Changes to Hardin

I was wondering about replacing auger motor with a variable speed motor like one from a swamp cooler? Has anyone tried this idea.
Also was thinking of plumbing in a small torch head to facilitate lighting as my burn pot and ring are actualy higher than the top of the door, makes it a real pain to get light. Can i lower my auger and pot as they are mounted in tin plates that i can turn them over and lower it about 4 inches. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

I'm not familiar with a Hardin stoker but does one motor run the auger and forced draft fan? Usually it does and you could try it but what are you trying to achieve? ....I can't think any benefit of doing that, your stoker will either get a call for heat and run til that's satisfied or just "hold fire" when no heat called for. You might have to change the "hold fire" setting if you make this change.
Propane/butane torch works great for lighting stokers but I've never heard of a torch being permanently mounted and could be a good idea but the torch tip may get too hot and get damaged if it's close to the fire or could get clogged with ash etc.
As far as lowering the auger etc. I'm not familiar with that stoker to say but I think it's strange that you say the pot/ring are higher than the firebox door so you can't see/access it easily. Do you have a manual detailing the correct position of pot/ring?

i'm not sure a variable motor would do any good; changing the feed requires a change in air and this is not necessarily linear- which would be a hassle should they use two separate motors and a real mess to match the air at infinately variable settings of feed either way. It may be a pain to light it, it is time consuming on all stokers, but that's why you leave them running - you should have an operational hold fire timer built into the stoker that allows it to idle along and burn little fuel when not being called on for heat.

I have a seperate draft blower, I want to have a higher speed for loading auger when its empty,and a slower speed for different coal types. The coal im using now from powder river basin is a lower btu than what the other owner had from up around Colony Wy. And I could use a little faster feed than I have now. Ofcourse I would have to check rpms now and then see what I get with the other style motor. There is no manual for this stove, bought used and it has been said it is identical to Maerton stoker from Center Nd. This is the set up that was on it when I got it. I am letting it pull air from garage then ducted into the house. With this coal my blower cycles alot more than it did with the coal he sent with the stove,I can go to Sheradin and get stoker coal but its quite a drive from here, close to 8 hrs round trip. If you look in my other post on Smoke from auger tube I have pics of the setup from the door. As for hold fire timer ,not that i know of

Is your auger drive motor connected via a 'v' belt? You could install a stepped pulley to the belt system to make the speed adjustment.. this is the method that the Iron Fireman uses to adjust feed rate.

Greg L

wyowa wrote:I am letting it pull air from garage then ducted into the house.

Are you saying the return air isn't coming from the house but from the garage? If it's really cold in your garage the coal furnace is trying to heat 40°(whatever it is) air to maybe 120°....that would be hard for the furnace to keep up with. If this is the case, a return duct from the house would help lots when using a lower btu coal.

It sure looked to me like you have a variable speed pulley in one of your other posts about your Hardin. If you loosen the correct set screw on the pulley, you can change the pulley size to achieve different feed rates.

Yes Im going to duct return from house, and I will see if i can locate a step pulley and try that . The pulleys are just singles. Thanks

Have you looked closely at the pulley on the motor? It looks like an adjustable pulley. Does it have a set-screw or two that lock/unlock it, when unlocked, you can turn the two halves of the pulley together or apart. Making a larger or smaller diameter effective diameter pulley.

Greg L

I must eat crow as after looking closer I see that it is an adjusable pulley on the motor. But it seems I am learning more each time I mess with the stove, You all are really helping me alot. Thank you