Thinking of Buying a Harman Mark III

Smitty, do you go through that much coal because your house is so drafty? Or is that typical coal usage of a MArk III?

It's because my house is BEYOND drafty!

I can see daylight in several sections of the basement (getting to them requires crawling with your belly -- no room to use arms or legs -- for about 20 feet in the dark. Every time you take a breath, it feels like the house is slowly falling in on you. I filled the gaps with foam a few years back, but it's an un-winnable battle. My upstairs has gaps that you can't see, but you feel anytime wind moves over 5 mph. Insulation is directly on the roofs sheathing, which invites condensation, which renders fiberglass to an R factor of - 0 -. Plus, we heated all winter with the upstairs set at 70* with a room gutted to the studs.

This house needs a bulldozer, then & a modular installed in it's place. Due to it's location -- in MA -- this will never happen because of the "conveyor-belt economics" here -- take 2 steps forward, & you'll be taxed 3 steps backward!

Drafty old house.
Lots of heat loss.
My 'rents house burned 2.5 tons since 11/1/08, 2000+ sq feet at 72* built late 70's.

I posted my piece of crap 2 year old Dutchwest wood stove with broken refractory panels, warped grate, and unuseable internal damper on the Craigslist for $400. Two days later it's been sold. Maybe I should have asked more??? Looks like I'll be ordering a Mark III sooner than I thought. Hopefully it will last more than two years...

Skinsfan wrote:I posted my piece of crap 2 year old Dutchwest wood stove with broken refractory panels, warped grate, and unuseable internal damper on the Craigslist for $400. Two days later it's been sold. Maybe I should have asked more??? Looks like I'll be ordering a Mark III sooner than I thought. Hopefully it will last more than two years...

Have you looked at the Harman TLC2000 & compared it to the MarkIII? (If you're going to still burn some wood too, it may be a better choice since you can get more wood in it)...Just a thought b4 you spend $$$$$

Devil, I was reading the dialogue between you and the person with the"burned fingers" and the "cracked glass" on their TLC 2000. Your experience burning wood/coal is the same as my age. I'll take experience over textbooks any day.

Can you tell me some of the differences between the Mark III and the TLC 2000?

Skinsfan wrote:Devil, I was reading the dialogue between you and the person with the"burned fingers" and the "cracked glass" on their TLC 2000. Your experience burning wood/coal is the same as my age. I'll take experience over textbooks any day.

Can you tell me some of the differences between the Mark III and the TLC 2000?

Here's a link to all of Harman's stoves http://www.harmanstoves.com/products.asp ..& they are all well made stoves!
I think the MarkIII has a higher BTU rating than the TLC but you house size & mine are similar so I think either stove would be fine for you. The MarkIII is pretty much a dedicated coal stove in that I think it's firebox is smaller for loading wood logs & it is strictly a front loader. The TLC can be loaded from the front or top. (Any coal stove can also burn wood, the reverse is not true)
As I said before, I rarely burn wood anymore due to the work involved./ Coal is just so much easier in every respect that I'm too lazy to fool with wood anymore!
I know that the members here with either the Mark series or the TLC2000 are generally quite satisfied as long you keep reasonable expectations for ANY stove.
Some prefer a stoker for less work, (they can run for days without needing attention) BUT..stokers require electricity. Lose you power & you'll lose your heat withing 15 minutes, or so.
All I can tell you again is that I've been heating my apox 2400SF split entry ranch for almost 30 years (from a basement family room) & of the 3 coal stoves I've owned & run, The TLC2000 ,is by far the best & easiest to operate.
Keep reading different threads on whichever stove you may be considering & you'll get some pretty good info here. Good luck & don't be afraid to ask any questions! (The only dumb question is the one you didn't ask because you thought it was stupid!)

Heat loss calculations... here one program. If you do a Google search for heat loss programs you might find others.

http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Calculator ... atLoss.htm

According to that calculator, I put 20 tons of CO2 in the air!

I have a 2000 sq. ft. home as well. I heat from my basement with a Mark III and it has worked out well. I did have to make something out of sheet metal to ketch the blower air to duct it to my living area above as the basement was way too warm for me working down there. That made a big difference for both the living area and basement as I was able to keep the stove at lower temps,save coal,get heat upstairs.
I didn't like the quality of the TLC stove Harman had compared to the Mark series. Also I wanted more BTU's. Here in NH were it got down to 30 below this winter the Mark III was a god send. I run it very low now in these cold nights warm days weather.
Very well made stoves. The weight of them confirms this.

captcaper wrote:I didn't like the quality of the TLC stove Harman had compared to the Mark series.

:box:

I've found the quality of the TLC to be excellent, love the huge ash pan & find the top loading ability a plus. The TLC & the DVC500 are a more modern style than the Mark series aesthetically but some people prefer the spinner type air inlets rather than the slide controls on the TLC. (I find the slide controls very precise (both for the primary (ash door) & the secondary (stove body beside door) air controls)
The problems that JLF53 has had Harman TLC 2000 Glass Door Cracked I would agree with but I consider them minor "personality quirks" that ANY stove is bound to have & are easily & permanently fixable. ( Just adding another coarse of firebrick makes a huge difference) The TLC does have a huge glass window & requires avoiding slamming the door closed, etc, but any window can break on any stove
If you read JLF53's thread you'll get both the pros & cons of the TLC to help with your decision.
Again, I think any Harman product is a good quality stove which I hope the new owners maintain!

Skinsfan,
I have an unfinished basement where my Mark III is located, and the main level of the
home is 1700 or so sq feet. The stove is all we need in the coldest weather and it
has been a very cold winter here. (still burning, cold, snow, yuck)

I have a couple ways to move warm air upstairs. One being a home made hood
over top of the stove, with 8" flex duct going directly into the middle of our living room
thru a floor vent. There is a small inline booster fan mounted there which usually
runs at a slow setting (i put a variable controller on it). 2 of the 3 bedrooms
are located at opposite ends of the living room (which is like 15x26) and those room temps
can be controlled very well just by opening or closing the bedroom doors. the rest of
the home is paralell with a kitchen off the living room, with a large archway between
(10' or so) then the 3rd bedroom, and bathroom are off the ends of the kitchen. again,
open doors keep these distant rooms warmer, but we are able to keep them slightly cooler
than the rest of the house by closing them a bit. there is also a basement stairway that comes up into the kitchen
and we leave the door open and allow warm air up, and as important, cool air down. I have
worked at sealing up the basement this year even more, especially an old wooden walk out
door that we use often.
the stove keeps the entire basement very warm, I use a fan to circulate the air. then I have
a small clamp on fan at the bottom of the stairs in the cieling pushing some air up the
stairwell. moving the air is the key, and the benefit of having the stove in the basement is that
the floors upstairs are warm... which helps the whole house feel warmer.
i typically burn 4-5 ton, this year i'm probably going to go over 5 but i'm keeping the stove
going longer than most years to save on oil usage. (which I only run in spring and fall)

been very happy with with the Mark III, and am considering running a water coil thru it
and tieing into the boiler system, but things were pretty good this year, so I may not bother.

Thank you all very much for the feedback.

I'm leaning toward the Mark III, but haven't quite made my decision yet.

As I mentioned much earlier, I have a split level home. My stove sits on the far end of the basement, opposite to the living/kitchen area upstairs, which is all open with a slightly vaulted ceiling. Directly above the stove area are the master bedroom and my daughters room, which both have direct vents cut through the ceiling to allow for easy transfer of heat. I was considering running some duct from the stove area across the length of the basement ceiling with an inline fan of some kind, and punching it through the wall into the foyer in order to feed the main living area. But if I do that, I'll have to box it in and drywall the entire thing. (I finished my basement about two years ago and my wife will not hear of having bare duct running across the room) The easier option is to have some fans set up to move the air, but I think the duct will be much more effective. However, I really don't want to have some big homemade hood hanging down around my stove. I'm wondering if a vent coming out of the duct will be do the job. The vent would be about 8 feet up and to the side of the stove. Do you guys think that's a close enough distance to make it worth my while to do all that work?

Thoughts, suggestions???

where is your stairwell in relation to the main upstairs living area?

one idea, let the heat from the stove, and it's fan, come thru the
finished basement, and up the stairs into the living area, then use some ductwork to
convert your existing bedroom floor ducts down towards the basement floor, to
create cold air returns.
warm air up the stairs, cold air down thru the
bedroom floor, moving all of that air thru the living area then
into the bedrooms and back downstairs.
this may depend on your layout obviously, and whether or not
you keep those bedroom doors open enough to allow that amount
of airflow.

All I do in my place is leave the cellar door open -- the floor in the kitchen gets to about 80*, & the whole first floor (except my TV room) will stay in the upper 60's when it's 20 or below outside -- which would require probably 6 tanks of oil to maintain in this drafty dump. The heating coils heat the 2nd floor & TV room. My cellar door is tiny, but that's all it needs.

In a split level, you wouldn't need much mechanical help getting the air to circulate. I wish this place was a split! With your room above the stove, your floor will be toasty warm if you have hardwoods -- which is nice when your dragging yourself out of bed in the A.M.