P68 Ignitor

[Darryl V]

I have a Harmon P68 that went into service the fall of 2006. I run the stove in room temp auto mode and vary the temp from 60 - 72 depending on time of year and outdoor temp, time of day, occupancy, etc. Since installing the stove I have had to replace the ignitor 4 times (getting less than 2 full heating seasons per) and it's looking like I will be replacing the current one soon. This seems excessive to me. Any thoughts as to why? My local dealer said to run it in stove temp mode and I wouldn't have to worry about the ignitor but in my opinion that would defeat the purpose of why I bought the stove in the first place.

Thanks for any thoughts/suggestions you may have.

 

[P38X2]

Are you keeping it clean? If not, maybe its longevity is decreased by being caked with ash and essentially causing overheating.

Is your stove oversized for it's application, causing it to cycle on and off excessively?

Try switching it to manual once it's up and running and let it idle down into a maintenance burn. That will save excessive wear and tear on your igniter, and unless you live in a 20x20 house with R90 insulation, shouldn't overheat your space.

I suppose it could be your board sending too much current to it, but I've never heard of that.

 

[TheMightyMoe]

Do you scrape daily? Do you clean under the burn pot? If your stove is cycling A LOT you may need to turn the feed rate down low, to make the calls last longer.

Some things to consider.

 

[silverfox103]

Try switching it to manual once it's up and running and let it idle down into a maintenance burn.

As was said, you should be running it on manual mode, when you're in the middle of winter.

Tom

 

[Darryl V]

I clean the stove thoroughly every Saturday, empty the ignitor cavity every few weeks, rarely have more than a few tablespoons worth of crap in there. If I see a lot of build up in the burn pot during the week I scrape it. Once I hit peak heating season the stove rarely shuts off but will ramp up and down. I tried running it in stove temp mode but couldn't find a good setting that wouldn't sweat me out of my family room and it used a lot more pellets that way.

 

[P38X2]

Well then you could try giving your dealer a call. Actually, call a couple different ones and pick their brains to see if a funky board could cause your problem. With the $ you're spending on igniters, you could get yourself a new board, IF that's the issue.

I think I read somewhere a Harman igniter is good for 500+- cycles.

 

[gengle]

If I see a lot of build up in the burn pot during the week I scrape it. Once I hit peak heating season the stove rarely shuts off but will ramp up and down. I tried running it in stove temp mode but couldn't find a good setting that wouldn't sweat me out of my family room and it used a lot more pellets that way.

I'm half way through my 4th season with a P68 and have not had to replace the ignitor. The only thing(s) I seem to be doing differntly, is scraping the burn pot at least twice daily (once in the morning and once in the evening) to prevent/remove carbon build up. Other than that, when it's nasty cold, I run the stove in room temp and set the ignition to manual which will save some wear & tear on the ignitor. I'd say if that doesn't make a difference for you, there may be an issue with the board. You may want to inspect the holes in the burn pot and use a nail/piece of wire to make sure they're clear. Be careful about not pushing the nail/wire into the ignitor. Good luck!