Wet ash in the left exchanger area. Please help!!!

[huntersh2]

Hello all. I need help. MyHarman ascentra insert pellet stove has treated me well for 2 years. It is lately been running at 85 degrees and the thermostat in the house is reading 65 degrees so I know there's a problem. I just gave it a good cleaning 2 weeks ago but I figured why not And cleaned it again. to my surprise I found wet ash smudge in the Left exchanger area. can somebody please help me with this and tell me if my machine is breaking Or in trouble. thank you so much

 

[Lake Girl]

Sorry but no ideas for you. If you don't get many responses, repost with Harman accentra in title.

 

[tsmith]

Has the venting been properly cleaned out? Tell us what all the settings are that you are running at.

 

[huntersh2]

So sorry Tsmith, is the venting the left and right exchanger holes? Then yes these have been cleaned every ton like the manual says. I follow the manual maintenance cleaning schedule and even have service man clean each year. This has never happened. It is a black ash like watery sludge in the left exchanger. My unit is an insert and it was professionally installed by the hearth place. They said if there was a water issue from the top of the chimney I would've getting this in the right exchanger area not the left as this is the exhaust side, not the left. That's the convection side. It's a Harman Accentra pellet insert. The settings are 75 degrees high room temp and feed rate at 4. It's always worked great. But lately I have had to turn up to 85 degrees to get a 64 degree house temperature. Yes it's been cold. Like 15 degrees outside, but it's never ha sludge in the left exchanger before. Oh and I always run roo. Temp not stove temp.

Thanks for your help TsmithTsmith

 

[Lake Girl]

Could it be creosote? Need to post settings for pellet feed, draft, pellet type ... have you changed pellet brand?

 

[huntersh2]

Creosote is watery? And I did run one ton of different pellets. Premium LG ppellets. And feed rate at 4. Not sure what Draft is?

Thanks again

 

[reallyte]

Sounds like creosote from lack of air to me.

 

[Lake Girl]

What pellets were you burning before? New ones have a higher moisture content?

From the manual... (broken link removed to http://hearthnhome.com/downloads/installManuals/Accentra_Insert.pdf)
page 33

LOW HEAT OUTPUT
1. Feed rate too low
2. Draft too low because of gasket leak.
3. Poor quality or damp pellets
4. Combination of 1 and 2.

My guess is more #3.

Creosote can be sludge/tar like.

 

[huntersh2]

Lake girl thanks. Creosote is a tar like shiny substance. This is more like water. Creosote is flammable. This was not. It was watery. Poor pellets can cause moisture buildup in the exchanger area ?

Is running on 78 degrees on high room temp and with a feed rating of 4 a bad combo?

What do you do and others. Newbie here. Sorry and thanks so much. Happy Holidays

Shaun

 

[Monyw]

I found a liquidly black ash in my left air exchange today and finally figured it out. I have been slowly loosing heat output even after a through cleaning. I thought I was cleaning the air exchanges well enough but I was not. The brush must be pushed in to the left exchange with a lot of force so that it takes a right turn and goes behind the stove and pushes out into the the right exchange. If the left exchange is completely blocked which finally happened to mine. the heat in the exchange builds up to a point that if liquifies the ash creating the black sludge. That is why the right exchange contains just ash and the left is wet. I spent two hours pushing the brush into the left exchange and vacuuming out the exchange with a lint hose till the brush head was visible when i shined a light down the right exchange. Now the stove is pumping the high BTUs i remember its like a new stove.
Watch the cleaning video on the Harman web site it has a graphic on how far the brush must travel.
(broken link removed to http://www.harmanstoves.com/Owner-Resources/Use-and-Care-Videos/Accentra-Pellet-Insert.aspx)

 

[Lake Girl]

Glad you found a solution ... a month ago another member had the same issue with the same solution...and you found the thread! The Harman site has several cleaning procedures (written form) also posted on their site... Accentra is one of them

Welcome to the forum... We love pics if you care to share!