Harman absolute 63 caught fire again

[Don2222]

If smoke is coming out the venting and not the stove then it seams like the venting is the issue not the stove?
Who is the manufacturer of that venting?
Is the venting 4” diameter?
I like the 4” Duravent with no silicone gaskets (silicone venting gaskets do not wear very well and can be difficult!) that twist and lock together and you can always use high temperature foil tape on the vent seams to stop any smoke leaking.

 

[Piney]

Pretty complex chimney. Unburnt fines may get through during cleaning cycles/start ups and pile up at the first outside T since making it through the rest of the chimney route would be a challenge for a lot of blowers. Then extra air or whatever could set the (possibly) pyrolized mass ablaze.
But I’m a dread merchant.
And I view outside chimney parts as creosote factories - also a possible issue.

 

[Piney]

Pretty complex chimney.

Fwiw we installed our pellet burners not where we wanted but rather where we could avoid bends in the chimney.

 

[johneh]

So what did your dealer have to say?
Inquiring minds want to know!!

 

[mellow]

Where is the OAK at on this setup?

 

[mellow]

Fwiw we installed our pellet burners not where we wanted but rather where we could avoid bends in the chimney.

View attachment 325672

I have the same stove. Works great for $700!

 

[Kodi237]

Couldn’t figure it out they are calling Harman.

 

[Kodi237]

The venting is a 3 inch pipe Ventis is the MFG.

The moisture in the stove and ash is still the question with no answer.

 

[mellow]

Are you pulling the combustion air from the room? Do you not have an outside air kit on this stove?

 

[mellow]

From what I can see it looks like that exhaust doesn't meet spec, I have attached the install guide for that stove with the pages of particular interest to this issue. Also attached the page talking about the Outside Air Kit.

 

[Iron House]

Sorry to hear about your harman stove , I have sold harmans for 20 years and never have heard of a chimney fire . and one thing i see with all that pipe is it is very hard to run brushes around 90 degree elbows , you almost need to disconnect that pipe to get a good cleaning . we used to run the shop vacuum on blow and blast out the pipe from the bottom of the tee after we brushed the pipe. have you had other harman stoves on this same pipe run ?

 

[Kodi237]

I was told by the tech yesterday the stove pulls air from the room. Which is a large room walk out basement. No outside air kit.

It’s also lake front property and they even were thinking that could be issue with moisture build up ?

 

[zrock]

downfall of pulling air from inside is that every draft you have in the home is magnified as the stove is trying to get combustion air and it has to pull from somewhere.

 

[Kodi237]

Thank you. Interesting article. Stove is in walk out basement in corner of the room the comment on back drafting caught my attention. The FD mentioned drafting as an issue.

 

[mellow]

I would be tempted to remove the Tee on the outside section and try burning it to see what happens.

 

[Kodi237]

After reading web search on pellet back draft I am pretty sure that’s what happen.

 

[Piney]

I have the same stove. Works great for $700!

I think so as well. The phone control seemed stupid but turned out to be crazy convenient. We are off grid so never a power outage so direct vent has zero drawbacks for us re: smoke.

 

[johneh]

After reading web search on pellet back draft I am pretty sure that’s what happen.

Just wondering how a back draft down a chimney starts a fire in the chimney
Smoke out the combustion air intake yes, Fire?

 

[Don2222]

The venting is a 3 inch pipe Ventis is the MFG.

The moisture in the stove and ash is still the question with no answer.

Hello
Thanks for the info. That can be difficult to service and work with unless they have made some improvements. Here is the moisture answer too.
The best venting by far for any pellet stove is Selkirk DT (DT = Direct Temperature) that is very popular in the North East here due to our very damp climate because it draws the burn air in from a 3rd wall and warms and dries the air which gives the driest and most fluffy ash I have ever seen! Not only does it prevent interior rusting of the stove but also makes the stove heating 10% more efficient! I have this venting on all 3 of our Harmans with the optional Easy Vacuum Cleanout! Therefore I highly recommend it. The flue diameter is 4” which also makes the Harmans breathe better for more heat and make the door glass stay cleaner. Just my 2 cents

Direct Vent - Pellet

Direct-Temp for Pellet is a direct vent system for pellet fired appliances. Available in 4" x 6 5/8" Diameter For use with 3" and 4" pellet appliances Stainless steel welded seam inner Heavy Duty Galvanized Steel outer Unpainted or Matte Black Finish High efficiency performance Kits...

www.selkirkcorp.com

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

The venting is a 3 inch pipe Ventis is the MFG.

The moisture in the stove and ash is still the question with no answer.

Not such a mystery -- combustion produces water vapor. If the flue is cool enough, the water vapor condenses, producing creosote. If the stove is running so low that the burn chamber is under 140 degrees, moisture will condense there.

In my boiler I strive to keep the water jacket temp at or above 140 because creosote can develop under cooler conditions. I'm sure it's a lot easier to get the burn chamber of a stove up to temp, but if it's maintaining a low flame, the temperature in a complicated flue could be allowing lots of condensation.

It looks like Ventis makes single-wall as well as double-wall pipe. This flue is entirely double-wall, correct?

 

[jjam]

The pipe outside bottom elbow had flames coming out. The inside pipe and bottom of stove were had smoke coming out. Melted interior pipe gaskets again. Both inside and outside. What I don’t understand is how topping off the pellets and closing top lid results in fire and smoke in one minutes time. When stove was running fine all day.

Thank you

it is not possible for an inner pipe to melt / it should be stainless steel / you need to send picture of testing label on the pipe /
confirm they are not using b vent by mistake

 

[stoveliker]

it is not possible for an inner pipe to melt / it should be stainless steel / you need to send picture of testing label on the pipe /
confirm they are not using b vent by mistake

I quote:
"Melted interior pipe gaskets again"

 

[thekingofcommerce]

You've got a heatsink right at the connection point to the house. All of that exterior piping (cold) versus cozy house (warm) is causing condensation to develop where they meet. You may think that there is no soot in the exhaust, but over time the small amount of exhaust is going to stick at this condensation point. Solution: Put a non-metallic (or non-thermally conductive) material as as the joint between your cold external pipe and your warm internal pipe. This will reduce the accumulation at the joint, but disperse the contaminants over the much larger area of your external pipe (for cleaning every few years). Simple!

 

[thekingofcommerce]

You've got a heatsink right at the connection point to the house. All of that exterior piping (cold) versus cozy house (warm) is causing condensation to develop where they meet. You may think that there is no soot in the exhaust, but over time the small amount of exhaust is going to stick at this condensation point. Solution: Put a non-metallic (or non-thermally conductive) material as as the joint between your cold external pipe and you warm internal pipe. This will reduce the accumulation at the joint, but disperse the contaminants to disperse to the much larger area of your external pipe (for cleaning every few years). Simple!