Scraping Harman P43 Burn Pot - How much to Remove?

[Whitenuckler]

I have been running 24/7, and scrape every morning then every few hours. I take out as much as I can leaving the still burning pellets untouched.
Is this what everyone else is doing? I think I read in the manual something about scraping down to the auger. The only time I do that is cleaning time.

 

[Washed-Up]

I scrape my P61 just enough to get the speed bump and clinkers that form on the side. Biannually I take a dremel with brass brush and do the whole thing to the auger

 

[Whitenuckler]

I scrape my P61 just enough to get the speed bump and clinkers that form on the side. Biannually I take a dremel with brass brush and do the whole thing to the auger

I don't think I've heard the term "Speed Bump" ? Is that a change in the plate surface? When you say Biannually is that twice per heating months? Sorry I guess I misunderstood. You mean every 2 years.
Ok I know what you mean. I just did a scraping and there is slope up. I can start my scraping into that low spot without taking out the burning pellets.

 

[jackman]

Speed bumps are those hard deposits that get stuck to the pot. On my stove they form on the sides and on the bottom of the pot close to the auger. You have to really chisel those off. I use an automotive gasket scraper. It's not enough to just remove the ash dust.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Speed bumps are those hard deposits that get stuck to the pot. On my stove they form on the sides and on the bottom of the pot close to the auger. You have to really chisel those off. I use an automotive gasket scraper. It's not enough to just remove the ash dust.

Oh OK. I am burning some good pellets so I only seem to have ash.

I think we are dealing with hourly scraping, and a cleaning procedure. These speed bumps are under some burning pellets. A regular hourly scraping is just to remove dead ash right?

 

[shtrdave]

I used to scrape mine once a day and now maybe twice a week, I brush off the ledge in front of the door for the air curtain, then scrape the pot and the sides of the pot.

 

[Tonyray]

I scrape once each week.. takes few minutes.Burning good softwoods.. harman P61A..

 

[bogieb]

For the P43, I do an actual scrape of the pot, where I take off hard deposits from the slope of the pot and the sides a couple times a week. I swipe off the ash lip occasionally if it bugs me as I'm walking by, but I don't "need" to.

I run middling pellets at a lower feed rate on room temp and wait to do the scraping until the stove is off.

I'm not sure why one would need to do an hourly scraping of any sort (ash or hard deposits). The ash is fine to leave there. Even when I'm running on constant, at a super low feed rate (1 and less), I only sweep off the ash once a day - and again, I don't "have" to, it just bugs me.

 

[Tonyray]

For the P43, I do an actual scrape of the pot, where I take off hard deposits from the slope of the pot and the sides a couple times a week. I swipe off the ash lip occasionally if it bugs me as I'm walking by, but I don't "need" to.

I run middling pellets at a lower feed rate on room temp and wait to do the scraping until the stove is off.

I'm not sure why one would need to do an hourly scraping of any sort (ash or hard deposits). The ash is fine to leave there. Even when I'm running on constant, at a super low feed rate (1 and less), I only sweep off the ash once a day - and again, I don't "have" to, it just bugs me.

somthin about that ash lip..[ we just can't leave it alone for too long..]..

 

[Whitenuckler]

For the P43, I do an actual scrape of the pot, where I take off hard deposits from the slope of the pot and the sides a couple times a week. I swipe off the ash lip occasionally if it bugs me as I'm walking by, but I don't "need" to.

I run middling pellets at a lower feed rate on room temp and wait to do the scraping until the stove is off.

I'm not sure why one would need to do an hourly scraping of any sort (ash or hard deposits). The ash is fine to leave there. Even when I'm running on constant, at a super low feed rate (1 and less), I only sweep off the ash once a day - and again, I don't "have" to, it just bugs me.

I am burning probably one of the best premium softwood pellets you can get. No problems whatsoever and low ash. I run in stove mode at the lowest feedrate/temp you can select and run 24/7. In the morning after 12 hours of being untouched, I have a big pile up of ash on the lip. This morning some of the glowing pellets where climbing the mountain. The ash does not seem to want to fall off itself. I do get a small burst of sparky light embers that fly around during a feed. I have developed some habits like opening the pellet hopper door to level the pellets with a piece of 1/2" PexB pipe. Then I open the stove door and scrape the burnt ash into the ash pot. Sometime I scrape in front of the door and a bit on the sides. Then I close the door fairly fast (but gently) and I get a big puff of air that seems to stir the burning pellets a bit. I was watching a utube video, and some guy said the ash tray was designed to hold a ton of burned pellets and you can tell if you have a good pellet by how fast the ash accumulates. Cold weather is sticking around here and we might get a snow storm.
I will be burning most of April I think. I also bought two 5 gallon buckets and open the bag in the garage where the pellets are. I fill each one to 3/4 which is one bag. Then I take the bag and cover the pellets on one. I have a lid for the other. I carry those down to the basement during the day. Then at night I fill it up. The next morning I put the rest in. Seems to be a bag a day.
.

 

[Washed-Up]

I don't think I've heard the term "Speed Bump" ? Is that a change in the plate surface? When you say Biannually is that twice per heating months? Sorry I guess I misunderstood. You mean every 2 years.
Ok I know what you mean. I just did a scraping and there is slope up. I can start my scraping into that low spot without taking out the burning pellets.

Half way through the heating season and at the end of the season

 

[shtrdave]

If I remember correctly, you are retired, and am pretty positive you are a tinkerer also, just from all of your posts and the things you do with the stove. Just remember you don't need to do all of the things you are doing with the stove now to occupy your time, I say that so that if or when the day comes you find a new tinkering project you don't say to yourself, these pellet stoves are a lot of work. Some brands may be, but from my experience Harman is not one of those brands. The ash pan size and only having to empty it once a month was what sold me on mine, and that it didn't need much maintenance daily or weekly.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Cleaned the stove this afternoon. I have not been scraping properly. When I vacuumed out the burn pot and looked down with a light, I saw what looked like a cast iron ridge almost 1/2 tall and 1/2 wide. I had to break it with the tool. Now it is all smooth like new. I will need to shut the stove off to scrape properly.
The other thing I am having issues with is the fines door. I'm pretty handy, and can work by feel, but it takes me many tries to get it engaged properly. I have to take the wing nut totally. Then when I think I have it, I don't, and the slightest movement and I have to start over. I took the wing nut off and replaced it with a regular hex nut that I can spin with one finger. It seems that it has to be hanging just right with a little spring in it as the gasket starts to compress. I removed a 1/16 inch of gasket around the top slot but that did not help. I wish it were magnetic.

 

[Washed-Up]

And that’s what we call the “Harman speed bump”
And I only check the fines box at the end or the beginning of the season…no need to check it anymore than that

 

[Whitenuckler]

And that’s what we call the “Harman speed bump”
And I only check the fines box at the end or the beginning of the season…no need to check it anymore than that

I still have a lot to learn about this stove. It's like a brand new stove now. I don't even know how it was working.

 

[mtnbiker727]

Let the stove be a stove. I haven't been scraping or cleaning nearly as much as other years, often going a few weeks in between cleanings and several days between scrapes. The stove still puts out a lot of heat.

Speaking of that... I probably should clean it again.

 

[Tonyray]

I found the one important thing more than the burnpot scraping is brushing the heat exchanger which many people forget or neglect..
really dont even have to shut the stove off. As long as there is no high flames, . just reach under with a wire brush or the harman tool and scrape it. the combustion blower will suck out the crud that falls and your heat output greatly improves..

 

[bogieb]

somthin about that ash lip..[ we just can't leave it alone for too long..]..

I realized this morning I haven't even looked at the ash lip on the P61a (basement stove) for 4-5 days. During the deep of winter, I would take care of the ash lip every day when dumping in pellets. This time of year (when the heavy burning is over) - I just dump in pellets every 2-3 days. Since it doesn't run much now, it is rarely lit when I am filling the hopper, so I don't notice the ash lip at all.

 

[Whitenuckler]

I found the one important thing more than the burnpot scraping is brushing the heat exchanger which many people forget or neglect..
really dont even have to shut the stove off. As long as there is no high flames, . just reach under with a wire brush or the harman tool and scrape it. the combustion blower will suck out the crud that falls and your heat output greatly improves..

I use the tool for the heat exchanger and also vacuum it. They say to run the blowers in test mode to cut down on dust. I was never sure about that, but tried it yesterday. It did suck the dust, but also blows air into my face. The room dist fan does cycle down, but then goes back up. This morning when I went down I tried a new technique for scraping. Since I had that mountain removed, I cleaned off the ash, then dug down deep to the auger and rubbed without removing burning pellets. I think that will work. Also, something interesting when starting the stove. It fed out the perfect amount of pellets (I had let it run out),then went into idle mode on the feed motor as the pile heated up. What I noticed is that the feed motor pulsed about every 12 seconds. Not sure why. Must be programmed in to do something. Settle the pile?

 

[Tonyray]

I use the tool for the heat exchanger and also vacuum it. They say to run the blowers in test mode to cut down on dust. I was never sure about that, but tried it yesterday. It did suck the dust, but also blows air into my face. The room dist fan does cycle down, but then goes back up. This morning when I went down I tried a new technique for scraping. Since I had that mountain removed, I cleaned off the ash, then dug down deep to the auger and rubbed without removing burning pellets. I think that will work. Also, something interesting when starting the stove. It fed out the perfect amount of pellets (I had let it run out),then went into idle mode on the feed motor as the pile heated up. What I noticed is that the feed motor pulsed about every 12 seconds. Not sure why. Must be programmed in to do something. Settle the pile?

actually, if u run in test mode u will get the distribution blower in your face..
therefore, dont do it in test mode... my post explains to do it while flame is very low or just flip the switch to manual, lower the temp dial to 70 or below.. blower will stop running but exhaust will continue till stove shuts off.

 

[Whitenuckler]

actually, if u run in test mode u will get the distribution blower in your face..
therefore, dont do it in test mode... my post explains to do it while flame is very low or just flip the switch to manual, lower the temp dial to 70 or below.. blower will stop running but exhaust will continue till stove shuts off.

That's a good idea. I was actually using that mode for testing when I first got the stove. Yes, the comb blower will keep going for awhile. I actually didn't mind the dist blower in my face as much as I thought I would, as half the time it is on low. I may start unplugging the stove and externally feed the comb blower as it takes me a far time to go through a good cleaning. I have done it with the stove off too and it's not too bad. Could also hook a blower up in reverse outside and suck it out.

 

[Whitenuckler]

I cleaned it yesterday. Looks better in person. Seems like taking pictures and video does not turn out due
to the glass. Burning good. Stove Mode.

 

[Washed-Up]

That looks good to me…and I bet anyone that knows a bit about pellet stoves.

 

[bogieb]

Also, something interesting when starting the stove. It fed out the perfect amount of pellets (I had let it run out),then went into idle mode on the feed motor as the pile heated up. What I noticed is that the feed motor pulsed about every 12 seconds. Not sure why. Must be programmed in to do something. Settle the pile?

Yes, that is the way it works. The stove has no idea if pellets were pushed out or not, or how much (different sizes of pellets will fill differently). It will add a few pellets after the initial push, at specific intervals until it it lights (stove senses heat), or until it times out and gives a failure to light error code.