Harman slide plate/actuator issue

[P38X2]

It's baaaaaack. I was really hoping to not post in this thread again.

Ya, same problem...clunking...binding...slide plate gouged up. Fortunately, I knew what the fix was.

In a previous post, I stated the bottom of the hopper was making contact with the top of the slide plate. That was incorrect, the top of the slide plate was making contact with the feeder weldment.....kind of...

Going back to the previous fix, I figured I hadn't smoothed the underside lip of the feeder weldment sufficiently, and it was making contact again...until looking at the photo of the slide plate from the last time I fixed it. My freshly gouged slide plate has gouges/wear in different areas. After looking more closely, I noticed a very deep gouge that actually had a bit of rolled up metal at the end of it. You can see what I'm talking about in the pic below. As I was re-sanding the weldment, which was fairly smooth still, I noticed I was knocking abrasive particles off the emery cloth. I said, "Oh, that cant be good..sand in the stove"........then it all became clear as to why this keeps happening. SAND!

I then remembered a cleaning I did earlier this season. I opened the little door on the front of the burn pot to vacuum out the crud in there and noticed sand sitting there. Not fine beach sand, but tan and brown gravel-y sand. It was NOT carbon, though there was some in there as well. Didn't think much of at at the time as it's generally windy around here. I figured sand blew in the OAK and that's where it ended up and was no big deal.

Anyway, yep, sand in the pellets. The pellets I'm currently burning are tree to chip so the chances of getting sand in the mix are much higher than Turmans or the like.

So, after cool down and a quick and easy 15 min fix (I'm getting very good at this ) she's back up and running, quiet as can be...for now. Still have a ton and a half of those pellets left

 

[boosted3g]

Would sifting the last 1.5 tons eliminate the sand from getting in the stove or is the sand in the pellets? Just a thought to get you through.

 

[P38X2]

Not sure. My guess is it's in the pellets themselves, rather than in the bag as fines, although I'm not sure how sand would come out of the pellets in the hopper. It's not like there's much action in there. I do know that none of the pallets were damaged in any way, so it didn't make its way in from ground contact after processing.

It wouldn't/didn't take much to gouge up the plate like it did. Some of the sand I found in that earlier cleaning was fairly sizable, say 1/16" diameter.

While it's annoying, I'm not sure there's much I can do til they're gone. They've burned well for me but I may have to find a different pellet.

 

[Rocketjockeyeng]

Having EXACTLY the same problem you outlined here with my P68. Going through your repairs now. Waiting for the stove to cool, then unplug, then I'll go after the slider with some emery paper. Thanks for your post, I'm in Wyoming, it's February, and this baby has to keep running!!

Bill

 

[Rocketjockeyeng]

Sweet! Thanks P38X2, your slider repair worked perfectly! Saved me headaches and $$. Sure appreciate your posts and pics.