Starting a Harman p61 with ashes in the pot

[Spaztictyper]

Here's a picture of the ashes in my pot after 6 hours of burning. I was told I could restart it that way. I want to use it 24/7 and if it fails at night I'm screwed.

 

[DAKSY]

When you turn it on, the infeeding pellets will push those ashes out of the burnpot & into the ash pan. I don’t think you need to worry. My P61 burned 24/7 all winter long. The only time I turned off was for a monthly cleaning. Scrape the burnpot once a day to remove the “Harman Speed Bump” in front of the auger - even while it’s burning - & you’ll be happy with the performance.

 

[Spaztictyper]

Okay right now I have an auger issue, so once it's fixed I'll give it a try. I know I've run mine for 2 weeks straight but it was lite at the time. Trying to start it with all that in the pot seems impossible to me.

 

[mtnbiker727]

Scrape that mess down into the pot, then turn it on.

If you're running with the ignitor switch disabled, then it'll just keep humming along and won't have to restart itself. The new pellets will push the ash out of the pan as the auger feeds them.

Last winter I ran mine 24/7 from October until April and only shut down about once a week (or less) to do any cleaning. I don't scrape the burn pot when the stove is lit anymore, because my wife complains about the smoke coming into the house.

 

[Spaztictyper]

I scrape the front of the pile off, never get any smoke. just enough to keep the holes open. About and inch. The other thing is apparent it only allows a degree in temperature drop before it starts up again which I find useless. I've run mine for 2 weeks when it's cold enough before I cleaned it right out.

 

[mtnbiker727]

I scrape the front of the pile off, never get any smoke. just enough to keep the holes open. About and inch. The other thing is apparent it only allows a degree in temperature drop before it starts up again which I find useless. I've run mine for 2 weeks when it's cold enough before I cleaned it right out.

It's like a wood burning smell, it's smoke, but it's not smoky. My wife is pretty sensitive to smells and gets migraines pretty easily, so I hear about it when I open the door when it's burning.