Harman Mark II Grates

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klinker
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Post by klinker » Sun. Oct. 05, 2008 11:56 am

I have a new Harman Mark II coal stove. Checking the stove out it appears that the grates seem to align far appart . If pea coal is used will unburned coal fall into the ash pan along with the ash on shake down and jam the grates in an open position. I have not burned coal in yet but do have a concern with this. Thanks for all replies

 
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Post by LsFarm » Sun. Oct. 05, 2008 12:03 pm

Hi klinker,,
Most folks burn Nut coal in the Harman Mark series.. for the very reason you mention, some unburnt or partially burnt coal pieces can either fall through, and waste coal or get jammed in the grates..
If you haven't bought your coal for the season, I'd recommend buying nut size.. some pea size is pretty large, and will work fine, but pea on the small end of the scale will be pretty small for the grates..

With the grates clean, watch through the door as you move the shaker handle.. and note how far you can move the handle without opening a wide gap which could either dump the fire or allow a jam . Mark on the side of the stove with chalk the limits of travel for the shaker handle.. this may help prevent a jam or a fire-dump untill you get used to the stove and it's characteristics

Greg L

 
klinker
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Post by klinker » Sun. Oct. 05, 2008 1:30 pm

Thanks for the reply Greg... I have read numerous posts of Harman Mark II owners burning pea coal for a slower burn and nut for a hotter burn ...I agree with this. I also agree with your statement of a possible coal dump with the present grate configuration of the Harman Mark II. Does anyone else have any input regarding this. Thanks


 
Patrick
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Post by Patrick » Sun. Oct. 05, 2008 3:03 pm

Hi Klinker,
We have a Mark II. I bought 3.5 tons of nut for this winter. Last spring I bought some nut and some pea. At 3/4 turn on the draft control pea coal will idle at about 95 degrees where nut coal idles at about 130. This is measured by a magnetic thermometer mounted on top of the horizontal pipe coming out of the back of the stove about 5 inches from the back of the stove. When I shake down the stove I use a very quick back and forth motion that only has about a 2 inch throw (1 inch in either direction). About 50-60 strokes does it. It takes about 30 seconds to do it if that gives you an idea. I've had a couple of instances of it binding up and that's if I've tried to throw the lever a little further. (I was burning pea when that happened) I have seen small pieces of freshly broken coal so the grates are doing some crushing. That's not something I want to happen so I like to use the short quick strokes.

By the way, I've never dumped the fire. I would think you could, but if you did you also wouldn't get the lever back and the grates leveled out without letting the fire go out and cleaning out the stove.

I hope this helps. Patrick (Huge fan of the Mark II)

 
klinker
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Post by klinker » Sun. Oct. 05, 2008 3:23 pm

Patrick...thanks for your reply...I guess it best to burn nut as recommended by Greg and yourself and use caution on the shake down. I would not like to dump the fire and start all over. I have about 15 bags of pea left over from last year...I used to burn a Surdiac. I probably will mix a little pea in with the nut to get rid of it. I've been burning wood lately in the Harman to take the chill out....what a great job this stove does. Thanks Art

 
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Post by siblay » Sun. Oct. 05, 2008 7:17 pm

I'm on my third day of experimenting with my new Mark I. I have been burning pea with no problems. The only problem was the owner/operator getting a little aggressive on the first shake and dumping about half the fire. Came back pretty well though by opening the ash pan door for a short period (as has been described by several seasoned coal burners in various threads).
My plan is to go with pea for the warmer months when less heat/longer burn time would be advantageous and nut when the temp. drops.
So far my plan is working to perfection.


 
Patrick
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Post by Patrick » Sun. Oct. 05, 2008 7:58 pm

Klinker,
That pea coal you have will work great in your stove. I hope I didn't make it sound like you shouldn't use it. I will buy some more pea in the spring for the warmer weather just like Sibley mentions.

On a similar topic I bought some stove coal and have burned that in there as well. It was all that Agway had left last spring. That's really hard to burn on low though and I only had about 2 bags.
Patrick

 
klinker
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Post by klinker » Mon. Oct. 06, 2008 4:20 pm

My problem was solved unexpectedly... I went to shake the stove down this am from burning wood during the night and the handle went limp...no movement on the grates at all. I inspected the inner workings of the shaker handle to the grates and discovered that a metal bracket that joins the grates to the handle which enables them to move had fallen off. This bracket is located inside the stove to the left of the ash pan.. The stove was disassembled to bring it into the house and when it was reassembled the grate mechanism was not reinstalled properly...reason for the large gap between the two grates and my concern for burning pea coal. After much swearing and persistance I managed to figure out how to reinstall this bracket to the grates properly. The grates are now aligned perfectly and I have a choice of coal to burn...pea/nut. Amen !!! Art ( klinker )

 
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Post by CoalHeat » Mon. Oct. 06, 2008 6:46 pm

I was wondering about your problems burning pea coal in the Mark series, as I have no problem with pea coal in mine, although now I am using nut size as I only fire the stove during cold weather, the Alaska stoker runs the rest of the time. Glad you found the problem.

 
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Post by captcaper » Tue. Nov. 04, 2008 6:24 pm

Pea Coal can be useful when used for the top layer to slow down the drafting to get a slower burn threw the day or night. I'm going to get some if I can find it.

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