Pellet stove question from a newbie to pellet stoves

[JesseHolbert]

Ok...I recently moved into a new house (new to me) and it has a Harman PC45 pellet/corn stove. I am burning wood pellets in it right now and the issue I'm having is it seems that no matter what I have the feed rate set at, the auger is not feeding enough fuel to maintain a hot enough fire to keep the distribution blower on. If I babysit it a while, I can get it going good for about 10-15 minutes. When the distribution blower shuts off, I come back in to check on it and the burn pot is practically empty although it seems as the auger is working as it should...
I don't have a clue what to do...
Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Bioburner]

What is the room temp set at? Sounds like the stove thinks it warm and is going to an idle mode. The stove is smart.

 

[JesseHolbert]

It is running on stove temp. It does the same thing when set on room temp. The room is definitely not getting up to temp though.

 

[JesseHolbert]

Is there a sensor that monitors the stove temp to maintain a good fire?

 

[DAKSY]

Yep. Carefully pull your ESP from the exhaust stream & clean it.
No abrasives. Glass cleaner & a paper towel will work just fine.

 

[JesseHolbert]

Yep. Carefully pull your ESP from the exhaust stream & clean it.
No abrasives. Glass cleaner & a paper towel will work just fine.

Ok thank you! I'll do that when I get home from work and see how it goes.
I can tell routine maintenance wasn't high on the priority list with the previous owners. I do know they ran corn through it and a pellet/corn mix before. Is there a different setup to run corn vs pellets?

 

[3650]

Read the sticky on "how your Harman works". Lots of tips and tricks in there.

 

[DAKSY]

Ok thank you! I'll do that when I get home from work and see how it goes.
I can tell routine maintenance wasn't high on the priority list with the previous owners. I do know they ran corn through it and a pellet/corn mix before. Is there a different setup to run corn vs pellets?

Yep. The burnpot is larger & there is an extension onthe auger. Corn contains a lot of sugars &
because it's hard to measure the moisture content, you may be burning slightly wet fuel.
Te moisture in those sugars can lead to some overly large "clinkers" in the burnpot.
That's the reason for the auger extension, to break up those big clinkers....

 

[Bioburner]

You can download a manual from Harman for tis stove. It requires a change of burn tray and addition of stirrer and reflector etc to burn straight corn as well as attention to what fuel rate settings.
Where the room temp sensor is very important to the stoves running too.

 

[JesseHolbert]

Read the sticky on "how your Harman works". Lots of tips and tricks in there.

Thanks! Lots of useful information...I'll clean the ESP tonight and see how it goes.
Is the ESP a part that on occasion needs to be replaced? Just curious in case cleaning it has no result. In what I read on the thread you directed me too, it said the level of pellets in the burn pot should be around an inch or so below the top...mine doesn't put out enough to come all the way to the front of the burn pot-or even over the fingers on the auger extention...

 

[JesseHolbert]

You can download a manual from Harman for tis stove. It requires a change of burn tray and addition of stirrer and reflector etc to burn straight corn as well as attention to what fuel rate settings.
Where the room temp sensor is very important to the stoves running too.

 

[DAKSY]

The ESP is considered a "Wear Part." Go Here:

(broken link removed)

This site has them probably as cheap as anybody. Take a look at the wiring on yours
& order the same color...

 

[JesseHolbert]

I have the manual. I am running straight pellets-no corn. I'll post a pic of how it's set up tonight. The room temp leads are not hooked up to anything...but I've been trying to run it on stove-at max-and it won't feed itself enough to keep the burn pot from emptying itself.

 

[JesseHolbert]

Yep. The burnpot is larger & there is an extension onthe auger. Corn contains a lot of sugars &
because it's hard to measure the moisture content, you may be burning slightly wet fuel.
Te moisture in those sugars can lead to some overly large "clinkers" in the burnpot.
That's the reason for the auger extension, to break up those big clinkers....

 

[JesseHolbert]

So...when running pellets alone, the auger extension should NOT be in place??

 

[DAKSY]

So...when running pellets alone, the auger extension should NOT be in place??

It can be there, but it's not needed....

 

[JesseHolbert]

It can be there, but it's not needed....

Ok. I'll tinker with it when I get home from work and post the results.
Thanks for the help!

 

[Bioburner]

Ok. I'll tinker with it when I get home from work and post the results.
Thanks for the help!

Here's a picture of recommended pellet tray setup. It has the larger holes. I would look up and install the room sensor too. Now there has been a upgrade kit for the stove and a slight change of the dip switches too.
Good luck

 

[JesseHolbert]

Burnpot setup

 

[JesseHolbert]

Another angle

 

[JesseHolbert]

My ESP

 

[DAKSY]

Wow. That burnpot has seen some use, & the ESP is DEFINITELY in need of a good cleaning.
If you're planning on burning only wood pellets, you may want to get the other burnpot..
While you're at it, I'd also grab an ESP & an igniter. No telling how long those parts have been in there...

 

[Bioburner]

That appears to be the correct burn tray for pellets just not the open end. The corn tray has very small holes so as not to cool the fire down with air as corn ignites at a couple hundred degrees more than wood pellets. The ESP does not look happy. You can always hone your skills at manual ignition Our stove only get a dozen or so starts a year.

 

[Bioburner]

Something we have forgot to ask and you have not volunteered is how well it has recently been cleaned as a dirty stove and its venting can be a big problem in not letting the stove breath and can cause the stove to not stay on a high fire. Seeing the ESP and the stoves weldment on the back of the firepot it probably really needs a drag out and blowout cleaning of the entire system.

 

[JesseHolbert]

Ok...before seeing your replies, I started the stove up (I cleaned the burnpot with a wire brush yesterday so it must be that bad lol). The igniter lights the fire fine-I actually threw a handful of pellets in before lighting it to help it out. That helped at first. The fire lit, it got going good, then the distribution blower kicked on. It put out heat for about 10-15 minutes then the distribution blower shut off. I came in to inspect and there's hardly any fuel in the burnpot.