Harman Magnum Stoker

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dmessenger74
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Other Heating: Harman Magnum Stoker

Post by dmessenger74 » Thu. Dec. 29, 2022 3:17 pm

Hello all and thanks in advance for your help. (Residing in north eastern WV.

Harman Magnum Stoker with Verti-Flow and connected to thermostat.
Located in finished Basement as back up heat source. Basement is open to the main floor.
Been running it approximately 3 years, was here when we purchased the home. For the most part I enjoy it and don't have many issues but I think I need some guidance when it comes to finer details.

Last week prior to the polar vortex we did a cleanout, installed new glass and seals on main door, new seal on bottom door and new grates. I started the fire and had the thermostat at 73 pushing about 1.5 - 1.75 dots with an on time of 8, off time of 10 and 3 on the extend. It ran beautifully and I was getting the most gorgeous granola ashes. (Partly due to leftover coal from last year and all the new seals and such....plus I think it was running mainly on the thermostat) As we came out of the sub-zero temps I brought the pusher back to just over 1 dot.

Yesterday with temps near 50 my husband decided to lower the thermostat to 70. Well the fire went out and I had to restart it last evening. I tried to explain to him that when lowering the thermostat we need to change the timer settings/coal feed. He is of the impression you shouldn't have to when lowering. So, fire started, his recommended settings were on 4, off 10 and 3 extend. Overnight that seemed to work but I wasn't baby sitting today and it went out.

So, I may or may not fire up again tonight. Our overnight temps aren't going to dip down to freezing for another week. So, if we want the thermostat set to 70 on warmer days, what timer settings would be appropriate, or at least a good start for us.....

I know there are variables and am happy to answer any other questions, but I see your help across the forums and appreciate it. (At one point, when first using the stove 3 years ago I started with the manual settings ....but honestly most of the time here in the winter it is running on the thermostat......until early spring, right before shut down. Without the stove with temps in the 40's the basement stays anywhere from 64-67.

Thanks

 
dmessenger74
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Other Heating: Harman Magnum Stoker

Post by dmessenger74 » Tue. Jan. 03, 2023 7:23 am

Goood Morning!!! So, what do I have to do to get some help? My post has a lot of views, but no replies!!! Am I posting in the wrong forum, do I need to provide more information? Help this country girl out!!!

 
dcveem3
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Location: NorthWest York Co, PA
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Post by dcveem3 » Tue. Jan. 03, 2023 2:36 pm

Sorry, can't help much. I have a Harman Mag but I do not use a tstat. I cycle mine and vary the cycle based on outside temp. So, I'm running anything from 6on 6off with 50% combustion air (shutter half closed) to 3 on 10 off with 100% combustion air. I have a magnetic thermostat on the stack and I adjust my stoker to peak at 175deg F which puts my stove right around 550degF maximum. I would think the goal with a Tstat would be to find a setting that fire stays lit, provides a minimum btu and that's it. Maybe it's 4 on 8 off or whatever. Then the tstat just extends that on time when it calls. How much combustion air are you running...are you regulating it all? It really depends too on your draft situation as well. Wish I could help more...these guys are good...they'll get around to ya!! Just to add, even with my varied adjustments my coal feed distance always stays around 3/8-7/16".

Don
Last edited by dcveem3 on Tue. Jan. 03, 2023 8:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
waytomany?s
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Post by waytomany?s » Tue. Jan. 03, 2023 8:07 pm

Lots of views cause everyone tends to check on new user names posts. Maybe a not so common stove or problem. Be patient. Any other pertinent background information? I remember reading another thread where fire went out on a stoker on a large temp setback, apparently he figured that it took so long before the next heat call that the minimum setting couldn't keep a fire. Now if you can extrapolate anything useful from that second hand story, I'd be impressed. :lol:


 
HarmanStoker
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Post by HarmanStoker » Tue. Jan. 10, 2023 7:03 am

I have a thermostat on my harman and I usually have the settings at 5 on, 9 off to keep the fire from going out in between heat calls from the thermostat. You might also want to check for other problems that can prevent the fire from thriving, I've played with my settings before only to realize that the real issue was something else (feeder jammed, grates not passing enough air through, etc.)

 
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captcaper
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Post by captcaper » Wed. Jan. 11, 2023 8:09 am

I own a Super Magnum and it seems so much easier to run. With that said my biggest problems were chunks of Coal collecting and jamming in the area of the feeder plate. Stopping it from pushing Coal ahead then bending the fork as well. I now screen my coal and catch those chunks that get by me while dumping pails of it into the hopper. One other thing I have to clean out the exhust pipe often from the stove thru the wall to the outside Tee that is at the bottom of the SS chimney I use. It collects the fine ash so fast it starts to stop the draft from doing it's job.

 
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McGiever
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Post by McGiever » Mon. Jan. 16, 2023 1:24 am

dmessenger74 wrote:
Tue. Jan. 03, 2023 7:23 am
Goood Morning!!! So, what do I have to do to get some help? My post has a lot of views, but no replies!!! Am I posting in the wrong forum, do I need to provide more information? Help this country girl out!!!
So, how are you making out there in WV?

 
LPB
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Post by LPB » Tue. Jan. 17, 2023 3:17 pm

If your fire is going out when the stove is at idle, at a minimum I'd be increasing the feed rate, at least to where you had it before. This should prevent that issue. Reducing the feed to point where it's barely moving any coal will definitely cause issues. Regarding one of the other replies, I can't imagine a scenario where it would be necessary or wise to open the combustion blower shutter 100 percent. All that does is pressurize the firebox which pumps heat up the chimney and fumes into the living space from the stove--remember the front glass isn't sealed 360 degrees around its perimeter. Harman has a recommended procedure for adjusting the shutter for correctly setting the draft. Of course this requires a manometer which not everyone has at hand.


 
rharris
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Post by rharris » Sun. Feb. 05, 2023 7:24 pm

I run my magnum idle settings at 4 on 12 off. I have learned that plugging the combustion blower into a receptacle keeps the stove lit, rather than using the control box. If you keep combustion air on, it will keep the burn longer. This isn't as important in cold weather since the stove is running harder and not idling as much. When temps are mild, mine will go out if I don't keep combustion air on. This works for me - there are a lot more experienced users on here than I am that may have a better suggestions. Until then, maybe try constant combustion air. This isn't full air - I keep my combustion blower block off plate 75% closed.

 
dmessenger74
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Post by dmessenger74 » Mon. Feb. 06, 2023 7:52 am

McGiever wrote:
Mon. Jan. 16, 2023 1:24 am
So, how are you making out there in WV?
I am making it, thank you. I am going to post a reply to everyone shortly.

 
dmessenger74
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Post by dmessenger74 » Mon. Feb. 06, 2023 8:29 am

Good morning everyone and thank you for your help. I apologize for the amount of time it took me to update. I didn't try to restart right away since we had such a mild stretch and then we had a windfall of sickness around here. My husband got sick, I got COVID, we both recovered and then he got a nasty cold which he gifted to me a few days later. We are both on the mend.

I did finally restart the stove as the temperatures dipped back below freezing at night because I can't stand to give the power company any more money in the winter than I have to do so. I started and got a great fire burning and then tried to make adjustments. I set the thermostat low so I knew that it was running on the timers. I set the feed rate to almost two dots and then began the journey with the timers. (To make this even more frustrating, I noticed that the dial doesn't start at 0 and stop at the end number, it just turns straight on through....so my overthinking brain worried about how accurate the dial actually was at that point.) So I started with 6 on and 9 off with extend set very high so that it doesn't ever stop. I sat with the stove for almost an hour to verify that the on and off times were correct. I wasn't crazy about the burn so I made adjustments slowly over the next few hours. I settled on 5 on and 9 off. I was getting a decent burn and after hours babysitting I was confident the settings were going to allow the fire to stay lit in idle mode.

We have had such a wacky winter when it comes to fluctuations in temperatures that I do have to adjust it accordingly. I noticed that there are times where there is too much heat at idle.....so cruising the boards I found suggestions on adjustments. After a few weeks I know what adjustments I need to make in order to not heat us out of the house or keep us nice and cozy at night.

One of the major accomplishments from my post is that I now am heating almost the entire house without the heat pump coming on. In the years we have been using the Harman, it has been great at heating the basement but we never could get the temp upstairs high enough as to not run the heat pump. Well, the adjustments I made have helped, plus I took advice from another post and moved the fan we used for circulation. We used to keep it behind the stove thinking it would help the miserable distribution fan to push the air across the basement and up the stairs. (I don't understand why the distribution fans on these stoves is sooo weak.) We moved the fan to the base of the stairs, which is across the basement from the stove.....BAM......almost instant change. My heat pump thermostat was set on 69 and within an hour the upstairs temp was up to 71, with the downstairs thermostat set to 72. Our heat pump has not kicked on since we made this change, even when we had a temp dip this weekend to single digits and windchill at 0.

So, all and all I am thrilled. Now, my concern is making sure, when I make adjustments I am getting a "complete burn". I absolutely despise it when I watch my ash line and the bottom 3/4 is granola and the top 1/4 is partially burned coal. I understand that there may be some slate, but I truly think it is partially burned. So I try to fiddle with the timers/coal push to see a change. It seems like the only time my ash line is entirely granola is when the stove is running mainly on the thermostat and set at 73. I love it when I pull the ash pain and it is light as a feather.....when it is heavier I cringe. I feel like I am dumping money onto the ground. The only thing I haven't done this year is to run the combustion fan all the time. For some reason that makes me very nervous. We are running Lehigh Anthracite. That is what our local coal distributor carries in the rice form and from what I have read, it is much better than what the other vendors carry around here.

This forum also helped me with drying out the coal this year. I have always battled that and knew the coal I was pushing wasn't quite "dry enough". Often when we get the coal in the winter it is partially frozen as our distributor stores it outside. I can unload it from the truck and the bags are partially solid. I used to open a couple of bags and set them on 5 gallon buckets and take a utility knife poking some holes for drainage. That sucks. After reading here I took some advice and devised my own method. (Our basement is a finished living space so I can't leave a dozen open bags laying on the tile floor) At any given time I have 7 bags open in our garage. I slice the top off and put 3 on top of 5 gallon buckets and the other 4 are just open. I have 3 buckets, 2-5 gallon and 1-3 gallon which I divide a bag of coal into and place in front of the stove. When the hopper calls for coal I dump the "dry enough" coal, what most would probably call damp (usually the top 1/2 of the bucket) from the 3 buckets into the hopper and then combining the too wet coal into the 3 gallon bucket. I then take an open bag and fill the 2-5 gallon and open a new bag......HAHAHA....rinse and repeat almost every day. So, my method might be chaotic but it is working.

If you made it through this book, thank you. Thank you for your help. If you have any advice on my burn, feel free. My husband says I am obsessed with the stove. No, I am meticulous and I'd rather pay for coal than to give the power company any more money. I despise a power bill. Happy winter everyone.....it is almost time to start my seedlings and then I can be obsessed with something else....lol.

 
dmessenger74
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Post by dmessenger74 » Mon. Feb. 06, 2023 5:51 pm

I got a great message from titleist1 but I can't reply to the messages as it appears that user doesn't accept private messages. My reply to that user would be....

Good afternoon....it is my turn to apologize for the delayed reply. I somehow didn't see the messages. I posted a reply to the thread today. I am now pushing about 2 dots with the timers set anywhere from 5 on and 9 off to 6 on and 8 off. It has been burning great. My biggest issue now is that on the warm days, I am keeping a fire, but I am not getting a complete burn and dumping coal that isn't completely burned. That really burns me...haha. I like dumping a light ash pan, not a heavy pan.....My air plate is between about a 1/3 of the way open, maybe a bit more.

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