Harmon p68 Airflow Issues?

[mtnbiker727]

I did the dollar bill test, and at most places around the door the bill required a fair amount of force to pull free. At a few places closer to the latch it was able to slide with only a bit of force. Worth working on the door you think?

If it's sealed, it's sealed. You could tighten the door latch a little bit, but it really doesn't take much to make it too tight to close.

 

[SciGuy]

Hi All,

Like always, really appreciate everyone's help answering my (now annual it seems) newbie questions. I have been running this p68 for a few years and for the most part it works great, I clean it regularly and have it serviced once a year or so. Lately i have noticed that the flame frequently isn't "dancing" how it has in the past, and that it seems rather "beaten down". Here is a video of the flame with the door closed, and you can see what happens to it when it opens up. The air vent on the p68 kicks straight back out to outside the house (and has for years, that hasn't changed). I am wondering what could be causing this? Any ideas?

Appreciate any and all help!
Dan

Dan,

I'll stick my neck out and say I don't feel that your flame looks too bad for the level of burn it seems to be set to at the time of the video. Turn the feed rate up to 4 and the stove temp to 5 1/2 and shoot a video of that for us. I don't give a hoot what the flame looks like with the door open.

Hugh

 

[drc1912]

I wanted to give everyone an update and say thank you for all the advice and help over the past two months. While none of the tips above really helped with the flame, on a whim last night I brushed off the ESP and the flame looks fantastic and heat output is way up on the same settings.

PSA: clean your ESP more frequently!

 

[Mt Bob]

I wanted to give everyone an update and say thank you for all the advice and help over the past two months. While none of the tips above really helped with the flame, on a whim last night I brushed off the ESP and the flame looks fantastic and heat output is way up on the same settings.

PSA: clean your ESP more frequently!

Get yourself a soft 3" boiler brush, run it into the square exhaust port, every time you clean your stove. It will clean the probe. You can use a regular stove pipe brush,but have to be careful, as they are stiff, and you could bend or damage the probe.

 

[mtnbiker727]

Get yourself a soft 3" boiler brush, run it into the square exhaust port, every time you clean your stove. It will clean the probe. You can use a regular stove pipe brush,but have to be careful, as they are stiff, and you could bend or damage the probe.

The last time I cleaned my pipe I took it out and wiped it off. It came out easier than I thought it would.

 

[SciGuy]

The last time I cleaned my pipe I took it out and wiped it off. It came out easier than I thought it would.

Pulling the ESP also makes brushing the vent pipe with extreme enthusiasm very enjoyable and effective without the need to worry about pranging it.

 

[bogieb]

I wanted to give everyone an update and say thank you for all the advice and help over the past two months. While none of the tips above really helped with the flame, on a whim last night I brushed off the ESP and the flame looks fantastic and heat output is way up on the same settings.

PSA: clean your ESP more frequently!

Probably the only thread in this forum's history that someone didn't suggest the ESP as the issue .

But to be fair, you said it had been professionally serviced then later said you had cleaned the exhaust. I consider giving the ESP a light brushing part of cleaning the exhaust. I use a long handled paint brush during general cleaning (whenever I remove the cover plate to the exhaust fan) and then the exhaust brush when I do a deeper cleaning. I've never removed the ESP for cleaning, the brushing seems to work fine (KOW).

 

[SciGuy]

Probably the only thread in this forum's history that someone didn't suggest the ESP as the issue .
.

I'm still not so sure that it was a dirty ESP problem. I don't believe that the ESP reading a bit cooler will tell the system to run the combustion blower slower but would love to be educated in this regard. It certainly will affect when the distributribution blower comes on and how long the combustion blower takes to shut down when you turn the stove off. I'd love to have a more complete understanding of system control logic in general. If one of you has a link to that information I'd love to see it.

Thanks,

Hugh

 

[wally1234]

Get yourself a soft 3" boiler brush, run it into the square exhaust port, every time you clean your stove. It will clean the probe. You can use a regular stove pipe brush,but have to be careful, as they are stiff, and you could bend or damage the probe.

I know this is an old post but, I dont use the room temp for my stove, I do stove temp, so it always burns consistently, do I need to clean my ESP if I dont use the probe?

 

[johneh]

Short answer YES

 

[bogieb]

I know this is an old post but, I dont use the room temp for my stove, I do stove temp, so it always burns consistently, do I need to clean my ESP if I dont use the probe?

The probe inside the exhaust (ESP) is not the same as the room temp probe (which is external), so yes, it should be at least brushed off. I've never removed that probe for cleaning either, but do use an exhaust brush to remove any ash that builds up.