# HARMAN BURN POT MOD ?



## pollywog (Nov 1, 2012)

My brother just bought a used, 1 year, P43. The guy at the dealer told him to fill in the first couple of rows of holes to make it burn better. Anyone ever hear of this?


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## mnkywrnch (Nov 1, 2012)

I don't own a Harman,but from reading this forum I believe the burn pots with the four extra holes were causing problems with burning through the auger feed weldment which from what I've read is a big job.If it was me I would pull the burn pot weld the four holes closest to the auger shut and grind smooth.


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## gfreek (Nov 1, 2012)

I'd investigate this further before doing that..  I thought the problem was with the  older models..


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## silverfox103 (Nov 1, 2012)

I own a P38, an older model.  It runs great, no reason to do something like that.

Tom C.


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## smwilliamson (Nov 1, 2012)

Fill it in with what? Sounds like poor advice. Have never done such a thing on a Harman...ever.


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## P38X2 (Nov 1, 2012)




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## Cincinnati Kid (Nov 1, 2012)

pollywog said:


> My brother just bought a used, 1 year, P43. The guy at the dealer told him to fill in the first couple of rows of holes to make it burn better. Anyone ever hear of this?


 
I've owned a P-38 and now own a P-43.  I would not do that.  Both my stoves burn fine without filling any burnpot holes.


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## lecomte38 (Nov 1, 2012)

If you have a row of 4 or 5 holes right in front of the auger remove the burn pot and have the holes welded or brazed. Newer stoves do NOT have the holes. My 5 year old accentra insert burned the auger tio off and there was always a build up inside the end of the tube.

Harman tried these holes in an attempt to make the stoves burn better. At high it worked well but at low fire it caused problems with the auger and tube


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## Lineman30 (Nov 1, 2012)

lecomte38 said:


> If you have a row of 4 or 5 holes right in front of the auger remove the burn pot and have the holes welded or brazed. Newer stoves do NOT have the holes. My 5 year old accentra insert burned the auger tio off and there was always a build up inside the end of the tube.
> 
> Harman tried these holes in an attempt to make the stoves burn better. At high it worked well but at low fire it caused problems with the auger and tube


 

What year is your Accentra?  I've read about this but was wondering when they changed the pot.


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## kinsmanstoves (Nov 1, 2012)

WTF?

Eric


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## Bigjim13 (Nov 1, 2012)

kinsmanstoves said:


> WTF?
> 
> Eric


Yeah, WTF? 

FWIW, I have a P61A with the holes in question. I have burned for 4 seasons now and no issues ( knocking on wood). So I wouldn't worry about it.


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## Delta-T (Nov 1, 2012)

kinsmanstoves said:


> WTF?
> 
> Eric


this idea resurfaces every year. I have tied (and failed) to put an end to this notion. The lower holes have never, and will never be shown to have any connection to auger tip deformation and/or gummy stove syndrome. please dont mod your burnpot. make note of the date and time Eric, this will come up again soon enough I'm sure.


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## kinsmanstoves (Nov 1, 2012)

I know, this is almost as bad as people trying to add duct work and a blower to a free standing pellet stove.  I have also see where people have drilled extra holes in a Harman burnpot. I am sorry people but there are engineers that worked long and hard on pellet stoves to get them to where they are now.  Billy Joe Jim Bob the backyard engineer is not going to make world peace by using a grinder, sawzall, and welder on a stove.

Eric


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## mnkywrnch (Nov 1, 2012)

Then why would they re engineer the burn pot?The newer stoves don't have those holes anymore!Maybe instead on being a ass realize engineers make mistakes!Even the ones that work for Harman!


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## silverfox103 (Nov 1, 2012)

Easy way to void warranty on stove, if it applies.


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## mnkywrnch (Nov 1, 2012)

Read the first post "the guy at the dealer told him to fill the holes"


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## Delta-T (Nov 1, 2012)

mnkywrnch said:


> Then why would they re engineer the burn pot?The newer stoves don't have those holes anymore!Maybe instead on being a ass realize engineers make mistakes!Even the ones that work for Harman!


 
well, the lower holes didn't improve anything in the "real world" applications, so they got rid of them. Some things work out well in a lab, and not so well in the various other installations around the world. Change isn't always for the better, even with good intentions. Lots of older stoves don't have the holes, and there's literally thousands of stoves out there that do have the lower holes...no biggie. The concern isn't wether there are holes or not, its the idea that the holes are some kind of problem that needs to be preemptively address, which they are not. Those lower holes are usually the ones that clog up with ash and clinker first anyways, so they basically seal themselves up on their own. No worries.


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## mnkywrnch (Nov 1, 2012)

Sounds good then he should be fine.


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## Delta-T (Nov 1, 2012)

mnkywrnch said:


> Sounds good then he should be fine.


agreed, he should be fine....happy burning


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## smwilliamson (Nov 1, 2012)

ys but the P43 would never have had those holes. XXV and Accentrra FS only.


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## kinsmanstoves (Nov 2, 2012)

The P43 was not around at that time.

Eric


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## Trefix (Nov 4, 2012)

Hello.

My _Accentra FS_ works fine with these holes (3 rows of very thin holes), room-temp/auto 7/24. IMHO they do need cleaning, especialy with low settings.

By the way, I used old non-filed drills for cleaning, but mine are metrics ones. What are the holes' sizes, please ?

Thanks.

_Au revoir._


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## Hellfire (Nov 4, 2012)

pollywog said:


> My brother just bought a used, 1 year, P43. The guy at the dealer told him to fill in the first couple of rows of holes to make it burn better. Anyone ever hear of this?





mnkywrnch said:


> I don't own a Harman,but from reading this forum I believe the burn pots with the four extra holes were causing problems with burning through the auger feed weldment which from what I've read is a big job.If it was me I would pull the burn pot weld the four holes closest to the auger shut and grind smooth.


 
Six of this half a dozen of the other.

This would the ticket w/out much effort + can easily be reversed if need be.

Try this if you feel like it maybe the right way to go by using stainless steel pop rivets (sight unseen for fitment) the worst that will happen is you will have to remove them ?

Drill baby drill!


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## Trefix (Nov 5, 2012)

Hello,

This morning (now, 2 pm here), in the french importer's showroom, all* the stoves had the thin holes.





* FS : Accentra, Advance, XXV, no insert but can be ordered...


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## Trefix (Nov 5, 2012)

Just a pic of mine... with 13 thin holes, down in the pot :


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## Sass (Dec 12, 2012)

I have the P68, and have gone through four augers,  this year, i started looking for parts as the stove will be off warranty, and i found a replacement burn pot, it does NOT have the row of holes by the auger, it has the ones on the arch-- but not the row that is by itself, ive been back and forth with the dealer and the company who kept replacing an auger a year, and when i saw the new burn pot, I called and told them to check that out- it does in fact ruin the augers, the heat is too close to it, and it was causing problems so they stopped doing it-- they are bringing me a new burn pot minus the extra row, on tuesday..  so if you in fact have them close to the auger, a row by itself apart from the others.. then id replace the burnpot or fill in the holes,


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## smwilliamson (Dec 13, 2012)

Harman tech support...
"Cannot confirm nor deny that the lower burn pot holes are to blame (for auger tip wear) but if you have the burn pot with the lower holes and your auger tip has worn down, we do sell a replacement burn pot without the holes."


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## MSmith66 (Dec 13, 2012)

pollywog said:


> My brother just bought a used, 1 year, P43. The guy at the dealer told him to fill in the first couple of rows of holes to make it burn better. Anyone ever hear of this?


He will need to order a new replacement burn pot I would not try and fill in the 3-4 holes at the auger tube with anything.


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## MSmith66 (Dec 13, 2012)

Trefix said:


> Hello.
> 
> My _Accentra FS_ works fine with these holes (3 rows of very thin holes), room-temp/auto 7/24. IMHO they do need cleaning, especialy with low settings.
> 
> ...


I holes in question are down by the auger. Over time the heat causes the holes to weaken and the small holes turn into larger holes. I have to replace one the whole weldment for a customer on an XXV. Had to remove the stove and take the whole stove apart with nothing but a shell on the shop floor. Harman did send a DVD with all the replacement gaskets, bolts, cable straps, clips, nuts. Only took two years for the hole to appear.


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## DOLLARBILL (Dec 13, 2012)

kinda off subject but while we are on holes...I wonder if one could get a better burn if you inlarged the holes sort of like boring  a carb ?????


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## SXIPro (Dec 13, 2012)

mnkywrnch said:


> Read the first post "the guy at the dealer told him to fill the holes"


 
This post made me chuckle. Thanks for the morning laugh.


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## Sass (Dec 13, 2012)

if Harman said they can't confirm or deny,  your talking to the wrong tech then, because they told me that is exactly why they stopped putting the last row of holes - and they are replacing my burn pot under warranty(even though its OFF warranty as of last year)  because ive been complaining about the augers for three years.. and this year i wanted the REASON. mine didnt just wear, i could reach in and bend the "fin" of the augar off with my hands, it was worn that this and ratted up.. i have one here,  i kept the worn one, and that was after only three month of using the stove last year. Maybe they wont admit it right away, but it over heats the auger, makes it soft, and it just wears thin and frays or breaks off..


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## CelciusMaximus (Dec 13, 2012)

had to have the weldment and burnpot replaced on my accentra insert because of the holes. sure enough the new pot doesn't have the holes.
my service manager said it was my fault but harman would fix it one time under the warranty(B.S.)
also, i filled the row of holes closest to the auger on my p38 with thermo steel from auto zone. engineers aren't always correct,sometimes the jimmy joe bobby sue jim tom willie honey boo boos and a little common sense go a long way!


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## Sass (Dec 13, 2012)

Celmax,  its totally BS that the holes are your fault, they screwed up when they made the burnpot with those extra holes, otherwise, it would not be causing the problems, id like to know- why there was not a recall on the stoves with that problem, as with the fire burning that far back , and heating the back part more,  if i had a fire because of the stove over heating-- id be after Harman..  what weldments are you talking about that you had burn out?  because when they come to change the burnpot, im sure going to see if its worn there or not too..  i paid too much money to have headaches for four years, and I am not getting shorted because they think its ok to ignore screw ups..


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## Don2222 (Aug 20, 2016)

Hello
It really is not that simple guys!
The latest burn pot mod that Harman made adds an air channel to the back plane that we call the Fluted Burn Pot. This goes with a new flame guide that has to notches in the back corners to let that air out to push the flame forward away from the auger and fire brick. Therefore with this latest mod you can have more air holes for better performance.
I just upgraded an old Harman Advance with the black metal hopper lid to the new burn pot and flame guide.
See 1st pic below with new pot in front of the old pot.
New pot has 6 rows of holes
Old pot has 4-1/2 rows of holes.
2nd pic is old burn pot cleaned up to clearly show 4-1/4 rows of holes.

Now here is the kicker. Harman standardized this new fluted burn pot for the P43 and other models
Burn pot part # 1-10-00675

See more pics and other models like XXV and accentra insert. 
http://www.stove-parts-unlimited.com/P43-XXV-Advance-Accentra-Insert-Burn-Pot-p/1-10-00675.htm


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## Don2222 (Aug 20, 2016)

Also
The old PP38+ has a burn pot with only 4 rows of holes. No auger melting there but it does not put out as much heat as the new fluted P43 pot with 6 rows of holes.
1st pic below is the PP38+ with the single fire brick and offset thumb screws for the cover.
2nd pic is the original PP38+ burn pot with the 4 rows of holes.

Hope this info helps


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## Don2222 (Aug 20, 2016)

As long as we are talking burn pot air holes let's look at the P61 and P61a which is what I heat with.
They have always been 5 rows of holes and no back plane air channel. 
See more pics of a new BP here
http://www.stove-parts-unlimited.com/Harman-P61-and-P61A-Burn-Pot-Weldment-p/1-10-05802.htm

Pic of one of my stoves below

Anyone want to show their P68 BP?
Do you have the newest Fluted BP with the 5 rows of holes?
Part # 1-10-06723 ??
http://www.stove-parts-unlimited.com/Harman-P68-Burn-Pot-Weldment-p/1-10-06723.htm


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## bill3rail (Sep 6, 2016)

smwilliamson said:


> Fill it in with what?



Silicone?  Bubble Gum?


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