Am I Expecting to Much?

So I have a Harman mark II and this is the fist year i'm burning coal in it. Anyways it throws heat, and all my settings seem correct...(stove about 500 stack about 250) its in a exposed block basement and I cant get nearly the temps other people are talking about! Tops I can get my basement to about 69 and thats when it is about 30 degrees out. Could I be doing something wrong? What else should I be looking for, I don't have a manometer, there is only a manual damper for when I burn wood, sometimes I use on coal..not always. I'm I just losing that much heat though the block? Side note the house does stay about 69 upstairs too, and the house is about 2600 square feet.

I'd get a manometer to see what your stove is actually pulling. I'm not sure where the Mark II should be set at. Others who have one will chime in soon enough. Also a Baro damper will help too.

It sounds to me like you are losing a lot of the heat up the stack since you leave the MPD open all the way. Again a Barometric damper used in conjunction with the MPD wil help some too. Does the MPD you have also have holes in the center of it? If so you should be able to close the damper all the way to keep the heat in the stove. If not you'll have to leave it open a little or take it out and replace it with one that has holes. Though I'm sure you can also modify it by drilling some holes in the center of it.

Do you know what your stove temps are? How do you have the stove set up?

the mpd does have holes in it and I when I do close it, it drops the stack temp down about 50 degrees, like I said the stove temp is about 500, the stack sits about 200-250 depending on how much I have the bottom damper open. Its a easy set up 90 out the back to a straight pipe to a 90 to a straight pipe so a s shape to the chimney flue,(the chimney flue is 6 inch). I tried the baro damper before I hated it so much I ripped it out. Like I said its is heating the 2600 square foot house to about 69 (at least in the living room) in the basement were the stove is at though its only 69 too. I have heard people getting up to almost to past 80. Like I said maybe i'm expecting to much? I just feel like my house should be about 75 atleast? maybe. ..

Baro properly setup, with a MPD and tuned using a manometer...
Will reduce the heat loss up the pipe...
How many turns out is the ash door vent...
Coal to the fire brick top...
Stove away from the block wall and using heat shield...
Fan running...
2600 with the basement or without...
Insulation, windows...
What is the heat loss...

Wait a min --- I am reading its 69 in the basement and its warm upstairs -- but we covet 80 in the basement???

Yes

NO?

well if its warm upstairs the appliance must be working well - so whats the heat loss calculation of that basement space? if the walls are thick damp and cold - it could be huge -- Big daddy - can you measure the foundation wall temp? I wouldn't advise you to insulate the inside as if it is an old stone rubble footing the frost will penetrate it and undermine the house - If it is indeed the heat sink of your nightmare - you want to consider digging and insulating the outside down to the footing. But I am getting ahead of the subject again.

bigcoaldaddy wrote:So I have a Harman mark II and this is the fist year i'm burning coal in it.
(stove about 500 stack about 250) its in a exposed block basement and I cant get nearly the temps
other people are talking about! I'm I just losing that much heat though the block? Side note the house does stay about 69 upstairs too, and the house is about 2600 square feet.

Yes you are expecting too much.
My stove is in the basement, and it's also block, and I am heating less area.
BUT, I can tell you that before I insulated the basement,
it was a bear trying to keep warm.
I put 1" rigid insulation on the top 4"feet of the foundation,
(because the panels are 4' wide)
and fiberglassed the exposed area of the rim joist, to the rigid.
It made ALL the difference in the world. Can't begin to tell you....

Back to your stove though,
your temperature ratio sounds fine to me, not knowing exactly where you
measure your temps... if you are measuring somewhere around 18" or so from
the back of your stove on the pipe, and the side of your stove.
Keep in mind that when people tell you to use a manometer, or baro,
that information has more to do with efficiency of your stove, or, isolating
a problem if you can't get the thing to run well.
Your problem isn't the stove running, it's losing too much heat through the blocks....
If the stove is say 500* on the side,
the house doesn't know if it has a manometer, baro, or whatever.
It's still 500*
If you are using 3 bags of coal a day, and only getting 500* on your stove,
THEN you need to intall a baro... that is what they are best at.. higher efficency of the burn.
If you are keeping 2600 sq. ft. @69, with a Mark II,
you do NOT have a serious issue with the stove..
It may be a tad undersized if anything.
But cement blocks are absolutely a horrible heat sucker..
But that is MY opinion ONLY..

Dan

Thanks dan, I kinda thought thats my prob the stove seems to be running fine I don't go though 3 bags of coal, and from reading all the past post about stove temps mine seem to be fine from what I read. I didnt even think of the heat shield that prob the best idea I have heard in a bit so I will be doing that tonight. Thanks for all the thoughts and advice!!!