This season, however, it has been shutting off on us during the night and it is difficult to get started again in the morning. This has happened about ten times.
Dealer suggested we clean behind the back wall of the interior chamber. (My husband had cleaned the unit in the fall by following the instructions provided but hadn't cleaned behind that plate because there were no instructions for that.)

The dealer emailed instructions for that particular task and my husband did it this past Sunday.

Unfortunately the stove is still malfunctioning. We noticed that after a while of running fine the status light starts to blink and eventually the stove shuts itself down unless we turn it off and on again. Obviously this must be what is happening during the night.
This morning we woke up to, once again, the stove being off. It was 12 degrees outside and 35 degrees in our family room. Now the stove doesn't work at all. It will power on and all the lights are lit. But even tho the feeder light is on no pellets drop. The auger does not turn. It has been making a very loud clunking sound these past few weeks and I guess now it's just given up.
The dealer said when the status light blinks 5 times in succession, which ours is doing, it doesn't look good and they need to come out to service it. I left a message that the light was blinking like that but never heard back from him by end of day.

So I have some questions for anyone who can help:
(1) Do you know what the problem might be with this stove and should it be happening to such a 'new' stove (and can it be fixed??)
(2) Should this stove be able to heat the room I described above? It seems the end of the room where the stove is not located is always chilly and unfortunately that is where our dining room table is. The dealer sort of suggested that we would probably save on oil since the stove would help heat the rest of the house, but we have yet to see it be so efficient. Do you think maybe it just hasn't been functioning properly all along?

Sorry for such a long post. This is the main room that our kids and us use every day from breakfast til bedtime and its very frustrating not being able to even go into it due to the cold.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

It sounds to me like a serious mechanical problem with either the auger drive motor, chain, or the possibility that the auger is jambing up and causing the damage to the motor. The clunking sound is a bad sign, and leads me to think that there is a jamb up that then causes the chain to skip a tooth on the sprocket. For that to happen there will have to be some serious flexing of the frame for the chain to skip. That flexing could in turn distort the feed box and cause the slider to bind. A jammed auger or a sticky hatch would stop the pellets from dropping into the auger. If it were just a bad motor, there wouldn't be clunking. It would just stop.

Five blinks actually isn't so bad in and of itself. You can get that if it runs out of fuel. Basically, if the ignitor is working, you'll get the 5 blink if there aren't pellets in the burn pot. So 5 blinks is either an ignitor problem or a feed/supply problem. It sounds to me like you have the feed problem.

They told you to clean the dust out of the ignitor box because that can cause the ignition problem. The dust plugs things up. When cleaning that out you should make sure the little holes in the burn pot are clear as well. To tell you to do this doesn't take into account the other symptoms. It's more of a canned answer - probably developed after years of service calls where all that needed to be done was clean the ignitor, but it doesn't fix everything.

I would say they need to get their keesters out to your house and fix or replace your stove. You didn't pay all that money to deal with this kind of thing. Harman is known to do that, as you'll see from other posts in this forum as well as things I heard from my installer.

One other thing is that I was told not to burn soft wood pellets like pine. Apparently the pitch can gum up the works all the way back to the hopper and cause the auger to freeze. This is often what caused the stove replacements my installer was talking about. Don't know if that's what you're burning.

Hope this helps.

Harman actually carries a 6 Year Gold Warranty. This warranty will cover mechanical and electrical for a period of three years including labor and 6 years on material and workmanship.

As for the other posts regarding the 5 blink status and I will quote the owners manual, 5 blink status "Indicates that the unit has failed to light within a 36 minute start cycle." This tends to happen on re-start after the unit has just down due to the room sensing probe seeing to high of a temperature. A lot of ash build up in the burn pot can have an immediate effect on how the unit re-lights. Sometimes a dirty burn pot can effect air flow into the burn pot not allowing the unit to re-light.

The occasional "clunking" sound your hearing is the slide plate cutting abnormally long pellets or pellets in gerneral that are getting stuck between the slide plate and the feeder body. This is normal for this to happen. The tension the feed motor puts on the slide is very high and is made to cut just about anything in reason in its path. This will make a very loud bang noise at times.

hope this helps you in getting your unit running the way I know it can.

Your description of the 5 blink is better than mine. I didn't really understand the scenario that might cause it during the run cycle. I have found also that along with burn pot issues, you can get 5 or 6 blink warnings when the ESP probe in the exhaust pipe gets heavily covered with light soot/ash. I think it insulates the probe enough to make it think the current temp is less than it actually is. That makes it think the burn is incomplete and shuts down the stove. That's just a problem if you let the cleaning go too long.

I know the clunking you mean. I got the feeling that this problem was more regular and extreme than the occasional pellet crushing. Hard to know from the sound of an email.

I would agree with the overall quality of the stove. I decided to buy it when I saw how solidly the feeder mechanicals were built. Having worked as a welder/fabricator for projects with similar mechanical aspects, I thought the construction looked fairly bullet proof. My only problems seem to come from the draft issue - as discussed in the string about hopper smoke. The electronics also make me a bit nervous but so far so good.

I think the stove is starved for air when that is hooked up. The draft fan pulls at high draft and the resistance creates a sizable vacuum in the stove including in the hopper. Then when it shifts to low draft, the vacuum eases, and in the process, the hopper draws smoke in from the auger/burnpot.

I'm pretty sure that this is the problem because I've been running without outside air for a week or more and there is no smoke in my hopper... and the stove burns cleaner all around.

1) The auger is making a slight grinding noise. The auger is fine I think that’s just the pellets breaking up either by the slide plate or auger.
2) Pellet brand I've been using is BIO Plus from Wal-Mart, which is so dusty I hate it and I would never buy it again. I think the dust is causing the pellets to hang and the slide plate is not letting the pellets fall into the auger area keeping it empty and not feeding the burn pot.
3) With the same pellets I’ve noticed that it does not burn that hot and I calculated that with a temp sensor on the stove.

While reading everyone’s problems and experiences with their stoves I came to the conclusion it’s either one or two things that’s causing my problem.

1) Pellet brand = to dusty not feeding the pellets correctly.
2) ESP Probe = not burning hot enough on the lowest setting causing the ESP to fault with a CODE 6 Error.

Currently I’m burning the BIO plus with a mixture of 25% corn feed just to increase the temperature in the stove on the lowest setting to see what will happened. So far so good burning very efficient.

It is very important to have the installers to check the low draft setting as well to see if it is adjusted accordingly!!

Please reply with ?’s
Thanks Andy

It's weird, I've cleaned out the hopper, found pitchy build-up near the auger opening. Cleaned that. Can feed pellets along the auger (hand deposited then with the slide plate removed) & fed them through on test. The slide plate moves fine, but pellets don't seem to be dropping. I knew that I was in for fun when I stopped hearing the 'tink' sound of pellets dropping into the stove.

The dealer's supposedly trying to get Harman to replace the unit. Hopefully I'll hear tomorrow that they're picking up this paperweight.

2. the auger never,never fills the burnpot 1" from the edge and never overflows. the burnline is always 2-3" or more from the edge (burnpot about half full). the ashes build up along this burnline and result in a carbon buildup daily. some mornings, depending on pellet brand, it looks like a birdsnest in the burnpot from the buildup of ash. control settings do not affect this daily occurance.

dealership replaced the control panel circutboard, no difference. door gasket is fine, pressure is plentiful. probe,flap and chambers are cleaned monthly.
believe the problem to be with the amount of pellets (lack of) getting to the auger. think the slide plate is either not opening far enough or staying open long enough. anyone have any ideas?

Had Harman Advance Pellet installed in October 2005.
Had the unit cleaned last spring, after smoke came thru hopper.

Turned the unit on the night before last for the first time since the cleaning. No visible smoke, but burnt wood smell coming thru blower vents.

S/w tech who serviced the unit and I vacuumed all openings
yesterday. (Tech said that the only other time he encountered this, kids had shoved crayons into the unit's holes...we don't have kids or grandkids, just my husband and myself...) Just turned the unit on again. The burnt wood smell is blowing thru the blower again!

The Harman trouble-shooting section recommends caulking the seams of the exhaust pipe, but the caulking that's already there appears to be intact.
Anyone know what's causing this? Any possible solutions?

I wished the instructions had pointed out how to do this, correctly, i.e.
how far.

My smoke problem is gone, as is the pitch. The stove gives out more heat and the glass stays cleaner long. Don't know if this may cause the hopper to fill with smoke, but if you think about it, if air is not able to flow through those heat tubes, it is got to go somewhere, and maybe messing up the burn as the "computer board" can't deal with the incorrect air flow. Guessing..

Also, the installer connected up the 4 wires that you have to remove when
pulling the stove, but left my green ground wire that connects near/under the pressure differencial switch off. I connected this up and have had no problems.

About dealers being jerks... It is not just Harmam dealers, trust me.
I really dislike the Other product in the summer/Pellet Stove in the winter ones, too. And the ones that sell a brand for few years because they are so great, then switch, and then will have nothing to do with the old brand, or any brand they are not selling.

I had problems getting someone to clean the chimney because of the brand of pellet stove, a Breckwell, sitting in it. They no longer sold these I was told.

Not sure what the difference is pulling a wood burning stove out vs a pellet stove.

My stove will not function; as mentioned earlier in this thread I have symptoms including 5 blinks of the status light, no apparent movement of the auger or any feed going on whatsoever. I have pulled away the insert from the fireplace, and the wiring seems to all be intact and the insides fairly clean looking. I've located all the components such as the air pressure switch and the feeder motor gigmo. So I have a couple of questions based on my reading of the user manual and observations and research on the web so far.

1. When one sets the feed knob of the control panel to "Test", the user manual says ALL motors should function. What happens for me is the blower comes on and cycles on and off as described in the manual, but the auger does not move and the electrical motor shows no sign of life.

So the question: when in "test" mode should the feeder motor operate? The idea that it should seems to be backed up by a note in the manual to the effect that if you "test" it too often you will get a build up of pellets in the burn pot...implying that the motor will be running and depositing pellets.

2. When I have removed the compass kinda plate above the burn pot, and the backing plate kind of heavy metal piece, I can see the end of the auger. Trying to hold the end by my hand, i cannot rotate it more than about a 1/32" either direction. Should this auger move more than that or does its lack of rotation indicate its jammed up somehow?

3. I've emptied the pellet bin and tried to access the auger lengthwise with zero success. (I've had the unit unplugged so it doesnt suddenly spring to life). Is there any way to get to the auger to clear possible jams short of removing the motor and drive?

4. Speaking of removing the motor and drive, am I to understand that this is a chain drive arrangement, and the chain must be inside that cast shrouding in the middle of the "gizmo"? If the auger will not move freely, could it be that the chain is jammed up inside there? I would think an electric motor would turn freely so I would think that any jam might not be in the motor but instead in the drive mechanism?

5. Finally, I've though about disassembling that drive and trying to see if there is an obstruction like a nail or something jamming the auger. But it looks like its would be a major pain, especially if theres a chain to deal with. Is self servicing advised? I live out in the country some 50 miles from any service personnel I can locate so its gotta be expensive for them to come out...

Thanks a million in advance for any advice. I bought this house a few months ago and was hoping this pellet stove would keep me warm but right now I am sucking propane for the central heating like its going out of style and want this stove to work!

one love
jah bill

Danny, when they installed my stove they attached the room temp probe right to the back of the stove. The problem is, since the stove is cast Iron, it takes a long time to heat up, and then when it does, cast iron retains heat and dissipates it for a long time. Thus the stove gets real hot and then shuts down for a long time.

Try taking the Room temp probe and attaching it to the wall about 8 inches from the floor of the wall it is in front of as far away from the stove as you can. That way it will be more accurate with room temp and probably won't shut off.

You can do what I did. By a cheap digital infra red thermometer and a thermometer to check the room temp accurately away from the stove. measure the temp on the wall that accurately indicates how hot it is in the room and make sure the tip of the probe is against the wall in that area. I would bet you will get a more even temp in the room. Currently I have had the stove shut off twice during the middle of the night. The first time it was at 3.00am and wasn't in the mood to count blinks. The second was at about 5:00am it it blinked 5 times. I think the problem may be wet lignetic pellets or a log jam so to speak , in the hopper preventing pellets from dropping. I am not calling the dealer now as I am willing to play with it and see.

If it continues, I will have them come out. I have had the stove about a month and thouroghly cleaned it twice. The first time to see how it is done, and the second time today to insure the problem wasn't ash build up under the burn surface on the burn pot.

If the 5 blink continues, I will post again.

The problem started originally when I started using the ton of Lignetics I have. Some of them are rather long and I think it creates a Log Jam as I said above. Now I make sure to stir up the pellets and I have started to mix them with my Hamers when I fill it up late at night.

THe hamers I was using before that were fine, the Southern States, Statesmen were also fine although much more dirty with more fines and more auger screeching noise. The Lignetics are also fine as long as you give the hopper a good stir and break up some of the long ones.

Summery:

The five blinks was just caused by a hopper jam of long pellets. Easy fix.

Has anyone tried replacing the computer circiut board to correct erratic operation ? If the computer is sending crazy signals the stove will operate inefficient & erratic, the dealers have no way of testing these boards except by replacing to see if it cures the problem.

If you have the Accentra insert, Please read the above entry by dana-mark on Dec. 1st. The two 2 inch square tube exhaust ports (Fig 26 and 27 in the cleaning instructions are important to keep clean. If you do not have the cleaning instructions, I highly recommend that you download them. The web site is accentracleaninginstructions.pdf. Use your color printer as it makes the picture so much more vivid. I went to the hardware store and bought a three foot length of flexible clear vinyl tubing to add to my vacuum to probe the ports to get extra ash out after I use the wire brush that came with the stove. Use duct tape to build up the tube to fit inside your vacuum hose.
If you were able to clean the stove good enough to get it to run one day, I am thinking that if you get the stove burning correctly the pitch problem will go away. Please let me know if this helped , or what you had to do to correct the problem.

Check those exhaust tubes. You can do this easily by removing the interior side plates, turning on your controls so the combustion blower is working, and feel in front of the exhaust tubes on the right and left. You should feel a strong vacuum from both sides. If not, one is plugged and you must unplug it.

Good luck, hope that this help someone. Cold in VA, yesterday it was a minus 1. John

I have seen this on my new stove once. It was a result of Clinkers built up in the burn pot and also. Right below the burn put is a little door with a thumb screw on each side. You must make sure the stove is cool and unscrew the thumbscrews and vacum out the debris that gets in there and makes the starter, heating element waste heat.

I beleive the problem is that with all that ash and debris built up in there, it blocks air flow from out of there, through the holes in the burn pot and doesn't provide as much oxygen for the starting and burning the pellets.

The clinkers act just like a perfect insulator for the heat that the starter element creates to start the pellets.

The heat should come from the electric element, heat up the burn pot and along with the oxygen from the air coming under the burn pot, start the pellets.

In short, if you haven't yet, try reading the cleaning instructions and doing a thorough cleaning. If you got the stove in March and haven't cleaned it yet, you are asking for trouble.

Hope this helps, this is the only thing I can think of. If that doesn't help, Call the stove dealer and have them come out and see if something is wrong with the igniter circuit and/or Element.

I have a 6 year old Accentra insert. My ignitor just went out also. It wasn't too bad to replace. The worst part was that the stove had to be pulled out. Since it was out, I just did my thorough cleaning. The 305 watt ignitor cost a little over $70.

Make sure you clean out the charcoal on the sides and bottom of the firebox. If there is a layer of charcoal/carbon across the bottom near the heating element it will never start. I use my fingers to feel for it, and a screwdriver/hammer to help remove the stuff. Put the screwdriver tip next to the carbon and lightly tap the screwdriver, think, cleaving a diamond. Don't go beating on things. Don't hit your auger. Take it easy as you get around the opening. Remember you may have to leave a little. Will come out next cleaning. Get a mirror and a toothpick and clean those air holes. There is a row very low down that you can't see or open them up without a mirror. This row is the one that get "carbon" over. Also, (from the cleaning instructions), take your cleaning tool and tap, tap, tap the top of the firebox to clean off the heating element inside the firebox. Open the front cover of the firebox via of the two thumb screws and remove the ash.