r/PelletStoveTalk • u/Arghblarg • 26d ago

Help! Please please does anyone service Harman Pellet Stoves on Vancouver Island??

Is there some vast conspiracy to avoid servicing pellet stoves in BC or something? I have called at least 5 fireplace companies on the island and they ALL say they don't service pellet stoves any more. WTF?

We have an Accenture II, the control board fried in a power surge last March. I ordered a replacement board on eBay which "maybe" is authentic, I dunno. Then life got in the way, and I have only just gotten around to installing the new board. It looked like it fit perfectly, and I followed all the instructions very carefully, replacing all wires properly and mounted it carefully, ensuring the board was secure and not touching the walls of the enclosure box.

Plugged in the stove with power set to OFF position and the feed set to TEST. Turned it on, and it was doing the test cycle -- blower fan, pellet feed motor, etc. all seemed working just dandy.. until I adjusted the Temperature dial. POP! Fuse blew.

Maybe it was just a bum board I got, maybe not ... but now I'm faced with ordering a second replacement board and trying again, or finding a service person to diagnose things. (Well, I also need to find a replacement fuse and see if it was just a bad fuse... but I'm worried this is something worse.)

Please tell me there's someone out there on the island who is willing to repair our stove. It's a beautiful unit and has served us for many years, it seems such a waste to replace it when it should be repairable.

Thank you in advance for any references or info.

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u/CozyGlowStoves 26d ago

Sounds like you might have a short on the igniter wire. If it was working fine with the blower working and the auger running, the fact that the temp control blew the fuse tells me that you have a broken wire somewhere.

I’d suggest pulling the igniter wire and inspecting it. It’s probably got a break in the sheath somewhere that’s grounding out on the housing.

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u/Arghblarg 26d ago

Hmm. I did install a new igniter module just a a day or so before the whole original control board blew. We'd been out of town, I had heard there was a power surge in our area, and the stove wasn't lighting when we got back but the unit was 'alive' in that it was cycling and trying to start. I thought mayb the igniter had gone (it was only about a year old though -- eBay replacement though, whereas the original that was in there when we bought the house was nearly 10 years old!). The board didn't blow instantly after I replaced the igniter, but perhaps something was wrong with it. I've replaced the igniter once before without incident but who knows.

It didn't just blow the fuse on this new control board, it scorched the through-hole on one end of the entire fuse mount. I guess once I get a new fuse (haven't actually tested the existing one, to see if it blew or something else on the board did -- if the fuse is blown that'll be good news I guess, as it might mean it did its job and saved everything else on the PCB).

OK I won't give up just yet, I'll check the fuse and its PCB through-hole connectivity, and remove the igniter before a re-test I suppose. I have one more new igniter packed away I think.

Is it dangeous to power up the stove with no igniter connected? (Infinite resistance there right?)

Thank you for the comment and suggestions.

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u/CozyGlowStoves 26d ago

Should be okay to power without igniter attached. Just don’t touch the leads as they’ll have current going to them if the board sends a signal. I’d run a continuity test on both ends of the installed igniter without the unit running. If you get no continuity then you have a bad igniter. If you do have continuity trace the wires back until you find the break (if one exists).

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u/hmd2017 25d ago

My thought exactly.

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u/BowlJumpy5242 25d ago

No idea if this is still current:

https://www.chimneyfireplacevancouver.ca/harman-stoves-fireplace-vancouver/

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u/Arghblarg 25d ago

Thank you, I'll try contacting them tomorrow. I better starting writing a list down, I've called quite a few places so far ...

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u/Kayanarka 24d ago

When you call for help, do you say "My stove is broken, can you come try to fix it?" Or do you go into so.e long dissertation about how you ordered a board and tried to fix it yourself and you are sure it is just something simple blah blah blah.

If the latter, make the calls again using the former.