I have had an issue with my P68 making a noise. I could not resolve the issue for 2 months and although I did not talk with my harmon dealer, I doubt he would have resolved the issue (and I chose the farthest one away from me as he sold the p68 for 800 cheaper than anyone else). I am a Mechanical Engineer who fixes compressors in the field, so it is extremely hard for me to ask for help on a much simpler product. Note that this help may not be applicable for all p68s. Mine was purchased in summer 2010. My auger motor is the 3-20-09302.
The pellet stove is brand new and I put about 1 ton through it when the squeaking occurred. The squeak occurred only when the auger was feeding and around the time the roller for the UL feeder was at 12:00. Per reading several message boards, I added lube to the area shown, removed sawdust buildup in the UL area, and scraped any buildup at the hot end of the auger. This would work temporarily but the squeal would reappear.
We had a cold spell and temps hit -16 (high of 8). I live in an old farmhouse and about half of the walls have ZERO insulation in the walls ( I am slowly removing lathe and plaster walls, insulating them and replacing with drywall). The pellet stove ran on max for at least 2 days straight, but did keep the house relatively warm. About 2 days later, I woke up about an hour early to the furnace kicking on. I get out of bed, grab a bag of pellets and dump them in the stove without turning on any lights. The pellets hit other pellets, not the bottom of the hopper. I look at the control board and see the status light blinking. I count five and assume it was a fluke and turn it off to reset it. I turn it back on and the feed motor isn't turning. I try a couple things and determine it isn't going to be as easy as I expected.
Now if you have a p68 you know, 5 blinks mean you are out of pellets. I look at the manual and think was it actually 6 blinks as I wasn't out of pellets and was sleepy when I looked at the status code. I assume it was actually 6 blinks and check all of those issues. No luck. Looking into it more, 5 blinks actually means no pellets are being fed to produce heat for a period of 36 minutes. Usually this only happens when you run out of pellets.
To troubleshoot, look at the lights on the control board. If they are lit, that means power should be going to the motors. If you look at the feed motor, there is a small fan on the auger motor. If the auger turns, the fan will turn at a much higher speed. If the motor is trying to rotate, but the auger is jammed, the magnet in front of the fan will get hot.
I removed the auger motor. The mechanism with the roller that pushes the ul feeder cam has a bolt in it. Loosen that bolt and the auger motor will slide off. I moved the auger and it spun freely, so I assumed there was a long pellet and rotating clockwise and counterclockwise broke it or let it fall into the auger. I put the motor back on and everything ran fine...for about 2 hours.
I was at work and my wife called, so I went home at lunch, and was able to get the shaft to spin without removing the motor. If you have a 7/16 nut driver, you can put that on the bolt and rotate by hand if it is not binding. The auger ran, but I said I'd do more digging once home from work.
I get home, let everything cool and remove the auger motor (one bolt, 2 wires, 2 zipties). Remove 3 screws holding on bracket, remove 5 screws holding on cover, carefully remove cover and gasket so you don't damage gasket.
Remove the gears and remember position and orientation. The last one I removed was the gear with the driveshaft. It did not come up easily for me. I put a screwdriver under each side and slowly pryed it up. This picture shows what I found.
The rollers in the bearing came out. They were catching the shaft and jamming the auger. They were rubbing on the metal and causing the squeak/squeal. You can see some marks on the shaft too. I dumped out the remains of the bearing and these little pieces have given me a lot of hassle.
I cleaned everything up and filled the bearing with extra grease in the motor.
I reinstalled the gears, and lubricated them with some extra grease. I reassembled all parts and put the motor back on the auger. I started up the stove and it ran. With no extra noises. without the bearing, it will be ok for short term use, but will need to get replaced. I have started my conversations with my Harmon dealer. Hopefully he can send me a replacement without needing to send my current motor to Harman to inspect so I can minimize downtime on my stove.
The pellet stove is brand new and I put about 1 ton through it when the squeaking occurred. The squeak occurred only when the auger was feeding and around the time the roller for the UL feeder was at 12:00. Per reading several message boards, I added lube to the area shown, removed sawdust buildup in the UL area, and scraped any buildup at the hot end of the auger. This would work temporarily but the squeal would reappear.
We had a cold spell and temps hit -16 (high of 8). I live in an old farmhouse and about half of the walls have ZERO insulation in the walls ( I am slowly removing lathe and plaster walls, insulating them and replacing with drywall). The pellet stove ran on max for at least 2 days straight, but did keep the house relatively warm. About 2 days later, I woke up about an hour early to the furnace kicking on. I get out of bed, grab a bag of pellets and dump them in the stove without turning on any lights. The pellets hit other pellets, not the bottom of the hopper. I look at the control board and see the status light blinking. I count five and assume it was a fluke and turn it off to reset it. I turn it back on and the feed motor isn't turning. I try a couple things and determine it isn't going to be as easy as I expected.
Now if you have a p68 you know, 5 blinks mean you are out of pellets. I look at the manual and think was it actually 6 blinks as I wasn't out of pellets and was sleepy when I looked at the status code. I assume it was actually 6 blinks and check all of those issues. No luck. Looking into it more, 5 blinks actually means no pellets are being fed to produce heat for a period of 36 minutes. Usually this only happens when you run out of pellets.
To troubleshoot, look at the lights on the control board. If they are lit, that means power should be going to the motors. If you look at the feed motor, there is a small fan on the auger motor. If the auger turns, the fan will turn at a much higher speed. If the motor is trying to rotate, but the auger is jammed, the magnet in front of the fan will get hot.
I removed the auger motor. The mechanism with the roller that pushes the ul feeder cam has a bolt in it. Loosen that bolt and the auger motor will slide off. I moved the auger and it spun freely, so I assumed there was a long pellet and rotating clockwise and counterclockwise broke it or let it fall into the auger. I put the motor back on and everything ran fine...for about 2 hours.
I was at work and my wife called, so I went home at lunch, and was able to get the shaft to spin without removing the motor. If you have a 7/16 nut driver, you can put that on the bolt and rotate by hand if it is not binding. The auger ran, but I said I'd do more digging once home from work.
I get home, let everything cool and remove the auger motor (one bolt, 2 wires, 2 zipties). Remove 3 screws holding on bracket, remove 5 screws holding on cover, carefully remove cover and gasket so you don't damage gasket.
Remove the gears and remember position and orientation. The last one I removed was the gear with the driveshaft. It did not come up easily for me. I put a screwdriver under each side and slowly pryed it up. This picture shows what I found.
The rollers in the bearing came out. They were catching the shaft and jamming the auger. They were rubbing on the metal and causing the squeak/squeal. You can see some marks on the shaft too. I dumped out the remains of the bearing and these little pieces have given me a lot of hassle.
I cleaned everything up and filled the bearing with extra grease in the motor.
I reinstalled the gears, and lubricated them with some extra grease. I reassembled all parts and put the motor back on the auger. I started up the stove and it ran. With no extra noises. without the bearing, it will be ok for short term use, but will need to get replaced. I have started my conversations with my Harmon dealer. Hopefully he can send me a replacement without needing to send my current motor to Harman to inspect so I can minimize downtime on my stove.
