Harman Mag Question

Fired my new mag stoker yesterday can anyone that has this stove answer a question for me when stove is not calling for heat from thermostat the fire in bed looks like it is out should you have a flame or glow at idle and how open is restrictor at combustion fan .....when stove is running off thermostat I have about 1 inch of ash before the end of grate will I have some unburnt coal when stove is running to meet thermostat temp..answer would be appreciated

most stoves on idle, there will be a very little line (<1-2") of actual coal burning. you may have to adjust the stoker mechanism/timer for a little more stroke. But, if you have 1" of ash on a full burn, that is good! Sounds like it dialed in correctly.

-whether you have much flame or glow at idle depends on whether your combustion fan runs off Harman's controller (will not be much flame or visible action at idle since there is no air to the fire) or runs full-time (should be fire, but size of fire will decrease when stoker cycles off). I ran the combustion blower full-time last year, and I think I get a better burn.

-the position of that plate is really determined by the flue draw. Ideally a manometer can help you set the draft properly, Harman's manual gives basic instructions. Roughly, I think last year I had the plate a shade more than half open
Some of us are trying an idea of putting the fan on a variable speed control and doing away with the restrictor entirely, look around in here you'll find some good stuff from other folks too.

-I get some unburned once in awhile, that's the curse of a stoker. Mostly, if I grab some cooled ash and grind it up in my hand, I find some flecks of black inside, but I'd say the majority is pretty well burned. It also depends on the quality of coal.

Sounds like the stove is set-up properly. I have similar results with my Magnum.

I'm one of those mentioned by Dutchman who runs the combustion blower 24/7 with a variable speed control and no restrictor plate. It works great. The blower runs much cooler and quieter with the control versus running it WFO and choking it. I highly recommend running the combustion blower 24/7 as this will set a pretty constant draft and the fire won't go through peaks and valleys of burn.

I still get a very few unburned pieces of coal, but not nearly as many as I did before I turned on the blower all the time. However, I recently ran some coal that someone had laying around and it burned down to nothing. As I've found out on this site, the quality of the coal counts for a LOT. Wish I knew where it was originally purchased ..... Anyway, it's very possible that your stove is set perfectly, but the coal just will not completely burn.