I recently bought a house that came with a harman Invincible installed. Seems to work great with one issue. When I try to turn it off by turing the "room temp/stove temp" knob to off, the temp and feed adjuster knobs to the lowest settings the blower seems to stop BUT it keeps feeding pellets. The "feed motor" light lights up each time it feeds. The first time I tried this it kept feeding for 4 hours until it was out of pellets. I have read several threads on this and I know it will take quite some time to actually shut down, but it seems that 4 hours of pellet feeding after turning it to off is not correct. If I let it run out of pellets it does appear to follow the proper shutdown process and eventually turns off. Anything I can test to identify what the issue could be? Is it possible I am doing something wrong in my shutdown process? Anyway to force the feed motor to stop?
Shutdown process for Harman Invincible insert
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JDenyer236
Feeling the Heat
One of the pots (potentiometer) on the board may be bad, and not fully turning off. Usually to shut down you just turn the stove temp/room temp knob to off, no need to change the other settings.
Very common issue on an older stove such as the invincible. The Pot that controls "off" is dirty and probably needs cleaning or replacing. Generally you can find a sweet spot for off but it will only get worse.
mik_kane
Feeling the Heat
There are aerosol cleaners available for electrical components. The pots get dirty from sitting in the same position for a period of time. Sometimes cleaning them works and sometimes it doesn't.
mik_kane
Feeling the Heat
F4jock
Minister of Fire
You can clean the pot by first trying to move it full travel back and forth rapidly about ten cycles. If that doesn't work you can spray it with an electronics cleaner like CRC while moving it as above but the board has to be removed to do that properly. New pots can be found cheaply on eBay or you can have them replace the pots and test the board for about 50 bucks. I've found that unplugging the stove for at least a minute with the pot in the "OFF" position sometimes resets to the point that the problem corrects. Have you cleaned the ESP probe and / or replaced the room temp sensor? Doing that cured a lot of seemingly unrelated problems for my Accentra insert but I'm not sure the Invincible has the same operating logic. Question: How do you run the stove? What settings are you using?
Crossing into the "off" position DOES have a response. The fan responds by slowing and getting much quieter. Are we assuming its not going into "off" but just getting stuck at "low" ?
Thanks everyone
Thanks everyone
JDenyer236
Feeling the Heat
Even if it's turned to off the fan will run on low for a bit until the esp cools down. The symptoms of a dirty or bad pot is just as you described ie the stove not shutting down and continuing to feed pellets. You can try cleaning it by removing the board and spraying it with electrical contact cleaner or you can replace the pot by soldering a new one in. If you can't solder then you can always buy the pot online and bring the board to a local electronics repair shop. Even if they charge you 50 bucks that's still a lot cheaper than a new board.
Ok, so I have an update. The status light has started blinking an error. Its two blinks which according to the manual:
"indicates that the feeder position switch has not sensed the slide plate in the home position for 30 minutes. This means that the slide plate may be stuck due to a foreign object in the fuel or the switch has failed. If the switch has failed the stove will operate normally, however if turned to the "OFF " position the stove will go to minimum burn and will only shut down when it runs out of fuel. If the slide plate frees itself the status light will automatically reset. If the error continues call your Harman Dealer."
This matches what I am seeing exactly. Anyone know how to get at the slide plate in an invincible insert? id like to take a look at it.
"indicates that the feeder position switch has not sensed the slide plate in the home position for 30 minutes. This means that the slide plate may be stuck due to a foreign object in the fuel or the switch has failed. If the switch has failed the stove will operate normally, however if turned to the "OFF " position the stove will go to minimum burn and will only shut down when it runs out of fuel. If the slide plate frees itself the status light will automatically reset. If the error continues call your Harman Dealer."
This matches what I am seeing exactly. Anyone know how to get at the slide plate in an invincible insert? id like to take a look at it.
On mine once you pull the unit out the feed system is kinda. Right out in the open. The slide plate can be taken out by undoing the 4 wing nuts where the clean out box is. You may find that this box is full of fines and it could be restricting the slide plate from sliding properly. You will see the retangle looking plate towards the back on the right side.
Yup....sounds like a full fines box or jammed slide plate. The 30 minute time out comes from the small micro switch mounted on the rear of the auger weldment. If the arm that actuates the slide plate doesn't fully cycle it won't open and close the micro switch and after 30 minutes, will go to low burn. Those wires from that switch go directly to the control board.
Sorry for the newbie questions, but do I have to pull the insert out of the fireplace to access this? Do I need to unscrew anything or does the insert just slide out?
You will need to pull it out. Mine is a free standing so I can't tell you for sure. It should be on some sort of rail system but the Invincible is a heavy beast so you may want to have a couple of 2x4s handy in case it wants to tip on you once you start sliding it out.
Some will depend on your hearth set up. You take off the two side panels and also the bottom panel. These are decorative panels and once you put outward pressure on them by pulling they should come off. The are held on by heavy duty snaps. Shine a strong light into the side panel area, you should be able to see the snaps. UNPLUG THE STOVE BEFORE DOING ANYTHING. Behind the panels are latch clips that hold the stove to the stove fireplace frame. The frame stays in place while the stove slides out of it. It is very heavy so it won't just come out without some good hearty pulling. On mine I take out the four Phillip head screws that hold the control panel on and pull the control panel out so I can see and watch the wires to make certain that nothing is getting pinched. On mine I diconnect the ground wire as it attaches to the surround frame and is short. You need to look and see what needs to be done wiring wise to protect the wires. The lower decrotive panel is also held on by two snaps located back by the surround panel.
You need to provide support for the stove once you pull it out. You will be able to pull it out enough to see what kind of support system is needed. Keep in mind it's heavy. I use 2 x 3's on mine with some plywood shims. You are going to have to figure this part out by yourself as there is no one size fits all. Some members have built a support structure using electrical box mounting frame hardware. Do a search and you will get the idea.
Once the stove is out its a very good time to clean everything up including you piping and the ESP probe that lives on the left rear bottom of the stove. It is also a great idea to turn the stove on its side and clean the squirrel cage that is located on the bottom of the stove. You will need help doing this. In my opinion the stove removal and replacement goes much better with two strong people.
Once the stove is out you will be able to see the things that have been suggested to you. Wouldn't hurt for you to get some first hand knowledge of your new stove.
Did you get a owners manual with it?
You need to provide support for the stove once you pull it out. You will be able to pull it out enough to see what kind of support system is needed. Keep in mind it's heavy. I use 2 x 3's on mine with some plywood shims. You are going to have to figure this part out by yourself as there is no one size fits all. Some members have built a support structure using electrical box mounting frame hardware. Do a search and you will get the idea.
Once the stove is out its a very good time to clean everything up including you piping and the ESP probe that lives on the left rear bottom of the stove. It is also a great idea to turn the stove on its side and clean the squirrel cage that is located on the bottom of the stove. You will need help doing this. In my opinion the stove removal and replacement goes much better with two strong people.
Once the stove is out you will be able to see the things that have been suggested to you. Wouldn't hurt for you to get some first hand knowledge of your new stove.
Did you get a owners manual with it?
I do have a manual but it doesnt seem to be specific to the insert and only references the freestanding stove. Is there a seperate manual for the insert? Havent found one online.
Yes, there is a manual just for the insert. It pretty much shows everything related to the insert.
Do a search on the Internet and a bunch come up. Some for sale, and some for free. You must put insert in your search.
Do a search on the Internet and a bunch come up. Some for sale, and some for free. You must put insert in your search.
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