How to maintain Harman pellet stoves
Harman pellet stoves are a popular choice among our customers who are looking to both save money on their heating bills and enjoy the warmth that a pellet stove has to offer on cold nights. As the weather gets warmer as we head further into June, you may be thinking you might not have to use your pellet stove for the next few months as summer begins. Despite this, it is still important to be on top of properly maintaining and cleaning your Harman pellet stove to be prepared for when the cold weather comes back this fall.
If you have a model like the Harman P-series, for example, we recommend that you give this pellet stove a thorough cleaning every time you burn 1 ton of pellets, in addition to regular tasks like emptying the ash pan and scrapping the burn pot. In order to do this cleaning, you will need to turn off your stove. You should wait until your stove has stopped running and is no longer hot before cleaning it.
First, you will want to take your scrapper tool and clean your stove's heat exchanger to remove the excess ash there. It's okay to let these ashes fall into the ash pan. Next you will want to scrape the burn pot and make sure the burn pot holes are free of any debris. Use an Allen key to clean out these holes as well. You can also remove the flame guide to reach further back into the stove in order to clean any built up carbon deposits. Use a Shop-Vac with a fine dust filter to finish removing any debris from this area of your stove.
Another task you can do to maintain your stove is by cleaning the viewing glass. This should never be done while the stove is still hot. This can be done using a soft, non-synthetic cloth and either a vinegar and water mixture or a non-abrasive glass cleaner. Do not use sharp objects on the glass.
You can also access the burn pot clean out cover by loosening the thumb screws there. After that, try cleaning out the ash there. Use a Shop-Vac to sweep up debris from this area. Put the burn pot clean out cover back when you are finished. The last task you will want to do as part of your cleaning process is to remove the combustion blower cover to expose the wheel and flue and carefully clean the blower wheel with a paint brush. Next, clean the flue exit with either a 3 or 4 inch flue brush, but take care not to damage the exhaust sensing probe. When you are finished, put the blower cover and ash pan back in.
We also recommend getting your Harman pellet stove professionally cleaned and serviced on an annual basis. If this interests you, you can call us at either of our locations, 610-367-4488 (Bechtelsville) or 610-224-5050 (Neffs) and we will make sure someone from our service department gets in touch with you to schedule your annual pellet service. This is just a brief overview of some of the things you can do to keep your pellet stove in top shape for when colder weather returns.
Use your scrapper to make sure pellets stay in the burn pot and scrap the ones on the edge into the ash pan.
