Odd problem happening right now

[tiger]

Never seen this before on my Accentra insert. Just fired it up, running fine, but now the feed keeps coming and it's feeding enough that it's pushing burning pellets into the ash tray. ODD!

I almost never change any settings: feed at 3.5, set at Stove Temp and barely enough to turn it on, temp setting at 2. All lights on -- I just went and looked at it again, the feed motor light was out but just came back on and then off again -- but wow LOTS of pellets.

Any idea what I should be looking at?

Dang! And I just had a tech out a week ago after a one-month wait. turns out the combustion fan wasn't shot at all. Man, it was running great -- burning clean, I almost didn't have to clean the glass when I started it daily, very little ash in the ash tray.

Uh, I think I beat go shut it down? It's only been running 1/2-hour as I type this.

 

[jackman]

I'd suspect a problem with the feed rate knob/potentiometer. Try working the knob back and forth a few times and then set the feed rate to 3 and see if that does anything. You may want to pull the power cord for 10 seconds and plug it back in to reset everything.

 

[tiger]

Thanks!

UPDATE: OK, maybe 20 minutes later, it calmed down. Indeed, for a bit, the flame got really low and it wasn't feeding pellets -- maybe the BIG FLAME from too many pellets told the Stove Temp sensor (?) that it was plenty hot and didn't need pellets, but that's just a wild guess.

Man, this was a bit scary -- whole lotta pellets goin' on!

 

[Mt Bob]

Big flames?From what i have seen,on Harmans,over the years,the flames can(should) go from very low(just out of the firepot),to all the way to the top of the stove,depending on board settings,and what the exhaust sensor sees.On my Harman,freshly cleaned,flue included,flames do not quite touch top of stove,but do as the stove gets a bit dirty.When the flames actually roll over the top of the stove,starting to "lick" the door/glass,it needs cleaning,but,by that time,was obvious,as flame has been getting lazy.Also remember,the 1" ash line is not a permanent thing,if stove calling for heat,you may see burning right out to the edge of the pot.Also remember,when you change a setting,may not happen right away,this is the programming in the board.Also,when really cold,you can get a dirty flame,untill the stove itself warms up.There is some food for thought.

 

[Harmanizer]

Make sure your ESP is clean.If it is caked in ash it won't be able to accurately gauge temps.

 

[tiger]

Make sure your ESP is clean.If it is caked in ash it won't be able to accurately gauge temps.

That's a needle-like probe on the end of a wire in the back behind the combustion fan? If so, when I did my first full cleaning by myself recently, I did clean that but it did not look dirty.

 

[tiger]

Big flames?From what i have seen,on Harmans,over the years,the flames can(should) go from very low(just out of the firepot),to all the way to the top of the stove,depending on board settings,and what the exhaust sensor sees.On my Harman,freshly cleaned,flue included,flames do not quite touch top of stove,but do as the stove gets a bit dirty.When the flames actually roll over the top of the stove,starting to "lick" the door/glass,it needs cleaning,but,by that time,was obvious,as flame has been getting lazy.Also remember,the 1" ash line is not a permanent thing,if stove calling for heat,you may see burning right out to the edge of the pot.Also remember,when you change a setting,may not happen right away,this is the programming in the board.Also,when really cold,you can get a dirty flame,untill the stove itself warms up.There is some food for thought.

Lots to think about there, thanks. But I don't think this is what I am experiencing.

 

[tiger]

Well, last night I shut it down after a five-hour burn where it ran great, excepting the feed issue upon start-up.

I'd suspect a problem with the feed rate knob/potentiometer. Try working the knob back and forth a few times and then set the feed rate to 3 and see if that does anything. You may want to pull the power cord for 10 seconds and plug it back in to reset everything.

I didn't want to do either of those things while the insert was running. Well, today, it's been a week since my last light front-end cleaning, so I'll do one today and try both of those things. I'll report how today's start-up goes.

Not sure what I'll experience with the feed rate set at 3 instead of 3.5; have I been over-feeding all along? That dial controls the max feed amount, no?

 

[Harmanizer]

Leave the feed rate alone.It's not what is causing the problem.You should read this.https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/how-your-harman-works-what-your-manual-doesnt-tell-you.91030/

 

[tiger]

Leave the feed rate alone.It's not what is causing the problem.

Sounds logical, but I tried it anyway.

Well, UPDATE: It's running great tonight. After 15 minutes to get it to fire (mine always seems to take a while, and any time I do the light front-end cleaning including the ignitor grotto, it seems to take forever to light -- and the tech last week said there was a recall on burn pots do to this?), the Accentra is running as sweet as can be hoped for. That said, once I have a wacky experience like this on any product and don't know WHY it happened, I'm not inclined to trust it anymore.

 

[Harmanizer]

That's an eternity for pellets to ignite.Some pellets seem to ignite faster than others.I burn LaCretes and they take off within 3 minutes.If I burn Energex softwood they take 8 minutes to start and they will push pellets to the edge of the pot.But then they burn fine.Your experience is unsettling for sure.Hope you get it figured out.

 

[tiger]

That's an eternity for pellets to ignite.

True, I guess.

Sunday, after two weeks of "normal" operation, it did it again, spewed burning pellets into the tray, then settled down.

Monday, I may have outflanked the problem. It took 15 minutes to ignite, burnt full; as I needed to add a bag of pellets anyway, I left the hopper door open... I read somewhere that opening the hopper door shuts the auger off and it won't feed. Seemed to work, but I shouldn't have to resort to that.

 

[sandpipe]

True, I guess.

Sunday, after two weeks of "normal" operation, it did it again, spewed burning pellets into the tray, then settled down.

Monday, I may have outflanked the problem. It took 15 minutes to ignite, burnt full; as I needed to add a bag of pellets anyway, I left the hopper door open... I read somewhere that opening the hopper door shuts the auger off and it won't feed. Seemed to work, but I shouldn't have to resort to that.

One time I forgot to tightly latch my door and it ran for about an hour like that. Pellets were pouring over the front of the burn pot. Maybe you have an air leak around the gasket of your door which may vary depending on how tightly you consciously close it.

 

[Mt Bob]

Sure sounds like control board.I would probably replace the pots,if was mine.

 

[tiger]

Still inconsistent. Thursday, fired up in 5-6 minutes which is really fast in my experience. Friday I did my weekly light cleaning, and it took 12 minutes and did shove just a couple of burning pellets off the edge of the burnpot before settling down.

Sure sounds like control board.I would probably replace the pots,if was mine.

Before I spend money on that... what makes you think that? How would the control board cause this particular problem, what's going on in there?

 

[keep-in warm]

Sounds like a weak or dirty igniter / pot

 

[Mt Bob]

Still inconsistent. Thursday, fired up in 5-6 minutes which is really fast in my experience. Friday I did my weekly light cleaning, and it took 12 minutes and did shove just a couple of burning pellets off the edge of the burnpot before settling down.



Before I spend money on that... what makes you think that? How would the control board cause this particular problem, what's going on in there?

Sorry,not following thread daily.Do what you want to do.I recommend a new control board,and good cleaning of stove and exhaust.

 

[tiger]

Do what you want to do.

Thanks; ultimately that's exactly what I have to do, it's my conundrum.

It's just that, before I throw money at the problem, I was hoping know why a particular course of action might help.

The last few days it has been starting in 5-10 minutes.

I did do a thorough deep cleaning not long ago, I posted a topic on it, my first time pulling the insert out of the fireplace. All clean including the vent.

EDIT: Tuesday, all I did before starting was a rudimentary pot-scrape; 10 minutes to start and a few pellets pushed over the edge. Wednesday, did nothing to start except turn the knob; roughly 5 minutes to start, the problem did not repeat.

 

[tiger]

Doing things slightly different with different results. When I shut it down, I do not scrape the pot before starting it up next time, leaving 'debris' in there. I still suspect ash/whatever ignites before the pellets do, helping it light off. Ignition in 5-1/2 to 10 minutes, often at the lower edge of that range. Any burn pot scraping I do, is in the middle of a burn. When I do a weekly light cleaning, I toss a little bit of the ash/debris back into the burn pot; those light-offs occur in, hmm, 10-13 minutes - mostly recently last night and, checking now, I had TWO unburned pellets pushed into the pan. If no worse that that, perhaps I can live with it.