# Pellet stove works but doesn't seem to be blowing.



## dynomitecalo

I own a Harman Accentra II. The stove works fine, I recently replaced the ignitor. My problem now, at least I think, is that the stove turns on, fires right up and I usually keep it at 65 degrees. But I don't hear the blower EVEN THOUGH the blower light is on as in "working". Also, I've ran it for about two - three weeks, leave it on overnight to just about running out of pellets by about 5am. My wife likes to leave it on during the day while we both go to work-- she says its to keep the dogs warm. Those dudes have fur and the house goes down to like 56 degrees anyway (ugh, women).  So okay, ive ran it like so with mild cleaning (throwing ashes out, cleaning the ignitor area, scraping sides) but haven't had a chance to vaccum it. Also, normally, is the stove always hot on the outside? I leaned on it to check the knobs and holy shat was that stove hot as fk. I'm wondering that if it is not blowing, all the hot air is staying inside. Wouldn't that make some sort of like pressure? I'm like afraid to leave it on. Don't want to start a fire and not notice while we sleep. Maybe I'm just over thinking it but normally I hear the blower sound and I feel it the hot air coming out at a great speed. But right now, it hasn't done that... granted there is some hot air coming out, but even on ROOM TEMP HIGH, you'd expect a higher output of air. Man, I am very concerned. Need any advice you guys may have, please and thank you!


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## DMKNLD

Welcome to this forum! I don't have a Harman stove, but there are lots of Harman owners on this message board who will no doubt chime in on this to help out, but I'll give a shot at helping troubleshoot your stove problem until then. 

It sounds like your convection blower, the one that blows the hot air out into the room, is not working, which means it's not taking heat away form the firebox, hence the reason the stove is so hot. Was your room air blower making any noises or squealing sounds prior? If so, that may indicate that your convection blower motor is the problem. If it has been working OK, it is more likely one of your snap discs that has tripped, which are built in safety switches that regulate the temperatures and stove operation. Most pellet stoves have 3 snap discs in various places in the back of your stove.

Go find your stove manual, or download one on-line, while you let your stove shut down and cool off, then find out where your snap discs are located. UNPLUG YOUR STOVE, and see if any of your snap discs have a little red stem that is sticking up in the middle of the disc, ie it has pushed out and interrupted the connection between the two electrical connectors that attach to it. More than than likely it would be your convection blower snap disc #1, which is typically somewhere near the top of the firebox, and controls when your room air blower kicks in.

Try to press the little red stem down with your finger and see if it resets. If you can push it in and it makes a clicking sound, you found your problem, and should be good to go!! Plug the stove back in and start it up to see if your room air blower kicks back in after it reaches the correct temperature.

If it doesn't look like any of your snap discs are tripped, there are ways to bypass the snap discs to test other components like your blower motor, but that takes some electrical testing with a voltmeter, jumper wire, etc.,which depending on your electrical knowledge may cause more problems than you solve. Sparks, blue smoke, a blown fuse, or a cooked circuit board are all good things to avoid, much less the potential for an electrical shock. Not to scare you, but just a disclaimer that this may be a task for a qualified technician to avoid injury to you and / or damage to your stove.

Post back on what you find after you try the 'simple stuff' like resetting a snap disc, and we'll go from there as needed.


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## Bioburner

Harman stoves heat and fan controls are ESP managed. Sometimes a pot switch fails that can foul the operation of the fans too. Having pets can hair up the room fans. Put the switch to test and all motors should run. If not then you have a problem. How old is the stove and when was the stove entirely cleaned? What are you running the switches on. Room temp-manual. Stove temp-manual. Room temp-Auto etc.? This forum is heavy with Harman owners.


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## rona

Harman stoves are normally to hot to touch very long. Put your hand in front of the stoves where the hot air is supposed to come out. You should feel air movement unless you have it turned down. They have a setting where the convection fan is off and obviously the stove will be hot as it isn't blowing air through it to move heat around the house.


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## Pellet_Pete

Not certain it's the same problem, bu sounds an awul lot like what happened with my XXV last week.  Read this post:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/harman-xxv-distribution-blower-replacement.122599/


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## HEMI

I shut my p43 down for a cleaning 2 weeks ago and when I restarted I had the same issue. Had the blower bench tested and it was no good. Could've saved a few bucks gettin a new one at grainger but my dealer were great when I bought it so I paid a few extra and got it from them.


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## dynomitecalo

So I cleaned it a day ago. The full 9 yards. Fired it back up and it started right up... but the blower wasn't blowing as much like before I did the full maintenance clean up. 

So I cooled it off. Once cooled, I opened up the back and cleaned any dust or dog hair (I have 3 dogs) but there wasn't much hair or dust back there. So then I plugged it back in (with the covers off) and ran it on test. The pellet feed works. The combustion motor runs. The igniter was just changed less than a month ago, so that runs but the distribution blower (the long part that looks like a scroll all the way on the bottomw rear end of the stove) wasn't turning. Does it usually not turn on test??


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## begreen

Did you let the stove warm up? Usually the convection blower is on it's own snap disk thermostat that makes the circuit once the stove body is up to temperature. If you did wait and no action, find this snap disk switch and make sure it is contacting the stove body and working correctly.


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## Bioburner

It should as that is the purpose of the test mode. I use test mode after cleaning pot and exchanger everyday as stove wont have enough fire to satisfy the ESP without a boost. Can test with multimeter if the motor leads are getting juice.


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## Pellet_Pete

All fans should run on test.  You may have cleaned the dog hair out, but once it's toast, it's toast.  Try spinning the fan blades by hand - they should spin freely.  When mine bit the dust last week, the fan was noticeably "gummy" when I spun it by hand.


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## dynomitecalo

I did spin it by hand, it didn't spin like the combustion blower fans or even as freely as the front fan that is located on the front of the pellet stove, next to the air hole that leads to the outside of the house (just for an idea of what fan I mean). When I spun the distribution blower (long, horizontal, scroll looking thing) it didn't spin freely. I spun it but it stopped as soon as I stopped spinning it. And it spun slow and by force-- I suppose "gummy". Both left and right sides. 

Also, I meant to ask... in the controls door, on the inside there is a switch and on the metal it is marked as (Top) Hi and (bottom of switch) Lo. Whats that for? It was on Hi, by the way.


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## Pellet_Pete

Yes, we are talking about the same fan, the long scroll-like one.  The HI-LO switch is for the distribution fan - it toggles it between a high speed & low.  Why you would ever want it on low is beyond me (maybe for floor models?).  Try putting in test mode on both settings just to make sure the switch isn't wired backwards (the colored wires are switched on mine, so if someone had blindly followed the instructions it could easily be reverse-wired).

Before my fan kicked the bucket, it was noticeably slower/weaker for a week or so.  Sounds like you could quite possibly need a new one.  Mine endured 5 years of a 4-dog household (previous owner), which I am certain contributed to its untimely demise this year.  Only other things I can think of is a wiring problem, which someone else suggested testing with a  multimeter.  If you do replace it, hardest part is paying for it .


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## dynomitecalo

Word. Thanks for you help guys!


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## GeHmTS

if it's under warranty, get it fixed by your dealer.


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## dynomitecalo

Nah it was put in by previous home owner in 2008. So its coming up on 6 years next month. No more warranty. Will call the retailer tomorrow and figure out how much for the part. Question.... can I still run the pellet stove on Room Temp Lo? Just to get some heat in for tge night.


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## GeHmTS

just curious, are you getting any status blinks on the control board that suggest something is wrong?


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## dynomitecalo

No. All lights are working fine. It does, though, suggest that the distribution blower is working. Status light does not blink.


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## Mt Bob

If you pull that out,clean inside the motor,compressed air,and lube the bushings with anything it will probably free up and run for quite a while.


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## thedak

Drink a craft beer first before you touch anything


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## GeHmTS

Before you begin, be sure to disconnect it from the surge protector.  Proceed as described above to see if that helps.  I hope you don't miss the super bowl fussing around with your stove.


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