Coalpail.com Forum

I look forward to see what the heat output of the stove is. I try to keep the house between 70-75 during winter. Wife likes it warm. I am fine with walking around the house in a t-shirt and shorts when it is -10 outside It makes my house the go to place after work when it is cold outside.

Tim

Won't be long now....can't wait to see your reaction the first time you get to fire it up.

Good evening all,

Got the Harman all hooked up today. Will be lighting it later for its maiden lite. It getting chilly in house at night and with 3 little kidos wife said start it up!

Happy heating season!

Tim

First night was a success! Cant believe how much heat this stove puts out! I am going to have to work on my mounding skills to be able to fill it completely, but first burn was a 13 hr burn and stove idled at a cool 150-200° all night. House is a comfy 70° this morning!

Tim

Congratulations.

I've been burning wood in mine as of these last few cold, damp days. As for banking I don't really load it up to the top of the back fire bricks til I'm into the real cold season. Just remember when banking to leave an area open with some red coals so it can burn off the gasses. One thing with the MII (as is the case with most square fireboxes) when running in an idle mode for a few days you need to poke around all the corners of the firebox to drop the ash bridges down to the grates before the shake down. I use a piece of 3/8" threaded rod that is bent part way up so I can poke straight down into the fire bed. That helps get rid of dead spots in the fire. Yes 12 hour burns between tending. Easy peezie.

Can't beat that! Glad to hear all went well.
And when the weather really gets cold, it'll hum along at 400 just as easily.

Good day everyone,

Stove been idling for past few days. I am impressed how low the stove can go. I am seeing 150° on stove body and around 90° on stove pipe. Draft is between -.02 and -.03. I could never get Surdiac that low. I could probably go lower but fear losing draft. I've been tending ever 12 to 14 hrs and only burn approx 10 lbs in 12 hrs. I have no doubt this stove can heat my house once temps start to drop.

Have a good day,

Tim

You must have better draft than me. I can get 150, but draft drops to .01
I would lose my fire going any lower, but looks like you might get away with it if needed.

Just got my 3 tons of nut for the year. Good size, leaning more towards stove than nut, but dirty as hell...lots o fines.

What brand did you get? My blackshak bagged nut seems a consistant size with minimum fines, but I am only 4 bags in from the 2ton purchased.

Tim

Nice work, i was coming to post my own restoration pics and checked yours out first to one, see your stove and two, make sure i try to post mine appropriately following rules. Did you have any little black chunks in your windows?

I buy bulk coal, not bagged...not washed like the bagged. But I only pay $600 for the 3 tons delivered so can't complain too much

Fat King Coal- I didnt have any black pieces in my glass. My glass has some fine scratch like marks in it, but no issues this far with it.

1st lesson learned- clear all ash...

I noticed the firebox was very black when I went to tend it last evening. Stove temp was around 100° and had a good draft so knew it wasnt a dead fire but it was close. Took some tender care to revive it, but it came back. I figure I wasnt shaking the grates enough to clear all ash. Since this is my 1st true box stove, I feared I'd lose the fire if I shook it aggressively, but noticed I need to shake it quick and choppy. Any tips on the shaking process??

Since this is my 1st true box stove, I feared I'd lose the fire if I shook it aggressively, but noticed I need to shake it quick and choppy. Any tips on the shaking process??

Quick and choppy is the way to go. Also make sure not to move the shaker handle to far when shaking to avoid jamming the grates with pieces of coal. What works best for me is I keep shaking until I see a nice even glow up above when looking in through the ash pan door. Also like I said above I do the poke from the top around the firebox every couple of days before a shake down to keep things from ash bridging.

Hope this helps.

Good evening everyone,

Been burning for a few weeks now with no issues. Just looking for some insight from fellow Mark II owners. I've been burning around 40lbs a day for last 3 days as temps got into the 20s. When I go to tend the stove at approx 12 hr intervals, the firebird is still very red and about 1/2 up on the firebrick in back. After a shake down the coal bed drops to to about 1/4 the length of firebrick in back. Was wondering if I am burning to much coal for the mild temps we've had. The air is set at 1 1/4 turn open and draft stays between -.04 and -.05. It is currently 70-72° in house. Also does anyone have any pics of how they mound up coal in firebox?

Thanks,

Tim