ratdog wrote:Hello everyone!!!
One person told me there stove burned for 36 hours without any attention and I just think thats unreal!
Believe it; as soon as the weather settles down and winter really kicks in you will start hearing about burns even longer then 36 hours. I seem to remember a thread about "the longest burn" or something similar. Check it out. I also have the Mark II and it is incredible. We brought it as a supplemental heating device to offset the cost of natural gas but the Harman has been able to keep our house at an average temperature of 75* with little or no effort. Our stove room is around 80* and the outer rooms are around 70*. Our average winter temperature is only 27* but last winter we spent a week in the single digit numbers. The Harman just kept putting out the heat to maintain my 75*. I did think I would have to turn on the whole house furnace at 4* but the temperatures started moving up again. One month last winter my gas usage bill was actually less then the amount of taxes and fees I was charged.
Not bad for a supplemental heating appliance, huh.
The only drawback I can find is the dust that's a part of firing a hand fired coal stove. You just can't escape it completely but you can mitigate it with good fire attending habits. The bottom line is don’t be opening the stove’s door any more then you have too for attending the fire – that means twice a day max. If you have the coal piled to the top of the bricks and a good bed of coals you shouldn’t need to be in there anyway. That was hard for me to learn. Just a few weeks ago someone on the forum said to always start your stove service with a shake down of the ashes but don’t open the ash pan door or empty the ash pan until the next time you service the stove. That lets all the ashes settle down. That has made a huge reduction in my dust problem. They also suggested having a shop vac with drywall filter bags in it nearby and ready for when you remove the ash pan. I haven’t quite figured out how to hold the hose and work with the ash pan with only 2 hands but I’m thinking about. That will help somewhat too. Of course, moving slowly so as to not rile up the ashes helps, too.
Thanks to the forum I've learned a little more each year and have maintained the level of heat while reducing the amount of coal I'm burning. I live in Northern VA and this house and neighborhood is not designed for burning coal so that I can take advantage of a coal boiler or furnace but believe me, the next one I buy will be. I think you and your family will be kicking yourself that you didn’t find coal heating sooner. Take care, Lisa
