Does Anyone Know Anything About This Harman Stove?

Another question....the seal around the window on the door...am I to understand that it only requires rubber on the sides and nothing on the top and bottom; that the purpose of the rubber is just to keep the glass from rattling? The reason I am asking is because when I fired it up outside (it appeared to be newly painted and I didn't want to smoke up my house) there was a lot of smoke coming out from around the glass. Now, perhaps this was because it was not hooked up to any sort of chimney so was not drafting properly. I guess I'm kinda nervous about not having everything sealed up nice and tight

trainingHisarrows wrote:Another question....the seal around the window on the door...am I to understand that it only requires rubber on the sides and nothing on the top and bottom; that the purpose of the rubber is just to keep the glass from rattling? The reason I am asking is because when I fired it up outside (it appeared to be newly painted and I didn't want to smoke up my house) there was a lot of smoke coming out from around the glass. Now, perhaps this was because it was not hooked up to any sort of chimney so was not drafting properly. I guess I'm kinda nervous about not having everything sealed up nice and tight

The seal on the sides of the window glass is not rubber, it's a thin, flat fiberglass gasket. I can't get to mine to measure exacts but it's probably only 1/4 inch wide. It folds around the edges of the window to help hold it in place. I suppose it also helps direct the small amount of over the fire air the Harman has as "window cleaner" system. If these gaskets are in place and the stove is hook up to a chimney with any sort of draft there should be no smoke or soot entering your room. The draft will pull it all up the chimney. Take cafe, Lisa

I didn't read all the posts but from what I've read the door glass is meant to be loose for burning of coal gases. My old Chubby had two adjustable holes one on each side just at the top of the basket to aid in burning gases. If you don't have this the natural gas will escape up into the chiminey or build up and explode.

trainingHisarrows wrote:I read in the online manual that the firebox should be filled up to the top of the fire bricks; if I am only burning to take the chill off of a smaller area can I just burn a small amount of coal? Please forgive my simple questions, I have never used coal before

The manual is right, rev it up, shake it down and fill it all the way to the top or plan on having trouble. Coal is a different animal than wood. If it is way burning down low it may last a whole day, you won't get that with wood.

As previously stated, fill the firebox up and limit the heat output by throttling back the air coming in through the draft knob on the ash pan door. You should have a manometer connected to monitor the draft so that when you are running the stove low you can make sure you aren't down drafting and allowing CO into the living space. You should also have a few CO alarms around the house.

On my Mark III I only have the spinner open about 1/2 turn when I am running in low heat mode, for me the draft in this mode is about .03, I don't like it any lower than that. For high heat mode on the coldest winter days the spinner is open 1-1/2 to 2 turns and the draft goes to .04 - .05. I can easily get 18 - 24 hours of burn in low heat mode without losing the fire and 12 - 16 hours in medium -high heat mode.

A coal fire likes a nice deep bed. It burns from the bottom up so at times it may appear that the fire is out. Many coal burners put a magnetic thermometer on the front of the stove to tell us if the fire is burning. On my Mark II, if my magnetic thermometer is reading between 150* and 200* I know the fire is doing well.

As was said in the previous postings, the heat production of a coal fire is determined by the amount of air flowing through the coal. Like Titleist1 said, you control that by opening and closing the spinner dial found on the ashpan door. Fill the stove with coal to the top of the fire bricks, set your air input to 1/2 turn or a little less and your stove will burn at around 150* to 200* for about 12 hours. I suppose you could burn the stove with less coal but why would you want to? The long periods between tending are one of the benefits of burning coal. The more coal you can stuff in the stove, the longer the burn will be. Such a setting should make your room somewhere around 75 or 80* depending on your draft and the outside temperature. If you want more heat, open your air spinner and the fire will burn hotter and the room temp will go up.

I second the notion that you need to operate your stove with a Barometric Damper which has been set to a manometer. That will keep a lot more heat in your living space then just a straight chimney hookup. There has been a lot of discussion on that topic. Check out the archives via the "search button" in the upper right corner.

There is a steep learning curve with a coal stove but the Harman is one of the easiest ones to learn. Keep at it and you'll come to love the low maintenance, reliable heat. Lisa

Great deal dude. Lots of advice here for you. Wood is nice. Coal may be better especially in a Harman. You should be able to burn coal in the kitchen and choke her down a little to reduce the heat. Wood & Harmans, I never liked it. Sort of forces you to burn the wood fast & hot by design. But don't take my word for it. fire her up!

Cap wrote:...Wood is nice. Coal may be better especially in a Harman. You should be able to burn coal in the kitchen and choke her down a little to reduce the heat. Wood & Harmans, I never liked it. Sort of forces you to burn the wood fast & hot by design. ...........

I get a good bit of free wood, so I do burn it.
Compared to the "wood stove" (Ashley) that I had, the Harman eats it like
Joey Chestnut at Nathan's hot dog eating contest on Coney Island....

Thanks for all of your help! I will get my new fire breathing dragon hooked up and get back to you to let you know how things went Let's see, the shopping list includes...fiberglass gasket, manometer, CO alarm (already have two fire/CO alarms since we have the wood stove, but another in the kitchen can't hurt...as long as I don't burn dinner and set the thing off), and of course, some coal It may take me a while to get everything and get it hooked up, but I'll be sure to come back with the outcome. Once again, thank you all very much!!!

yeah!!!!!
congrats on the Harman I wish someone would have given me my stve.you should love it!!!!!!!

I'm currently heating my entire house with my Mark I during this cool weather. Do you have the blower that mounts on the back?

Yes, I have the blower too. I don't think I will need it this year, though since the stove will be heating a smaller area.....unless it needs the blower to work properly

The blower isn't needed. It just extracts the maximum amount of heat.

What would be a rough estimate on how much coal it would take me to heat an 1800 sq.ft. drafty old farmhouse with this Mark 1? The Mark 1 would get moved into the living room as the primary heat source; then a smaller, probably wood stove, would heat the kitchen/dining area. I am just wondering about how much coal I should plan on using; also, what size storage area would I need.

Will the stove be on the first floor or second floor? I heat about that square footage with my Mk I on a ton to a ton and a half a season. Say, from Halloween to sometime around the end of February.

But the biggest issue/obstacle is getting the heat to where it's needed. If you can't do that, the biggest stove in the world won't be enough.

I have a "raised ranch" style house. The stove is in the basement on one end of the house. The stove heats the floors which heat the rooms upstairs and the stairway on the other end of the house acts as a return for cold air.

If you can get a good circulation going, you might get away with 2 ton just to shoot a number from the hip.

I might recommend "stove" size coal to really get some heat blasting.