Want to See What Happens When the Hopper Lid Isn't on Tightly?

[bogieb]

I was away from home for 5 days attending to family business. My pet sitter, who is probably a whole 5' tall and 90 pounds, is wonderful in taking care of feeding the pets and the pellets stoves. This time, my mini split would take care of heating until Monday evening, when the temps were supposed to drop drastically. And I told her that once she turned off the minisplit, to top off the hopper each visit (she comes by twice per day)

I cleaned both pellet stoves well before I left to make sure there weren't any issues. Of course, I can't control for human error.

I saw this when I got home very late Tuesday night.

Well, that isn't cool. I was burning some softies, which I had been burning for a week or more previous to when I left, and it would take days to deposit a thin layer of light brown ash. That deposit was totally black and unusual. I noted to myself that I would need to clean the glass as soon as I could shut down the stove, which wasn't happening at negative numbers. The pet sitter had left a partial bag of pellets on the step stool, so I went to look at if there was room in the hopper to add them.

The hopper door is very tight on the P43 (I don't know if @Don2222 remembers it) - unlike the P61a, it does not have a latch, it is entirely compression fit. Except, this time it wasn't. It was just resting in the down position. Well, I was 99% certain my questions had been solved with that one little discovery.

Thursday I cleaned the glass, and haven't had the black, thick soot/ash show back up (following picture is from this morning).

I did point out the issue with the pet sitter, for her awareness. I'm sure after topping up the hopper, she let the lid drop, stepped off the stool and put the partial bag of pellets down - forgetting to finish by pressing firmly down on the lid for a tight seal.

 

[Tonyray]

human error... sometimes ya can't forsee it all... good that it cleaned up!

 

[EbS-P]

I liked the Quadrafire design in this regard. No lid seal. Heck burning with the top on is practically optional. In fact the tight clearances of my parents hearth install they don’t use the back hopper door and just pull off the top. Sure it’s heavy but it’s practically an idiot proof design. Though the automatic hopper dump was not perfect for unattended operation as I recall.

 

[shtrdave]

Is this one older or newer than 2012ish? Mine has a snap lever for lack of better term. I lift it up and it allows is rubber bushing to decompress so the lid opens. Then close the lid and push it down secure. I ordered a new one latch wen I ordered the combustion blower, because mine had deformed over time and was hard to ope and close. I do remember seeing some with just a black round knob on them.

 

[Roadstar]

Sorry, I have to ask. What is the point of a lid switch anyway? Why is one needed, or is it? I don't have one on my 30 year old Breckwell but it's not the newest technology.

 

[shtrdave]

Sorry, I have to ask. What is the point of a lid switch anyway? Why is one needed, or is it? I don't have one on my 30 year old Breckwell but it's not the newest technology.

I can only speak about Harman, but it pauses the auger when the lid is up.

 

[bogieb]

Is this one older or newer than 2012ish? Mine has a snap lever for lack of better term. I lift it up and it allows is rubber bushing to decompress so the lid opens. Then close the lid and push it down secure. I ordered a new one latch wen I ordered the combustion blower, because mine had deformed over time and was hard to ope and close. I do remember seeing some with just a black round knob on them.

The P43, which is the stove this happened on, is 2012 and all it has it the round knob and the bottom has a small plate that catches into a fitting.

The P61a is 2013 and has the latch so you can visually tell if you have completed the closure.

 

[shtrdave]

This is what is on my P43, I bought it in March of 2012.

 

[ABusWrench]

The P43, which is the stove this happened on, is 2012 and all it has it the round knob and the bottom has a small plate that catches into a fitting.

View attachment 335880

View attachment 335881

The P61a is 2013 and has the latch so you can visually tell if you have completed the closure.

My 2014 Harman P61a is like yours, Bogieb. There was a thread a ways back(which I can't find) we were trying to figure out the timeline of the different hopper latches and having or not having a hopper lid switch. My P61a will run just fine, all day, with the lid open!

 

[Tonyray]

my 2012 [born date] will not run if hopper lid is open..
actually will not feed pellets while the other functions work..
P61A

 

[bogieb]

Well, after some thought, I realized this is the door to the hopper extension, not the original hopper. So, this gets complicated:

The P43's original hopper lid has a compression latch that folds over to complete sealing. I bought a separate hopper extension from a Harman dealer and installed it myself. That hopper is not configured quite the same and was a all around "replacement" for all years. That is what has the knob/force type of latch. There was no extended hopper switch that came with it. I have the switch bypassed (note, I do not recommend bypassing safety switches to anyone) .

When I bought the P61a new, I also bought the hopper extension pre-installed, which included the extended hopper safety switch. Both the original hopper door and the extension door have the compression latch that folds over. Note that I have never actually noticed that the hopper door being open while the stove is running (like when dumping in pellets) has impeded the auger in any way so I'm unsure of what the safety switch actually does, or is supposed to do.

 

[tbear853]

My VC Reliance hopper lid is just the glass framed by cast iron, it has a seal but gravity is the latch. I have a small hook on a small chain that we use as a third hand to hold it open while loading ... as the strut hasn't strutted in years. The fuller the hopper is, the better the stove will run as more pellets mean greater resistance to air being pulled into the burn pot through the hopper / feed gate / auger path. I do turn the stove "off" and leave the lid up while emptying the ash pan, it just stops feeding in "off", but the exhaust / draft fan continues. Never have left the lid up more than a few minutes. I have seen the stove burn like too much air when the hopper was near empty and the lid left open while I went out to get a bag, but under those conditions I'm sure a good bit of air is pulled through that path.

I mean to keep a couple opened partial bags of pellets near by for easy frequent "top offs" by us both. My hearth is like 8 inches high, so it's a "step up", and once stepped up, is easier to reach down for a half bag. I like to keep the hopper fuller too since that time it run dry in the '90s once exposing bearings and rubber seals to a dying flame .... when it ruined the auger bearings and wrecked the auger reduction gear box too .... I guess from heat traveling back through the auger tunnel. I made steel shielding to prevent it happening again, those bearings have been fine ever since.