P61 to a P61A and reconditioning

[rickwai]

I pick up this stove at a decent price. It was ugly, had a stripped door handle and needed pulled apart and deep cleaned. All motors sound like sewing machines. Because it was a manual ignition the auger and tube are in mint condition. The Auto light stoves are harder on auger tip and tube from fire burning down and going out many times a day. manual light keeps fire up away from auger and tube until you shut it off. Plus the manual light Harmans dont bring much. I have parts ordered to bring it up to Auto ignition. Once it is done I will try listing it on Marketplace and see if there is any interest. I know I kinda missed the used stove sales window. If it dont sell I will hook it up in the barn.

 

[SciGuy]

She's a beaut. Auto ignition with certainly make her even more desirable.

 

[Washed-Up]

Nice find, looking forward to seeing the progress! I think doing these will be my new summer projects and love to see what others are doing.

 

[gfreek]

Nice. Post your progress..

 

[gfreek]

The Auto light stoves are harder on auger tip and tube from fire burning down and going out many times a day. manual light keeps fire up away from auger and tube until you shut it off.

Hmm, did not know that...

 

[tbear853]

... etc ... . Because it was a manual ignition the auger and tube are in mint condition. The Auto light stoves are harder on auger tip and tube from fire burning down and going out many times a day. manual light keeps fire up away from auger and tube until you shut it off. ... etc ...

I never thought of that, but I was reading of augers being eroded on the end recently so I looked at mine pretty close when R&R-ing the burn pot, noted that it looked virtually new except for some dust/fines on it. Mine has no auto ignition either.

 

[rickwai]

Nice. Post your progress..

Will do. Waiting on parts now.

 

[rickwai]

She's a beaut. Auto ignition with certainly make her even more desirable.

For sure. Harmans are not the easiest stoves to manual light. With the auto light and Room sensing probe it maintains room temp pretty well. I have a P43 in the basement set at 71F and it holds it pretty close

 

[Mt Bob]

"The Auto light stoves are harder on auger tip and tube from fire burning down and going out many times a day."
I think that might be a bit disingenuous.
You hardly ever hear of a Harman needing an auger,and,even if this was so,the convenience and pellets saved would be well worth it,as the auger assembly's are pretty cheap.Harman and independent techs found the biggest cause of a Harman auger tip burned off was from running the stove on low for long periods of time,and mostly because of having the feed rate too low,using the feed rate to control temp.

 

[rickwai]

"The Auto light stoves are harder on auger tip and tube from fire burning down and going out many times a day."
I think that might be a bit disingenuous.
You hardly ever hear of a Harman needing an auger,and,even if this was so,the convenience and pellets saved would be well worth it,as the auger assembly's are pretty cheap.Harman and independent techs found the biggest cause of a Harman auger tip burned off was from running the stove on low for long periods of time,and mostly because of having the feed rate too low,using the feed rate to control temp.

I would have to partly disagree. If you watch the stove go out it burns the pellets up back into the tube about 1/2". So yes a low fire is in fact what causes the burn up. With the stove going thru several to many shutdowns and idle fires through out the day it puts the auger tip and tube in the fire heat way more than a manual ignition stove. Manual ignition stoves only get the fire down that low when it goes thru a shut down. I 1000% agree it is worth the shorter auger life for auto ignition . Plus the cost savings in fuel well makes up for it. On the flip side, if you dont keep a eye on it you will end up with the feeder tube wearing thru which is pretty costly. The stove I am working on is a 2004 I think and the end of the auger flight is still squared off.

 

[rickwai]

Still waiting on parts. Burn pot, Circuit board and circuit board plate have not shipped yet. I guess Harman is not shipping circuit boards until January? We only have 2 in stock and dont want to risk possibly leaving a customer hanging

 

[SidecarFlip]

Guess I'm old school, I would never have Cal Rod ignition, just another part to fail and if I did buy a stove with it, I'd remove it but then mine is super easy to light anyway. a small clump of pellets, dash of starter gel, light, close the door and turn it on and in 5, blowers are running and all is good.

For me, stoves today are getting much to complex and it appears to me, from reading comments on here that the more complex they are the more issues there are.

I'm a KISS person, keep it simple, stupid.... and keep it clean as well. I never have any issues (and haven't for 15 years) unless I cause the issue myself.

No matter how complex they are, they all do the same EXACT thing, rapid oxidation of a fuel source with the introduction of a catalyst, in this case air. Rapid oxidation causes heat to be released and keeps you comfortable. I can do without the complexity myself.

 

[SciGuy]

Nothing wrong with KISS when things are working well for your specific situation but for many, the Harman Auto function really improves the utility/performance of the stoves. The igniters are extremely robust and take very little regular care to maintain their functionality. It was ~ 20*F here last night an the P-43 turned itself on and ran probably 4 times last night to maintain a very comfortable 62*F sleeping temperature. If the stove had been run in manual mode the cabin would have been too hot for comfort and we would have wasted pellets. Your nearly free corn supply may alter the equation for you. Perhaps your abode takes more BTUs to heat or you keep the windows open when it's not that cold. If the Cal Rod ignitions are prone to failure with your stove I can see why one might avoid wanting to rely on one. The Harman Igniters often last 6 to 10 years and are pretty easy to swap out when they finally do fail. The choice is a different equation for everyone dependent on case specific factors. Having an igniter installed in a Harman doesn't "make" one use it but "allows" one to use it when that provides utility.

YMMV,

Hugh