Harman TLC 2000 Comparison When Using & Not Using the Blower?

EasyRay wrote:For many years I used nothing but nut. This year is the first time I decided to try pea and I like it so far. When it gets cold will be a good test. Pea definitely likes more air and when I shake I have to be careful not to dump my fire. I shake fast but not very far.

I forgot to tell you I have a Harman TLC 2000. with a blower. About 24,000 BTU's more than my old coal stove.

I also have the TLC2000 (my 3rd & favorite stove) How would you compare it's operation both when using & not using the blower?

Well its a134cfm variable speed blower. I use it when I want to move a lot of air and not a lot of heat when I keep a low burn. I also use it to do what it was intended to do and move a lot of air and heat.
My stove is in a finished basement, so unless its really cold I don't use it when the stove is really humming along or I would be cooked. The exception being at night when I'm upstairs in bed. I have my computer room, Laundry room and work shop and rec room in the basement. I have a ranch with a walk out basement onto an external porch. I really need to open the rec room to access both side of the stairs. It can get really hot in the rec room. I don't think I ever used the blower more than half way.
If you have a large open area the blower would be ideal.

EasyRay wrote:Well its a134cfm variable speed blower. I use it when I want to move a lot of air and not a lot of heat when I keep a low burn. I also use it to do what it was intended to do and move a lot of air and heat.
My stove is in a finished basement, so unless its really cold I don't use it when the stove is really humming along or I would be cooked. The exception being at night when I'm upstairs in bed. I have my computer room, Laundry room and work shop and rec room in the basement. I have a ranch with a walk out basement onto an external porch. I really need to open the rec room to access both side of the stairs. It can get really hot in the rec room. I don't think I ever used the blower more than half way.
If you have a large open area the blower would be ideal.

I haven't jumped in yet to buy the Harman blower (for $117.00) but I did put a 16" pedestil fan behind the stove & jury-rigged a baffle to direct some of the fan's airflow through the TLC's top stove vent where the blower air omes out too. Wow!! I can't beleive the heat I getting now & the stack temp does drop about 15-20 degrees from around 120 to 100 degrees.
I live in Massachusetts & usually burn around 2 tons of nut coal/year. I'm assuming that (with the fan setup this year) I should be getting more heat for less coal this year!
Three questions:
1. Am I correct in assuming I should go through less coal? (depending on the severity of the winter weather of course)
2. How quiet is the Harman blower when operating on low to medium speeds?
3. Since my fan setup appears to be doing what the blower would do (with the added benefit of moving warm air at the ceiling above the stove) do you see any benefit in buying the Harman blower?

1. I don't know for sure but I doubt you will use less coal.
2. I don't notice the noise because if I'm watching TV I can't hear it. On low, I can't hear it at all if nothing else is on.
3. My wife doesn't like clutter and is anal about a neat clean house. For that reason alone it was worth the extra expense. After 47 years I finally figured that one out.

If what your doing is working to your satisfaction and you don't mind extras hanging around. Then I would probably pass on the blower.

I think adding the blower or a fan behind the stove will allow you to use less coal, if only slightly less, using forced air to distribute the heat from the stove should allow you to close the air vent more, thus slowing down the burn somewhat.My blower isn't running today and I have the air vent open slightly less than 1 turn. Tonight I'll leave the air at 1 turn, but switch the blower on to keep the place warm.

It's the same with a central hot air furnace, a convection unit will not be as efficient as a forced air system.

John

Wood'nCoal wrote:I think adding the blower or a fan behind the stove will allow you to use less coal, if only slightly less, using forced air to distribute the heat from the stove should allow you to close the air vent more, thus slowing down the burn somewhat.My blower isn't running today and I have the air vent open slightly less than 1 turn. Tonight I'll leave the air at 1 turn, but switch the blower on to keep the place warm.

It's the same with a central hot air furnace, a convection unit will not be as efficient as a forced air system.

John

I think you are right John, by adding a fan behind the stove I am getting much more heat projected into the family room & thus upstairs too. I should (hopefully) be able to keep the stove running a little cooler in the months of Jan-Feb (when I typicaly go through alot of coal) since I will be transfering it's heat more efficiently.
I also swapped out the pedestal fan for a remote control mini tower fan I had (usualy just packed away for the winter) which totaly disappears behind the stove. (this fan also allows me to direct the airflow more accurately to the stove-top baffle, draws cooler air from inlets close to the floor & even has a timer on it!)
Bring on the cold weather!!

I have 2 of those tower fans with remotes. They work well, the ones I have seem a little wobble on the pedestals, though. But what do you expect for the price.

John

Hey that pedestal fan was a great idea.

Are you using nut or pea coal? I used nut for years but this is my first time using pea coal. I kinda like it. Its much easier to load and handle than nut but it likes more air than nut.

This is my second season with this stove and the ease of use is a big plus.
My old stove was a top load only. Although I bought this because it was a top loader, I now only load from the front.
Glad your enjoying yours.

EasyRay wrote:Hey that pedestal fan was a great idea.

Are you using nut or pea coal? I used nut for years but this is my first time using pea coal. I kinda like it. Its much easier to load and handle than nut but it likes more air than nut.

This is my second season with this stove and the ease of use is a big plus.
My old stove was a top load only. Although I bought this because it was a top loader, I now only load from the front.
Glad your enjoying yours.

I never tried using a fan (this is my 3rd season with it) but boy what a difference!! I have only used nut coal as I can't even find pea coal around here. As far as loading the TLC, I too only load it from the front as I found that when I tried top loading I was getting chunks of coal everywhere.........Lodged above the fire bricks...stuck between the front grates & the door window, etrc
Other than that I find it the most controlable coalstove I ever owned....& the easiest to clean out.

As long as they gave us TLC-2000 owners our own thread, how about posting some gripes, tips etc that relate to our stove. This is the best coalstove I have ever owned (my 3rd) but that doesn't mean it's perfect.

Here are a few gripes:
1. There is a rail on the left side (just above the ash pan) that appears to be there to prevent ashes from dropping to the left of the ash pan. Problem is it acts as an ash collector & needs to be scraped clean every time I shake down or ashes fall out when cleanout door is opened. (Perhaps they could have solved this problem by angling it down by 45 degrees so the ash would fall into the pan)

2. Top loading the stove leads to coal lodging everywhere with little control. (maybe this is a problem with all top loaders??)

3. Loading door (with window) hinge pins work their way out & need to be checked (& reseated sometimes) so that door doesn't fall off or potentialy bend the bottom hinge if sole support.

Things I like compared to other stoves I've owned:
1. Most controlable stove I've owned, even at low temps
2. Shaker mechanism allows for dumping most ashes during cleanout.
3. Sleak looking
4. Large ash pan
5. Double outer wall construction for closer instalation clearances.

General Observations:

Bought mine with a black door & no blower. (would advise buying the blower )
Has anyone bought/used the grill option? (I thought it was kinda silly.....too small & who wants grease spattered all over their stove?)

Well, You covered almost everything as far as I'm concerned.

Also, one of the problems I encountered was while loading from the top. Fine pieces of coal would get between the fire brick and steel wall, eventually pushing the top of the fire brick inward.
It cracked one in half. So I replaced all the back wall brick this year but I kept the old whole ones for spares.

After I bought my stove the dealer asked me if I wanted the grill. I said ok, but have never used it.
I think its to be used only when burning wood anyway.

Sorry if this is posted in thr wrong area fellers,
I have been looking at stoves now for sometime now and have decided I want one.
I have a single level home that is about 1800 sq ft. I am going to place the stove in the mid way point in my home and plan on pushing and drawing with my ceiling fans.(house has a fairly open layout) I don't think that will be a probem.
I am leaning towards or considering the Harman tlc 2000
1 of my main question however is can I burn a high grade of or any for that matter of bit coal in this stove or do I have to burn just the anthracite.
I live in the base of the eastern pan handle of west virgiana around fairmont. any help/advice would be more than appreciated.
thanks

Hello H8ful. welcome to the site. I would recommend starting a new thread about burning Bituminous, you will probably get more answers to your questions.

You probably can burn bituminous in the tlc2000, but the glass will be solid black in a single day, and you will have all the usual issues with bituminous coal:
sticking together from high swelling index
sticking together and bridging over the fire, even having the fire burn out below a bridge of coal
Lots and lots of smoke when loading fresh coal. this is the volitiles burning off. Most anthracite stoves are not designed to burn off the soot/smoke from the volitiles
Lots of ash, and clinkers, from low ash fusion temperatures.

Anthracite is MUCH easier to burn, but in your location it is hard to pass up bituminous for $55-65/ton.

Read up on the bituminous forum, there is a lot of info there.

I'd lean towards a SF250, or a Harman Mark II or III.

greg L