I have a Harmon XXV that is less than a year old. It regularly fails to ignite and gives the "5 flash" status at which point I turn it off and then back on to start the process again. It seems that the pellets jamb in the hopper and don't fall into the auger. I mix them in the hopper with my hand and they fall to the auger and then it lights. Are my problems from the pellet size or is there anything else that I can check? I still have about two tons of this type of pellet. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Harmon XXV Failing to Ignite Periodically
- Thread starter mrbean1025
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- Jan 11, 2006
- 72
If you have a mix of pellets that are greater than 1.5 inches in length, this may be causing the pellets to "bridge" at the bottom of the hopper. The Pellet Fuels Institute lists the maximum length at 1.5 inches. I have seen pellets 1.75 to 2 inches this season from different pellet manufactures, if you have bags of pellets with a "high" mix of extremely long pellets you may want contact the supplier you purchased the fuel from.
Another thing to consider, do not try compact the pellets in the hopper each time you fill the stove, since the pellets are gravity fed you may cause the pellets to bridge if they are compressed tightly in the hopper.
Another thing to consider, do not try compact the pellets in the hopper each time you fill the stove, since the pellets are gravity fed you may cause the pellets to bridge if they are compressed tightly in the hopper.
and yet another thing, maybe more common than bridging, is fines in the pellets not allowing the pellets to fall...they make a matrix that holds the pellets in place, stopping them. If you have alot of fines, OR you are using pellets that have swollen, Id suggest you stop. Really, you cant burn the dust that well.....if you have swollen, disintegrated pellets, dont use them.
I have made sure not to use any wet or swollen pellets. I am not sure what you mean by "fines". I do notice that I have alot of what looks like dust and small pieces of pellets in the hopper. Is this what you mean? If so what should I do?
What kind of pellets are they?
What is your location?
Fines are the dust.....
If your hopper is bridging then after you do a restart it should take a minute for the fresh pellets to feed into the burnpot itself.
What I'm getting at is I've seen where you can stir the pellets while the stove is off and hear them drop into the feed tube, but the stove did not run out of pellets it shut down for another reason.....
So if it does this again try turning the knob to off and then back on without stirring the hopper and see what happens.... If pellets feed into the burnpot right away it is not bridging...
I'll try to post a pellet pic in a minute....
Even my advance chewed these pellets down
What is your location?
Fines are the dust.....
If your hopper is bridging then after you do a restart it should take a minute for the fresh pellets to feed into the burnpot itself.
What I'm getting at is I've seen where you can stir the pellets while the stove is off and hear them drop into the feed tube, but the stove did not run out of pellets it shut down for another reason.....
So if it does this again try turning the knob to off and then back on without stirring the hopper and see what happens.... If pellets feed into the burnpot right away it is not bridging...
I'll try to post a pellet pic in a minute....
Even my advance chewed these pellets down
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Brand of pellets= BIOPLUS INC WOOD FUEL PELLETS
Normally what I do when I get the 5 flash status is to turn it off and then back on (per the owner's manual), I also stir the hopper with my hand. The lights all come back on and the auger begins to turn. I can now normally hear the pellets dropping. It will often put so many pellets into the burn pot that they over flow into the ash pan before it lights. It will fill the burn area with smoke just before it lights with alot of smoke also coming out of the exhaust outside as it lights. All smoke clears after it lights with none coming into the home. When it lights in normally it does not over fill the burn pot or overly smoke.
Normally what I do when I get the 5 flash status is to turn it off and then back on (per the owner's manual), I also stir the hopper with my hand. The lights all come back on and the auger begins to turn. I can now normally hear the pellets dropping. It will often put so many pellets into the burn pot that they over flow into the ash pan before it lights. It will fill the burn area with smoke just before it lights with alot of smoke also coming out of the exhaust outside as it lights. All smoke clears after it lights with none coming into the home. When it lights in normally it does not over fill the burn pot or overly smoke.
If when you start it the pellets feed in the burnpot right away, and the stove is smokey at startup it needs to be cleaned.
I've had mine blow lot's of smoke out of the pipe and fill the chamber with a thick smoke but never when she's clean.
I'll PM you in a bit.
I've had mine blow lot's of smoke out of the pipe and fill the chamber with a thick smoke but never when she's clean.
I'll PM you in a bit.
I have had the same thing happen twice this winter. Unplugged the stove and plugged it back in. What I did the last time was really scrape down the burnpot good(which did have a layer of cerosote) and cleaned out the ignitor area. I took the scraper and banged on the side of the burn pot which dislodged quite a bit ash. I have not had the problem since and I can't tell you with any degree of certainity if what I did fixed the issue.
I have had the same problem (bridging) about a half dozen + times in my XXV . I notice it is more likely to occur when ever I have tried to pack the hopper, so I eventually learned to not do that any more. Don't push the pellets down, or try to make the pellets occupy less space than what they would if they were just freely dumped in. If you do, they are more likely to bridge at the bottom of the hopper.
It also appears to have happened a few times when I dumped a bag in without first leveling the few pounds that are sometimes left in the hopper. I believe leveling out the few pounds before dumping another bag in on top of them helps prevent the new pile of pellets from acting like a wedge. When a few pounds of pellets are left in the hopper, they are already arranged at their angle of repose and are orientated in their most stable position (least likely position to slide down without being pushed). Dumping more pellets against them only pushes them against the side of the hopper, not down the hopper.
I also have never found the pellets I dumped in to have an excessive amount of fines.
It also appears to have happened a few times when I dumped a bag in without first leveling the few pounds that are sometimes left in the hopper. I believe leveling out the few pounds before dumping another bag in on top of them helps prevent the new pile of pellets from acting like a wedge. When a few pounds of pellets are left in the hopper, they are already arranged at their angle of repose and are orientated in their most stable position (least likely position to slide down without being pushed). Dumping more pellets against them only pushes them against the side of the hopper, not down the hopper.
I also have never found the pellets I dumped in to have an excessive amount of fines.
yea, the fines are bad.....thats another reason to level off the hopper before filling it.....the fines wont be allowed to accumumate on the side slopes of the unit, they'll be burned instead. Too many fines cause "ratholing", in which the fines act as a matrix to hold the pellets in place, rather than letting them fall onto the slideplate.
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