Running a Mark III Low?'S

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BeerMonley
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Post by BeerMonley » Mon. Dec. 01, 2008 10:45 pm

so with this warm weather (40's) its way to hot in the house but im having a hard time running it at a low temp, wha im doin now is only loading 1/2 of the stove up. is this ok to do it like this?

 
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Devil505
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Post by Devil505 » Mon. Dec. 01, 2008 10:50 pm

What are you having problems with in getting it to run at lower temps? (you should have no draft problems with temps in the 40's???)

 
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Post by titleist1 » Mon. Dec. 01, 2008 11:38 pm

I'm thinking you mean that you are having a hard time throttling back the stove when it is warmer outside and you are overheating the house. You have to just about close the draft knob on the ash pan door to control the air getting to the fire. I know what you mean, though, we had our windows open on Thanksgiving day since there is no "off" switch for the hand fed Mark III. I also have an unheated enclosed porch that acts as a temperature dump for me on those days. I open the door to this cooler part of the house and it helps bring down the temp a little. I will also burn wood for a shorter burn time in the late fall / early spring during the night since the days get warm enough to eliminate the need for the stove.

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Tue. Dec. 02, 2008 5:38 am

You really can't load half as much coal.. unless you figure out a way to block half the firebox and grates.. Coal likes a deep fire, control the heat output with the spinner knob.. But don't try burning a shallow fire, you won't get less heat.. Heat output is determined by the area of the fire, not the depth [quantity of coal].

But there is a 'catch 22' with hand feed stoves.. you HAVE to have a fair amount of heat leaving the stove to keep the chimney warm to provide draft to pull air through the bed of coal.. too little air= too little heat= too little draft= fire going out..

So with hand feed stoves,, you have to use your 'windowstats' in warmer weather.. this of course depends on how much heat your particular chimney needs to maintain enough draft to maintain the fire..

Never fear,, cold weather is on the way..

Greg L.


 
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captcaper
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Post by captcaper » Tue. Dec. 02, 2008 7:43 am

I haven't tried it yet but if we shut the air intake control knob completly ( This is on our MarkIII's) will it die out? I've been too busy to try it and don't want to bother starting a new fire. But I'm going too one day. With my Chubby I use to do that all the time (close the intake completly) close the MPD and it would be fine day in a out. In warmer weather I once ran it this way to see how far it would go with out adding any more coal and I got a 3 day burn.But this Harman is a different beast.The regulator knob seems machined well enough to seat flush and the door seems solid and sealed good. I see the window lets air flow across top of fire so did the Cubby.

 
BeerMonley
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Post by BeerMonley » Tue. Dec. 02, 2008 8:51 am

by 1/2 I mean when the stove almost went out, I just got the left side goin again and let the old ash stay on the right side to kinda fill in the stove.

 
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captcaper
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Post by captcaper » Tue. Dec. 02, 2008 10:18 am

that sounds like a good idea..so when warmer weather is forcast. Don't add coal to one side. Just try to partition it and keep the other side going.. I couldn't do that with the round and deep baskets of my previous burners maybe this will work.

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Tue. Dec. 02, 2008 2:41 pm

Won't you shake the old ashes down when you shake the burning side?? Or are you disconnecting the grate under the nonburning side? I guess you could transfer ashes from the ashpan to the non burning side,, but that sounds pretty messy..

Greg L


 
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captcaper
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Post by captcaper » Tue. Dec. 02, 2008 2:50 pm

Well see. I would think some ash would stay and block the air flow some. If it works it'll pretty messy at the start of the learning curve for sure.

 
BeerMonley
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Post by BeerMonley » Wed. Dec. 03, 2008 9:47 pm

well it worked good untill I got stuck at work and it was out when I got home, looks like it wont run for more than 12hrs like this, hopefully it gets colder out so I don't ave to worry about it

 
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captcaper
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Post by captcaper » Thu. Dec. 04, 2008 5:37 am

pile it up high like a icecream cone. have the wife shake it just a bit.

 
BeerMonley
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Post by BeerMonley » Thu. Dec. 04, 2008 9:52 pm

nobody was home so it didnt matter.

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