Advice with the Harman Super Mag

just wondering if anyone would share they're preferred settings for this stove. Room temp or stove temp? I know every application is different but, I have done nothing but jump the settings around every other day trying to get the best burn w/ little luck. Also, im burning through coal, about 80 lbs a day. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

I don't burn the super mag but have burned the regular mag and the vf3k boiler which uses the same stoker. As you said, every application is different. I'm assuming you are trying to heat your whole home with this stove. Many do heat their homes this way but it's an uphill battle. I average 60 #'s per day right now in my boiler heating my entire home. Using 80#'s per day doesn't sound too bad considering it's a stove with a tough mission. If you have a little ash at the end of your grate before it falls into the ash pan AND you have a properly adjusted barometric damper installed so you are retaining the heat you produce, I'd say you are getting the most you will get from a stove.

where are you located and where is stove located? How big and old is house.

I had a Mag stoker for a little, when I piped the air upstairs it almost cut my consumption in half


Eric

I am in northeastern pa. White haven/Freeland area. The house, including the basement is about 3200 sq ft. About 80-90 yrs old. It was gutted in 1978 but insulated poorly. I have 3 doors to repplace and 3 windows. I aslo have some oil left in the tank for my steam baseboard, but I want to rid myself of the oil. I also have hydronic electric baseboard upstairs. Im not trying to heat the whole house, although that would be great, I expected the basement to be heated, along with the floor being warm( it is in some areas), and the first floor warm. I understand heat rises. It almost seems like the heat is rising to fast because I think the upstairs is more comfortable than the first??!! I have the basement door open, and 5 registers I arranged to be in the coldest areas of each room. I thought that would make a circulation. Warm air rising up the steps, and the cold air falling at the windows in each room. Just not going to plan as of now. I am planning for some ductwork.
Thanks

sorry, my stove is in the middle of the basement, piped into the chimney.

jkrf27 wrote:I am in northeastern pa. White haven/Freeland area. The house, including the basement is about 3200 sq ft. About 80-90 yrs old. It was gutted in 1978 but insulated poorly. I have 3 doors to repplace and 3 windows. I aslo have some oil left in the tank for my steam baseboard, but I want to rid myself of the oil. I also have hydronic electric baseboard upstairs. Im not trying to heat the whole house, although that would be great, I expected the basement to be heated, along with the floor being warm( it is in some areas), and the first floor warm. I understand heat rises. It almost seems like the heat is rising to fast because I think the upstairs is more comfortable than the first??!! I have the basement door open, and 5 registers I arranged to be in the coldest areas of each room. I thought that would make a circulation. Warm air rising up the steps, and the cold air falling at the windows in each room. Just not going to plan as of now. I am planning for some ductwork.
Thanks

What air path is allowing warm air to the upstairs...and can you regulate that pathway to slow down the movement? This would help improve temps on first floor.

If you have an open floor plan, then only a ceiling fan pushing down will help.

the basement door being open is allowing the heat to get upstairs . I have attempted to close the door with the idea of more heat rising up through the registers but with no luck and in the morning the house was colder. it seems like I have tried many of the suggestions I have been getting already. I am going to run ductwork and see if that helps me out. If not, ill be installing an insert in my fireplace. Thanks

A couple thoughts....
The size of the house and poor insulation makes the 80lb seem reasonable to me. Basement walls insulated? I have our regular mag stoker in the uninsulated basement heating about 2800 sqft and am using 50-80 lbs per day. depends on how cold it is of course, and I am a lot further south than you are.

Air circulation is one of the the toughest nuts to crack in my opinion because each house is very different with its air circulation. What helps the cold air return from the furthest rooms is having duct work from the floor register drop to the basement floor. I disconnect the A/C supply duct in the furthest room from the trunk leaving it on the floor register and have it dropped to the floor. Without this it seems most posts i have read indicate the warm air at the basement ceiling keeps the cool air from dropping. If the cool air doesn't leave the room, the warm air won't flow in as well.

the basement is not finished nor insulated. its an old stone foundation that is about 2.5 ft wide. I just installed new windows. Im going to get some ducts and make some short runs with dampers. I tend to agrre with the theory of the warm air at the basement ceiling trapping the cold air unless you have ductwork. I am goin g to run two 5-10 ft ducts to registers. See what happens. I know that stove can do a better job of heating on the first floor, just have to mess around for a little

jkrf27 wrote:the basement is not finished nor insulated. its an old stone foundation that is about 2.5 ft wide.

Those basement walls are going to absorb a ton of heat...you will need to duct the hot air to the first floor to get better results.

I had a super mag in the basement ducted to the first floor. Put out lots of heat, but much of it was lost in an area where it was not needed. The super mag went to the folks house where it is in a family room, doing great. I installed a boiler to transfer the heat to the upper floors

Did you have dampers inline with your ductwork to help steer and control the airflow. I was hoping I could attempt to distribute the heat as evenly as possible with dampers. I am only planning to have a 15 ft trunk with 2-4 ft braches. I thnik with the use of dampers I will be ok, but..... I have been wrong before. I'm running the trunk and 2 supply registers this weekend. I'll keep eveyone updated.
Thanks

I am running a Panasonic FV-20NLF1 in kind of a push pull setup off the duct ring welded into my Keystoker 90. The Keystoker pushes 250 CFM, and the Panasonic pulls at about 250 to 260 CFM. It is amazing how the heat is now so even. the basement runs 72 to 74 and upstairs is set at 68 to 69 depending on the thermostat upstairs managing the Panasonic blower.