Am I running my Harman Magnum too aggressive??

Hello everyone. I just want to mention that this forum is awesome! I bought a new house last year which has a Harman Magnum coal stove installed. It's been quite a learning experience as I've never used coal before. It didn't take me long to convert after my first oil bill came in. It's heating the house well enough for us, but I was wondering if there was such a thing as running it too hot? I have attached some pictures of what I mean.

Front View



View from top(Notice the ash clumping and hanging over the edge of the grates)



Sometimes the blue flames are out in front of the upside V? (i'm a novice, I don't know what that is but it seems to be there to help move the warm air out. ) Other times when I open the door I see blue flames run down the sides of the grates towards the ash pan for a moment or two. I just want to make sure I am running this correctly!

I used up the coal that was in the bin from the previous owner and then got a half ton from Mammoth Materials. I think I'm going to try Direnzo's for my next half ton to see if there is a difference..

Harmon is an expensive lil' perk to get with the house
I will leave the burning of a Harmon Stoker to those more qualified then I (there are plenty of them here!) BUT
I DO want to comment on your door gasketing time to replace it my friend!!!

dcrane wrote:Harmon is an expensive lil' perk to get with the house
I will leave the burning of a Harmon Stoker to those more qualified then I (there are plenty of them here!) BUT
I DO want to comment on your door gasketing time to replace it my friend!!!

Please continue here replacing gasket LOL

This is a must have item..manometer install

as mention you need to replace gaskets... me personally it would be right away. Bad gaskets will cause over draft which in return creates over fire issues.

I'll have to replace the gaskets, I'll do it once the heating season is over. I believe it's about 20 years old. Anyone know how long the life expectancy is of such a stove?

I saw some posts mention that sometimes a manometer is needed and sometimes it's not depending on if it's forced draft or not? This has been running for 20 years without one..?

PeteM wrote:I saw some posts mention that sometimes a manometer is needed and sometimes it's not depending on if it's forced draft or not? This has been running for 20 years without one..?

What a manometer does it allows a accurate draft setting. You can run any stove with out one but you defeating a answer to your question. So once you replace gaskets and check draft, clean grates we'll better be able to fullfil your request

I'm not much of a stoker guy (yet), but looking at that fire it looks to me that the feed rate needs to be cranked up. Fire is way too close to hopper, and there's way more than the 2" -4" of ash on the end.

Just a thought ...

I agree with Smitty. Also the fire would normally make more of a straight line across the burn grates. Have you pulled (and returned to position) the slide lever that sticks out from the left side of the bottom of the burn grate assembly to release accumulated fines and help the air to flow properly under the grates?

Mike

It is cranked almost to max. I have moved the lever on the bottom but I haven't done it in about a week so I will do that when I get home tonight.

The funny thing about the ash is that there is about 1-2 inches on the grate but the coal is clumping together and hanging off of the edge of the grates. Sometimes the coal won't drop to the pan until it is just about to hit the glass door.

Sounds like you got a shitty batch of coal. A little bitty mixed in, possibly.

Ok, I was curious about that. That is spot on from the other sub-forum here about coal suppliers. I got this batch from Mammoth Materials and someone posted that their rice wasn't sized properly and that it's too small. Who knows what else could be wrong. They are nice people but it seems like the price may not be worth the results.

Direnzo coal is a bit further away but this year it seems their rice is getting great reviews. I'll go get some this weekend.

If you're running close to wide open, it might be worth cutting back the air a little bit (by closing somewhat the sliding cover on the side of the combustion fan). Sometimes that can help to reduce clinkering, and it should move your fire a little further down the grates. After you switch coal, you probably will need to revisit the feed/air settings to make sure the fire is in the correct position on the grates.

Also, the next time you shut it down it would be good to make sure all of the holes in the grates are open (especially if your coal has a lot of undersized pieces).

Mike

There is a cover on the combustion fan? I took the mesh cover off of the fan as some coal pieces were pushed down to the fan to be removed but I don't recall seeing any type of cover for it? Anything that would block some air flow I mean..

I had the grates off last week and made sure they were open and blowing air so I should be OK there.