Two Months Without Losing Fire

I fired up my Gibraltar early november and have had a fire going since. This is my first year having coal heat in my own house. Almost lost it a couple of times when it was neglected by my lovely wife, but caught it in time. I am sitting here looking at it having a cold one thinking of what a good decision it was to go anthracite. Jusst cause I said that now my house will burn do;wn.

hugg wrote:I fired up my Gibraltar early november and have had a fire going since.

When the house burns down will that be your wife's fault too?
My first year too. fired it up late November. Lost it once already. Now that I think about it It must have been my wife's fault.
O well make a lot of mistakes and learn by them and maybe you'll be a lot smarter than the ones that have made none. Hopefully we won't have to learn while watching our house burn down.

I had my fire going for over two months as well, I shut down mine this morning and clean the entire stove out. I took 3 flexable hoses and 2 solid wands from a shop vac to help me keep the house from being a dust bowl. I left the shop vac outside and really had no major mess to clean up. I had a lot of ash build up in the coners and by the ash pan, not no more!

Slowly adding coal to the wood fire and watching the blue ladies starting to dance again.

My first year too burning coal in a Hitzer 30-95.. Installed the stove in October, shut it down late November to Install a Barometeric damper..( Installer didn't think I needed one ) .. anyways .. the thing has been running every since... I don't think its ever thought about going out.. The ash does build up on the sides .. and in the front .. I'd say every 4-5 days .. I'll poke it ... The wife thought I was NUTS .. But now I have her doing it too!!!...

When the stove is ready to be shook .. after about 8 hours or so... (burning Reading Pea) I'll shut the fan off.. Open the front glass door ... and poke down the sides... and the front... Just put the poker in and wiggle it .. allowing the ash to drop down .. Keep in mind the center is glowing Orange... so I make sure NOT to disturb that ... Must have gloves on too .. cause it really puts out the heat!! .. once I'm satisfied .. shut the door .. and I'll open the ash pan door .. and give it a Good shake down.. .. close the ash door .. and Open the top and fill the hopper with coal!... Now its Ready for a Solid 8-10hours .. We only do the poking though .. once or twice a week...

I strongly believe doing this .. this is absolutely NO reason to shut the thing down .. and vacum it out..
This Hitzer is amazing!!!.. My only question is .. .would the 50-93 be a better unit for us..... We run the 30-95 on 11-12 on the damper on the back... stack temp about 200-300 .. and the stove temp around 400-450 deg I believe..
When the temp outside drops down to zero.. and the wind get really going ... our oil furnace will need to run a little bit... The room with the stove still stays around 70 ..

i honestly cant remeber whn I lit my harmon, had to be in oct/nov since the last time it went out. thanks for everyones help and info so im able to keep it goin so long

Have burnt coal on and off for 15 years. Can't ever remember losing a fire. Course, we burned coal in an old hand bomber boiler in our old farm house. Probably where I got bit with the fascination of burning coal. Loved to go to the cellar on a cold night as a boy, and just look at the blue flames dancing on top of the orange glowing coal bed. Even stuck a poker in the coals for say, a minute or so and pull it out with the lights off and watch it glow almost white hot as it faded to orange, then red and so on. Good thing Daddy never caught me doin that!

Well I couls say the same about losing a fire in over 2 months, but I forgot twice, to load one of mine after a good shake and going to work!! Does that count??? LOL

That's a hazzard of a hopper fed stove, ya got to be smart enough to look into the hopper.

Fired her up in early Oct and lost it once just before Thanksgiving. We had a good cold spell (teens) and I worked a 14hr day not thinking about how much more coal the stove would burn ( previously with the outside temps at 40F and draft turned way down she could go 16-20 hrs unattended ). I got home just in time to watch the last coal die.

types_with_fist wrote:Fired her up in early Oct and lost it once just before Thanksgiving. We had a good cold spell (teens) and I worked a 14hr day not thinking about how much more coal the stove would burn ( previously with the outside temps at 40F and draft turned way down she could go 16-20 hrs unattended ). I got home just in time to watch the last coal die.

Hi Guys,

I almost lost my fire last night to teens but was able to revive it. I shudder at the thought of having to use another match this year. LOL

My mind is spinning with thoughts this morning from a response I got on my last posting. My main question is “how low do you have your Harman Mark II air input valve set at?” We have had ours set at one complete turn and it’s been burning well; too, well in fact. We have been chased from the room. At that point the valve is almost completely closed. The stove top thermometer indicates a constant 300 degrees so the stove is not burning extraordinarily hot. Do we dare turn it down a notch or two or will we risk losing the fire? I know the setting is always going to be the different based on draft, temperature and other variables but as a general rule how low do you keep your Harman Mark II air input - full turn, 1/2 turn, 3/4 turn? Lisa

lowfog01 wrote: I know the setting is always going to be the different based on draft, temperature and other variables but as a general rule how low do you keep your Harman Mark II air input - full turn, 1/2 turn, 3/4 turn? Lisa

I have a Mark III and I keep the draft knob between 2/3 turn and 1-1/2 turns depending on the house & outside temps. The stack temp (mag thermometer about 18" up the flue pipe) will vary between 180* and 225* on those draft knob settings. Even though I am sending a bit more heat up the stack on the 1-1/2 turn I am getting a lot more heat sent into the house also. I could easily see how the heat from the stove could drive you out of the room. Ours is in an unfinished basement and it is usually right around 80* measured about 15 ft away next to the stairway. If I would re-do the basement to insulate the walls, I could probably run it at about 1 turn max.

i run my mark III about 1 turn to 2 turns depending if im home or not and want ot warmer

My only question is .. .would the 50-93 be a better unit for us..... We run the 30-95 on 11-12 on the damper on the back... stack temp about 200-300 .. and the stove temp around 400-450 deg I believe..
When the temp outside drops down to zero.. and the wind get really going ... our oil furnace will need to run a little bit... The room with the stove still stays around 70 .. (Floyd's quote)

Floyd, I have been burning my 30-95 for just under 1 year also. I heat my moderately well insulated house of 1200 sq.ft. with a flue temp of about 200* to 225* and a stove side temp of about 400* when it is arround 0* outside. My thermostat setting for the draft is at about 9 and barometric damper is set for .05 WC. This maintains a house temp of 70* to 72* in the living room where the Hitzer is. Temps in other 1st floor rooms probably abut 65* and upstairs about 55*. The lowest outside temps I have seen since using the Hitzer have been -6*. No problem heating at that temp., but I am wondering about the inevitable -20* (or lower) that we almost always get at some point.

To finaly answer your question; yes, I think based on your current output, you probably would have been better off with the 50-93 IF you need to heat 100% with coal. If you can live with a little fuel oil usage, It won't hurt to keep the furnace excersised and running once in a while. You want your furnace to remain functional as a backup should you be away from home too long to keep the coals burning anyway.

I suspect in the coldest weather that my Toyostove space heater may come on occationally also. Be happy you have Hitzer The things almost run themselves.

Only lost the fire once when I forgot to turn the stoker back on after a minor cleaning

Grizzly2 .. This Hitzer stove has REALLY .. REALLY spoiled us. I don't know how we dealt in the past, having inside temps 62 and less... Our Oil furnace thermostat reads 70 plus most of the time now.. In the past if I seen that.. I would have felt sick to my stomach thinking about the oil bill!!!!!!! The weather guys are calling for temps later in the week 0 thru -15 .. Looks like the oil furnace will get a little exercise!