Difficulty Getting HARMAN MAGNUM STOKER COAL STOVE to Run...

good pic, your plate is open further than mine. Is that fan all the way in the slot it is supposed to fit into?

That pic I posted below is what the fire is supposed to look like when on full burn. your combustion air must be going someplace other than through the grates. Does that controller have a variable speed control on the combustion fan? mine does not, it is either on or off. take the fan off and plug it in and see if it is pushing a lot of air out of the squirrel cage.

just throwing out some ideas.......

Titleist1 the pic was not posted. I open the baffle plate on the combustion fan and the flame has increased. I am going run the stove for awhile to see if the temperature increases and to see how the coal burns. Thanks for all the advice so far I appreciate it. The combustion fan has a high and low level.

Here is mine today. I think it looks farther back than it really is- coals turn grey about 2-2 1/2" from the edge. Is this good?

zags5274 wrote:Titleist1 the pic was not posted.

my bad, when I said "below" I meant the pic in the other post, I didn't post a second pic.

I did take a pic of the stoker in the basement, had to open the door because the glass in that one is etched more and you can't see the flame very well when the door is closed. I noticed opening the door knocked the flame down a good bit, but not nearly as low as your is.

ash is about 1" from the end of the grates.

llama99 wrote: coals turn grey about 2-2 1/2" from the edge. Is this good?

mine is closer to the edge of the grates....only about an inch of gray.

I have my combustion blower on 24x7 on a fan speed control. Burns much better.

Harman Magnum Stoker Installation

Cover plate on the combustion blower does prevent blowback of coal gas through the hopper by reducing the air flow, but this also reduces the size of the flame and the heat output. I've had my Magnum Stoker for 20 plus years. In our older smaller house I had no problem with the draft with no cover over the combustion blower. Then we built a 2500 ft2 ranch and put the stove in the basement. I immediately had coal gas coming out of the hopper. I believe that newer homes are built so darn air tight that blowing air up the chimney puts the house under negative pressure preventing all of the air from going up the chimney. Some gets blown out the hopper. I installed a 2" PVC pipe to the outside and fastened it up against the combustion blower intake. I also removed the cover plate from the blower so it runs unobstructed and I have no problem with blow back. It also makes more sense to draw combustion air in from the outside rather than draw in room air that you paid to heat only to blow it up the chimney.

zags5274 wrote:Titleist1 the pic was not posted. I open the baffle plate on the combustion fan and the flame has increased. I am going run the stove for awhile to see if the temperature increases and to see how the coal burns. Thanks for all the advice so far I appreciate it. The combustion fan has a high and low level.

Zags

How did you make out? Give me an update. I bought a Super Mag as well and this post has been informative so far. You had service men coming?

The servicemen did not show, because I got the stove running very well. I bought a manometer and that corrected the drafting issue but I also had to open the flap on the blower to give it more air.

Glad to hear your stove is working better for you.. In interest of learning more about what was 'wrong' and what was done to fix the problem, could you share more about the 'fix' ??

What was your draft before you adjusted the baro? And after?
How far open was the flapper on the combustion blower? and where is it now?
Do you have a photo of the fire now with the adjustments done?

Thanks,,
Greg L

LsFarm wrote:Glad to hear your stove is working better for you.. In interest of learning more about what was 'wrong' and what was done to fix the problem, could you share more about the 'fix' ??

What was your draft before you adjusted the baro? And after?
How far open was the flapper on the combustion blower? and where is it now?
Do you have a photo of the fire now with the adjustments done?

Thanks,,
Greg L

I like this post. Good to know the outcomes and experiences.
I just fired up my brand new Super Mag Sunday and being new to stokers it's been quite a ride. I am impressed so far..I'm so glad it idles down real low in these fall temps so I don't get overheated in my work area were the stove is.
But I'm still not sure on how to run these "combustion flaps" ..some guys open it right up and others have it closed down to about 1/4 open. Mine came from Harman about 1/4..
I am getting the picture though that maybe once the real cold comes in and stove is putting out steady high heat I can tune it in between the manometer,baro,flap. And I realize every home,chimney etc. affects the stoves behavior.
On my manometer now it is around .05 when it is running hot (hooked to low side for easier reading) Harman says .04 to .08. But I'm in the ball park. I too had red coals going over the edge so I trimmed back the feed to 3 and it seemed to help. But it's so mild here the stove hasn't turned on for heat much at all. It is idling/burning with a small 2 in wide area going side to side with a large pile of ash in front of it. But when it run's hot it pushes the ash pile off the grate. So that must be the way it's supposed to run.

LsFarm wrote:Glad to hear your stove is working better for you.. In interest of learning more about what was 'wrong' and what was done to fix the problem, could you share more about the 'fix' ??

What was your draft before you adjusted the baro? And after?
How far open was the flapper on the combustion blower? and where is it now?
Do you have a photo of the fire now with the adjustments done?

Thanks,,
Greg L

I like this post. Good to know the outcomes and experiences.
I just fired up my brand new Super Mag Sunday and being new to stokers it's been quite a ride. I am impressed so far..I'm so glad it idles down real low in these fall temps so I don't get overheated in my work area were the stove is.
But I'm still not sure on how to run these "combustion flaps" ..some guys open it right up and others have it closed down to about 1/4 open. Mine came from Harman about 1/4..
I am getting the picture though that maybe once the real cold comes in and stove is putting out steady high heat I can tune it in between the manometer,baro,flap. And I realize every home,chimney etc. affects the stoves behavior.
On my manometer now it is around .05 when it is running hot (hooked to low side for easier reading) Harman says .04 to .08. But I'm in the ball park. I too had red coals going over the edge so I trimmed back the feed to 3 and it seemed to help. But it's so mild here the stove hasn't turned on for heat much at all. It is idling/burning with a small 2 in wide area going side to side with a large pile of ash in front of it. But when it run's hot it pushes the ash pile off the grate. So that must be the way it's supposed to run.

You need to use the cleanout below the grates also to get more air to the fire. My manual says nothing about the lever that does that. It also doesn't mention the vent adjustment on the combustion fan. I have a Harman Super Magnum and have a question about the setting on the temperature dial.
Does increasing the number increase the "rate" of burn? If so, if I have burning coal falling into the ash pan, by increasing the number on the dial, the coal should be more apt to get burned before it falls. In other words, by increasing the dial number, I'm increasing the air to the fire. The manual supplied with this stove really SUCKS! gregjo1948

gregjo1948 wrote: ↑

Mon. Jan. 15, 2018 5:23 pm

You need to use the cleanout below the grates also to get more air to the fire. My manual says nothing about the lever that does that. It also doesn't mention the vent adjustment on the combustion fan. I have a Harman Super Magnum and have a question about the setting on the temperature dial.
Does increasing the number increase the "rate" of burn? If so, if I have burning coal falling into the ash pan, by increasing the number on the dial, the coal should be more apt to get burned before it falls. In other words, by increasing the dial number, I'm increasing the air to the fire. The manual supplied with this stove really SUCKS! gregjo1948

No..the temperature dial doesn't increase air.. The air to feed the fire is steady no matter what the stove is doing. The feed rate is what you want to try to work with for now.. turn it down. I have mine set at 2 . This will keep the coal from going over. The stove is a fantastic beast. It will adjust the hot air fan and burn depending on the demand. The air flap on the blower in the back of the stove should be about 1/3 or 1/2 open the most.. that's all that's needed.
The stove will increase feed if more heat is in demand but won't feed it as fast if you had say the feed rate set at 4... so set it back to 2... 2 1/2 ...
The only quirks with the stove and it might be the coal I'm burning is once in a while I hear a clicking or clunking sound when it starts to feed and or it won't feed any coal and not have a hot fire when it should. I found I can empty the hopper and scrape the path in front of the push bar ..then drop some oil on it.. Also I may clean out the front (stove has to be off) grates back to the push bar ..scraping down in there as well. This solves it every time.. other then that my stove has been flawless for 4 yrs now. Starting Oct 1 usually until Mid April 24/7.. gets below zero here most of the time nights..big house too I have. Stove works hard to keep up when it's 21 below or so mornings.

Holy resurrection. This thread is 5years old. Lol