Harman SF3500 Bricked Down

 
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StokerDon
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Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. Dec. 23, 2018 6:11 pm

Since I have been running stoker boilers for the past few years I don't get to hand fire much anymore. About this time of year I get the urge to burn some wood and some big black rocks.

I bought this house 8 years ago and it had an old Blaze King wood/coal furnace installed into a plenum. The "Vee" shaped fire box and the single grate made it difficult to burn Anthracite,
HarmanFurnaceIinstall 008.JPG
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Lucky for me I found this Harman SF3500 for cheap right after I bought the house. It was a bit of a job getting this monster into the basement!
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HarmanFurnaceIinstall 004.JPG
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Touchdown!
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Now to get it in place.
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And install it.
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Right from the start I bricked it down to 4 grates. The other 2 grates are installed backwards so they don't engage the shaker. Then fire brick was stacked on them.
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A few years ago I bricked it down to 3 grates using the same method.

Now it's kind of hidden behind the Van Wert and a 6 ton coal bin. I fired it up last night and opened some window-stats!
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I shook it down a while ago and loaded it up with 2 buckets of Chestnut and 1.5 buckets of Pea.
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It's a bit rev'ed up right now after the shake and re-load. About 330 on the front.
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About 320 on the stove pipe. Should be about 120 to 150.
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Even bricked down to 3 grates this thing puts a ton of heat into the house.

-Don


 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 10:01 am

Nice looking fire!! :clap:

I miss hand firing sometimes also. I get the chance when we lose electricity and I move the Mark III in place in front of the stoker. Ya never know....if the electric company improves its reliability there might be a time when I flip the main breaker and claim we need to go hand fired!!

Lets see.....garage boiler, basement boiler, basement hand fed.....how many chimneys do you have?? :lol:

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 10:19 am

titleist1 wrote:
Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 10:01 am
Lets see.....garage boiler, basement boiler, basement hand fed.....how many chimneys do you have?? :lol:
Not nearly enough! :lol:

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 7:27 pm

I am really enjoying this hand firing thing on a cold Christmas Eve. It really sets the mood!
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Today we added a couple of monitoring devices.

I put a small meat thermometer near the top of the plenum.
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And, I drilled a hole in the stove pipe and put a copper tube in it for the draft gauge.
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Strangely enough, I have never measured the draft on this furnace. Right now, shortly after a shake down, reload and a little rev up it's about -.02. Most of the day it was about -.01.
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.
One thing I have learned about hot air systems is, the more you blow the air, the cooler it gets. The other day when I fired it up I decided to pull the big blower off and install a smaller 500 CFM unit I had laying around. Yesterday, I removed that and just stuck a box fan on the back. I'm very surprised at how well this works. This hot air system seems to convect really well so the air only needs a little push.
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The heat seems to distribute very well and I don't have as many window-stats open. Since we are not using a return duct, the basement door is propped open about 6". It is in the center of the house which helps.

Merry Christmas!
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-Don

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Tue. Dec. 25, 2018 8:19 am

I shot a short video of the Big Ol' Harman running.

Merry Christmas!

-Don

 
Bubbalowe
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vigilant II 2310
Baseburners & Antiques: Grodin Petite
Other Heating: electric radiators until used boiler hook up

Post by Bubbalowe » Tue. Dec. 25, 2018 11:36 am

Always like the challenge of moving big things.Love the engine hoist tied in the bed of the pickup. :D

 
dcveem3
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Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Harman Magnum (temp basement duty)
Other Heating: Propane/Heat Pump

Post by dcveem3 » Tue. Dec. 25, 2018 6:53 pm

Nice job Don!! That's a beauty!


 
gardener
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Post by gardener » Wed. Dec. 26, 2018 9:57 am

StokerDon,

How did you get it into the basement?

Did you manhandle it down the basement stairwell?

Based on your pictures, I am guessing you have some sort of access door from the outside you lowered it through.

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Wed. Dec. 26, 2018 6:51 pm

The basement entrance is right behind the furnace. From here it's a simple matter of lifting the furnace about 3 feet. Then back the truck up about 5 feet and lower the furnace into the basement.
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The stairs were removed to make this happen. From here I rolled it on pipes to get it in place.
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-Don

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Wed. Dec. 26, 2018 7:00 pm

Were going to run this for a few more days.

Here's a little ash comparison between the Axeman Anderson 130M and the Harman. Keep in mind that the coal we are burning in the Harman came out of the Axeman's bin.
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Axeman ashes...
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Harman ashes...
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It's hard to believe it's the same coal! In the Harman, this coal burns almost to dust! I wish I could teach the Axeman to do that.

I put another load in. All set for the night.
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-Don

 
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Canaan coal man
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Coal Size/Type: Stove And Nut

Post by Canaan coal man » Wed. Dec. 26, 2018 9:46 pm

Don have you ever had the chance to play with a hand fired boiler? Maybe we will get a nice detailed review some day, if you ever have the chance to plumb one in?

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Thu. Dec. 27, 2018 9:36 am

Canaan coal man wrote:
Wed. Dec. 26, 2018 9:46 pm
Don have you ever had the chance to play with a hand fired boiler? Maybe we will get a nice detailed review some day, if you ever have the chance to plumb one in?
Sorry no I haven't. I would be a little afraid to run a hand fired boiler in my house. My heating system is all PEX. Hand fired boilers have a habit of overshooting the water temperature and PEX should be kept under 200 degrees.

-Don

 
Bubbalowe
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vigilant II 2310
Baseburners & Antiques: Grodin Petite
Other Heating: electric radiators until used boiler hook up

Post by Bubbalowe » Thu. Dec. 27, 2018 12:18 pm

StokerDon wrote:
Thu. Dec. 27, 2018 9:36 am
Sorry no I haven't. I would be a little afraid to run a hand fired boiler in my house. My heating system is all PEX. Hand fired boilers have a habit of overshooting the water temperature and PEX should be kept under 200 degrees.

-Don
My 87 year old Father tells stories of growing up with a hand fired steam boiler and every once in a while the pressure would hit the pop off and fill basement with steam. Guess that's one way to humidify air although it does have some odor.

 
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Post by corey » Thu. Dec. 27, 2018 5:38 pm

Nice setup Don.

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Thu. Dec. 27, 2018 7:57 pm

Thank's!

I started a Playlist for the videos.

I don't know how many more I will do. It's going to be 60 tomorrow so I think I'm just going to let the Harman go out overnight.

-Don


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