Harman Mark 3 cleaning grates

 
stanwood584
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Post by stanwood584 » Mon. Nov. 12, 2018 2:26 pm

How many people clean underneath the ends of their grates? I was told that you should take your firebrick out and lift the grates and clean underneath the ends of them since they collect ash there and that causes problems with trying to shake your ashes.


 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Mon. Nov. 12, 2018 3:29 pm

I never had to clean out under there to get the shaker grates to move. I would put 4 or more tons through it in a heating season and the only grate binding issue would be from a clinker wedging between the grates, not from ash build up at the ends of the grates.

I did do that when shutting down for the season and giving it a complete shop vac clean out for summer storage.

 
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CoalHeat
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Post by CoalHeat » Mon. Nov. 12, 2018 8:29 pm

I've never had issues with the pivot points at the end of the grates. I have a Mark I with only 2 grates, but the design is the same. My issue has been with poor quality coal where stones and hard clinkers jam the grates. Most times I can avoid issues by not moving the lever too far during shaking.
The Mark series are very well made stoves, my only complaint is the ash door opening and the ash pan, they are not the full width of the grates so ash misses the pan completely during shaking. Usually during the heating season I have to shovel out the bottom of the stove weekly, if I don't ash will build up until I can't get the empty pan back in. I would think 2 sheet metal pieces on each side of the stove, under the grates, at a 45 degree angle would be a great modification.

 
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Post by CapeCoaler » Mon. Nov. 12, 2018 9:11 pm

Nope never...
Same as above...
Might get the grates jammed from time to time...

 
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CoalHeat
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Post by CoalHeat » Mon. Nov. 12, 2018 9:21 pm

I've managed to get jams cleared by poking up from underneath with a stiff wire bent at a 90 degree angle at the end, but it's a real PITA. I have been burning Lehigh nut, have never had an issue with their coal.

 
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Post by oliver power » Tue. Nov. 13, 2018 2:18 am

CoalHeat wrote:
Mon. Nov. 12, 2018 8:29 pm
I've never had issues with the pivot points at the end of the grates. I have a Mark I with only 2 grates, but the design is the same. My issue has been with poor quality coal where stones and hard clinkers jam the grates. Most times I can avoid issues by not moving the lever too far during shaking.
The Mark series are very well made stoves, my only complaint is the ash door opening and the ash pan, they are not the full width of the grates so ash misses the pan completely during shaking. Usually during the heating season I have to shovel out the bottom of the stove weekly, if I don't ash will build up until I can't get the empty pan back in. I would think 2 sheet metal pieces on each side of the stove, under the grates, at a 45 degree angle would be a great modification.
HITZER has a nice ash pan. It's like a big flat shovel. After emptying the ash pan, when sliding it back in the stove, any ash in the way gets scooped up. Works very well. So well, we turned the ash pan on my uncles Mark-III into a big flat shovel.

 
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Post by titleist1 » Tue. Nov. 13, 2018 7:13 am

CoalHeat wrote:
Mon. Nov. 12, 2018 8:29 pm
I've never had issues with the pivot points at the end of the grates. I have a Mark I with only 2 grates, but the design is the same. My issue has been with poor quality coal where stones and hard clinkers jam the grates. Most times I can avoid issues by not moving the lever too far during shaking.
The Mark series are very well made stoves, my only complaint is the ash door opening and the ash pan, they are not the full width of the grates so ash misses the pan completely during shaking. Usually during the heating season I have to shovel out the bottom of the stove weekly, if I don't ash will build up until I can't get the empty pan back in. I would think 2 sheet metal pieces on each side of the stove, under the grates, at a 45 degree angle would be a great modification.
I agree with this being an annoyance....I slide the ash pan all the way to the right side (shaker linkage is in the way on the left) so it catches all the ash from that side and then i only have one side to use the ash shovel on.


 
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CoalHeat
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Post by CoalHeat » Tue. Nov. 13, 2018 8:27 pm

oliver power wrote:
Tue. Nov. 13, 2018 2:18 am
HITZER has a nice ash pan. It's like a big flat shovel. After emptying the ash pan, when sliding it back in the stove, any ash in the way gets scooped up. Works very well. So well, we turned the ash pan on my uncles Mark-III into a big flat shovel.
Good idea!

 
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CoalHeat
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Post by CoalHeat » Tue. Nov. 13, 2018 8:34 pm

titleist1 wrote:
Tue. Nov. 13, 2018 7:13 am
I agree with this being an annoyance....I slide the ash pan all the way to the right side (shaker linkage is in the way on the left) so it catches all the ash from that side and then i only have one side to use the ash shovel on.
I have been doing the same, only sliding the pan all the way to the left!
I'm about to enter my 12th season with this stove, ran a LOT of coal thru it. I took it out the door on a hand truck last month for a well-needed paint job. Also still had last years ashes in it...oops.
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Post by zeke1256 » Fri. Nov. 23, 2018 6:13 pm

I have the same stove, Mark 1, bought it used 2 years ago. I think I need to change the brick inside, some are cracked, is this a easy job, have you ever done it? Thanks for any info.

 
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Post by titleist1 » Fri. Nov. 23, 2018 7:55 pm

It is not hard to replace the brick. There is a retaining bracket at the front that needs to come out, held in place with a bolt. Then you just remove the brick starting at the front and making your way around the perimeter. There are some smaller ones used, you will need to cut a full size brick to fit or buy ($$$) them from a Harman dealer. If they are just cracked but not missing chunks and are still in place I would run it as is. If the cracks bother you you can use furnace cement to seal them.

 
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CoalHeat
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Post by CoalHeat » Fri. Nov. 23, 2018 10:05 pm

I've had a couple cracked firebricks in mine for years.
As titleist1 said, as long as they are still in place it's no big deal.

 
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Post by zeke1256 » Thu. Nov. 29, 2018 11:41 am

Hi, sorry I'm late on this, thanks for the info, I'll leave the bricks alone for now. Another thing or two about this stove, the front glass gets black soot heavily, at times, mostly up from the bottom and sides. Is this the glass gasket? I can see nuts around it on the inside of the door. Also as another poster said, I cleaned somewhat what I could reach up and on the top plate, inside the top front of the stove. There had to be 1/2 inch of ash on this. The stove heats faster and goes better now. I'm going to try to make a tool of some sort to get in up in there and scrape it to the front and out.

 
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Post by stanwood584 » Wed. Nov. 06, 2019 3:56 pm

zeke1256 wrote:
Thu. Nov. 29, 2018 11:41 am
Hi, sorry I'm late on this, thanks for the info, I'll leave the bricks alone for now. Another thing or two about this stove, the front glass gets black soot heavily, at times, mostly up from the bottom and sides. Is this the glass gasket? I can see nuts around it on the inside of the door. Also as another poster said, I cleaned somewhat what I could reach up and on the top plate, inside the top front of the stove. There had to be 1/2 inch of ash on this. The stove heats faster and goes better now. I'm going to try to make a tool of some sort to get in up in there and scrape it to the front and out.
Just now reading this old post I started, Mine gets ashes on the top plate also, Called the dealer and he said you should pull the stove out every year and tilt it forward to get the ashes out and also you should pull your stove away from the wall & chimney every year when your done heating so it doesn't draw moisture inside and rust, well that is something I never knew and it would be a real PITA to do that.

 
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Post by coalkirk » Thu. Nov. 07, 2019 8:10 am

You don't need to pull it away from the wall, just disconnect the smoke pipe from the chimney.


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