Need Help Burning Coal in a Harman SF 260

Thanks Jaeger for the tips. Question for you, the plate that hangs down in the loading door can I remove that? I was told the reason it was there was for when you burning wood it keeps the smoke from coming out when you have the door open. If I could remove this it would give me more room when I am poking the fire.
Bob

I guess you could remove it but I'd rather fight with getting into the corners with my short poker and a welder glove than having smoke get out into my basement. You should try a shorter poker and a welder / fireplace glove to keep the hair on the back of your hands.

Remember to get that good poke so you find the soft spots, then get a good shake 20-30 short choppy strokes. Remember to re-poke it after shaking to ensure you have eliminated the soft (burnt ash) spots in the bed. You'll just feel hard coal and maybe the grates if your poker is thin enough.

You should be set. I'm getting my neighbor to make me up a 4' poker with a 1" wide hook for raking the coal around. I'll stick to the 18" pry bar for the front and corners.

Bob, start by throttling the ball valve on the boiler outlet 1/2 way (45*angle). Do the same with the supply and return valves on that water tank.(personally, I would have installed the coil in the boiler and put in a cheap electric water heater for the summer). You're trying to heat a tremendous amount of water. Your boiler is capable of it, but, it has to be done under the right conditions and with increased fuel usage.
You can buy a 3 foot lenght of 5/16" or 3/8" steel round stock at Lowes, Home Depot or the Hardware store and heat the end and bend a little hook and a handle at the othe end, with a torch (acetaline) or if you don't have a torch, you have a built in forge in the firebox.
Clean fire and low flow. If this works, ultimately you'll have to make the necessary changes, like installling a low flow pump, or a bypass-return line (to circulate some boiler outlet water back into the boiler).

One thing I would suggest st is try another brand of coal. I switched and it made a big difference for me.

One thing is you seem to be doing a lot of poking. Coal, when it's bedded, likes to be deep and does not like to be disturbed. When you stir it up, it's like releasing heat from the middle of the bed. Coal needs to maintain a high temp to continue burning and stirring all around and spreading out the red coals is counter to this. You also don't have to poke the bed every time you load coal. If you shake the grates and get red embers into the ash pan, just shake it down and dump the new stuff on top and leave it alone. I had the worst luck when I started burning because I kept fiddlin' with the fire. IF you see a corner or spot that's dark (ie cold and not burning) when the rest of the bed is glowing, THEN you have a clinker spot that needs to be broken up. As stated in the previous post, a straight piece of 3/8 rod with a handle works well for this. Just stick it into the cold spots a few times and reshake. Also don't know how deep you're bedding it but the deeper the better. think of it like a little nuclear reactor that has to maintain critical mass to keep burning

KTM250, last winter I heated with a Harman SF-250 Coal Stove. After talking with CapeCoaler, the best way to shake the stove was to push the lever forward, slow, all the way to the stop, then pull back all the way to the stop, then check the ash pan for red hot coal. If you don't have any red hot coals take one more and center the shaker. After shaking like this I never had to poke the fire bed and the stove never burned better. This was with Kimmel's nut. 50# average per day with 75# per day for the coldest week.

Hope this helps, PC 12

DO NOT move the shaker lever 'to the stop' in a Harman stove/boiler. If you do, you will open the grates far enough to dump the entire fire into the ashpan. As has been stated several times, use short, choppy shaker handle movements to aggitate the ash to drop through the grates into the pan.

Greg L

LsFarm wrote:DO NOT move the shaker lever 'to the stop' in a Harman stove/boiler. If you do, you will open the grates far enough to dump the entire fire into the ashpan. As has been stated several times, use short, choppy shaker handle movements to aggitate the ash to drop through the grates into the pan.

Greg L

Greg, How Much Anthracite Have You Burned In A Harman SF -250?????????????

PC 12

Each lever move to the stops lowers the coal bed by about 1". Go SLOW and Easy....... It Does Work.

Friend Greg White here in Michigan with a SF150, I've burnt a fair amount in his stove, and I have personally dumped the fire in the ashpan.. Full travel of the shaker lever opened the grates too far, if you don't dump the fire, you usually will let a chunk of hard, unburnt coal between the fingers of the grates, and jam the grates..
Been there, done that too.

How many posts on the forum about the Harman shaker grates?? Most members follow the suggestion of short, choppy strokes of the shaker handle.

Your suggestion is a recipe for a dumped fire. Was the SF250 you opperated modified with some form of travel limiter for the shaker handle??

Greg L

LsFarm wrote:Friend Greg White here in Michigan with a SF150, I've burnt a fair amount in his stove, and I have personally dumped the fire in the ashpan.. Full travel of the shaker lever opened the grates too far, if you don't dump the fire, you usually will let a chunk of hard, unburnt coal between the fingers of the grates, and jam the grates..
Been there, done that too.

How many posts on the forum about the Harman shaker grates?? Most members follow the suggestion of short, choppy strokes of the shaker handle.

Your suggestion is a recipe for a dumped fire. Was the SF250 you opperated modified with some form of travel limiter for the shaker handle??

Greg L

The Stove was not modified. Ask Cape Coaler.... It Works very well. Never lost a fire. I was very skeptical at first !!!! But it works very well, but use a slow movement. Go easy.....

PC 12

Also this takes much less toll on the rocker grate system.

PC 12

Edit: I have been burning anthracite for the last 25 years.......................

Dead Coal in Front Portion?

That coal bed looks about right. The front tends to burn faster with my friends Harman 260 also, but I think it's because he runs the draft spinners open a little to prevent flash backs. I would not pull the shaker handle a full stroke unless you have coal that produces no clinkers and shakes down perfect. As far as dead spots around the edge, I think your going to get that with any square shaped hand fired unit. Just poke straight down through the spots, rev the fire up (open the ash door) shake it down and add coal. Oh yea and like you probably heard before, don't forget and leave the ash door open.

PC 12-47E wrote:KTM250, last winter I heated with a Harman SF-250 Coal Stove. After talking with CapeCoaler, the best way to shake the stove was to push the lever forward, slow, all the way to the stop, then pull back all the way to the stop, then check the ash pan for red hot coal. If you don't have any red hot coals take one more and center the shaker. After shaking like this I never had to poke the fire bed and the stove never burned better. This was with Kimmel's nut. 50# average per day with 75# per day for the coldest week.

Hope this helps, PC 12

Having used Harmans now for 8 yrs, I agree with this method BUT only when you know there is a large amount of ashes in the firebox. Forward 100% & pause, back 100% & pause, maybe one time no more than 2x.

Boys..BOYS! Re: Lsfarm and pc12-47E, DON'T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE! (laughing)
We all know different coal burns differently and...ashes differently. Some falls to powder,some becomes lumpy, and some bridges, some is more prone to clinker.
One thing I'M POSITIVE of, is NEVER tell the inexperienced to operate the shaker from stop to stop. Operating a new boiler is like flying a plane you've never flown before, or running a D-9
dozer when you're used to a d-3, or hopping on a Harley FL when you're used to riding a Honda 350. You have to get used to the equipment and feel it out for yourself before you go into high gear.

Cap wrote:

PC 12-47E wrote:

Having used Harmans now for 8 yrs, I agree with this method BUT only when you know there is a large amount of ashes in the firebox. Forward 100% & pause, back 100% & pause, maybe one time no more than 2x.

Thank you for the good info Cap. I see you are back burning th SF-250.... Lots of heat!!!

PC 12

Also the SF- 250, and the SF 260 share the same grates and ash pan. Now, why are the grates 18" wide and the ash pan and ash door only 12" wide? This gives 3" of ash on each side of the ash pan that does not go in the pan........The good people at Harman like to see us play with as much "A dust" as possible.