How to Light a Hand Fired Coal Stove

Thats pretty high where is that at on the stove or the pipe? close the damer down some more. Great Picture!!

Thats the side of the stove

MidnightMadman wrote:Everything is out. I dont want to attempt this again until I have a section of pipe to replace the reclaimer if I need to. I will try opening the window.

Check your PM's.You might want to check your gaskets for seal. If they are not tight you will get leakage.

Buy a bag of real wood chunk charcoal, HD has the 'cowboy brand' it burns hotter than wood and will light off the coal just fine. Stuff a ball of newspaper on top and light to get some heat into the flue.
3-4 inches of the chunk charcoal with some kindling will light it or a propane torch if you want it to light quickly!
Once it starts to spark put 2-3 shovels of coal on, add the coal slowly to the top as the previous batch starts to glow.
Draft does matter!
My Mark II is a bit lazy on the draft, 15-16 feet of 8" Metalbestos but I can have a fire burning when it hits 60* outside. The draft is good but when I shakedown the ash will drift out the ash door vent.
The Hitzer 503 has a 6" insulated flex line 24' inside a lined chimney and it is like a mad vacuum all the time! When you do the ash pan it actually sucks any drifting ash back into the stove!
I have to keep the 503 choked down all the time.

Midnightmadman - You give me hope! Thank you! I am a frustrated coal stove owner right now. I did the series of small fires to "season" the cast iron and then got the stove lit and hot enough to use the manometer......discovered that the draft was a bit high so had to cool down stove AGAIN so that I could get inside to turn the draft door around. Finally got it lit again....had it going marginally (only had flame after having a fan blowing through ash door) for 5 days and then the fire died after a shake down. So, last night I cleaned out the bucket and a half of unburned coal and started from scratch again. I had a GREAT fire going last night - LOTS of heat and flame.......damped it down part way and went to bed.......opened the ash door this morning and got a lively fire going......shook down and things died down terribly! It's now been nearly 1 1/2 hours with the ash door open and I still don't have flames back. What am doing wrong?!?!

FINALLY!!! I think that I have succeeded. I have had a wonderful fire since yesterday afternoon. Thanks to all that offered suggestions! I chucked the funky 3 compartment basket and it made the difference. To those of you that are still struggling all I can say is keep at it! I started of course with a wood fire and added a small shovel full of coal and then kept building a wood fire and adding shovelfulls of coal I did this about 4 times and then just continued to add coal never enough to completely cover the red lit coals. If I can get it I am sure that you will! Good Luck!

Does anyone have a problem with that 2nd layer of coal smothering the underlayer? when you put that second layer on, is there a blue flame or just red hot coals? How long from the time u put a new layer down does it take for the new layer to catch?

Is there anyone in this forum from York Pennsylvania?

Has anyone tried matchlight charcoal to start a fire? Someone in the forums told me that's what they do so I thought I'd try it. First let me say my dizziness and headache scream it's dangerous. The smell was very strong and over powering. Make sure if u do try it that the areas are well ventilated. I'm watching my first layer of coals now to see how long it takes for the real coal to light.

Razzler wrote:Put some tin foil over the barometric damper that should help with the draft.

umm whats a barometric damper? I have a harman 2

CapeCoaler wrote:My Mark II is a bit lazy on the draft, .

I have a Mark II - what do u do about that draft problem?

I'm switching from wood to coal because of all the snow and rain on the wood. I think stacking bags of coal would be easier for me. I have a harman II stove. I bought my first few tester bags of coal and i'm totally clueless

1) how much coal to use when first starting your fire - just coat the bottom grate with one layer of coal?
2) when to add more coals (every 15 mins or until the new layer is glowing red? How many layers am I looking at when I'm done and ready to leave it alone?
3) when do I shake the coal of ashes ex: when the flame is low?
4) when to clean that bottom grate - is it safe to open and clean out excess coals while the fire is cooking above? Obviously if i Let the fires die it will be cold in the house when i clean
5) Is anyone using a coal starter gel? Match light coals?
6) what size coal? I bought the stove size huge nuggets and I have a Harma II
7) how long does it take to get the stove hot after u start it?
8) How do i Know when coal is BAD or not a good brand?

I started the fire like a normal wood fire. I tossed in about 15 coals - but the temps just didn't rise well. I got to 63. So i added more wood - temps rose - I added more coals - seems like the fire is lasting longer before the next wood piece. Maybe the coal is kicking in? temps dropped a bit when the log was almost completely burned. I figured ok the coal can't be working because coal is supposed to keep burning and keep being hot for awhile. I added more coal. Nothing. Added wood - temps rose. Sighhh. I have no heat back up system and a 2700 square foot house - it gets to be below 46 degrees INSIDE my home haha HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP! Anyone live in the York Pennsylvania area want to volunteer their expertise to me?

chicgurl1974 wrote:I started the fire like a normal wood fire. I tossed in about 15 coals - but the temps just didn't rise well.

Read & follow the first post on this thread.

Fan off
Several bags of Blaschak Coal, Nut size, the stove will take 80 lbs from empty.
Blasachak is a good learner coal as it is consistant in quality
Cowboy brand chunk real wood charcoal, one half of the bag in the bottom of a clean stove.
3 sheets of newspaper in balled up fashion to warm stovepipe to start draft
Propane torch or some kindling to light the charcoal
Close top door leave bottom door open
You will know when the charcoal is going because it will look like the 4th of july in the stove!
Add 6 cups worth of coal across the charcoal, close the bottom door, open the air screw two full turns from closed
Wait 10 minutes add 6 more cups of coal
Wait 10 minutes add 6 more cups of coal
At this point some of the coal should be burning
Add 12 cups coal wait 10 minutes
Add 12 cups coal wait 10 minutes
At this point you should be 3/4 up the brick and have some blue flames
At the one hour mark fill the coal to the top of the bricks mounded from front to back.
Keep an eye on the stove sidewall temp it should range from 200 to 450 depending how much heat you want
Fan on
Add coal as needed every 3-4 hours shake every 8-12 hours depending on temps.
This should get you started
Empty ash pan when 3/4 full, stove running
My stove will not go out till April/May
Stove coal is kind of big to start with use the Nut from Blashack to learn on.
Coal burns from the bottom up
Forget everything you know about wood fires and start with a clean slate.

Where did you find that thermometer? Was it expensive?

chicgurl1974 wrote:I'm switching from wood to coal because of all the snow and rain on the wood. I think stacking bags of coal would be easier for me. I have a harman II stove. I bought my first few tester bags of coal and i'm totally clueless

1) how much coal to use when first starting your fire - just coat the bottom grate with one layer of coal?
2) when to add more coals (every 15 mins or until the new layer is glowing red? How many layers am I looking at when I'm done and ready to leave it alone?
3) when do I shake the coal of ashes ex: when the flame is low?
4) when to clean that bottom grate - is it safe to open and clean out excess coals while the fire is cooking above? Obviously if i Let the fires die it will be cold in the house when i clean
5) Is anyone using a coal starter gel? Match light coals?
6) what size coal? I bought the stove size huge nuggets and I have a Harma II
7) how long does it take to get the stove hot after u start it?
8) How do i Know when coal is BAD or not a good brand?

Hi chicgurl, As Devil said read this whole thread from the beginning ALL the answer to your quesions are here. A Harman Mark II is a good stove BUT i don't think it's going to be able to heat a 2700 sq house it's only rated at 72,000 BTU.