setting.

 

[Jason E]

I opened it this morning, and noticed that there is a light film of ash all over EVERYTHING I just cleaned. Never seen anything like it. Its black ash, which leads me to believe something isn't breathing right and the stove is choking for air somehow...maybe I'm crazy??

BTW, I don't think my feed is screwed up, as I had it on the auto feed mode...never did this before. Unless, the auto feed is screwed up? I remember it doing this on both auto and manual mode, though...

Any other thoughts are appreciated.

 

[jtakeman]

I would do some digging in the vent area. Most likely you have a plugged vent. And I am assuming you didn't clean it this season.

How many tons did you burn last season?

 

[Jason E]

That's the thing...I cleaned everything except the vent pipe (which is a chimney running through the roof). I took apart everything inside the stove for a thorough clean...

 

[jtakeman]

You have to have some pipe that goes from the stove to the chimney, Right! Its a partially plugged vent and you need to clean it. black ash is a rich burn and a rich burn is a stove lacking air(just like a car). Partailly block the exhaust on the car and see how it runs(really, don't do this as it could cause damage-like a blown power brake booster).

 

[tinkabranc]

Lazy flame is sign of a dirty/plugged stove.
Possible a spot either got missed or got stuffed full with ash during the cleaning.

 

[Jason E]

OK, I got a better extension to get the back pipe off...I'll try that tonight. I assumed it was poor airflow somehow because of the car analogy above...I'm a car guy Hopefully nothing is stuck in the exhaust piping itself...it has a couple bends in it to allow it to mate up with where the hole in the ceiling is. I assume a stove shop will have brushes for those...

 

[Lousyweather]

give a look at the intake damper as well....make sure it swings freely

 

[smwilliamson]

ALWAYS CLEAN THE VENT PIPE OR LINER AS PART OF THE STOVE. IT IS THE SAME SYSTEM. A TUNE UP ON THE SUBARAU ISN'T GOING TO MATTER MUCH ID THERE IS POTATO IN THE EXHAUST PIPE.

Yes, this is a symptom if a clogged vent pipe. Clean off the ESP probe while you are at it with the back of the exhaust off.