Will the Harman stoves burn Bituminus

I am in Colorado and I am having a hard time finding anthracite anywhere. Will the Harman stoves burn Bituminus also?

A hand fired stove will burn Bituminous coal,, but it won't be as trouble free as anthracite.. with anthracite you just load it in and shut the door,, shake the ashes down every 12 hours or so.. a load of coal in most hand load stoves will burn for 12 hours pluss

With Bituminous, you will have to tend the fire every few hours to make sure the coal hasn't swelled and stuck together,, making a bridge of coal that covers the fire,, the fire can burn out below the bridge, and leave an open hollow with little or no fire.. I often put a split of wood in the middle of the firebox, then loaded Bitum. coal on each side,, the wood would burn up, leaving a gap that would prevent a bridge from forming..

Bitum coal has lots of volitiles.. almost as if the coal was soaked in motor oil.. when you add fresh Bitum to a hot fire you get HUGE clouds of smoke from the volitiles boiling off, and not being hot enough or have enough oxygen to burn.. a good Bitum stove will have a preheated hot air vent over the top of the fire to light off the smoke..most anthracite stoves do not have this.

So you will have a lot of smoke, more soot, and smell,, but if the coal is local to you, and available at a reasonable price, it may be the way to go.

Greg L

hillsbillies wrote:I am in Colorado and I am having a hard time finding anthracite anywhere. Will the Harman stoves burn Bituminus also?

Call Blaschak They have Dealers out you way They ship coal out to the Springs Area

http://www.local.com/details/8483505/ma ... -corp.aspx

I put a note out to Blaschak and STILL have heard nothing from them. Lehman's will ship you a ton of Reading (bagged) but the price is high. http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=1080&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=coal And I've read that Reading doesn't work so well in this stove but I don't know as I haven't gotten my stove yet. I can't find a coal stove dealer in my state. Everyone is pushing pellet stoves and won't even order one. Harman has apparently been sold off and is something of a pain in the butt to the dealers and no one here will even carry the Harmon brand. Wrong topic I know but does anyone know of a dealer in any lower 48 state that will ship a Harmon TLC2000?