DS COMFORTMAX 75 First Review

 
charlesosborne2002
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Post by charlesosborne2002 » Sat. Dec. 26, 2020 10:22 pm

Hounds51 wrote:
Tue. Nov. 24, 2020 2:44 pm
I sure like that stove of yours. If I had to do over again, I would have bought a comfort max stove. At the end of the last burning season my old Estate heatrola gave up the ghost, as it had a split in the firebox. I miss that old girl!
We were burning a lot of wood in it, but that old girl was always hungry for the wood. Any ways long story short I was forced into buying a new stove quick. I wished I had more time to research my stove choices, but I didn't.
I wasn't aware that the government cracked down on the wood stoves. All I know is that you can burn wood in a coal stove, but you can't burn coal in a wood stove, and now that I am getting older cutting and working wood up is getting harder every day. So at that time I was in the market for a electrically free/independent wood/coal stove. My research led me to the Harmon/Legacy TLC 2000, which at one time was listed as an independent wood/coal stove.
I am not a big fan of radiant heat. I would rather prefer convection heat over radiant heat, but no one makes the good old heatrola's anymore . I wished that I would have stumbled over the comfort max in my research, but I didn't. I do like that secondary burn idea.
Currently I am burning only pea coal in the TLC, but earlier in the shoulder season I was burning wood. Which did an ok job. Unfortunately I like to slow burn my wood and as you know that creates a lot of creosote in the process. I do like my TLC, but I wished I would have known something about the comfort max before I made my purchase.
If I ever have to do over again, comfort max would be my purchase.
I was about to buy PLC 2000 or Comfort Max, but found a Vigilant 2 (coal only) on sale and I am happy with it. I like the top load on mine, which I think your TLC has, and CMax does not. My previous wood stove was convection; the Vigilant is radiant--and the radiant puts out more heat I think, even to the back of the house. A big advantage to dual fuel comes if you ever sell your house--most people buying a house want a fireplace or wood stove. They don't rely on it for the main heat unless they have no options.
EPA only regulates the manufacture of stoves--they do not regulate homeowners. (Some local or state governments do, though, and most insurance companies won't insure houses with wood or coal stoves.) Old stoves are not banned or restricted, but with coal there is no EPA standard at all. Anthracite burns cleaner than wood--and much cleaner than electricity if you consider the power plants burning the cheapest and dirtiest coal they can get, then losing power over the miles of wire.

The

 
Hounds51
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: 2 Legacy TLC 2000 one in the upper and 1 in the lower part of the house
Coal Size/Type: Wood and pea, nut ,stove and egg coal

Post by Hounds51 » Sat. Dec. 26, 2020 10:41 pm

11ultra103 wrote:
Sat. Dec. 26, 2020 8:46 pm
I had considered the TLC before getting the Cmax. I actually found a nice used one but it was sold by the time i messaged the seller. Its really nice having the option to burn wood or coal. I do tend to burn this stove hot. Hotter than the recommended temp, at least on the lower shelf. But I find it impossible to stay under the recommended temp especially burning wood. The book that came with the stove says not to exceed 600° and that the cruising temp is 400°. The lower shelf is currently running 460° and the outside temp here is 25°. It was below 20° here for a few days and I had the stove running pretty hard. 500°+ and the lower shelf. Burning wood its impossible to stay below 500°. The secondary tubes work better with wood than they do with coal. They only light when you load the stove at tending time when the stove is running hard. I have not seen them burning under normal operation. But thats ok, its more important they work for wood anyway. I'm not cutting wood anymore, when I need wood I'll just have it delivered. Stacking is enough fun for me, and the local wood guy has one of those whole wood processors so every piece is nice and uniform.
How is the pea coal working for you? I recently read that burning pea in winter produces more heat, and that you should burn chestnut in fall and spring.
Actually you burn pea in warmer weather, and nut or stove as the temps drop. A lot of people keep it simple and just burn nut all winter long. Stove burns the fastest followed by nut, then by pea. It seems that the finer the coal, the slower it burns thus giving you a cooler longer burn. I checked the winter weather projected forecast and they projected a mild winter, so I decided to buy 3 ton of pea instead of nut. But I have around 1 ton of nut from last year and 1 ton of stove from several years ago, so I am coversd for this year.

 
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lsayre
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Other Heating: Resistance Boiler (13.5 KW), ComfortMax 75

Post by lsayre » Sun. Dec. 27, 2020 5:13 am

Hoytman wrote:
Sat. Dec. 26, 2020 10:03 pm
Thought maybe you were busy at the new job. Sounds like you’re liking the stove. That’s great! Tried several bags of pea in it yet?? They say the D.S. grates work real well with pea coal.
Good idea! It should run cooler on pea coal.

 
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11ultra103
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Location: Wannamakers, Pa
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93, DS Comfortmax 75
Coal Size/Type: Nut

Post by 11ultra103 » Sun. Dec. 27, 2020 3:58 pm

Hounds51 wrote:
Sat. Dec. 26, 2020 10:41 pm
Actually you burn pea in warmer weather, and nut or stove as the temps drop. A lot of people keep it simple and just burn nut all winter long. Stove burns the fastest followed by nut, then by pea. It seems that the finer the coal, the slower it burns thus giving you a cooler longer burn. I checked the winter weather projected forecast and they projected a mild winter, so I decided to buy 3 ton of pea instead of nut. But I have around 1 ton of nut from last year and 1 ton of stove from several years ago, so I am coversd for this year.
Thats what I thought. I burned pea in the Comfortmax when I first switched it to coal, that was the only size the hardware store had in stock. They sold the whole skid of nut 10 minutes before I got there. It was very slow to respond to air adjustments. Yesterday I picked up 2 ton of bulk nut coal. Much cheaper than buying bagged. The place I went to only had nut and rice. Thats all they stock. I like to mix the pea and nut together. That seems to burn really well. I do have two 5 gallon buckets of stove coal. I havent tried it yet, mainly because if I like it, theres nowhere I can buy it, other than getting it delivered in bulk. The guy I got the Comfortmax from said it burns stove coal really well. But nut seems to work well in both my DS as well as the Hitzer, so if thats the happy medium between the 2, thats what I'm sticking with

 
Hoytman
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Post by Hoytman » Sun. Dec. 27, 2020 5:17 pm

Understand that. One coal fir two different stoves makes thing easy.

I also was just thinking the pea could help keep the Comfortmax from running so hot in you and be more controllable as well, not that you can’t control it with nut. I would not think stove would be controllable at all in that stove, but running some will tell you what you need to know.


 
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11ultra103
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Post by 11ultra103 » Wed. Dec. 30, 2020 8:39 pm

Hoytman wrote:
Sun. Dec. 27, 2020 5:17 pm
Understand that. One coal fir two different stoves makes thing easy.

I also was just thinking the pea could help keep the Comfortmax from running so hot in you and be more controllable as well, not that you can’t control it with nut. I would not think stove would be controllable at all in that stove, but running some will tell you what you need to know.
I would think stove size could be contolled just as easy. I Definitely noticed the pea took longer to respond to increased air. Even as the flap would open it took longer for the stove to respond. When that flap is closed, there is not much air coming in at all. I'd really like to do a time lapse video of how the stove cycles. Its not like a traditional stove where you set the air and the coal just glows red. It cycled from looking like it s not burning at all, then as the flap opens you see a few blue flames, then its in full burn mode, then the flap closes, the flames disappear and the cycle starts all over again

 
stumpknocker
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Post by stumpknocker » Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 8:43 am

Great Video & review.
Can i get a measurement from the floor to the bottom of the fire box door. The last D.S. i bought was low, so i had them put longer legs on it at the factory
Thanks Art

 
Bombflicker
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Post by Bombflicker » Tue. Aug. 23, 2022 2:10 pm

Hello comfortmax 75 owners I've had mine since 2014 absolutely love it yes there is some problems but I do believe there is a secondary air control in the front between the ash door and the main feeder door

 
Mobile-tech1
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Post by Mobile-tech1 » Tue. Aug. 23, 2022 7:34 pm

How’s the ds regulator work for you burning wood

 
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11ultra103
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Post by 11ultra103 » Wed. Oct. 19, 2022 10:20 pm

Mobile-tech1 wrote:
Tue. Aug. 23, 2022 7:34 pm
How’s the ds regulator work for you burning wood
Works great. I put a paper clip on the flap to keep it from closing completely. It works a little different than burning coal. When you start the wood fire the flap is wide open until the stove is up to temp. The flap will close and then the reburn tubes kick in. With coal the flap will open and close slowly. With wood, it's wide open until the stove is hot and then it's closed until the stove cools way down


 
Hoytman
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Coal Size/Type: nut coal
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Post by Hoytman » Sun. Oct. 23, 2022 9:56 am

Bombflicker wrote:
Tue. Aug. 23, 2022 2:10 pm
Hello comfortmax 75 owners I've had mine since 2014 absolutely love it yes there is some problems but I do believe there is a secondary air control in the front between the ash door and the main feeder door
Problems? Elaborate please.

 
Hoytman
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Location: swOH near a little town where the homes are mobile and the cars aren’t
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 354
Coal Size/Type: nut coal
Other Heating: electric, wood, oil

Post by Hoytman » Sun. Oct. 23, 2022 9:57 am

11ultra103 wrote:
Wed. Oct. 19, 2022 10:20 pm
Works great. I put a paper clip on the flap to keep it from closing completely. It works a little different than burning coal. When you start the wood fire the flap is wide open until the stove is up to temp. The flap will close and then the reburn tubes kick in. With coal the flap will open and close slowly. With wood, it's wide open until the stove is hot and then it's closed until the stove cools way down
Good to see you back and posting!👍

 
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11ultra103
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Post by 11ultra103 » Sun. Oct. 23, 2022 11:56 am

Hoytman wrote:
Sun. Oct. 23, 2022 9:57 am
Good to see you back and posting!👍
Hey Bill! Yes I have returned lol. I have been crazy busy with work and this band I'm playing in, but I will try to keep everyone updated on how the stove is burning this season. So far it's been working great. I think im going to get on the roof and look down the chimney today. I cleaned it back in spring before I switched back to burning wood, but I haven't checked to see how dirty it is!

 
Hoytman
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Joined: Wed. Jan. 18, 2017 11:30 pm
Location: swOH near a little town where the homes are mobile and the cars aren’t
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Coal Size/Type: nut coal
Other Heating: electric, wood, oil

Post by Hoytman » Sun. Oct. 23, 2022 12:19 pm

Yeah…best to be safe my friend.

Watch those bands buddy. They can be hard on a marriage. Just some words of wisdom to chew on.

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