MK I burn time

I have came across 2 reconditioned Harman MK I & a MK II at a local dealer at fair prices, I have a well insulated 1500 ft home, I know the MK II will do the job, some say the MK I will do the job also, I am a bit concerned about the burn time in a MK I and IF I will need to push it hard to keep the home warm, should I go with the MK I or MK II

thanks
Chet

I think it is always better to have too much stove than not enough. You can always damper it down.
I have a Mk II in my basement and it heats my basement and first floor fairly well. Not so much upstairs though. It all depends on the layout of your house.

Hi chet I to agree with ktm bigger is always better you can always adjust your air to burn cooler But if the stove is to small you are stuck with what it can put out Mark I 48.000 B.T.U. 1.400 sq. ft. 76 c.f.m. blower Mark II 72.000 B.T.U. 1.900 sq. ft. 76 c.f.m. blower So I guess it comes down to how much you are looking to heat And price between the two I vote for mark II good luck on either one you go with

is the stove going in the basement or up in the living area? i have a mark3 in my basement heating about 1900 sq feet total...so alittle bigger doesnt hurt. the depth of the coal bed is the same i think :-k it's just the bigger stove has a wider coal bed for more btu's.if it can get cold where you are and subject to power blinks,i would go with the mark2 for sure.

a follow up....if you do have the bigger stove...you can damper it down...thus resulting in a longer burn time....i can get 15 hrs of actual heat out of mine...with temps in the teens!

I don't completely agree with the damper down theory on a Harman hand fired stove.

My experience shows there is only one setting. If too much air, you'll burn more coal in a period of time and loose great deal of btu's up the flue. Burn too slow and the fire will die, good coal will not light along the sides of the fire box. Burn just right, flue temps are almost equal to air out temps.

Every set up has it's own set of characteristics. But I have experience with two Harman's on being a Mark Series hand fired.

I'd size the stove based off of YOUR house size and insulation quality & burn to 100% efficiency.

Cap wrote:I don't completely agree with the damper down theory on a Harman hand fired stove.

My experience shows there is only one setting. If too much air, you'll burn more coal in a period of time and loose great deal of btu's up the flue. Burn too slow and the fire will die, good coal will not light along the sides of the fire box. Burn just right, flue temps are almost equal to air out temps.

Every set up has it's own set of characteristics. But I have experience with two Harman's on being a Mark Series hand fired.

I'd size the stove based off of YOUR house size and insulation quality & burn to 100% efficiency.

I have read alot of the post you have posted about the Harman not burning on the sides of the firebox. I paid attention to this while burning in my Harman and you are right, it doesn't burn complete on the sides of the firebox. The reason being is that the ashes usually fall and miss the ash pan on the sides and the ashes build up in the corners.
If you keep the ash pan area clean it will burn on the sides just fine. Atleast mine does anyway.

Here is an example of my findings.

Last night, after a few hrs of burning, my warm air out temp with the 135 cfm fan blowing was 150F. The flue temps were holding steady at 125F

Now if I wanted more heat, thus more air required, I could produce 225F off of the fan but I know from experience, the flue temps would be 250F maybe 275F.

simmer--150F air --- flue--125F--high efficiency
high heat--220F air---flue--250F to 270F --low or medium efficiency

I'm using industrial grade 5" Ashcroft temperature thermometers with extended probes.

YMMV.