rumbling harman

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namz111

Member
Hearth Supporter
Apr 25, 2008
108
NE PA
I have a harman advance with a horizontal exhust. I have noticed this year that when it has a nomal sized fire about every minute or so it rumbles and the flame flickers real fast this lasts for about 5 seconds then stops and the flame returns to nomal, the rumbling sounds like when wind is blowing back through the vent but thats not the case because the side that it vents to gets no wind and this happens even if there is no wind at all. when the fire is small in size i do not hear this sound, at first i thought it was the auger but I have checked and ruled that out because at the time the sound is heard the auger is not moving. I do have an oak on this stove and i dont remeber hearing this sound at all last year. Any ideas what this could be?
 
namz, do a search on the forum for woofing.. I've been experiencing the same problem and I really think it's the door gasket...but this topic is coming up very often with Harman recently.
 
Medreach said:
namz, do a search on the forum for woofing..

Hey, i thought this forum was for pellet stove users.....leave my dog outta this. ;-P
 
well, I seem to recall some inserts which rumbled......turned out it was the flame guide vibrating for some reason.....there was a fix for this, even sanctioned by Harman.....gosh, now I have to look up the part number.......wish I were at work.....basically it was a shim that bolted on the keep the guide from moving.......On the Accentra insert, ive seen the issue with both the flame guide and the heat exchanger covers vibrating slightly, which causes a rumble.....
 
part number is 2-00-247435 flame guide retainer

also, try a new flame guide......I seem to also recall a flame guide redisgn solved the issue, if its the same one we've seen.......
 
Called my local dealer and he thinks the stove is pushing more air then its pulling, since it has an oak on it he thinks I should pull the line off the oak kit and see if that fixes it, if it does he said look for a clog in the oak kit. will report back! He also said its not the door gasket.
 
Well it sounds like good and bad news....The bad news is i have the same problem with the flame fluttering and my OAK is brand new. So it couldn't be clogged or obstructed. The good news is they don't feel it's the door gasket and that is a pain to change. Let me know how you make out with the OAK. I might just remove the OAK all together to see how it responds.
 
medreach is your oak the all in one? there is an adjustment on the oak's mine is at 7 i think it can go to 8 but i think i might have a clog or something because i did not have this problem lastyear so the dealer may be right he said i could also turn down the combustion fan but i will only do that if all else fails since i didnt have the problem last year.
 
I defidently don't think I have an adjustment. I have an all in one oak from Harman but it's much different then a traditional stove OAK since it's in the fireplace. Can't adjust anything without pulling out the stove from the firplace without it burning. That's why the tape trick on the woofing is a good idea since there aren't any adjustments. I didn't think it made a difference with the fluttering flame but did make a difference with the rumbling. So I'm really confused at this point. I attached a link to the OAK on my stove.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/41401/
 
I think the rumbling can be caused by the stove not being sealed correctly. The tape trick is just a Bandaid to counter the leak. Mine stopped rumbling when I sealed the hopper gasket properly. I had the stove outside testing it and the stove was rumbling bad. I realigned the hopper gasket with no gaps in the gasket and the rumbling went away. I took the tape off. HTHs
 
tonyd, my stove is only a year old. The gasket looks perfect. Maybe it got flatened a bit by sitting over the summer? I defidently think it has to do with a seal! I've been playing with the hopper lid open and closing it and it shows signs of improvement. Did you actually remove the entire gasket and reseal it or did you take the entire top of the stove off and reseal? take a pic if you can. Thx
 
namz111 said:
medreach is your oak the all in one? there is an adjustment on the oak's mine is at 7 i think it can go to 8 but i think i might have a clog or something because i did not have this problem lastyear so the dealer may be right he said i could also turn down the combustion fan but i will only do that if all else fails since i didnt have the problem last year.

Insert OAK's are different than freestanding (thru-the-wall) OAK's......Harman's OAK for inserts IS NOT adjustable. The OAK for freestanding stoves IS adjustable, but not how you think. The only adjustment is a rotary one on the nipple, and even though it's numerical, all it does is adjust the height of the nipple.....not the amount of air coming through the OAK.
 
Medreach, Im talking about the hopper seal, not the lid seal. You can't see the seal Im talking about unless you pull the stove out about 2" and remove the whole top, not the lid. After removing the 4 bolts, open the lid and the top will come off. Make sure the gasket is sealed at the ends no gaps at all. Its easy to disturb them when fitting the top. Tighten four bolts with no gasket squirting out. Do you notice the stove rumbles more when you mess with the lid itself??? Mine did and thats what told me it was the gasket.
 
I had this exact same problem and searched high and low for a solution; removing the outside air kit, situtating the pipe so it was slightly off the air intake, cleaning the stove, etc etc etc. While my door gasket looked fine nad passed teh dollar bill test, I replaced it and it solved the problem. $5.00.
 
That's what makes me think its about an air leak. When you reduce the air at the intake, you compensate for the air being drawn in elsewhere. I had my insert on a dolly burning in my shop. Being able to get to everything while its burning lets you see how everything is working and mess with it as well . That's how I solved my rumbling problem.
 
namz, Harman usually takes the 3/8" door gasket. I installed the Rutland 3/8" and I don't think it made a big difference. You might want to bunch it up a bit when installing or go with the larger 1/2" door gasket. I think I still have leaks through the door as well. I am going to pull out the stove and check the top seal tomorrow morning. I'll report back on my findings. I already pulled the OAK off and it has improved. I think that is because of the overall resistance with the tubes added to the air leaks. I'll re-install after looking at the gasket and repairing what I can. This is fustrating since the stove is literally only a year old! I know I'll get the run-around if I call the dealer and have to wait for service. I also was wondering how tonyd fixed the gasket. Glue or added gasket material.
 
Meadreach. The gasket around the hopper is just weather stripping. 4 separate pieces. Make sure all the ends are butted together. Mine were not so I lifted them off the adhesive and re positioned them. Be careful attaching the top not to move the weather stripping around. Worked for me.
 

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how about the gasket around the top of the hopper and the lid closes? that has a gasket but the ends do not touch, is this something i need to fix?
 
tonyd, was the middle of the gasket in the back of the hopper near the latch pressed down? Mine was when I replaced the door gasket...I am not sure if that might be a problem...
 
Ok...Pulled the stove out this morning and removed the top piece. The gasket is like NEW. I really don't think my problem is stemming from the lid. I then replaced the door gasket with a 1/2" (harman recommends 3/8") and it really had no problem adapting to the gasket channel. I sealed it up and put the door back on and closed it. At first it was a real tight close. With a few minor adjustments it fits real snug. I feel that will help a lot with the issue. I'll let the gasket cement set and fire up the stove later on this evening. The weather is very mild today so I might not get around to kicking it on till tomorrow night. I'll keep you all updated.
 
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