How much coal are you Burning?

ericcjack · Post by **ericcjack** » Tue. Dec. 05, 2006 10:08 pm

Harman Magnum stoker here...

pushin 2.5 dots
1 minute one
15 minutes off
9 minutes extended blower but also have the combustion fan here too.

2400 square foot house

been teens at night...20's during day.

i'm slappin about 45 pounds a day in her.

How about you?

~E~

Matthaus · Post by **Matthaus** » Tue. Dec. 05, 2006 11:42 pm

My Harman is in a leaky garage (unfinished construction!), 400 sq ft with 13 ft ceiling. Tstat set for 65, stove goes to idle mode a bit during the afternoon. Other wise running all the time.

2 dots
8 minutes off, 3 minutes on, extended 8 minutes (never shuts off)
Like the idea of hooking the combustion motor up to run extended, although has not been too much of an issue since my power vent seems to create enough draft to keep the flames high during the off period.
Using 30 to 40 pounds per day with teens at night and 30s during the day

ginski · Post by **ginski** » Wed. Dec. 06, 2006 2:33 am

2 dots
4 mins. on/ 12 mins. off
combustion and distribution always on
teens at night/30's during the day.
uses one 5 gal. bucket a day.

i fiddled with the on/off times, but found that keeping the factory settings at 4/12 kept the stove in pilot mode, while keeping the house at 75 degrees.

the barometric damper takes some of the credit for this!

tom

mjb · Post by **mjb** » Wed. Dec. 06, 2006 2:52 pm

Pretty much the same for me. Factory settings, 5 gal pail. 74* in stove room 72* in the two adjacent rooms and 70* upstairs. I have been following some threads where some people have been leaving the combustion fan on all the time. I was curious if that gave a more complete burning and a finer ash.

trb157 · Post by **trb157** » Wed. Dec. 06, 2006 3:16 pm

With my DVC-500 set at 70, feed rate at 3 and distribution fan set at Low, I am going through about a 5 gal. bucket per 24 hr day. Keeps my living room and downstairs about 76-78 and the upstairs around 68.

Yanche · Post by **Yanche** » Wed. Dec. 06, 2006 3:27 pm

30-60 lbs per 24 hrs. depending on the outside temperature. All rooms at 70 deg. +/- 1 deg. Bathrooms 75. Endless hot water. All with a AHS S-130.

Yanche

coalkirk · Post by **coalkirk** » Wed. Dec. 06, 2006 3:59 pm

Now that it's actually cold, about 60 lbs of rice coal a day. House even 68 (wife doesn't like it any warmer) and also endless hot water.

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Wed. Dec. 06, 2006 10:18 pm

Still buring around 50# every 24-36 hours depending on temp.
Been getting down in the teens here almost every night.
This weekend up to the 30-40's.

So far since the first of Oct. around 1000#'s

2 to 2-1/2 turns on feed rate
Pilot: 1.2 mins on/ 10 mins off. (4 pins every 10 mins on timer)

Set around 64-65 in other rooms, 70-75 in stove room!

Wife didn't want to be cold and I was not going to pay a $250-400 gas bill per month to stay warm.

jimbo970 · Post by **jimbo970** » Thu. Dec. 07, 2006 9:43 am

I have found leaving the combustion fan on all the time does give the coal a more complete burn. Most of it will still resemble the "granola" look until you dump it and run hands over it , it will crumble to mostly ash. I have been setting mine to 2 on 15 off but instead push 3-1\2 to 4 dots and the flames are larger in te firebox the stove actually heats up to 300 and hot air is pumping from my 1 vent upstairs. If I push 2 dots 4on 12 off the flames are lower and the stove doesnt get as hot therefore the heat output to my upstairs is not as great. Maybe I should make other adjustments?

Gary in Pennsylvania · Post by **Gary in Pennsylvania** » Thu. Dec. 07, 2006 12:20 pm

Harman fireplace insert.

2.5 buckets of nut a day.....And two shakes.

I do 1.5 at about 05:30am and the single bucket at about 6-8pm.

LsFarm · Post by **LsFarm** » Thu. Dec. 07, 2006 12:43 pm

It's pretty hard for me to measure my usage. I shovel my coal into the firebox. I'd estimate about 100# a day, burning a mix of stove and nut, anthracite and bituminous.

I guess I could fill 5gal. buckets and see how many to fill each wheelbarrow and each partial-barrel. I go through two wheelbarrow loads an probably a full 55gal barrel in 5 days. I need to measure it out once and see the capacity of each.

My firebox in the photo below is 22' wide, the back wall is about 20" high, the front wall about 16" high. I fill this to a heaping mound for a cold night, and turn about 2/3 or 3/4 of it to ash in 10-12 hours. I keep the water at about 150*, heating a ~3900sqft old farmhouse.

I will have a stoker installed for this spring and next year.!!

Greg L

Matthaus · Post by **Matthaus** » Thu. Dec. 07, 2006 2:08 pm

Jimbo970, I think you are on the right track with longer pushing stroke (more dots) and less time on. I have discovered that the Harman works better if you push more coal in and then let it burn rather than pushing with short strokes.

I am in the process right now with implementng settings more like yours and it seems to work better and burn better (nicer looking ash). Also like those big flames!

mjb · Post by **mjb** » Thu. Dec. 07, 2006 2:58 pm

Matthaus, are you also running the combustion fan non stop?

Matthaus · Post by **Matthaus** » Thu. Dec. 07, 2006 3:55 pm

mjb, I wasn't at first but am now forthe past three days). Is kinda embarassing

since I even have a combustion fan runnng all the time on my triburner Alaska!

mjb · Post by **mjb** » Thu. Dec. 07, 2006 5:12 pm

I was thinking that by leaving the fan on all the time, when the feed motor kicked in because the themostat called for heat or the maintenance cycle started again that most of the usable BTU's have been used up and a lag in temp might happen until fresh coal came up on the grate. I have to think the stove companies would have done some extensive testing for optimal outputs when they developed these stoker systems. But then again maybe not. Any way, it's nice to read every ones expeiriences with their stoves and how much their burning and what kind of house their heating.

How much coal are you Burning?

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