Harman Homemade Accessories

 
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JB Sparks
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Post by JB Sparks » Fri. Nov. 07, 2008 12:56 pm

Hi Guy's,

Just wanted to say thanks for all your help. This is my first experience with burning coal and i'm finding that it's as addictive as burning wood was so many years ago. The big differance of course is coal is a lot easier. Have solved some begining problems thanks to you folks. Namely Devil505 for his spacer block idea, it works pretty good. Also Greg L for the poker idea that works well also. Pic's below.
Wanted to run an idea by you. :idea: Greg L mentioned in another thread about a Harman SF160 with a draft blower on it. I don't have one on my stove. Went to Harman site and looked under accessories, but found nothing on a draft blower for my boiler. I do have a 4" supply air duct routed to the base of the ash door flapper. what do you think about putting a small computer fan in the air supply line and control it with its own relay tied into the aquastat? The only time I would need it is when the DHW circ. comes on. That drops the boiler temp. by about 20* and it takes a little time for the stove to recover. I figure for those times only I would have the fan kick in for a quicker recovery time. Any suggestions or comments will be most welcomed!!
This is a great forum, lately I've been reading the threads on coal history. It is very interesting

Thanks again for all the help.
P.S. i'm an electrican, so if anyone needs help in that aspect i'd do my best to help.
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Sat. Nov. 08, 2008 10:12 am

Harman buys their fans/blowers from Fasco
**Broken Link(s) Removed**
If you know the dimensions, you should be able to match one up on their website

 
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JB Sparks
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Post by JB Sparks » Sat. Nov. 08, 2008 11:26 am

Thanks Smitty, Went out to that cite and found a blower that will work.

JB

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Sat. Nov. 08, 2008 11:26 pm

I'm surprised the boiler doesn't have an available combustion fan.. But what you describe will work well.. My Mennomone boiler was set up this way,, and I copied the circuitry when I made Big Bertha..

I'm sure you will see a big difference in the rate that he boiler recovers from a BTU draw..

Greg L

 
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Devil505
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Post by Devil505 » Sun. Nov. 09, 2008 4:49 am

JB Sparks wrote:Have solved some begining problems thanks to you folks. Namely Devil505 for his spacer block idea, it works pretty good.
Glad it works for you. In looking at your attached pics, do you have enough "Play" between those blocks for the shaker linkage movement? (Looks awfully tight!)
What did you make your blocker bar out of? (Looks like wood covered with foil?.....way more professional than mine!! :oops: )
Two questions: Doesn't ash fall down & jam the free space between your blocks & the shaker linkage? Do you have to clean that out regularly?

If you don't mind, I'm gonna steal your block idea & post the pics on my Harman shaker stops thread if I can find the thread.....Can you provide a link?

 
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JB Sparks
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Post by JB Sparks » Sun. Nov. 09, 2008 5:47 am

Hi Devil505,
Thanks for getting back to me. I Made the block out of a scrap piece of 2x4 and cut in the notch and ripped it to the right hieght, then covered it with aluminum tape. This is the tape the HVAC guys replaced the old duct tape with ( good stuff). As to the shaker travel, I was wondering what you would have thought about that. I made the notch just wide enough so that the top edge of one grate would not go beyond the bottom edge of the next grate in both directions. Does that make sence to you? Did you happen to notice the bolt in the shaker connecting shaft to connecting rod? I used a 1/4-20 grade 8 bolt as the first bolt was a little 8-32 screw which only lasted about a week and just sheered off.
No problem using this block, we want to help everybody we can. If you can tell me how to provide a link i'll be happy to provide it. I'm pretty lame when it comes to doing things on this computer. :oops:

JB
P.S. Yes the ash does fall into the notch and I have to clean it out, but I figure thats easier than getting big hunks of coal jamming up the grate, which is how I broke the shaker in the first place. Although i'm new to coal boilers, I think Harman could have spent a little more time developing the bottom end of this stove. :o
Last edited by JB Sparks on Sun. Nov. 09, 2008 6:20 am, edited 3 times in total.

 
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Post by syncmaster » Sun. Nov. 09, 2008 5:51 am



 
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Post by JB Sparks » Sun. Nov. 09, 2008 6:23 am

Hi Syncmaster,
found a small fan from Fasco i'm thinking of using, it is 30 cfm. Do you think thats enough air or should it be bigger?

JB

 
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Post by JB Sparks » Sun. Nov. 09, 2008 6:46 am

Hi Greg, was hoping to hear from you.
The plan is to extend the automatic flapper box which is attached to the ashdoor, then mount the blower to the bottom of the extension and use a flapper over the fan outlet to cut off air when the fan is not on. Was going to use the aquastat that controls the automatic flapper, but that wouldn't work as the flapper and fan would be on at the same time. I used a second aquastat to make an electrical lock-out of the oil-fired boiler when the coal boiler's temp reaches 150*. it also cuts out the circulator used to keep the oil-fired boiler water up to temp when the coal boiler water drops to 140*, which basically means that the fire went out. Have to keep this set-up automatic so when i'm not around the wife doesn't have to do anything.
Was planning on using a 30 cfm fan smitty found for me on the fasco webcite and maybe install another aquastat to turn on the fan when the water temp drops to 140*. What do ya think?
JB

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Post by Devil505 » Sun. Nov. 09, 2008 7:12 am

JB Sparks wrote:As to the shaker travel, I was wondering what you would have thought about that. I made the notch just wide enough so that the top edge of one grate would not go beyond the bottom edge of the next grate in both directions. Does that make sence to you?
Not sure I understand JB?? In terms of width of the whole block assembly you made, my TLC has a 1.25" bracket that this block must sit on. Yours is a different Harman so it probably requires a different width. In terms of the opening for the shaker assembly to travel within, I was just thinking that yours doesn't look like it allows enough travel for the shaker grates to work...Does it? ( My blocks allow a pretty fair amount of travel but just restrict the very wide opening that Harman provides for cleanout dumping) I like your aluminum tape covering!

As far as the link, if you can just find my original thread (where I started this "STOPS" idea for Harmans) & copy the url you can just paste it into any response here. (example: I just copied (Ctrl C) this page's url & then you can paste that into a response by pressing Shift Insert buttons. Or, just give me the name of the thread & I'll search for it.

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Sun. Nov. 09, 2008 7:46 am

I think your controls make sense, it may require some 'tweaking' of temperature settings, but the idea is sound..

I'm not at home right now, so I can't check the CFM of the combustion blower I have on my Big Bertha, but you really don't need a lot, just some forced combustion air to aid the chimney draft to get the fire going faster, once the chimney gets hot, the natural draft will be much stronger..

Let us know how it works..

Greg l.

 
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Post by Devil505 » Sun. Nov. 09, 2008 7:47 am

I was thinking of slanting the top & sides of the block so the ash would fall into the pan, or close to it.

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Post by JB Sparks » Sun. Nov. 09, 2008 8:38 am

Thanks Greg,
I think i'll use the little 30 cfm fan, can't see it needing more than that. i'll hook it up to a reostat to slow it down if nessessary.
As soon as I get it installed i'll post some pic's.
The best thing I did was to follow your suggestion and install a manometer, didn't realize how strong a draft I had till I put in the manometer, now have the baro adjusted to .05 and noticed a little savings in coal. Don't pay attension to the reading in the pic right now. It's so warm this past couple of days I let the fire go out. Even the oil-fired has'nt come on it's so warm. Besides reliting is easy now that I've had a little practice :D
JB

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Post by JB Sparks » Sun. Nov. 09, 2008 9:11 am

Hi devil505,
Just got knock off line when I submitted a thread to you, so i'll rewirte it now.
The width I was refering to was the width of the notch only not the total length of the block.
The tread you wrote on the stops Is located in (about 5535 html) entitled ("stops" for Harman shaker mechanisms) dated Aug.19,2008. Hope you can find it as your directions were a little on the greek side to me. Not your fault but totally mine.
That is a great tip on slanting the bottom of the notch to let the ash fall out. I'm going to rework the block for that slope.

Hope this helps,
JB

 
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Post by Devil505 » Sun. Nov. 09, 2008 9:36 am

JB Sparks wrote:I'm going to rework the block for that slope.
Great...Post some pics when you're done please. I still can't find that thread but I'll try later.


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