Unburnt pellets in Harman P 61

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Ran like a charm all night. No idea why. But quite happy. Keep the house above 70, as the back up never came on. I can see it's working right by the burn pattern it's leaving. Just a clean pile of burnt ash. No chunks. My best guess is the pellets. Nothing changed . I'll get back with more come shut down and restart time.
Finally answer, how does it fix itself in the middle of it running? And swishing pellets around in the bin? Same ones that were in there while it was running?
 
Finally answer, how does it fix itself in the middle of it running? And swishing pellets around in the bin? Same ones that were in there while it was running?
Something must have cleared itself like a partially plugged air passage. I bet you can't wait to dissect it in the summer.
 
Something must have cleared itself like a partially plugged air passage. I bet you can't wait to dissect it in the summer.
Technician is coming in 2 weeks, to scope it out. Ordered him when it first happened , back when I was testing room mode and it failed then. Doing the final paper work on a heat pump grant, picked out what I need and then do the submit and wait. Might be installed by March and it will be all over, maybe sooner. Way to much stress involved with pellet stoves. Not to mention crappy service around here. ( Butt folk Nova Scotia)
 
Technician is coming in 2 weeks, to scope it out. Ordered him when it first happened , back when I was testing room mode and it failed then. Doing the final paper work on a heat pump grant, picked out what I need and then do the submit and wait. Might be installed by March and it will be all over, maybe sooner. Way to much stress involved with pellet stoves. Not to mention crappy service around here. ( Butt folk Nova Scotia)
You will still have pellet or wood for backup? What will be the heat source when it -25C and no power?
 
I did a quick test and turned it up to 7, to see if it's working right and it is. So its not in the controls. Huge flames and heat. Doesn't look like it going to hit the forecasted temperature but I image I'll be turning it down at some point to see if it loads up. It's at 75 in here, couple more degress and I'll start turning it down.
 
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If you have a blower function on a shop vac you could try blowing out your fresh air intake.
Im thinking you have ash build up under your burnpot. . Open that ignitor compartment and try getting your hand in there as far back as possible. Or if you have and attachment for shop vac with a small hose you could try sucking it out...
 
That is very interesting. I know Harman had a patient on the "Pellet Pro" but maybe not the burn pot. Or VC used the design with permission? Did/does the VC have a full pelletpro system?
Some castings in there have "Harmon" cast in the surface, like the cover where you can adjust feed rate with a thumb screw. Not sure what you mean by "full pelletpro system". No igniter, no auto on /off other than it will shut down on it's own if allowed to run out of fuel, not something I'd suggest doing. I do clean out the area under the burn pot.
 
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If you have a blower function on a shop vac you could try blowing out your fresh air intake.
Im thinking you have ash build up under your burnpot. . Open that ignitor compartment and try getting your hand in there as far back as possible. Or if you have and attachment for shop vac with a small hose you could try sucking it out...
Did that 2 days ago.
 
I have a generator, and am going to keep one of the 2 pellet stoves I have. I may also put a wood stove back in. I had a power outage Saturday morning and ran both of them to warm it up at 3f.
I started out with a wood stove, it was too much work, so I went to pellet stoves. Never had to use the wood stove once I had 2 stoves and gave it away. 10 days after I did that, I had a double power outage. Twice in one day. And the generator didn't start. It was the same problem on the same pole. First time it was about 15 degrees warmer. But they had the fuse replaced in half an hour and the Harman was still glowing and fired right up.
 
I did a quick test and turned it up to 7, to see if it's working right and it is. So its not in the controls. Huge flames and heat. Doesn't look like it going to hit the forecasted temperature but I image I'll be turning it down at some point to see if it loads up. It's at 75 in nowhere, couple more degress and I'll start turning it down.
Down to 2, a nice 29f now and it's looking good. There's a 40 forecast down the road, might get hot in here.
 
Down to 2, a nice 29f now and it's looking good. There's a 40 forecast down the road, might get hot in here.
Ran fine all night. Bumped it up to 3 no problems. The technician said that if they don't get shut down correctly they can loose their memory and need a few days to reset. Any one heard of this?
 
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The technician said that if they don't get shut down correctly they can loose their memory and need a few days to reset. Any one heard of this?
Maybe what he was trying to say is that if does not shut down properly, it won't work perfectly for awhile. I might believe that.
The stove has a shutdown cycle it goes through which involves controlling the blowers and auger.
 
Ok you need to read and practice this thread I’m posting…nothing mechanical suddenly starts working again with out a “correction”. If you follow everything in this thread you should never have problem unless it’s pellet difference/quality.

 
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Ok you need to read and practice this thread I’m posting…nothing mechanical suddenly starts working again with out a “correction”. If you follow everything in this thread you should never have problem unless it’s pellet difference/quality.

Most interesting, thanks for that. The tech has that testing device and will be looking at all those parameters. I'd have to agree with the "nothing mechanical suddenly starts working again with out a correction." Question I have is what caused it and what fixed it. I didn't do anything prior to or after the problem started ( other then stir the pellets). I will hopefully have an answer in 2 weeks. 👍 In the mean time, it's going to be running 24/7 as usual. (Short of another power outage). I can't have it doing this after I shut it down.
 
Most interesting, thanks for that. The tech has that testing device and will be looking at all those parameters. I'd have to agree with the "nothing mechanical suddenly starts working again with out a correction." Question I have is what caused it and what fixed it. I didn't do anything prior to or after the problem started ( other then stir the pellets). I will hopefully have an answer in 2 weeks. 👍 In the mean time, it's going to be running 24/7 as usual. (Short of another power outage). I can't have it doing this after I shut it down.
Just a little more to add. I've had previous power outages and got it going after the power went out and the ambers were still burning. No issues. I run it on a "lean" 3, so it can't be over feed. It was running on 6 for 2 weeks prior to this. Other then the room test where it jammed up on the third test. That was the start of it. A cleaning resolved that. Then the power outage resulted in it happening again. It was shut down properly after about 20 hours of running and cleaned all over. No change. Last thing I did was go buy 2 bags of different pellets to eliminate bad pellets. Which I was going to start after finishing off the existing bag. I stirred the pellets that were in it added the last of the bag and 4 hours later it was running like a charm and still is. Some where in there is the problem and the solution. As much as I agree with that statement ( cause and affect), it's happening. This is why I'm pounding my head against a wall. The 2 bags are now kitty litter, and I'm wearing a helmet. I think I'll just leave it at that and in 2 weeks I hope I have an answer. At 70 years of age I just don't need it any more.
 
Explain your version of “shut down property” pls
Turning it off, and letting it go through the proper shut down cycle. Property should be properly my bad. My only other answer is on start up from scratch or "idling" it dumps to many pellets and can't recover. But that doesn't explain it fixing itself. Once it's running right it doesn't happen. I don't expect any issues until I shut it down to clean it. And as for idling, the room test was the only time it was in idle mode and worked fine twice previously before it loaded up. This was all with in maybe 2 hours of setting the room temp to see where it would actually come on compared to what it was set at. First 2 times it came on and ran fine. Up to heat then shuts down, idles comes back on etc.
 
Well if it isn’t hot enough at start up then it might/will auger in too many pellets and overwhelm the pot…when I’ve lost igniters in the past and had to start manually I’ve had to keep the door open with the torch on it until it’s hot enough to keep the stove operating properly…as for the idling it should be able to keep up once it’s going unless it’s starved for air.
 
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Well if it isn’t hot enough at start up then it might/will auger in too many pellets and overwhelm the pot…when I’ve lost igniters in the past and had to start manually I’ve had to keep the door open with the torch on it until it’s hot enough to keep the stove operating properly…as for the idling it should be able to keep up once it’s going unless it’s starved for air.
I use BBQ fluid. It as it gives good coverage gets it going quite fast. I leave the door wide open when I start it. Then close it and it's gets a good push from the fan. I've watched the pellets pile up and often wondered how it even runs. It starts pushing way to soon. Not having an ignitor I can't compare my start up to an auto start. I know it feeds sooner then manual. And manual for me is to fast. I'd have to watch an auto start fire up , when that pot gets loaded up I just don't see it lighting.