New Harman Magnum Owner...General Questions/Comments

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JonnieBlaze
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Post by JonnieBlaze » Wed. Nov. 28, 2012 10:32 am

Hi everyone,

I just bought my first house, and just got my first electric bill. It was pretty outrageous (I'm assuming due to the electric heat pump) so I bought a used Harman Magnum, about 5 years old, off a lady down the road who's moving away. I put the Harman in the basement where an old woodstove used to be, and bought the stove pipe from Lowes to pipe the exhaust from the Harman into the existing chimney. The stove pipe goes about 3 feet up from the Harman, then 3 feet back to the chimney, if that matters. On the horizontal part of the stove pipe, I put a tee and installed the 'baro' damper there, coming straight out from the tee at about eye level. I just bought a manometer that I will hook up between the Harman and the baro damper to monitor the draft when I start the stove up later this week or next.

I will install a rheostat controlled outlet next to the Harman, and plug the combustion fan directly to that outlet and run it at about 25% power 24/7 and remove the restrictor plate. The blower fan and pusher motor will be controlled by the onboard controller which I will connect to a thermostat I put in the hallway upstairs. I have a 90* elbow connected to the 6" hole in the top of the Magnum that I have aiming at the stairwell....that's the only good way I can think of right now to get heat upstairs. I have a fan at the bottom of the steps to help push the air upstairs. I may turn my central air fan on just to circulate the air in the house and see if that helps distribute the heat. I'm not sure where to set the adjustment screw on the back of the Harman yet, but I'm sure I'll figure that out soon enough.

I'm looking into the broiler option that CrossLink Conversions offers where I could pipe hot water from the Harman to my air exchanger and heat the house that way. Seems kinda pricey, so unless I find a better alternative I won't be doing that for a while. But I really like the added efficiency of that system. Could the Coal-Trol still be used with that type of converison? I was reading about the Coal-Trol...seemed like a nice upgrade.

The only source for bulk coal I've found is a place in Hagerstown Maryland (I live near Winchester, VA). I haven't called for prices, but someone told me they are almost $300 a ton in bulk (not bagged). Anyone know how I can find more sources of coal in this area? Obviously coal suppliers in NEPA are easy to find on this site, but I haven't had too much luck finding suppliers in my area.

random info...I have 2 CO detectors, one upstairs near the bedrooms and one downstairs about 10 feet from the Harman. Fire extinguisher nearby. Switch in the electric line to disable power when I need to dump the ashes. I still need to find a metal box to dump the ashes in. I have a plastic box I could use, but I'd need a second ashpan so the other could cool before dumping into the plastic box.

Anyway, just wanted to put this out there and see if anyone noticed something obvious that I was missing. I've been doing a ton of reading on these forums in the evenings the past couple days. Lots to learn from this site!

 
JonnieBlaze
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Post by JonnieBlaze » Wed. Nov. 28, 2012 10:38 am

Geez...that post ended up being longer than expected :doh: . No hard feelings if no one wants to read it all. Guess I'm just excited and rambled on too much there :blah: .

 
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coalkirk
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Coal Size/Type: Lehigh anthracite/rice coal

Post by coalkirk » Wed. Nov. 28, 2012 10:48 am

Sounds like you are off to a good start. I would suggest repalcing the elbow where the vertical and horizontal pipes meet with a T and cap. That 3' horizontal section will accumulate flyash and with the T you can cleanout it out in a jiffy without shutting down. Just take off the cap, stick in the wand from a shop vac and done in 10 seconds.
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katman
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Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Harman Magnum
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Post by katman » Wed. Nov. 28, 2012 11:17 am

Welcome. You have purchased an excellent stoker. I purchased a mid-sized galvanized trash can to hold my ashes till they can safely be dumped. Works fine--just have to make sure I step away fast into the wind after dumping so I don't get hit with the dust plume. If you can get bulk rice coal delivered to Winchester for $300/ton from Hagerstown I'd say go for it. But make sure it is anthracite before you order. If you have a Southern States nearby check to see if they sell anthracite.

 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Wed. Nov. 28, 2012 11:25 am

Welcome to the forum.....Sounds like you are off and running and ready to keep warm!

I would get the T installed as suggested by Coalkirk and then install the baro in the end of it. I have run mine this way for many, many years. Once you get your manometer you can dial in the counterweight on the baro. You can then clean out that horizontal section of pipe by inserting the shop vac wand through the open flapper on the baro without shutting down the stove. This set up has worked very well for me.

Beautiful area there in Winchester. I was there this past fall for a 4 day golf trip.

 
JonnieBlaze
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Post by JonnieBlaze » Thu. Nov. 29, 2012 2:16 pm

I originally had the T at the 90* turn with the Baro facing forward, but I saw that if I ever wanted to run the 6" duct outlet from the top of the Harman straight up into my existing duct work or into the floor of the room above, the pipe would block the baro. So thats why the baro was put on the horizontal part, facing outward to the side. I can probably fish a vacuum hose on either side of the T to clean up any fly ash.

$300 per ton does not include delivery. I will have to take a trailer up to Hagerstown (about an hour one way from my house) to pick it up. We do have a Southern States in Winchester. I will have to check them out.

The more I read about the Coal-Trol, the more I want to use it from the start and not try to figure out any of these manual settings. It might be better asked in the Coal-Trol forums but I'll ask here anyway for now....With the manual settings on the Harman and using the thermostat I assume you have to make adjustments as temperatures rise and drop through the season? With the Coal-Trol, is the same adjustment needed or will it keep the temperature of the house consistent even as the outside temperature changes from day to day? My father also has a coal stoker, does not use a thermostat, and he has a paper will all the adjustments he uses according to the outside temperature. I know it took him a while to figure it all out, through trial and error, and I was hoping to avoid all that trial and error.


 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Thu. Nov. 29, 2012 3:18 pm

i don't bother to adjust the timers on the Harman control box, I just let the upstairs thermostat control when it is 'on' and not just in 'idle' mode. I probably burn a little more coal this way, but it's probably less than $100 worth. that's not too much in my book when I consider the cost saving of the coal versus propane heat.

it could be that if I had the stove on the first floor instead of the basement i'd mess with the timers since the radiant heat would be able to cook us out more in 'idle' mode.

 
JonnieBlaze
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Post by JonnieBlaze » Fri. Nov. 30, 2012 11:46 am

Another question, I will be plugging the combustion fan into a rheostat controlled outlet so it can run all the time to provide a better burn of the coal (or so I've read on this site). Would it be beneficial while I'm adding this outlet, to add another rheostat controlled outlet for the blower fan, so I can run it constantly at whatever speed I choose? From the instruction manual, it sounds like I can run the blower fan 24/7 by setting its "Extra" time higher than the "Off" timer. Is that good enough or would the extra outlet give me anything extra?

If I do add the second outlet and plug the blower fan into it, would it be possible to trigger my central air fan to turn on using the blower fan port that I would now not be using for the blower fan?

 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Fri. Nov. 30, 2012 1:17 pm

I don't know that you'd gain anything with the second rheostat outlet. I have my distribution fan on all the time by having the "extra" timer set longer than the "off" time between idle mode firings. It doesn't cool off the stove too much in my setup by having it run full speed all the time.

I get a nice complete burn on my coal with the timer set to 4 min on and 11 min off ("extra" timer set to 12min). Last year I tried the combustion blower plugged in a separate outlet so it was always on but didn't see any major difference in unburned coal. That probably varies from coal load to coal load, but this year I haven't messed with it and just left the combustion blower to cycle on and off with the "idle mode" timers and left the distribution blower on all the time.

You'll have to experiment to see what is best for you since each set up has its own personality.

 
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McGiever
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Post by McGiever » Fri. Nov. 30, 2012 4:35 pm

JonnieBlaze wrote:If I do add the second outlet and plug the blower fan into it, would it be possible to trigger my central air fan to turn on using the blower fan port that I would now not be using for the blower fan?
Central air fan can be triggered from the port if triggering a relay first, which would then trigger the central air blower fan.

Central air fan draws too many amps for Coal-trol rating. The relay solves that problem. :)

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