when i open ash pan door while stove is on flame drops and smokes, why?

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indoorairpro

Member
Jan 27, 2011
13
NE PA
i have a kozyheat olivia, fresh air intake is in the chamber that holds the ash pan and FA is pulled up through holes in bottom of burn pot so in theory opening ash pan door should do nothing other then provide more oxygen to burn pot since there is much less resistance pulling from room then there is pulling through 2" fresh air intake pipe. yet the exact oppisite happens when i open the ash pan door. So what piece of this puzzle am i missing?
 
I think its do to area. The small 2" opening(which probably has a flapper valve) isn't a large volume. When you open that big door it is too large an area for the small cfm motor. You'll probably notice in the manual it should have something about opening either door.

We open the top door to quickly swipe the burnpot, Then quickly close the door. But not the ash door and try to dump the ashes. Best to shut down the stove, let it cool to empty the ash pan
 
i empty my harman all of the time while its running, i use glove mits and i turn the stove down to low idle when i clean it but i close the door while i am taking the ashes out. not much ash is going to fall land in the bottom of the stove for those 5 minutes it takes to dump it. i do a through cleaning 1/2 way through the season. then again its a harman
 
Wouldn't opening the ash pan door while the stove is in operation result in the loss of negative pressure?
 
Wouldn't opening the ash pan door while the stove is in operation result in the loss of negative pressure?
Yes, that is your problem.
 
Yes, that is your problem.

By "your" I guess you mean Indoorairpro. I never open the ash pan doors(I have three stoves) while they are running.
 
It all depends upon what the stove is, some have the ash bin isolated from the area around the burn pot, on those stove opening the ash pan door acts the same as opening any damper. On those stoves that have the ash pan area open to the area around the burn pot opening the ash pan door acts as a huge burn pot air bypass and a loss of proper airflow and pressure in the firebox, this results in a very bad burn and even smoke in the room (sometimes).
 
i open the ash pan door, remove the ash pan and close the door. its open for less then a minute. no big deal, and the stove stops feeding pellets as soon as the negetive pressure lost, and restarts feeding pellets once the door is shut. harmans are a great design, one of the lowest maintence stoves on the market, not maintence free but close
 
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