Harman Mark II First Burn So Far So Good

I installed a used Mark II in our house we bought this summer. I lit it on Sun morning for the season. I am burning blaschak nut. I got it fired up and turned the air knob back to 1/2-3/4 of a turn and it is idling along at around 225 stove temp. The house is warm but not roasting us out. I am a little surprised that I was able to turn it back where it isn't too hot being that it was almost 60 yesterday. This morning I got up shook it down and added some coal. Now I just need to keep it going. Thanks for all the information on this site. I am sure I would be having some beginer problems if I hadn't been reading this site for the past year.

Cowentz,

That's a great stove you have there. Congratulations on not only your purchase but your initial success. Nice job researching the posts and getting going.

Take care,

Townsend

Thats the way to do it. You'll have this down in no time at all. Keep up the good work and enjoy the rewards of coal heat.

good stove, you need to develope a technique to get the dead spots going again, this happend ocassionally after a week or more of constant burn. I used to get a 1/8" rod bent 90 on one end to tickle the underside 0f the grate teeth after shaking, I pretty much focused the ticking in areas that did not show a nice red glow showing thru after shaking. Others may have their method, that was mine.

I miss the dancing blue ladies and the technique it took to create the initial new load outgas to start them up.

Try using Pea coal. My MKIII handles it fine and it never,never jams. I have been on it since Oct. 1st. I'll never use Nut again in these seasonal temps. Once winter kicks in here and temps get way down to below freezing I'll switch over to nut.
I use a 4 ft. 1/4 in rod I bought from Home Depot. I bent the end so there is about 2 inches. I poke dead spots in each rear corner and along very front of stove from the top. Some guys don't approve of top pokeing but I never lost a fire or had a bad expierence from it. Just make sure you have a healty bed of coals going all times..3 to 4 inches for Antracite is the written norm. A long poker makes it easy to poke and not get your hands too warm.

Good Luck I love my Harmon. I've been burning for 14 plus years now and always used Nut/Chubby or Small potbelly but these last few winters with Harman and Pea is the cat's meow.

I have to agree with captcaper. I too, am a PEA convert... I switched from Range (50% nut 50% pea) to straight PEA and I'm very happy with the results. Longer burn times, controls better on windy days, shaking down has never been easier with no hang ups or jamming.I use PEA straight through the entire heating season in my BUCK Model 24 Coal Stove.

Me, too. I started out using nut but switched after a couple of years to straight pea. I'm much happier. The only thing is I have to be more careful about shaking the fire because the smaller pea will fall through more easily. When I get my coal every year I buy 3/4 of it pea and the rest nut. I mix the pea and coal on those really cold days that I want a little hotter fire, a little quicker. I have never fired any thing but my Mark II but I love. Even in the beginning - before I found the Forum - I was able to get a coal fire going and heat my house. I have never regretted spending a little more to get the Harman. Continued good luck, Lisa

I bought 3 ton of nut coal because the stove is rated for 1900 sq ft and my house is 2,000+. If I run out of coal I might get a ton of Pea to finish out the year. My wife ask me last night "so what is so dirty about coal?" granted I haven't been burning long but I think she expected everything to be black by now.

A "dirty little secret"...
Coal is cleaner than wood...

cowentz wrote:I bought 3 ton of nut coal because the stove is rated for 1900 sq ft and my house is 2,000+. If I run out of coal I might get a ton of Pea to finish out the year. My wife ask me last night "so what is so dirty about coal?" granted I haven't been burning long but I think she expected everything to be black by now.

Coal isn't the black mess everyone thinks it will be but you have to be aware of how you are handling it; particularly, the ash. First, always shake the stove with the doors closed; watch the air intake valve and if it's lit up, you're done. Second wait at least 5 mins for the flyash to settle down before you open the doors. Turn off the stove's fan and every other circulation devices you may have on. Close the windows if they are open. Now you can open the stove doors; move slowly so you don't stir the flyash up. Put the ashpan cover on before removing the ashpan if you have one; consider getting one made if you don't. The Mark II's ash pan allows some ash to miss the pan along the edges so you find yourself using the fireplace shovel to remove this ash. If you have a dry vac have it going while you scoop this ash out. Don't hold the hose so close that you vacuum up any hot coals but close enough you catch the flyash. Keep the ashpan lid on as you take the ashes out of the house. These are simple steps but they are something that never occurred to me initially.

Something else I was doing was having my son bring in a bag of coal and then dumping it into the "muck" bucket next to the stove. I WAS getting black dust. Now we just put the bag in the "muck" bucket and cut it open.

Just by changing how I was doing "taking out the ash" I've greatly reduced my dust problem. Continued good luck, Lisa