Where Are All the New Hand-Fired's ?

siblay · Post by **siblay** » Sun. Oct. 05, 2008 7:21 pm

Yeah. I run everything in my house too. The washer, dryer, vacuum cleaner......

rberq · Post by **rberq** » Sun. Oct. 05, 2008 7:41 pm

After a year of being manly, I want a stoker, but the practical wife says she wants heat even if the electricity goes out and a blizzard keeps it off and locks us in the house for a week. So the hand-fed stays. But I think I'll adopt Freddy's idea of a bicycle-powered fan instead of that little squirrel-cage thing, and I'll encourage the wife to pedal it.

Post by **Rob R.** » Mon. Oct. 06, 2008 5:58 am

It finally cooled off enough for me to stretch the legs on the new Hitzer, lots of heat and a very even burn. For the price, I would recommend one of these to anyone.

**Broken Image Link(s) Removed**

Adamiscold · Post by **Adamiscold** » Mon. Oct. 06, 2008 7:24 am

Mark

How much did that stove cost you?

tsb wrote:Hello,
Now who is a manly man ?

TSB

Sounds like the wife is

Post by **Rob R.** » Mon. Oct. 06, 2008 8:04 am

Adamiscold wrote:How much did that stove cost you?

I would have to dig out the receipt for an exact number, but it was roughly $960 shipped to the door.

Adamiscold · Post by **Adamiscold** » Mon. Oct. 06, 2008 8:15 am

That's not a bad price at all. Did you buy it directly from Hitzer?

Post by **Rob R.** » Mon. Oct. 06, 2008 8:39 am

Yes. There are no dealers in my area so they agreed to ship direct.

patkingcoal · Post by **patkingcoal** » Mon. Oct. 06, 2008 9:51 pm

Newbie to the coal quality of life here... Bought myself a Harman Mark II in June, waiting to light it up. With oil prices costing more and more I went with a hand fired stove because of the initial cost of the stove and if I lose power over the winter I wont lose heat. I heard that the Mark II's are good so I'm looking forward to some cold weather. I got lucky too, I bought the stove before the prices in my area went up and I think they are now backordered.

Good luck this heating season. Any advice, I'll be glad for... I'm sure I'll have a couple FU's thrown around when I go to light it.

I'll tell my wife to take the kids outside or something.

Mantis · Post by **Mantis** » Tue. Oct. 07, 2008 10:14 am

After only two goof ups, my stove has been cookin along nicely for about two weeks. The first fire went out because I didn't give it some air and livin it before adding coal. The second screw up was not shaking enough ash and smothered the fire. This thing is so easy to use it's silly! Getting a fire started is a breeze when using a little paper and wood. (Devil that tip about a few pieces of paper below the stack to start the draft was awesome thanks!) Temp control is sweet. I know things will change when it gets colder out but for now I can get the whole house up to 85*+ or slow it down to 70*-. My girlfriend easely keeps it fired when I'm workn a 24hr shift. It's everything I was hoping for and the best move I ever made. I can't thank you guys enough for the help.

Devil505 · Post by **Devil505** » Tue. Oct. 07, 2008 10:21 am

Mantis wrote:After only two goof ups, my stove has been cookin along nicely for about two weeks.

Good for you!! The TLC is a great stove! (I've had three stoves & this is the best, by far)

(This time of year & early Spring are the toughest time to keep your stove going well due to cool fires & weak drafts. Once the colder weather arrives it actually gets much easier to keep the stove humming)

Mantis · Post by **Mantis** » Tue. Oct. 07, 2008 11:02 am

(This time of year & early Spring are the toughest time to keep your stove going well due to cool fires & weak drafts. Once the colder weather arrives it actually gets much easier to keep the stove humming)

Sweet! One question I have is, when it gets real cold out do you run the bottom slide draft wide open? Or does that overfire the stove?

Devil505 · Post by **Devil505** » Tue. Oct. 07, 2008 11:11 am

Mantis wrote:Sweet! One question I have is, when it gets real cold out do you run the bottom slide draft wide open? Or does that overfire the stove?

That could overfire your stove! (I think Harman wants you to slide it all the way when you are livening up the fire for shake down or start-up. (I just open the ash door & don't even touch the slider until I want to set the stove temp when done)
In operation, I have never even needed to set the slider 1/2 way open to get the temp I wanted.......Very fine adjustment will do it!

Mantis · Post by **Mantis** » Tue. Oct. 07, 2008 11:35 am

(I just open the ash door & don't even touch the slider until I want to set the stove temp when done)

My very first attempt at loading coal over a nice hot batch of wood coals I did just that. Unfortunatly I had a "puff back" that sent the ash door flying all the way open. I almost pee'd down both legs. Thank god it was the very first fire and there wasn't much ash to speak of. Now I just use the slider. Or open the ash door for five min then close right before loading.

BTW I did bank the fire to one side I'm not sure why it puffed but haven't had it happen since.

Devil505 · Post by **Devil505** » Tue. Oct. 07, 2008 12:00 pm

Mantis wrote:BTW I did bank the fire to one side I'm not sure why it puffed but haven't had it happen since.

There is a thread on shaking down hand-fired stoves somewhere here but a main point (that I have always found necessary to avoid puff-backs) is to leave a burning section of the coal bed uncovered & still flaming to burn off volatiles. If you leave some flames showing you wont have any puff-backs. Sometimes, if I see the flame has gone out, I may even open the load door for a few seconds to introduce fresh air to get the volatiles to ignite in a controlled way.
Banking will usually do the trick but you have to make sure you can see flames. No flames...No volatiles burning off!

rberq · Post by **rberq** » Tue. Oct. 07, 2008 3:03 pm

patkingcoal - Yes, here are a couple suggestions for the first time you fire the new Harman. First, if it's new (not used) you will get a lot of fumes from the paint the first time it heats up. Another good reason to send the wife and kids out for a few hours. Second, I and at least one other Harman user had gasket troubles on first firing. The gaskets stuck to the curing paint, so when we tried to open the doors they were stuck tight. My gaskets didn't pull loose from the doors, his did. Open the doors briefly and frequently to avoid this. Someone suggested spraying the gaskets with Pam or some such non-stick cooking oil before starting. Seems like that would work.