Harman Coal Stoves

[RonL]

Does any one have experience with Harman coal stoves ? Initially I was impressed with the stove. It seemed to be well built and the shaker grates seemed like a good design. However, after using the stove for a week I am less than impressed. The shaker grates have interlaced fingers. If you shake the grates more than a few degrees the grates get jammed with small pieces of coal. The stove seems to get clogged with slag after a day of burning. Is there any secret to burning coal for extended periods? I'm using Blaschack nut coal.

RonL

[RonL]

I'm continuing to experiment with the stove. If I shake it down every two hours and add coal it works beautifully. When I shake it I use an extremely short "vibrating" stroke and shake out just fine ash. However, if I let the stove go for more than six hours it seems to choke itself out with ash. I'm using "nut" coal but it seems to have an awful lot of fine coal in it. I'm wondering if "stove" coal might work better. I don't mind shaking down the stove and adding coal when I'm around but I would like the stove to hold a fire when I am at work. Relighting the stove on a daily basis is a pain.

RonL

[egon]

A lot may depend on the coal type/quality. Coal that has been exposed to air for some time may produce more ash as some of the lighter ends have evaporated??

I assume you are seeing a lot of ash which restricts bottom air flow.

larger chunks of coal may work better?? Does your stove have an upper air supply?

As for any solutions you seem to be doing well with the experimenting and will finally find a combination that works for you. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Do a Google search on coal and its qualities. I'm sure you will find some good explanations.

Egon

[RonL]

Well, I slept "late" this morning ( 8 AM ) and the coal stove was dead cold. There was a bed of coals that was in fact all ash except for the occasional burning ember. There was no way to get it going again. I had to start from scratch. At this point I think I have burnt almost as much wood in the stove as I have coal. Once it is going it burns nicely, as long as you shake it down and add coal every two or three hours. Tonight I am going to try banking the fire down real low ( turn the draft down real low ) and see what it looks like in the morning. I know there are people who run their stoves continually for a whole season.

Egon

I am burning anthracite coal in "nut" size. The brand I am using right now is "Blaschak". The bags have "St. Nicholas" on the front of them. I believe this is a reference to the St. Nicholas crusher in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. Anthracite coal is a hard, black, almost crystaline type of coal. It is little affected by exposure. It is not like the "peat" type coals. I just bought 10 bags of " Reading" nut coal. I intended to try "stove" size coal, but none was available. I'm going to continue muddling through this to see if it worthwhile. Might be more work than it is worth.

RonL

[Pat]

Did you intend for the care and maint of the stove to be a hobby with quite a time requirement or did that part just sort of evolve through necessity?

I'm sure there are lots of folks burning solid fuel in manually regulated stoves who enjoy the intimacy with the heat production. I have had wood burning fire places but tended to use them as decorations and have even installed gas logs to get the look without the hassle. Different strokes for different folks. There isn't any one RIGHT way to heat a space.

Personally I just don't want to fuss with a manual heat source most of the time and reserve "real" fires for decorations, special occasions, and special cooking situations, except my 3 gas logs parlor stoves and gas log fireploace all of which heat good with virtually no lfussing.

The most fun I ever had with a real wood fire was in the Laguna Mountains east of San Diego. We were in sleeping bags on the ground and had a fire going as it was darned cold and we were using old fashioned cotton batting sleeping bags. Apparently I subconsciously snuggled up to the heat source (force of habit with a wife in bed with me usually) and set the foot of the sleeping bag to smoldering hotter and hotter till it awakened me. I put it out, moved over, and went back to sleep only to do it again. It stained my feet yellow and ruined the bag. I bought a goose down bag and never needed the fire even camping in several feet of snow.

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

That is surely Top of The line Coal. I have only had experience with it by seeing It used in a blacksmiths forge.

Lignite is the coal I'm familiar with.

Check your stove specifications as it may be doing exactly as designed for.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[RonL]

Well.
I banked the fire down relatively low and left for about six hours. When I returned the stove still had glowing coal but it had burned down pretty far. Two hours of coaxing brought the fire up to a full bed of burning coal. Once the stove had a full fire box full of burning coal I turned the draft control down until it was barely cracked. Six hours later the stove still had a firebox nearly full of glowing coal. I turned the draft up and the coal started going to town. Once it was going good I shook it down and added a bit more coal. I think maybe the first secret is to maintain a low fire. However, you get low heat. I think the second secret is to get a substantially larger stove and burn more coal at a lower rate. I bought the Harman Mark one stove which is rated at 48,000 BTU. It puts out a fair amount of heat if you have it going good and you shake it down and add more coal every two or three hours. It didn't seem to put out much heat when I had the draft barely cracked. But it did hold the fire. The Mark II and Mark III are rated at 72,000 and 92,000 BTU. If I had it to do again I think I would go with the largest stove. I would have had to lay in a substantial supply of beer and had a "choir practice" to get the thing into my cellar.

Egon
As I said, the coal I am using now is Blaschak nut coal. It states on the bag that it is a low sulfur anthracite that meets Connecticutt standards for size and fines. It seemed to me to have a lot of fines but maybe getting tossed around adds to the fines in the bag. I will be trying some "Reading" nut coal next.

Pat
I am doing a major overhaul of the heating system in my apartment building. I'm taking advantage of the fact that several of my tenants happened to move out at the same time. I am using the coal stove to keep the cellar warm. It was also an experiment to see about the feasability of coal heat. Anthracite coal is one of the sources of heat that is easy to stockpile. I'm thinking that if I retire with a shipping container full of coal, I will always have a buffer against future rises in energy costs. Just a thought. It gets cold in the mountains of Northern New Hampshire.

RonL

[RonL]

I got a good load of coal going last night. Once it was going good I shut the air damper down so that it was just barely open. I came back about ten hours later and the fire was still glowing. I opened up the air damper and got the coals fired up. Once they were realy going I shook them down and added more coal. I think the stove could hold a fire for twelve hours if you started with a fire box full of glowing coal and the draft turned down to minimal level. The heat output with draft turned down is not that high.
To repeat myself. I think the secret of heating with a manual coal stove is to start with a large stove and burn a large amount of coal at lower levels. I have been shaking the coal down with very short "vibrating" strokes until small bits of burning coal start dropping through the grate. Occasionally I have to use a rod to break up the clumps of fine ash that pack the corners of the fire box. It is now three days that I have had the stove going without having to restart it. I think now that I am getting the hang of it I will be able to keep it going for the rest of the season. Burning coal is messy and produces a fair amount of ash. It is probably best suited for a basement or workshop situation, which is what I am considering it for on my property up in the mountains.
Just my experiences if it helps anyone else.

RonL

[egon]

A stoker feed furnace is the way to go if you want to use coal.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[MDSteve]

I have an alaska coal stove, it's a stoker and works very well. I looked for about a year before giving up the woodstove. I wanted something that my wife could use when I am gone and where fuel storage would be easy. Our winters are usually 33 degrees and rainy. I heated the house with a woodstove for 5 winters. The wood would absorb moisture from the air so even stored in the barn for over 18 months it would still seam a little wet. Pellet stoves I didn't like the thought of a few tons of pellets absorbing water from the air. With the coal I don't have a problem. I just keep a little generator to operate the blower and feeder if the power goes out. The little 800 watt honda works great.

Good luck with the stove I continue to get complements on mine.

Steve