cac4 said:
I thought it looked like a lot of ash, too. Thank you for that validation. Really, it helps so much. The feed adjuster is currently set to 3. The stove temp dial is currently between L and H.
Please Help: New Installation of P61A and Experiencing a Lot of Smoke
- Thread starter pellet_neophyte
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I thought it looked like a lot of ash, too. Thank you for that validation. Really, it helps so much. The feed adjuster is currently set to 3. The stove temp dial is currently between L and H.
I think in the cold weather we are having, 3 for the feed adjuster will be too low. Your pellets are burning up quicker then they are feeding. Leaving the large lip of ash. You should have close to 1" ash at the top but not pushing unburnt pellets over the edge. Bump it up as cac4 mentions. When more pellets get in there, the flame will get more active, and you should see less ash in the burn pot. Cac4 describes the flame just as mine is. Some blue flame at the bottom and a very active white/yeelow flame above (No black tips or soot).
After seeing these pics....
Two things that come to mind for me after seeing these pics
is to be sure to scrape the burnpot good to keep ALL the holes
clear of clinkers.
If you are confident the burnpot is clean, kick up the feed rate
to 4 and see if that makes the difference. That's alot of ash for
a short time.
Two things that come to mind for me after seeing these pics
is to be sure to scrape the burnpot good to keep ALL the holes
clear of clinkers.
If you are confident the burnpot is clean, kick up the feed rate
to 4 and see if that makes the difference. That's alot of ash for
a short time.
2 things seal the joints as everyone else has said AND seal the TEK screws too.......
You should not have smoke smell in the house unless you open the front door......
and also covered here the first joint (the starter collar) is the most likely one to leak
First pics the flame looked like it was burning strong.....
last pics it's a little lazy but not too too bad.....
there IS ot of ash in the burn pot...
When the ash builds up like that you should see holes in the pile of ash, kinda like swiss cheese. From the pics I don't see any.
This Usually means one of 2 things......
1 stove is dirty.... Not likely..
2 airflow problem......... restriction in pipe, not draft adjusted, air intake restricted...
Harmans have a flapper gate on the intake of the stove... sometimes they get stuck.....
If that is the Harman thimble make sure the felt has been removed from the fresh air side....
You should not have smoke smell in the house unless you open the front door......
and also covered here the first joint (the starter collar) is the most likely one to leak
First pics the flame looked like it was burning strong.....
last pics it's a little lazy but not too too bad.....
there IS ot of ash in the burn pot...
When the ash builds up like that you should see holes in the pile of ash, kinda like swiss cheese. From the pics I don't see any.
This Usually means one of 2 things......
1 stove is dirty.... Not likely..
2 airflow problem......... restriction in pipe, not draft adjusted, air intake restricted...
Harmans have a flapper gate on the intake of the stove... sometimes they get stuck.....
If that is the Harman thimble make sure the felt has been removed from the fresh air side....
with the earlier pic of the outside air duct all frosted up like that, it would seem that there is plenty of airflow. But it certainly can't hurt to check. I've heard of other "professional installers" who forgot to take the plug out of that thimble. I suppose some air might get through that felt, if you sucked hard enough.
Wow! There was a burnpot under all that ash. Looks a lot better. I usually do that about twice a day, more if the pellets are bad. Did you also scrape at the hard deposits in the burnpot. That has to be removed as well. Within no time you'll be a pro.
Because of two very cranky kids that needed to get to bed, we did a very quick scrape. We also do not yet have a great tool for scraping. Recommendations? TIA
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/30371/
There are several threads on this but a screwdriver bent seems to work well
There are several threads on this but a screwdriver bent seems to work well
It's very very cold up there now.......cac4 said:
don't need much flow to create the frost.......Major temp differential right now
But like I said the first pic (the original post) the flame does not appear to be lazy...
pellet_neophyte said:
Raid hubby's tool box ;-)
Screwdriver with a long handle and/or chisels work great to get the
clinkers out. IMO the Harman tool is only good for quick scraping.
The long screwdriver is an excellent tool for getting tough carbon deposits. I use the screwdriver to get around the lip at the front of the auger. Also to scrape a little inside the auger tube. I found that a 3/4" or 1" wide long handled gasket scraper wors great for the sides of the burn pot. On ocassion I use a 90 degree o-ring pic to make sure the bottom 5 holes are clear.
Things I have found about cleaning my Harman is:
1. Keep the 5 holes in front of the auger (bottom of burn pot) cleaned. Do this whenever you scrape the burn pot.
2. Loosen the 2 thumb screws under the burn plot. Remove plate. Remove the ash. Do this about every 15 bags unless your pellets create excessive ash. I always unplug stove and let cool before cleaning this area. Both item #1 and #2 I just listed will keep your igniter working its best.
3. Keep the carbon build up inside the the auger tube to a minumum. I found that carbon will build up just inside the tube near the the front. If the carbon deposits build up here, your auger may start squeaking as the first flight/fin of the auger rubs on the carbon and the side of the tube.
Things I have found about cleaning my Harman is:
1. Keep the 5 holes in front of the auger (bottom of burn pot) cleaned. Do this whenever you scrape the burn pot.
2. Loosen the 2 thumb screws under the burn plot. Remove plate. Remove the ash. Do this about every 15 bags unless your pellets create excessive ash. I always unplug stove and let cool before cleaning this area. Both item #1 and #2 I just listed will keep your igniter working its best.
3. Keep the carbon build up inside the the auger tube to a minumum. I found that carbon will build up just inside the tube near the the front. If the carbon deposits build up here, your auger may start squeaking as the first flight/fin of the auger rubs on the carbon and the side of the tube.
I use a cheap retractable straight edge razor blade paint sraper like this one,
(broken link removed to http://www.thepaintstore.com/Safety_1st_Scraper_p/103.htm)
Fits perfect in my fire pot. I also have 1 inch wide putty knife that I sharpened.
Mike -
(broken link removed to http://www.thepaintstore.com/Safety_1st_Scraper_p/103.htm)
Fits perfect in my fire pot. I also have 1 inch wide putty knife that I sharpened.
Mike -
Update:
Installer rep here today. Put some sealing tape on pipes. No noticing smoke inside anymore. Also schooled us a bit better on how cleaned out the burnpot should remain. Our pellets are producing a high amount of ash and he shed some light on that. Gave us some new pellets to try out for comparison purposes. Still burning through ours at the moment.
Installer rep here today. Put some sealing tape on pipes. No noticing smoke inside anymore. Also schooled us a bit better on how cleaned out the burnpot should remain. Our pellets are producing a high amount of ash and he shed some light on that. Gave us some new pellets to try out for comparison purposes. Still burning through ours at the moment.
Good to hear those pipes were taped, if your not smelling the smoke now it will at least put you and your family at ease a bit. I've burned two different types of pellets so far and the difference is incredible with amount of ash. Glad the rep gave you some pointers on your stove and its operation. Enjoy the heat and your learning season.pellet_neophyte said:
I have installed numerous pellet stove and all joints must be taped with the foil tape or leakage will happen from the venting as well as high temp rtv(red silicone) on the spa. We commonly hit -40 in our area and as long as i do this I have no interior smoke smell on stove installations.
Jeff
Jeff
First off very nice choice in stoves..secondly
The smell you are smelling is NORMAL...
the installers should have told you that after they showed you how to operate the stove..the paint needs to be CURED or burnt off..why?I don't know..it should be done at the factory not in our homes...
but after a few hours mine was fine and never smelledl again..
3-4 feed rate is good start and since you are in ROOM TEMP MODE the TEMP dial goes by actual temperature so 5-ish is actually somewhere around 75-77 degrees...1-7 settings are used in the STOVE TEMP MODE which I use and it DOES NOT equal room temp setting
example would be your 5 setting in room temp mode..it will NOT give you 75-77 temp in stove temp mode
I wish Harman would do a little research and find out the BTU output of all the settings in Stove Temp MODE(only 42 total) so I wouldn't have to guess...would it change anything in my heating..prob not but it would be handy to know what setting produces what kind of btu
The smell you are smelling is NORMAL...
the installers should have told you that after they showed you how to operate the stove..the paint needs to be CURED or burnt off..why?I don't know..it should be done at the factory not in our homes...
but after a few hours mine was fine and never smelledl again..
3-4 feed rate is good start and since you are in ROOM TEMP MODE the TEMP dial goes by actual temperature so 5-ish is actually somewhere around 75-77 degrees...1-7 settings are used in the STOVE TEMP MODE which I use and it DOES NOT equal room temp setting
example would be your 5 setting in room temp mode..it will NOT give you 75-77 temp in stove temp mode
I wish Harman would do a little research and find out the BTU output of all the settings in Stove Temp MODE(only 42 total) so I wouldn't have to guess...would it change anything in my heating..prob not but it would be handy to know what setting produces what kind of btu
HarmanP68,
I think if you read all of the thread you'll find that they could tell the difference between a curing smell and a smoke smell that only went away after the joints were properly sealed for this to be clearly seen please refer to msg #30 of this thread at https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewreply/354349/ .
A SMOKE smell or, for the smokers out there that can't always smell that well, a persistent burning feeling in the eyes, with the unit in operation and its doors closed is not, I REPEAT NOT normal.
I think if you read all of the thread you'll find that they could tell the difference between a curing smell and a smoke smell that only went away after the joints were properly sealed for this to be clearly seen please refer to msg #30 of this thread at https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewreply/354349/ .
A SMOKE smell or, for the smokers out there that can't always smell that well, a persistent burning feeling in the eyes, with the unit in operation and its doors closed is not, I REPEAT NOT normal.
Things have been going very smoothly with the pellet stove. We really appreciate the feel of the heat. We haven't been this warm in Maine and we almost feel like we're cheating. LOL We are working out how to use the pellet stove and the furnace to keep the basement and the 2nd floor sufficiently warm. Thanks for all the helpful information and encouragement -- it made a huge difference. We've been scraping ash regularly and after running two different types of pellets provided by our dealer, we now understand how much ash our pellets produce and simply have to adjust and respond appropriately. We're gearing up for our first big clean out. LOL I'm on here rereading and researching cleaning advice. We've got a wet/dry vac that we're thinking of leaving outside (if it isn't -15!) and running the hose up through the window. Does this make any sense? We'll see... off to learn.
Thanks again!
Thanks again!
Glad to hear things are working out.
After I put the tape on the exhaust pipe, the smell of smoke was gone.
The "new" smell of the stove went away after a few days.
We are getting condensation on our air intake pipe. I will have to insulate it.
This first year is a learning experience for sure!
The other night I thought we had enough pellets to last the night.....I was wrong.
It was 63 downstairs when I got up. Oh well did a quick clean,added pellets and fired it back up.
We sure are enjoying the heat as are our two babies!
After I put the tape on the exhaust pipe, the smell of smoke was gone.
The "new" smell of the stove went away after a few days.
We are getting condensation on our air intake pipe. I will have to insulate it.
This first year is a learning experience for sure!
The other night I thought we had enough pellets to last the night.....I was wrong.
It was 63 downstairs when I got up. Oh well did a quick clean,added pellets and fired it back up.
We sure are enjoying the heat as are our two babies!
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pellet_neophyte said:
Here is a link from Harman on cleaning your stove.....
(broken link removed to http://www.harmanstoves.com/maintenance/p38&p61cleaninginstructions;.pdf)
If your stove keeps running out of pellets you might consider the hopper extension. It was well worth the extra money to me. Mine will heat a 1500 sq. ft. house to between 65 degrees and 80 degrees depending on what room you are in when it is below zero for up to 30 hours on a fill. It will hold around 130 lbs. with the extension. You won't have to fill it nearly as often.
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