PC45 - no power to air pump or igniter

[jtakeman]

I just ran another startup and watched the light on the board marked igniter. As soon as the distrib. blower comes on the igniter light goes out. This is what always happened in the past but now the yellow wire (igniter air pump) stays hot. Ok a beer for real now and I'll check the wiring and esp tomorrow.

Right Jake, just sayin' it's not wired hot all the time because I can get it to stop.

Going by what you posted(highlited). Doesn't sound like the board is turning off power to the hot side of the circuit. Opening the door which opens the vac switch is only dropping the neutral side of the circuit. And the yellow wire remains hot. Tells me you do not have control as the vac switch will not open under normal operation. Do you plan on opening the door after the stove ignites?

Your board has an issue if the yellow wire remains hot and the igniter light is off.

Just saying, But what do I know! BTW the name is Jay FYI. I'm not a stove tech, But I did stay at a Holiday Inn!

 

[Delta-T]

you get no blinkies on the stauts light?

 

[Northwoodneil]

Sorry Jay. And no blinkies. Not the esp. Boards on the way.

 

[Bioburner]

Expensive start to the heating season. :-( Makes my idea of selling the garage Harman not a good idea because I only paid 400 for it.

 

[jtakeman]

Sorry Jay. And no blinkies. Not the esp. Boards on the way.

The board is most likely repairable and the defective component is literally just a few bucks(takes just a few to change). A shame to waste the whole board, But I doubt any stove tech would take on the challenge(not many are that electronics techie). There is a guy on eBay offering a repair service, But I guess he's pretty pricey.

Me I like beer, I might be persuaded to give it a once over(possible spare for ya JIC)? .

 

[smwilliamson]

I've been known to do it, Pots anyway

 

[jtakeman]

I've been known to do it, Pots anyway

If you can change a pot you certainly can change a triac, diode, resistor or relay. Most won't cause its a PITA to trace the circuit. Not to mention its most likely they will make more with a board swap.

I have seen tech's toss boards, when all that was wrong was a simple thermistor. Basically a hard wired fuse. Literally a ten second repair once the irons hot and $0.33 in total parts! Hey but at least the tech changed the fuse for me!

 

[Northwoodneil]

I have a guy that likes to fix boards and such. I'm gonna give him a shot. I'll tell him to take easy on the board because the way I see it, it still works as a manual start as long as I don't hook up the igniter. It would get me by in a pinch. The website Earthsense Tech. (Pellethead in Dale WI) said they had the old style board but were out, so they're upgrading to the new style board at the same price. Class act those folks, my next stove comes from them.

 

[smoke show]

me likes earthsense. did you say suck and blow??

 

[3650]

That pump from Harman is like $400....! Had a customer that needed one, I went to Petco and got one for $9 in the aquarium section, works awesome and is quieter.

I'm digging up the past here. SMWilliamson if you are still around I wondered if you could elaborate on this pump you used? The pump went out of my Cumberland 3650 and they want over$300 for it which just seems a bit excessive. I have research this pump and it appears they use the same one to control the air pressure in some sort of high end mattress. It is still quite expensive. Grainger has a rebuild kit for about $80, but, $9 sounds a whole lot better to me. I have to admit when looking at this pump the first thing that came to my mind was a pump for an aquarium and here you have one that is proved out. Please tell us more.

 

[smwilliamson]

I'm digging up the past here. SMWilliamson if you are still around I wondered if you could elaborate on this pump you used? The pump went out of my Cumberland 3650 and they want over$300 for it which just seems a bit excessive. I have research this pump and it appears they use the same one to control the air pressure in some sort of high end mattress. It is still quite expensive. Grainger has a rebuild kit for about $80, but, $9 sounds a whole lot better to me. I have to admit when looking at this pump the first thing that came to my mind was a pump for an aquarium and here you have one that is proved out. Please tell us more.

Make sure it's 110v. Wire it in. Connect the hose. Done.

 

[Lake Girl]

Really?? No other specs that need to be lined up? $9 vs $350-400

 

[3650]

Another member advised to make sure the cfm's are the same.

 

[smwilliamson]

If there is no power getting to the igniter and pump there may be another issue. That is through the control board in the ignition circuit. The pump and igniter are wired in series off the yellow wire from the controller. Test that with a DMM one probe on it and the other probe on the stove somewhere (ground it out) you should have 117v or so.

 

[smwilliamson]

Going by what you posted(highlited). Doesn't sound like the board is turning off power to the hot side of the circuit. Opening the door which opens the vac switch is only dropping the neutral side of the circuit. And the yellow wire remains hot. Tells me you do not have control as the vac switch will not open under normal operation. Do you plan on opening the door after the stove ignites?

Your board has an issue if the yellow wire remains hot and the igniter light is off.

Just saying, But what do I know! BTW the name is Jay FYI. I'm not a stove tech, But I did stay at a Holiday Inn!

Harman switches off commons to turn off components

 

[Bioburner]

Scott, 3650 dug up this thread to get answer on getting a new pump for a Cumberland. Seems no problems with a Harman PC45 for some time other than Harman dropped the multifuel stove.

 

[3650]

lol I didnt read the title of this thread...sorry bout that. I just did a forum.search about ignitor pumps and saw this one about using the aquarium pump. It is for my Cumberland and they both have power. I noticed the pump was much more quiet then normal and saw the igniter looked like it was about to melt down. I've just been lighting manually but I'm having problems with that. I've got about a 6' chimney run and if the wind is blowing toward its outlet I cant get it lit due to vacuum error. If the wind is any other direction there is no problem. I dont think its an exhaust blower issue as I has done this from new. Good thing I have a spare stove to light when that happens.

 

[Bioburner]

I had one of the only dealers for Harman in the state try to steer me away from buying a PC45 because of the pump system but with watching the site for 4 years now have only heard of one PC45 have a failure and one stove that never shut the ignition system down and ran that way for several years.
I have three stoves now that use the same pump.