Harman PF100 installation

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larry1271

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Mar 18, 2009
3
Vermont
Ok, Here is my first attempt at a new topic. My PF100 seems to be burning alot of pellets to me, when it runs. It currently is having the 6 blink error problem. After what I have read here, I wish I had read it before and kept my other stoves for heat. This stove is proving to be a pain in the you know what. It seems as though the 6 blink comes when the stove is on low burn. The longest the stove has run is 2 days, then it only ran for 20 minutes. I spoke to the dealer today and he gave me trying the jumping the low pressure switch under the hopper. I have done that this afternoon and the stove is still going. My pellets are less than an inch long so I don't think bridging is a problem. They also told me about the air flow in and out of the combustion chamber and neither seem to be a problem. I haven't had the draft tested but I think that is my next step in this process. If anyone has any ideas, I would really appreciate it. I told the dealer today I was very disappointed and expected more out of the stove. I was also wondering about the pellet usage. I was wondering if keeping the stove on low burn all the time would be more effecient than putting a programmable thermostat in to make the stove shut off and turn on more often. Any ideas with that would be great too.
 
What position is your AUTO-LITE/MANUAL-LITE switch?

Where do you set the other controls on the control panel?

Do you turn your room thermostat down overnight and if-so what do you set it at?

The pellet bridging is not always caused by long pellets. Happens with normal pellets too. Check the 6 blink shut-down with the FEED ADJUSTER TEST mentioned in the other thread. It works.
 
I have the auto/manual set on auto light. I currently have the temp setting on "normal", feedrate at 3, and the temp on the wall control right on 70. I don't turn the wall control up or down at all, so far seems to want to keep the room at 70-71. So far, after by passing the vacuum switch, the stove is still running. Not holding my breath though. Will see if it's still going tomorrow morning. So, what about pellet usage and using a programmable thermostat? I just don't know if it is going to be anymore economical. My other stove was hooked to a regular thermostat and no issues what so ever. Kinda miss it with the issues I'm having with this one.
 
dumb question, but I'll go out on a limb. Have you removes BOTH left baffle plates and cleaned behind them, especially the floor of the unit? 6 blinkers are sometimes dirty
 
I shouldn't need to check for cleanliness because this is a brand new stove, only has had 3 bags of pellets burned. I would like to think it's something simple but I'm doubting it. Thanks for the reply though.
 
larry1271 said:
So far, after by passing the vacuum switch, the stove is still running. Not holding my breath though. Will see if it's still going tomorrow morning.

If you had to bypass the vacuum switch. You need to check the draft setting. Check for a leak in the stove. Or make sure the vent is not restricted. I haven't check the manual for the PF100, But If you browse through it there should be a trouble shooting section. They usually very per stove. So I'd give it a look see anyway! Might be just a simple thing.

You do know that the vacuum switch is a safety for the stove and you really need to solve the issue before putting this back in service. If your blower fails the control will not see the lack of vacuum to shut off the stove. This could be a bad thing. It will keep feeding pellets and smoke the house up or worse.

Please be careful with bypassed safety's. The safety is there to protect you!

Just my 2.
jay
 
larry,
Thinking about your pellet usage compared to the Quadrafire stove.
You said in the other thread you have an oil furnace. Did you run the Quadrafire stove and oil furnace together?
Do you shut down the oil furnace when the pellet furnace is running?

You probably see what I'm getting at. Is the heat load demand greater on the pellet furnace than the Quadrafire stove because the oil furnace was sharing the load? You should figure your oil usage and pellet usage together and come up with the same total BTU. The house BTU demand hasn't changed which should indicate your fuel usage has not increased.

Another thought about your pellet usage is the isolation damper between furnaces. Who knows what is happening with the air circulation in the hot air ducts. A lot of it could be bypassing the house thru the other furnace and lowering the efficiency of the system. Might want to get the dampers installed. Then check your pellet usage.
 
I have been running a PF100 all winter. I had many 6 blink status issues for the first 2 months of operation. After replacing every component that they could with no success, the techs finally found out from the factory that the hopper was not seated down onto the bottom seal tight enough. They removed the four screws holding the hopper, pushed down with force and replaced the screws about 1/4 " lower. This seated the hopper onto its bottom seal tighter and seemed to solve the problem.

About 3 weeks ago when the weather warmed up a little and my stove was starting to shut down at times because the thermostat was not calling for heat, I started having the 6 blink status lights again. This time the tech told me that the factory said to turn the feed rate up 1 number (I was currently on 4). I thought that this was ridiculous but turned up the feed rate to 5. It worked! No issues since. Have been running 2 weeks with no issues.

I heat about a 2500 sq ft house that is partially drafty and partially new and burn 3 bags per day when it is cold and anywhere from 1 to 2 when it is 50 during the day and 20s at night. Let me know if you have any other questions.
 
What is the venting consist of and what combustion blower do you have? Let me know EVERY part of the venting and diameter. I bet you a night of free beer I know the answer before you answer my question but we will wait and see. Do you have an outside air kit installed?

Eric
 
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