Who Makes a Quality Stove That Burns Both Wood and Coal?

 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Mon. Oct. 14, 2013 3:16 pm

The DS ComfortMax is rated for 70,000 BTU's. Is that for wood, for coal, or both? Seems unlikely that it would be for both.


 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Mon. Oct. 14, 2013 3:41 pm

Been burning wood lately in my Harman Mark III with good results. Fire doesn't last long, but it throws heat out like you wouldn't believe. I'm content with that. Does the job for now, until I finish my stoker boiler install.

 
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Bootstrap
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Post by Bootstrap » Tue. Oct. 15, 2013 12:26 pm

My warm morning 523R burned wood pretty good. Still not as good as a stove primarily designed for wood. It has vents up high and down low. My Hitzer 30-95 does a decent job burning wood but it needs to be fed every 4 hours at the maximum because it doesnt have a big burn area. I only burn wood on "swing" days. Once the temp drops below 55 as a daytime high, its coal time.

 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Tue. Oct. 15, 2013 1:10 pm

Same here - same temp as a rule. This house can only steadily maintain a 15° differential between indoor & outdoor temperature ..... meaning if it's -14° outside, my house tries to be 1°. :lol: I'm dead serious too!

As soon as the temps fall below 55° at night, our house starts bleeding heat faster and faster. The other night it got down to 37°. We had the wood cranking in the Mark III for about 8 hours, and got the house up to 74° before the cold hit. Fire must've went out around 23:00 or so. We got up to a 64° house. 10° drop in less than 8 hours with the entire basement as a heat sink. It's pretty bad here. :roll: But that's what we can afford in MA - just make do with the hand your dealt. ;)

 
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EasyRay
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Post by EasyRay » Tue. Oct. 15, 2013 7:21 pm

My previous stove was coal only. I used it for many years. The stove I have now, I bought 7 years ago. Its suppose to be good at both wood and coal. I think I tried wood when I first got it and that was the only time I burned wood.

I got it just in case :oops: ...(If you know what I mean.) I like options. Besides my wife liked how it looked.

I haven't burned wood in it since then. Coal is so much easier to fine tune its a no brainer. Besides you can idle way down with coal and never have to worry about creosote or bugs,or the mess, or the labor involved with wood.
It turned out to be a great coal burner so I'm happy. :)

I'm holding off lighting up longer this year. Maybe on the 20th of this month. We'll see what happens weather wise.

 
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EarthWindandFire
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Post by EarthWindandFire » Wed. Oct. 16, 2013 11:49 am

One important note, the DS Comfort Max is approved for both wood and coal.

 
KingCoal
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Post by KingCoal » Wed. Oct. 16, 2013 8:03 pm

LDPosse wrote:
dcrane wrote:
"Pics or it didn't happen"! :mad:
haHaha... How could you not take some photo's of this beauty for us LD :( you know how much we love photo's to tell the story :taz:
I took pictures of the ComfortMAX pamphlet. I didn't take any pictures in their shop, I wasn't sure if they were ok with that or not, being Amish and all.
i could have been interesting in that stove rather than the 1400 circulator if it wasn't for being 35 #'s even heavier, moving the wrong direction in fire box shape and being strictly hand load.


 
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LDPosse
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Post by LDPosse » Wed. Oct. 16, 2013 10:22 pm

KingCoal wrote: I could have been interested in that stove rather than the 1400 circulator if it wasn't for being 35 #'s even heavier, moving the wrong direction in fire box shape and being strictly hand load.
Now if they can come up with a way to make a hopper fed ComfortMax, that would be the hot ticket. I think it's a neat concept, but burning primarily coal, I don't think this would be worthwhile for most of us here on the forum. On the other hand... If I had a wood shed stocked with a few dozen cords of locust, white oak, etc, then I might think differently.

 
Vinmaker
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Post by Vinmaker » Thu. Oct. 17, 2013 8:59 pm

I find that my Harman will burn both coal and wood equally fine. I own an older model that is specifically stamped as being dual fuel. The newer models no longer say that (due to EPA regs I believe) but the design has not changed as far as I know. There are two vents above the fire box for a wood fire and one vent below the firebox for a coal fire. You simply use whichever vent is applicable and close those vents that are not.

Check it out.

Vin.

 
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Post by Mountinpie » Sat. Nov. 09, 2013 10:05 pm

I recently purchased a Harman Mark III that specifically says to burn coal only. I understand a few of the EPA regs, but is it safe to burn wood for a bit until I get a coal bin built? If so, any recommendations on flue dampers, etc.? I have a new home with a brand new masonry chimney. The crock coming through the wall is 8" and my stove pipe is 6". My thought is to install a 6" stove pipe with manual damper until I switch to coal. At that time, I'll install a barometric damper. The stove is located in the basement of a 2-story. I'm new to wood/coal burning so please be gentle! Thanks all...

 
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dlj
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Post by dlj » Sat. Nov. 09, 2013 10:14 pm

Mountinpie wrote:I recently purchased a Harman Mark III that specifically says to burn coal only. I understand a few of the EPA regs, but is it safe to burn wood for a bit until I get a coal bin built? If so, any recommendations on flue dampers, etc.? I have a new home with a brand new masonry chimney. The crock coming through the wall is 8" and my stove pipe is 6". My thought is to install a 6" stove pipe with manual damper until I switch to coal. At that time, I'll install a barometric damper. The stove is located in the basement of a 2-story. I'm new to wood/coal burning so please be gentle! Thanks all...
All hand feds that can burn coal can also burn wood. Use a manual damper with wood rather than a baro. Sounds like you'll have a nice high chimney so draft shouldn't be a problem. I personally don't like running 6 inch into 8 inch, but lots of folk do it. You got what you got... It's as safe to burn wood in your stove as coal. It will just run better with coal.

dj

 
Mountinpie
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Post by Mountinpie » Sat. Nov. 09, 2013 10:20 pm

Thanks dj. I'm a bit leary about it and may be overthinking it a bit. The chimney was built with crocks/masonry block. I hear different opinions regarding installation of a liner. Some say I absolutely need a liner to burn wood as the liner will provide a better draft and less creosote deposits, but I'm not sure that's true. As long as I have the chimney inspected/cleaned yearly, I shouldn't need a liner, right?

 
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Post by franco b » Sat. Nov. 09, 2013 10:39 pm

When you burn wood it makes a huge difference how you burn it. Stuff the fire box full and turn down the air for a long burn, then consider cleaning the chimney every 30 days. Run shorter hot fires that are much cleaner then once a year is probably OK but you should still check for build up or better still burn coal.

 
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dlj
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Post by dlj » Sat. Nov. 09, 2013 11:18 pm

Mountinpie wrote:Thanks dj. I'm a bit leary about it and may be overthinking it a bit. The chimney was built with crocks/masonry block. I hear different opinions regarding installation of a liner. Some say I absolutely need a liner to burn wood as the liner will provide a better draft and less creosote deposits, but I'm not sure that's true. As long as I have the chimney inspected/cleaned yearly, I shouldn't need a liner, right?
Well, when you have that 6 inch pipe going into an 8 inch thimble - you're dropping temperature right there. You will have more creosote deposit than if you run a 6 inch pipe all the way up to the top of the chimney. Plus that actually gives you a better insulted chimney. But you have a long run since you have a two story house and the stove is in the basement. If you burn well seasoned dry wood then you shouldn't have much creosote anyway and it wouldn't matter much. If you're burning wet or green wood, you'll surely have more of an issue... Switch to coal, don't worry about it... ;)

dj

 
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BlackBetty06
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Post by BlackBetty06 » Mon. Nov. 25, 2013 8:38 pm

My Harman magnafire insert which is practically a mark3 has no problem burning wood and holding a fire overnight. In fact I have had a constant wood fire going in it for over a week with no need for a relight. These stoves and I believe all the Harman hand fired stoves are rated as wood/coal stoves outside the US. We are rated coal only due to some dumb EPA regulation that specs the stove doesn't burn wood clean enough. Probably similar to the stupid law that makes it almost impossible to Manufacturer a wood stove that you can still use a screen on. Anyway
My stove vents into a 12X12 teracota flue and has no draft issues however if I were to be burning loads of wood I would probably pull a liner, either that or sweep the chimney every 6-8 weeks just due to my flue not staying super warm due to the size( 7" oval into 12X12). Creosote does form somewhat quickly in the flue. The stove throws good heat with wood and great heat with coal. Just my $.02


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