# Video of Harman Advance pellet stove auger noise



## bcb1 (Jan 29, 2012)

Here's a video of the irritating low hum noise that my auger motor makes every time it feeds pellets.  The auger sound starts at the :20 second mark.  You might want to turn up your speakers a bit.

Feel free to chime in if you have a Harman stove:  is the noise the same as yours?  Louder?  Quieter?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEluiu-NRbY&feature=youtu.be


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## gfreek (Jan 29, 2012)

Congrats.  You have the same noise I have, in my P38, about the same noise volume,  even with my 2nd auger motor.  I have to believe  for Harman this is normal, for us it's not. You would think that it would be quieter. " Don't worry you'll get used to it " was my dealers answer. Shame on me for not hearing that, the grinding, or tinkle... in the showroom....  You do get kinda used to it, until its off for a few days then it's back...


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## PJPellet (Jan 29, 2012)

My P43 sounds the same.  I have the stove in my livingroom and my recliner is right next to the stove.  I actually have gotten used to all the different noises.  But, yeah, my Harman sounds exactly the same volume and everything.


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## New Hampshire Jim (Jan 29, 2012)

I have a three year old Harman Advance and It doesn't make any sounds like on the video . Sounds like a pellet Is being crushed between the auger  and the body


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## bcb1 (Jan 29, 2012)

That video is of my second auger motor.  Dealer swapped out the first one because I thought it was too noisy.  The new one was dead silent for about half a day, then the noise came back.  I'm fairly certain at this point that it's what Harman considers "normal".  But just because they consider it normal doesn't mean that it's quiet  

So I'll continue on my quest for a silent pellet stove auger motor.  When the Harman dealer service guy comes back this spring to clean my pellet pipe, I'm going to have him remove the auger motor and I'm going to put some extra grease in there.  It's worth a shot and it'll only cost me .20 cents worth of grease, ha ha.


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## greg13 (Jan 29, 2012)

Just kind of thinking out loud here, but has any one tried drilling the case and adding a grease fitting? If it works you could just give it a shot of grease with a gun when it gets noisy.


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## lbcynya (Jan 29, 2012)

bcb1 said:
			
		

> That video is of my second auger motor.  Dealer swapped out the first one because I thought it was too noisy.  The new one was dead silent for about half a day, then the noise came back.  I'm fairly certain at this point that it's what Harman considers "normal".  But just because they consider it normal doesn't mean that it's quiet
> 
> So I'll continue on my quest for a silent pellet stove auger motor.  When the Harman dealer service guy comes back this spring to clean my pellet pipe, I'm going to have him remove the auger motor and I'm going to put some extra grease in there.  It's worth a shot and it'll only cost me .20 cents worth of grease, ha ha.



Packing with grease gave me about a 10% decrease in noise. Not worth it IMO. I have noticed the motors have quite a bit of vibes which cant be fixed...


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## mrjohneel (Jan 29, 2012)

I have a Harman P35i insert and yes my auger makes the same noise. But honestly I just see that hum as the noise that any motor would make. What is more irksome to me is that "tinkling" sound. Hum, OK. Tinkling, kind of annoying. What is that tinkling?


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## Snowy Rivers (Jan 29, 2012)

The motor is hooked to the shaft to drive it.

Now, how is the motor case itself attached to the stove ??

My Whitfields have a little bracket that the motor case just lays against and the motor basically just "floats"

If your stove is this way, try takeing a piece of that staicky backed foam wheather strip material and sticking to the little plate that the motor lays against.

My Large whit made a rattling noise while feeding, small piece of sticky backed foam and no more noise.

Just a thought

Snowy


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## bcb1 (Jan 30, 2012)

Snowy, that is exactly what harman did.  There is a tiny bit of foam on the metal plate it rests against.

Frustrating!  I'm one of those people that squeaks, rattles, and noises drive me nuts.  I've always been able to fix those kinds of noises in my cars, my pool pump, my hvac system, and so on.  This is the one irritating noise I haven't been able to fix.  Im convinced there must be a way to have a very quiet auger motor.  Either by somehow isolating the motor or replacing it with a different brand.  If I'm going to live with this stove for another 10 or 15 years I suppose I'll figure out a solution eventually.


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## bcb1 (Jan 30, 2012)

lbcynya said:
			
		

> bcb1 said:
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Darn. I was hoping that the grease might have given a better result.  I contacted the guy on eBay with the Merkle korff motors, he has the 4 rpm CCW motor but the driveshaft is on the opposite side as the transformer.  On my advance, the auger motor has the driveshaft and the transformer on the same side of the case.  No big deal, but I probably couldn't get the rear cover panel back on the stove if I used the Merkle motor.


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## imacman (Jan 30, 2012)

greg13 said:
			
		

> Just kind of thinking out loud here, but has any one tried drilling the case and adding a grease fitting? If it works you could just give it a shot of grease with a gun when it gets noisy.



Yes, it has been talked about, and been done.  BUT, the OP stated that the second new auger motor started making the noise the 2nd day after install.....don't think grease will help that.


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## greg13 (Jan 30, 2012)

I tend to agree, Mine sounds like a motor vibration, not a gear noise. Since it is an older unit it is a chain drive auger. Like PJPellet said, I can live with it, it's just one of those noises that comes with the stove.


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## Snowy Rivers (Jan 30, 2012)

I understand the part about little noises.

Our large whitfield has a speed control on the room air fan and in almost every spot except one the thing has a whine to it caused by the triac speed controller.

Very anoying indeed.

I listened to your video a couple times and could barely hear the noise, but actually being there is another thing I am sure.

Our quadrafire is the noisiest stove I have ever heard, it vibrates, rattles and makes all sorts of noises as it goes about its duties.

Hope you get the little beast quieted down.

Snowy


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## bcb1 (Jan 30, 2012)

Snowy Rivers said:
			
		

> I understand the part about little noises.
> 
> Our large whitfield has a speed control on the room air fan and in almost every spot except one the thing has a whine to it caused by the triac speed controller.
> 
> ...



You know what's weird?  My Quadrafire Santa Fe from way back in 2004 was very quiet, darn near silent.  You could hear the auger run, but you had to be standing right next to the stove.  I guess that's what made me a little disappointed in my new stove.  It's newer - it's definitely built like a tank - yet with all that technology, they couldn't spend a few more dollars and figure out a way to quiet it down?


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## Burt (Feb 2, 2012)

I have the XXV and honestly all we hear is that da#n auger grinding away. I really expected MUCH MUCH more out of Harmon and the money we spent. I'm about to the point of going back to Vermont Casting wood stove!


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## bcb1 (Feb 2, 2012)

Burt, I agree as far as money goes.  That is a tremendous amount of money to spend on a stove, only to be constantly annoyed by the grinding hum of the auger every 20 or 30 seconds.  I bet with some good isolation pads or some kind of sound insulation, the engineers at Harman could get rid of most of the noise.  I guess it's just not a priority for them.

I will never recommend a Harman stove to anyone else.  It's not that I hate mine - I don't.  But I sure did expect a Cadillac, and what I got was the rattles and clanks of a '72 VW Beetle.


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## PJPellet (Feb 2, 2012)

bcb1 said:
			
		

> Burt, I agree as far as money goes.  That is a tremendous amount of money to spend on a stove, only to be constantly annoyed by the grinding hum of the auger every 20 or 30 seconds.  I bet with some good isolation pads or some kind of sound insulation, the engineers at Harman could get rid of most of the noise.  I guess it's just not a priority for them.
> 
> I will never recommend a Harman stove to anyone else.  It's not that I hate mine - I don't.  But I sure did expect a Cadillac, and what I got was the rattles and clanks of a '72 VW Beetle.



Y'know I love my P43 but I have to agree with you about the noise.  If only the auger didn't sound like a rotisserie, the pellets tinkling doesn't bother me but the auger motor does.


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## Burt (Feb 2, 2012)

Your correct...the pellets are not the issue it's totally the fact that it sounds like cheap rotisserie grill running in my nice living space that has me torqued...and the fact that Harmon couldn't care less!

I'll be doing my best to be a as big a PITA to Harmon as their rotisserie grill motor is to me! 

For what good it will do...


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## bcb1 (Feb 2, 2012)

I know, believe me.  They just don't care - or maybe it's better to say that Harman thinks it's a totally normal sound.  Well...if it was down in a basement, in a soundproofed room it would be no big deal.  But sitting in a living room, listening to a cheap rotisserie motor run every 30 seconds sucks!

And I actually did call up their tech support department at the company and spoke to one of the guys.  While he was nice enough, clearly there was no interest in helping figure out a way to make it quieter.  It was more like "well...that's the way it is" kind of thing.  And when I told him that I was going to order another brand of 4rpm CCW motor, and pay for it out of my own pocket just to see if that would be any better, you know what he told me?  That the warranty on my stove would be voided if I replaced the Harman motor with another company's motor.  Nice.  

So the attitude is basically "yeah, our stoves make noise.  Live with it"


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## Murphy118 (Feb 2, 2012)

Are you sure it's the motor?  If you put the motor on the bench and run it does it make the same sound? If not then there must be a rubbing, wearing somewhere else.  AUger hitting side of tube? out of alignment?,,,, just offering alternatives as I only have my PVDC to go by.....

John


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## Burt (Feb 2, 2012)

Honestly...if I still have this lo budget disaster when the warranty expires (whatever good the warranty is) I'd like to re-engineer the reduction motor with something without square cut gears and solve this issue. There was no effort made to isolate this motor from all the metal surrounding it...naturally this sheet metal will make a huge sounding board! I'm on a slow burn knowing there was and is a fix but Harmon just doesn't care...it's a "good enough" thing with them and "most people won't hear it"..."he's just a trouble maker"! 

Harmon...watch me make trouble! Public forums are a great source to get the word out about a dud company!

Sorry...I'm just a bit upset right now...I'll live.


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## bcb1 (Feb 2, 2012)

It's just the motor.  The stove is only 2 months old.  My stove dealer tech brought out a new motor, we plugged it into the wall with a test cord and it ran silent.  He installed it in the stove and it was absolutely quiet for about 1/2 day, then it started making that same irritating low hum noise just like the first motor.

Harman sources their motors from Gleason Avery.  I'm sure they are a quality, long lasting motor, it's just that they're noisy.  I'm still tempted to order a Merkle Korff 4rpm motor and swap it in there to see if it's any quieter.


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## Burt (Feb 2, 2012)

bcb1 said:
			
		

> It's just the motor.  The stove is only 2 months old.  My stove dealer tech brought out a new motor, we plugged it into the wall with a test cord and it ran silent.  He installed it in the stove and it was absolutely quiet for about 1/2 day, then it started making that same irritating low hum noise just like the first motor.
> 
> Harman sources their motors from Gleason Avery.  I'm sure they are a quality, long lasting motor, it's just that they're noisy.  I'm still tempted to order a Merkle Korff 4rpm motor and swap it in there to see if it's any quieter.



If I didn't know I'd void my so called warranty I try to source a different motor like you at my own expense. I'm coming off of two weeks of a constant burn and I still hear the pig rotisserie running in my head...


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## Lousyweather (Feb 2, 2012)

it didnt sound so bad to me.....in fact, sounded like alot of them....though its been said before, these arent totally quiet units...I always figured the distribution motor was the loudest on mine....but after 11 years, I am accustomed to it as background noise like the fridge compressor running, dog snoring, wife and girlfriend fighting, etc.


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## jtakeman (Feb 2, 2012)

Lousyweather said:
			
		

> it didnt sound so bad to me.....in fact, sounded like alot of them....though its been said before, these arent totally quiet units...I always figured the distribution motor was the loudest on mine....but after 11 years, I am accustomed to it as background noise like the fridge compressor running, dog snoring, wife and girlfriend fighting, etc.



Huh? No wonder your broke! ;-)


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## mcmaxx (Feb 2, 2012)

it sounds like pellets are dropping into a tin can if you ask me, don't know what it could be but every pf 100 that I have heard makes that same sound including mine, maybe something with the feed system on most harmans, never bothered to investigate as mine is in the basement, and does not bother me. it has made that noise for four yrs. and nothing has stopped working as of yet(knock on wood).


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## SmokeyTheBear (Feb 2, 2012)

j-takeman said:
			
		

> Lousyweather said:
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That'd do it for certain Jay, wait until they both go after him with cast iron fry pans  :lol: .


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