Year 4 with a DVC-500 not off to a good start.... Help!

UPDATE

1800 664 3119 got me to a heck of a nice guy at Harman. I explained my technical challange plus my dealer experiance. He advised me he can perform some diagnostics with me but cautioned that they'd take no liability on and was pushing me towards anyHarman dealer for best service. Anyway, after describing all that I have described here, he pointed me to the Thermistor proble located in the exhaust chamber on the way out. This probe has a ceramic core and a sensative outer sleeve. Dont bend the probe (breaks the core) and dont put anything abrasive on the sleeve. Dont ya know, I violated both rules! Apparently when runnign my cleanign snake thru the chamber, I bent the probe last season. I knew that this season, but had bent it back AND used emery cloth on the sleeve !! I didnt even think to suspect that thing during the whole process. No guarantees he says but hes very confident. He ruled out the motors, could pssibly still be the control board.

Im off to hunt down a probe and will report back. Fingers crossed please !

THanks
ANdrew

Wow..."nice guy" and "harman" are not often used in the same sentence! You should go buy a lottery ticket today and see if your luck holds on!

Great that he gave you an idea to try. Hope it works out.

ablumny wrote: the Thermistor proble located in the exhaust chamber on the way out. This probe has a ceramic core and a sensative outer sleeve. Dont bend the probe (breaks the core) and dont put anything abrasive on the sleeve. ANdrew

Yeah, I knew that you had to be careful around that probe, its a pain to clean around it, but I use a soft brush and vacuum. I'd have never suspected it to be causing your issues. Live & Learn!

ya, from what I read my expectations were low for Harman factory support. This is my second time Ive had to contact Harman and I must have been luckly in getting a compassionate person on the line.

I had suspected a probe or circuit board but had no way to confirm. I had forgotten I bent this probe!

I found a dealer in Massachusetts who had the thing in stock, It'll be here tomorrrow. Fingers crossed.

Probe arrived. no change to the situation. Very disappointed and even more frustrated. Im going to have to get someone in here to service this. Im out of ideas.

Did the nice fellow on the phone from Harman think the bad probe was the reason for the dim light on the controller?

McGiever wrote:Did the nice fellow on the phone from Harman think the bad probe was the reason for the dim light on the controller?

He said a faulty temperature probe could produce the symptoms I have. Plus when I admitted to bending and sanding it, he felt confident that the probe was broken. He covered himself by also stating it could be one of several problems..... Apparently so.

I'll make another call to them today. Without a good direction,from the I'm going to have to call for service.

Have you tried reseating all connectors on the stove control boards located under the temp controls ? I had a similar problem this year, stove would only idle. I thought I hit the temp probe - but luckily after reseating everything & twisting the control knobs quickly back & forth a bunch of times - the stove was once again kick'n out lots of heat.

CoalBin wrote:Have you tried reseating all connectors on the stove control boards located under the temp controls ? I had a similar problem this year, stove would only idle. I thought I hit the temp probe - but luckily after reseating everything & twisting the control knobs quickly back & forth a bunch of times - the stove was once again kick'n out lots of heat.

Not because i thought that was the problem but because i was trying to perform some elimination testing had i done that. Good idea. I spoke to Harman again today. Quite a different experiance, nice but absolutley would not help me.

My dealer suggests i perform a hard splice of the new probe to the wiring harness rather then reply on the splice things that come with the kit. Ill try toight.....(sigh)
. If not, ill schedule him to come over....

What is the dealer's thoughts of the dim light on controller?

McGiever wrote:What is the dealer's thoughts of the dim light on controller?

"Well it could be the board, it could be the pressure switch, it could be the ECP or TCP probe, it could be the motor, it could be build up of ash, it could be a leaky gasket" In otherwords he doesnt know.

Im resigned to burning oil until I can calmly get this fixed. So Im calm! Meanwhile I have one dealer appoint set for 12/2. I will contact my selling dealer again and see if he can get to me sooner. Breath in; breath out.....Breath in; breath out

Thanks to EVERYONE who offered advice by the way. Great community here..!

ablumny wrote:

McGiever wrote:What is the dealer's thoughts of the dim light on controller?

"Well it could be the board, it could be the pressure switch, it could be the ECP or TCP probe, it could be the motor, it could be build up of ash, it could be a leaky gasket" In otherwords he doesnt know.

Im resigned to burning oil until I can calmly get this fixed. So Im calm! Meanwhile I have one dealer appoint set for 12/2. I will contact my selling dealer again and see if he can get to me sooner. Breath in; breath out.....Breath in; breath out

Thanks to EVERYONE who offered advice by the way. Great community here..!

Dim light...is more so related to a problem w/ board itself, or the motor has problems and is causing a excessive load and straining the board. All the other dealer suspicions do not correlate to the dim light as much.

What no one can tell me, dealers, Harman, is are the symptoms i have indicative of a draft motor not spinning fast enough. Maybe ill send 110v right into the motor, ill spin full speed and that should answer my question

Up for sale is a set of 3 - 100k potentiometers (POTS) for Harman brand coal and pellet stoves. The 100k version is for almost all Harman Stoves except the model P38, the P38 uses a 50k version which I do carry. Symptoms of a bad POT on your Harman stove control board may include erratic control of the blower motor, auger feed, or temperature. These issues are usually the result of a "Dead Spot" in the Potentiometer or a completely failed POT itself. This is a common problem with Harman stoves and is usually not covered under warranty after 2 years. Harman dealers will not replace a bad potentiometer on your control board and will only sell you the complete board which sells for over $200. $ave a bundle and do it yourself!

......If you are a "Do it Yourself" kinda guy like me, this is the perfect fix for that bad POT on your Harman Stove. These potentiometers are not overly difficult to replace yourself and requires a little experience with a soldering iron. Simply remove the control board from your stove, remove the bad POT with the soldering iron, snap the new on the board and re-solder in place. If you are not comfortable doing it yourself, chances are you know someone or there is a local electronics store who can do this for you at the fraction of the cost of buying a complete control board from Harman. If you have a Harman stove there is a good chance you will have a failed POT at some point in time, if you have already had this issue before and ended up paying for the entire control board, now would be a good time to get some spares for the heating season.

This auction is for 3 brand new 100k potentiometers & shafts - exactly the same as what came with your stove, If you are unsure of your POT resistance, remove the control board from your stove and look at one of your pots. It should have the resistance printed on the front side of the POT.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Harman-Pellet ... 500wt_1415

Just a thought!

ablumny wrote:What no one can tell me, dealers, Harman, is are the symptoms i have indicative of a draft motor not spinning fast enough. Maybe ill send 110v right into the motor, ill spin full speed and that should answer my question

Yes, exactly, this is what I was saying a week or more ago.