Been running mine since 1991 and it's a great stove. It has the blower motor and that makes a big difference in the amount of heat it puts out. Had to replace the blower motor twice, the door glass once, the fiberglas door gaskets a few times and the firebricks 4 - 5 times over the years but that was about it. No downside to owning this stove.
If you (or anyone else) want to talk about rocket stoves, i am a big fan. They have been our main heat source for 5+ years. We burn less wood and get more heat. I don't recommend one for your shop because they take up a lot of space and take quite some time to get hot. I do think you could have fun experimenting with one just for fun (or maybe to heat the living spaces) Love your channel, greetings from Belgium.
Invest in a woodstove temp gauge for stove pipe. Helps with the dialing in of dampers to not over burn wood and over heat flues temp. I found myself burning nearly half the wood and still having a very heated space.
@@bobdickweed www.amazon.com/Home-Complete-HC-7002-Fireplaces-Quiet-Maintenance-Disperses/dp/B018G9ZKBK i wonder if these things are based on a sterling engine of some kind
@@bexpi7100 no, they use a peltier thermoelectric cell to power a motor. The same cell is used in mini fridges and dehumidifiers, when you apply a heat difference they generate electricity when you apply electricity they generate a heat difference. Neat eh?
@@garrethtinsley2435 yeah, shortly after i posted that comment i realized that using a Sterling engine would be insane. That and Big Clive did a teardown of one.
TY pocket your videos make my day better. I can almost smell the wood burning 😁 good luck with your partition! I agree smaller spaces are better as long as you don't feel cramped. Stay warm!
Miss my Mark II. I burned coal in mine for two winters before selling the house (Central NY). Filled it 2x per day. The ash can be a hassle but coal heats really, really well.
I would say keep the bricks. Finnish sauna heaters do burn through (f.ex 2-3 burns per week for 3-4 hours for 10y or so). The back wall might be thinner than what outside looks because there is that duct running behind it. The bricks also dampen variability of temperature the stove is outputting, and make it give out heat also after the fire is gone. I also suspect that majority of heat the burner generates just goes out of the pipe, stones can capture at least a portion of that. Russians have a name for this type of stove; "burzhujka - bourgeois", takes all the fuel and gives little in return.
The bricks are a good thing. If you have combustion taking place on the steel, then you're maximizing the temperature of the steel while also providing oxygen. That's only going to reduce the life of things. Also consider the corrosion that takes place as the ash residue absorbs moisture during the warm season. Just keep stuff off the firebox. I don't know that the absence of bricks at the end means that they were never there. As to optimizing heat output, there are air-air heat exchangers that can be added to the flue, but care needs to be taken to avoid draft reduction or creosote buildup.
There is just something about your videos Pocket. There is just something interesting about your way of doing stuff! Please keep up the amazing work!!!
I have a wood burning insert that runs 24 hours a day during winter. It's lined completely with firebrick and the stove can easily get over 600 degrees if I don't throttle the air intake. The brick saves the melt down from high heat for extended periods. It also makes it easy to restart a new fire after ash clean out. Wood stoves are the greatest and I find free firewood without even trying.
The glass is gone, I think (at least there is no way I can think know of). You could demount it, and use an acidbath and over time the stains will go away. But not the other damage. Where it comes from? My guess would be microscopic imperfections that heat up differently than the glass it self and over time and use the expansion/contraction damages the glass. But I'm not certain on that. Don't use normal glass to repair it, it will crack the moment it's heated. Burning wood gives you heat really fast, on the other hand once it's out, the heat will be gone very soon. Coal on the other hand is used otherwise, you don't burn it like a woodfire. Well sort of. You start burning it like a woodfire but once the flames are out and there is only the ember left you close all openings and adjust the aircontrol so that it becomes a smouldering fire. It's not fast. But it gives it's heat/energy away over a much longer time. That's why it's perfect for big tiled stoves, where the firebricks can store alot of heat/energy. Funfact: for most tiled stoves it's not recommended to use wood because of the energyoutput of wood (at least around here). But I digress. The point is: keep the firebricks. Not only do they store a little bit of heat (not much, there are anly few in there) but they protect the outer shell of the fire-chamber from damage of the fire. In my work (chimney sweeper from Germany) I see alot of damaged fireplaces because of broken or missing interiors. It's also possible that the sulfur of the coals that where burned there reacts with the watervapor from the wood to a slight sulfuric acid and damages the interrior and the pipe. But that's insignificant.
If you turn your damper closed part way and close your draft door on the front the one you where turning it will help you get better heat in the shop and maybe a little bigger fan that's how I ran mine. Just a idea. Keep up the great videos
I was thinking the same. High draft is nice when starting the fire. But after it's going hot, those flames need to be slowed down to retain the heat in the shop.
Looks like a well made stove. I've had a few and now use a Morsø, great stove but cheaper ones are just as good, though perhaps not a durable long term. The glass fronts always get etched if you burn coal, just keep on top of the soot build up. If its not cracked there's no need to replace unless the cosmetics bother you.
Cut your logs so they are either the depth of the fire box, or the width minus a few inches. My box is about the same size as yours, about 14" deep I think. So my logs are about 10" log as I put mine front-to-back. Once the fire/stove is at high heat, toss in some larger chunks of wood, about 4 - 6 diameter with the cut face down on the embers. Close the flue damper down about 1/2 way (fine adjust later), and close the doors. Let the fire run a few minutes with the screw damper (or whatever it's called. Down in Fl we don't use coal, so therefore we use a slider) open. Then after the new logs have caught, slowly dial in the screw damper. What you want is a hot/bright glowing embers. They will produce a LOT of heat, burn cleanly, burn longer, and leave very little ash behind. Also, check the smoke coming out of the stack outside. If it's smoky, you need to get the fire hotter. Smoke means that there is a potential for buildup inside the flue. The first fire to get things going need to be really hot to burn off any residue from the previous fire that cooled down.
I'm actually in the process of building my own fire box. The one I currently have was not designed for being "inside" a house/shop. At least I don't think so. When you open the door, smoke will always billow out of it. The top plate inside that the fire licks up against is actually angled towards the front of the stove. So when a fire started, the smoke/flames will actually roll along that plate right out the door when it's open. Not exactly safe for inside. The new box I'm building will be larger, and have a chamber for copper coils that heat water.
I'm curious as to why you put the steel plate in there. Why not just build the fire on the grate and let the ash fall down into the bottom compartment. Then you can just shovel the it as it builds up. Seems like it'd be inconvenient to remove from the main compartment. As for the glass, there was some special cleaner I used on our wood stoves growing up. Idk if it will get rid of the sand blasted look but definitely the browning. I'll see if I can find it.
Looks like you could put a kettle on top and then have tea or coffee in the shop whenever you want. That would be one of the main features I'd enjoy about a stove like that.
It's 62 degrees here in central Texas on the day you posted this, and though I don't need one of these stoves at this moment, I find myself wanting one anyway. It was cold here once. I mean, one day some years ago, I even had to put on a flannel shirt just to work out in my shop! I ended up getting too warm, and had to take it off, but still! Maybe it'll get cold again one day. All kidding aside, a friend of mine had a small piece of land out in west Texas, and there was a stove like this in the cabin. We'd go out there in the winter, and the damn thing would make that cinder block cabin almost too hot. It'd be in the 20s outside (I know, right?? The 20s ... can you even believe it??), and it'd be like 90 in the cabin. You could even slow roast corn on the top of the stove, which my younger self found immensely entertaining.
I think you would be surprised how small the world is and how close some of your viewers are. But congrats on the stove, they are a real rewarding heat if you can continue to use them. My favorite method of starting my stove is hitting old coals with a snap plumbers torch then using essentially a PC fan on a metal tube to blow on them. That kind of set up might not work with the shape of your firebox though. As others have said I would keep the firebrick. Its really there to help get the temps up and gasify the wood. Without them you would probably notice more coals and unburnt wood. Doubt it will hurt to try though.
That boiler with piping sounds like systems that were used around here only for cooling rather than heating. I did a variety of projects where we modernized their systems and was kind of amazed at how the old systems worked. This older systems were basically rooms filled with chillers, they would freeze vast amounts of water and then pump air through the ice during the day to cool the classrooms. It wasn't exactly energy efficient but they were making use of the night time, when energy was billed at cheaper rates, to lower their energy costs. I've actually heard these type of systems are making a comeback with more efficient versions but I've not seen one locally as of yet.
Thinking about how extensive that type of system was/is: You know what system is severely under-utilized? Geothermal. In the summer, the air 60 feet down is as cool as AC, and in the winter, it's nowhere near chilly. Why aren't we using simple duct systems to help stabilize our internal environments? It's an unlimited supply of comfortable air, and it requires only a fan and a pipe to make use of it. Simply put, it's because such systems would employ localized services and technicians, rather than boxes of corporate manufactured "high efficiency" products. Our short-sighted market is always looking for a quick-fix product as a solution, so that's where the advertising and research funding go. The initial investment of digging is just too off-putting, even though a system like that would pay for itself in only a few years. So we burn fuel, instead- while sitting on a giant, warm rock. Sheesh.
@@pocket83squared yeah where I live in California, I've never even seen a geothermal system put in place here but I've read studies on them. It's always made sense to me. The cost was even lower than I thought it would be.
Great video I am looking for a mark 3 I'm currently running a mark 2 in my basement and burn wood. I have a mark 1 also I'm planning on restoring it when I get time. I believe you're stove is the mark 1 it looks dimensionally identical to my mark 1. Anyway these Harman's are quality stoves for sure. Happy burning 👍👍😉
My dad put a simple mechanical thermostatic switch on our wood burner that turns the fan on at a certain temp (100 F maybe?) That way the fire gets up to heat quickly to create draw, and then the fan kicks in when needed. He also can leave the fan plugged in 24/7, and it only turns on when the fire is hot. Let the fire burn out over night and the fan shuts off.
I've cooked eggs on my Harman Mark II with a cast iron skillet haha. I usually keep a pot of water on top to help humidify the air. I burn coal mostly.
try vinegar on the glass, should give an acid/base reaction with the gunk and loosen things a bit. Also highly recommend one of the heat powered fans, really helps to heat a room.
you have a beautiful home. when I was much younger, I made several iterations of a coal/wood burning stoves. yes, I did burn coal. I learned a lot about burning in a stove as a result. the best stove I ever had was a 375 gal. fuel tank with 2 cast iron doors welded on. anyway, I found burning coal is much less work and dirt cheap. I would drive to the coal mine and buy coal by the pickup load ($20 then). 2 loads would easily last all winter. BTY, it was a 1600 sq. ft. shop. I would stoke it up at the end of the day and turn down the draft and it would run all night. one thing you should do is put fire brick around the inside edge so the all the air has to flow up into the burn chamber thru the fire in the middle. with a small flow of air straight thru the fire it will burn more efficiently and hotter (keep upper door closed). with coal, you will be adding to the fire 1/3rd as often. one more thing, put a fan behind the stove to slowly blow across it to move the air for better overall room warmth (not too close).
The fire brick is so the coals will not burn out the steel. I'm not familiar with coal stoves,but have been burning wood stoves forover 35 years. Wood stoves come with fire brick in the lower part of the fire boxes . Triple wall chimney is a creosote maker,( it super cools the smoke and creosote condense on the pipe, where the insulated pipe keeps it warm and it doesn't do that ), but cheaper than insulated chimney . I am still burning my original metalbestas chimney. I have replaced the flue pipes several times and that is about the only thing that needs cleaned when I brush out my chimney. My insulated chimney pipe cost, about the same price as my Temp Wood ,wood stoves . I have one in the house and one in my 24 x 24 garage, both are the same size. Be safe, but stay warm :- )
I’m a blacksmith. That fire brick is to protect your stove and make sure the heat is where you want it. Built several different forges and ovens with fire brick if the brick goes bad and there is a constant heating and cooling of the sides of the stove it will wear out faster. The fire brick helps it cool of slower which is better for it. If you don’t want to deal with fire brick Kale wool can be an alternative. It’s a little bit easier to work with.
I worked at Harman stove for 6 years, You got one of the best stove in the World. You need to put the Fire brick where it's Suppose to be ,Stove will Heat Better
I have looked into this subject a bit (as well as having personal experience of both wood and coal burning. They are two completely different beasts! Having said that you can get dual fuel types like yours (and mine) but they do not work well with both fuel types! I am only talking about modern high efficiency types now but a wood burner needs air to pass over the top of the fuel and form a vortex allowing the gasses given off the wood as it cooks to burn. It is This gas flame that produces the heat. Coal needs an air flow Through the coal from underneath! Coal also burns cooler than wood (Anthracite may be an exception though) The purpose of the fire bricks is to prevent oxidisation of the stove from becoming excessive ..... You would need it to be glowing before this happens though. In effect the bricks concentrate the heat where you want it. You will notice there is a big difference in burning ability and temperature of different woods .... the pines tend to be good and hot starters, hardwoods generally last longer in the burn! I assume the fan is simply passing air over the body of the stove rather than inside (you can get some designed for an exterior air inlet (so you don't pump your nice warm air from inside the room up the chimney causing cold draughts) but there are many different types! Care needs to be given when using a damper with a wood burner ..... damp it down too much and you run the risk of CO poisoning (it is a colourless and tasteless gas) but when using it on coal can be handy for keeping the fire burning overnight! But again care is needed as if the flue is damped more than the fire inlets it will leak smoke (and CO). There are a whole range of different coals and Cokes available ranging from Anthracite (hard to light but burns Hot) down to high Bitumastic Coals (light easily, burns dirty and cooler) Cokes may be needed if you are in a smokeless fuel area ..... I think Hoth is exempt from that ;0) As has been mentioned in other posts a magnetic thermomiter is a must to clip on your flue to be able to regulate the heat efficiently to between 300 and 600F (175 - 300C)!
newspaper and spit is one of the best ways to clean glass.. I'd keep/replace the firebricks , will take a bit longer to get up to radiating temp but will save burning out the walls , as for dampers /airflow.. yeah you just gotta play around with em. I spent Au $4000 on a pellet heater.. much easier than splitting wood but struggles under 10c
I love this stove, that's exactly how I would use it too. I leave my damper open all the time, I use the vents to control airflow and I've been burning wood since I owned a home. If I use a damper the creosote accumulates and I have to clean the chimney more. If I leave it open and burn it hot I think its safer. The chimney never gets an accumulation of creosote. When I clean it in the spring there's only a tiny amount of dust. Yeah the window is probably dickered, maybe a vinegar soak then try cleaning it but I wouldn't, too much work. Right on about oak - That stuff burns hot and leaves great coals. I burn it overnight or when I go to work. When I'm home I burn all the other trash I have. You mentioned maple, I use it as kindling, not because its the best or hottest or easiest to light, but the smoke from starting a fire inevitably gets in the room and maple smoke is pleasant.
I have been heating the lower floors of my mountain house with a wood-burning stove since i have memory. By the looks of the grid thingy at the bottom of your coal stove i wouldn't say that you particularly needed that steel plate that you made. It's very similar to the one i have in my wood stove, although mine is a static grid. The shifting mechanism is very interesting! It allows you to filter down the ash and leave the embers up, to finish burning. Anyway, I have no experience with coal burners (in Europe it's widely used as a domestic heating only in Germany and neighboring areas, I'm from northern Italy) and you probably did your tests and considerations. Did your steel plate improve the burning, and how? Second thing, in order to better exploit the heat produced by wood, which is fast-burning respect to coal, we usually lengthen the exhaust pipes, by placing the stove further from the exit hole to the chimney, or forcing the flow through a "radiator", where the pipes multiply in number and have a smaller section. Since your garage-shop is so huge (even if you split it with the wall you were saying) this could be an interesting solution to better distribute the heat and extract more warmth from the combustion gases, before dumping them outside. Nicely done in removing the extra layers of the pipes. I'd also love to keep the door open and look at the fire, but i would be too scared that a spark jumped outside while I am not looking and do same damage... Wood can be particularly hyperactive, if you burned something with resin inside (like fir or larch, common where i live) you would notice! :P Anyway, these are my 2 cents, please keep up the good work, i love your channels and "toys" and could listen endlessly at your ramblings :D
Hello sir, thanks for the video. Since it's been a few years since making it I'm sure you have the stove mastered by now. I grew up with a mark 2 in our home and it was excellent with coal, but we did burn wood when we were available to. My question is, what is the longest you can get a burn? If it's packed tightly and dampened back will it last 8-10 hours? I like that you added the plate over the grates for just wood burning, that has to help tremendously. Thanks again and let me know.
Because it's in a shop, I don't really try to extend the burn time to its maximum. That said, no, I don't suspect that you could get 8-10 hours with this unit-at least not while using wood as fuel. If I were to (first) get a bed of coals, then put in two nice big logs that'd fill up most of its space, and then dial back the air, I _might_ get five hours before having to rekindle it. The downside to doing this is how outrageously hot the fire becomes about ½ an hour after loading it. In practice, it's just easier for me to drop in the appropriately sized chunk every hour or so. Often, I'll just let it burn all the way down and finish out the day on the unit's thermal mass: _that_ heat carries on for 8-10 hours, easily. By the way, I no longer use the stainless steel grate. It's tricky to learn to get a fire going at first without it, but there's no point after you've become better at kindling it over those large slots. In terms of efficiency, there's probably a price I'm paying for (not) doing so, but luckily the fuel grows on the trees around here! Thanks.
Pretty bizarre to see the state of the weather in the US right now considering the 40°C we're dealing with here in Australia right now. Don't think I've ever heard of trees squeaking from ice before
Sometimes they POP! It sounds like a quick, loud crack. It rarely gets this cold, though. A few years back, I used to watch a permaculture channel that was in Australia, and it _was_ a bit bizarre to always see the exact opposite season. Well, enjoy it now- because in two months I will be watching paradise as it begins to wake up! We get about half a year of beautiful temperatures here, but we do pay for it.
Here the trees only 'POP' is due to bushfires.. :) I'm happy in an Aussie city where the record lowest temperature was 2°C.. A month or two where it gets to 35°C and you need a fan to sleep is well worth it for the nice warm winter and being able to go outside in shorts. But it's nice to watch others enjoy what they like too..
18:04 the glass has been etched and if you want to see though it clearly, you will need to replace it, and the epozy may or may not hold up. The High heat gasket glue is the way to go, a little goes a long way for your gasket repair.
There's a baffle at the top/back. Exhaust enters at the front, moves over the top, then down its back before going up & out. This curve helps the metal capture lots of heat before it escapes through the flue.
Yes re anthracite. Here in the UK most large cities are smokeless zones since the 60s. Anthracite is still allowed because of how clean it burns. The bituminous coal that's more common in the UK now is filthy when burned domestically.
I put in a similar coal stove this year, a gibraltar. I haven't yet found the tag/name plate. I assume mine might be a bit older, doesn't have the internal vent and no brass. I started the year burning just wood, no plate in the bottom. worked well, provided more than enough heat for my house. I put a 60 pound slab of steel on top the stove to store more heat, and have the fire brick inside. the last few weeks I've been learning the art of coal. the first nut sized andesite batch I got was pretty big pieces. I had much trouble keeping it burning. the batch of andesite I just got, also nut sized, much smaller sifting. I guess that's just the luck of the draw what actual size it is. the smaller coal as more surface area, burns and spreads filling the inside of the stove much easier than the bigger stuff. keeping it burning until I wake up in the morning is another problem.
The blower can actually make a huge difference. The one on mine didn't work this year, and i think it's making an impact on the heat I can collect. There isn't enough natural convection to make the air move fast enough. Also, once the outer plate gets hot, the convection starts to slow down. So yeah, the fan can make a difference. I have to replace mine for next year.
we have a harman coal stove, we burn plenty of wood in the warmer months, it should be plenty big enough for that space. it keeps 1500sq ft plenty warm, I only fire up the second stove in our basement when the temps drop below 0
Hey up there. I was in Westmoreland, now I'm in Cambria. It's been a long time since I've been up to the lake, and even longer since I've been to Presque Isle.
Hello im from Tamimant PA 15 miles north of Stroudsburg,I have Harman mark 2 -you have Harman mark 1 I think --. A mark 2 has 4 grates ,get brick that lines stove but don't buy from cheap Northern Company for 15 dollars ,its junk actually brick melts, Anthracite is clean, no smoke at all -once it gets going and its a blue flame ,they call it ---blue dancing ladies. im very happy with my Harmand,we had BAD snow STORM and no power . that little stove kept1800 sqft house at 70' outside -10 uses 40lb bag in 24hrs with 1 shake at 12 hrs.you just give fast dump of tray after 24 hrs and keep adding.dump used ash in metal container. goodluck.
If you want a cheap fire starter, use google to find the online contacts for local churches and ask if they have any candle stubs. Doesn't usually work for the bigger candles as they cost more, but there are usually cheap ones being used at some event or another. Some churches also do candle-lit services around holidays, and just throw out pounds and pounds of quarter-burnt cheap paraffin candles after every Christmas. They buy in bulk and most find it's cheaper to throw them out as they cost pennies to the candle, and new ones get more donations. Probably works for most other places of worship as well. You can remelt the wax with a cheap double boiler for crafts, or pour it over dryer lint or balled up paper if you want to light a fire in a storm or want something for a camping kit, but you really don't need to most of the time.
If you remove all the fire bricks it will not store and radiant heat as well, which is the secondary function of refractory material. It protects the steel from warping, which can still be possible if you have a hot enough fire going. But refractory bricks hold and radiates heat long after the wood has burned down. My wood pro 2000 was still hot two days after the wood burned away. If it were just steel it would have cool down shortly after your fire died
Quite the contrary, I think I'm actually pretty close to where you're at, though I'm more towards the anthracite coal area and not too terribly far from where those stoves are manufactured. I used to have a Harmon very similar to that, in fact. For that reason, it hurt a bit to see you get rid of the boiler, because nothing transfers heat like water, but that thing looked like the work investment would have far outweighed the results. That said, you mentioned that it ran under the driveway. That's... unique. Was it to melt it? And how didn't it freeze?
If you start with crumpled balls of paper then kindling over it, light the paper, you won’t have to go through the whole lighting 20 pieces of paper to start your fire, just an idea. That’s just how I start my fires, thank you Boy Scouts of America hahaha. Btw, is it strictly a coal stove? I grew up with a coal/wood stove and yours doesn’t appear to be a hell of a lot different. It heated our whole house which was a basic ranch, but it heated both the main floor and the basement where the stove was located. Excellent stove. Did you name your stove Mark Harmon the second? Bahahaha
I agree. I use old new paper. Take 1 page (1/2 sheet) and ball it up about the size of a tennis to gold ball sized. I put my paper under the grate and let the flames come up and lick at the pitch and fire it up. Once the pitch lights, then I put the heavier/heartier wood on top. Normally can have a hot fire in about 20mins
Per my Harman manual you ball up newspaper and line the bottom then put kindling over top. I usually heat my flue with a little propane torch first as a cheater.
The fan moves air over/through the baffle, but that duct is sealed off away from the actual firebox. It's pretty much just moving air over a heated steel plate.
@@pocket83squared Yeah, I'm just projecting my own fears. Our neighbors when I was little had a wood stove in their detached garage that developed a cracked weld from hot/cold cycles. Only injury was to their cat, but impressionable youth and all that.
I just built a pole barn this fall. I am looking for a used coal stove to heat it. How has your Harman held up and what have you learned from it so far?
It's a solid piece of equipment. When I made this video, I didn't really know what I was doing. I just got lucky. The space I heat with it is rather small--something like 22'², but it generates more heat than I can stand. Much of controlling heat is in the type of fuel you're using. Coal burns much too hot for my space, and even Maple will have me opening doors. I try to balance it out by alternating with Cherry and Pine. The reason that I would recommend this sort of stove is simple: coal burns much hotter than wood fuel, so a coal burner is built to withstand more abuse. Looking at most woodburners, they're like laughably chintzy in comparison. A Harman is built like a tank that can last a lifetime. Check Craigslist (especially during the off-season), and if you're willing to drive, you can find one for a steal. I have zero regrets about it.
So true when I moved to Australia from NewZealand we thought they were some sort of exotic bird and would feed them at the parks, we saw the signs don't feed the ibises but we didn't know they were one and the same lol...we got informed pretty quickly however. Quite a few of us kiwis and Aussies watching pocket I see from the comments
@@pocket83squared the correct terminology is a barometric damper, it will allow the draft to remain constant leading to more heat output in real BTU's which is the reason for burning coal ,wood, or oil.
@@danthurman9076 A damper is essentially a valve. Yes, there's one there. See 23:00. It does little in this case, because it's permanently set. Because my flue is short and wider diameter than necessary, the draw already accommodates a higher volume than the stove is capable of delivering, so the combustion can be easily throttled on the intake side. In terms of overall efficiency, using the damper to slow down heat escape isn't really sensible here, for several reasons. For one, slowing air flow _after_ the combustion has taken place means that you're creating a blockage (higher pressure inside the stove), which allows more exhaust into my breathing space. For two, any additional heat captured by creating a back-pressure is negligible in comparison to other methods of increasing efficiency, like blowing a heat-stealing fan on the flue for example, or even more importantly, by using only fully-cured firewood. The biggest variations I seem to get relate to the type of fuel I burn, and not so much to _how_ I burn them; though I've tried to squeeze out every drop by controlling my burns appropriately, ultimately the best way to reduce my overall effort has been to simply use as much Maple wood as possible. Per unit of heat, Cherry is a little more of a struggle to keep up, and Pine is a complete waste of time. Remember, efficiency isn't just measured in BTUs. It also has to do with time and work spent, like moving & storing firewood, cleaning out ash, and tinkering with the valves on the stove.
I spy The Princess Bride in your video, if I remember the movie correctly. Come to think of it, one of your other videos had a Princess Bride clip. You must have watched it recently, am I right?
I live in the deep South. I tell ya, we don't use coal at all that I know of. It's all wood burning. And the people around here want above premium prices for them. Even the crappiest of stoves are way overpriced. So I'd say, be happy with a working stove you got $200!! 'Cause down here, that's an $800 stove!!
Heck, even if I had something shipped down here it would still be cheaper!! I looked around for the same basic stove you just got and it's $1150. No way!! But you have a good point. I do have a flatbed.
What about cutting your coal with wood, or just adding some coal to the tons pieces of wood? Also if you want to pull more heat out of the exhaust you could put the second layer of tubing back over the flue and put a small fan at the top to force air through it. You could even point it towards the coldest corner of the room. I think the airflow would work best pointed down rightso that it is coldest at the top and warmest at the bottom but i have no idea why that would be best other than just to to have the colder end remain colder instead of putting a cold point in the middle between a hot point at both ends. Hope you survive the polar vortex...
I could be wrong but I believe that's a mark I stove not a mark II. Not a big deal. I have a hard time burning wood in my Mark II. Wood only last's about 3 hrs. Usually I can leave a coal fire for at least 12 hrs.
It is hard to tell. Look at the tag at 15:19. They stamped it between 'Hearth Hero' and 'Mark II.' How is your different? And what does your stamp say?
@@pocket83squared ah ok. mine is stamped mark II. the body of my stove is 23 inches wide and the load door and ash door are 20 inches wide. you're looks a tad narrower.
Just a word of advice Quakeing aspin does not burn the greatest plus the smoke stinks terrible, as for wood working I don't know but if you de-bark it and let it dry you won't be able to pound a nail In it.
Let the glass heat up a bit and then spray room temp or a little warmer windex on the warm glass. This should get the soot to flake off with an old rag.
im so jealous of that weather! west cost of BC has been unfairly warm and free of snow.... Good video, refreshing to see someone talk about a woodstove without being a nazi about its use and doctrine
I run a small wood stove (jotul) and it has no firebrick at all. Its cast iron not steel so perhaps that makes a difference? But I run more or less 24 hours a day and even at its hottest (which you never really want) its totally fine. I vote remove the brick. More volume is a big advantage.
I'm not sure that anybody really knows the difference. The metal tag on mine claims that it's a II, but there have been some pretty demanding comments that disagree.
that style of stove in serbian speaking countries is called "kraljica"(queen on english)......i can only guess why its called like that aaand we only use wood for heating....
Coal stoves have such strong drafts because coal is significantly harder to burn than wood. It’s actually impressively hard. And unlike wood ash, coal ash cements itself together. That shaker grate is to break up the “clinkers” or “cinders” that form as the coal burns. The coal ash is really toxic too, and if you cooked over an open coal fire, your food would be both unsafe to eat, and taste absolutely horrible. Coal is pretty weird stuff man
IMHO: You REALLY need to rework that exhaust stack exiting the back of that stove. Instead of coming out, directly into a 90 degree elbow, then up and out thru the roof,.... you need to replace the elbow with a "T" so that the bottom of the "T" is at the back of the stove, with one side of the "T" goint up and out. Then, the lower side of the "T" is connected to another side, of another"T", and then a clean-out cap goes at the low end (the lowest, side of the lower "T". Then, run a pipe from the bottom of the lower "T", over and out to the side wall of the shop. Put a (airflow) damper in that pipe, just behind the stove, close to the bottow "T". This will control the amount of cold, outside air that can come in and up, into the vertical stack, to help mix with the hot stove exhaust air. This column of mixing air, will help reduce the amount of "siphoning" force that you likely have been struggling to limit, as the exhaust stack heats up, once you start burning. Also, add another (airflow) damper, into the vertical stack, at about 4' above the floor, so that it's at a height that is easy to reach. This damper limits the amount of total airflow that rises up and out of the exhaust stack. You may need to play with both damper controls, to adjust the total airflow thru the firebox, but, with a bit of experimentation, you will be able to get the stove system to work, fairly steadily, with minimal tending, and, you won't be sucking all of the hot air out of the shop, as the firebox burns! The incoming, cold, outside air, feeds the fire, and, helps cool the exhaust gases, to keep the siphoning to a minimal amount. You will be way better off if you keep the entire lining of the stove protected with the firebrick, etc.! Raw coal/coke flame will over heat the bare metal, causing eventual rusting, flaking, or sagging, or exen burning ("sparkling"), warping, and finally holes thru the walls! Good luck! Keep a big cast iron pan, or galvanized tub, full of water, on top of the warm stove. The water will slowly evaporate, as the stove heats it, and, the addition of a bit of humidity in the shop will be very nice, because the winter air is so damned dry, usually! Just dump out the water, if you're going to leave the shop, for the night. If you have some stove pipe thermometers, place them around, near by, to monitor the heat in the stove pipes, near the dampers. They'll soon help you to know if your system is heating, or cooling, or running at steady temperatures.
Also I removed my firebrick years ago in my MK2. Only burning wood and my temps aren't getting hot enough to concern me about warpage.. I'm also plenty far away from any combustibles. My burn times vary from 6- 10 hours of steady heat with seasoned hardwood. I clean my glass with wet ash and fine steel wool. Works great for me 👍👍
if you remove the firebrick be careful, i'm sure you probably already know but firebricks aren't particularly healthy for your lungs if they get crushed some when you break them out
I wish I could get bituminous cheaper. 4$ for 40 lbs of anthracite or I can pay 50$ for 40 lbs of bituminous. I use it for a forge though and not for heating. Anthracite is super clean burning though. Once it gets going it’s just a boring glowing rock. No smell. Small flames that are barely visible and no visible smoke
Been running mine since 1991 and it's a great stove. It has the blower motor and that makes a big difference in the amount of heat it puts out. Had to replace the blower motor twice, the door glass once, the fiberglas door gaskets a few times and the firebricks 4 - 5 times over the years but that was about it. No downside to owning this stove.
Thank you for this! I am new to the coal stove world and this video helped alot!
If you (or anyone else) want to talk about rocket stoves, i am a big fan.
They have been our main heat source for 5+ years.
We burn less wood and get more heat.
I don't recommend one for your shop because they take up a lot of space and take quite some time to get hot.
I do think you could have fun experimenting with one just for fun (or maybe to heat the living spaces)
Love your channel, greetings from Belgium.
Perhaps you missed the part where he said he got the stove cheap. Rocket stoves are an investment. Can you fire coal in a rocket?
Invest in a woodstove temp gauge for stove pipe. Helps with the dialing in of dampers to not over burn wood and over heat flues temp. I found myself burning nearly half the wood and still having a very heated space.
Noted. Thank you.
Put a fan on top of it .i think they are called..."Heat Powered Stove Fan"@@pocket83squared
@@bobdickweed www.amazon.com/Home-Complete-HC-7002-Fireplaces-Quiet-Maintenance-Disperses/dp/B018G9ZKBK i wonder if these things are based on a sterling engine of some kind
@@bexpi7100 no, they use a peltier thermoelectric cell to power a motor. The same cell is used in mini fridges and dehumidifiers, when you apply a heat difference they generate electricity when you apply electricity they generate a heat difference. Neat eh?
@@garrethtinsley2435 yeah, shortly after i posted that comment i realized that using a Sterling engine would be insane. That and Big Clive did a teardown of one.
Your long-windedness is why I watch (and enjoy) your videos.
TY pocket your videos make my day better. I can almost smell the wood burning 😁 good luck with your partition! I agree smaller spaces are better as long as you don't feel cramped. Stay warm!
Miss my Mark II. I burned coal in mine for two winters before selling the house (Central NY). Filled it 2x per day. The ash can be a hassle but coal heats really, really well.
I would say keep the bricks. Finnish sauna heaters do burn through (f.ex 2-3 burns per week for 3-4 hours for 10y or so). The back wall might be thinner than what outside looks because there is that duct running behind it. The bricks also dampen variability of temperature the stove is outputting, and make it give out heat also after the fire is gone. I also suspect that majority of heat the burner generates just goes out of the pipe, stones can capture at least a portion of that. Russians have a name for this type of stove; "burzhujka - bourgeois", takes all the fuel and gives little in return.
The bricks are a good thing. If you have combustion taking place on the steel, then you're maximizing the temperature of the steel while also providing oxygen. That's only going to reduce the life of things. Also consider the corrosion that takes place as the ash residue absorbs moisture during the warm season. Just keep stuff off the firebox. I don't know that the absence of bricks at the end means that they were never there.
As to optimizing heat output, there are air-air heat exchangers that can be added to the flue, but care needs to be taken to avoid draft reduction or creosote buildup.
There is just something about your videos Pocket. There is just something interesting about your way of doing stuff! Please keep up the amazing work!!!
Thanks!
Thank God Pocket is back! Be safe.
I have a wood burning insert that runs 24 hours a day during winter. It's lined completely with firebrick and the stove can easily get over 600 degrees if I don't throttle the air intake. The brick saves the melt down from high heat for extended periods. It also makes it easy to restart a new fire after ash clean out. Wood stoves are the greatest and I find free firewood without even trying.
The glass is gone, I think (at least there is no way I can think know of). You could demount it, and use an acidbath and over time the stains will go away. But not the other damage. Where it comes from? My guess would be microscopic imperfections that heat up differently than the glass it self and over time and use the expansion/contraction damages the glass. But I'm not certain on that. Don't use normal glass to repair it, it will crack the moment it's heated.
Burning wood gives you heat really fast, on the other hand once it's out, the heat will be gone very soon.
Coal on the other hand is used otherwise, you don't burn it like a woodfire. Well sort of. You start burning it like a woodfire but once the flames are out and there is only the ember left you close all openings and adjust the aircontrol so that it becomes a smouldering fire. It's not fast. But it gives it's heat/energy away over a much longer time. That's why it's perfect for big tiled stoves, where the firebricks can store alot of heat/energy. Funfact: for most tiled stoves it's not recommended to use wood because of the energyoutput of wood (at least around here). But I digress.
The point is: keep the firebricks.
Not only do they store a little bit of heat (not much, there are anly few in there) but they protect the outer shell of the fire-chamber from damage of the fire. In my work (chimney sweeper from Germany) I see alot of damaged fireplaces because of broken or missing interiors.
It's also possible that the sulfur of the coals that where burned there reacts with the watervapor from the wood to a slight sulfuric acid and damages the interrior and the pipe. But that's insignificant.
This video warms my insides, i live 10ish minutes from Centralia PA
Me to!
If you turn your damper closed part way and close your draft door on the front the one you where turning it will help you get better heat in the shop and maybe a little bigger fan that's how I ran mine. Just a idea. Keep up the great videos
I was thinking the same. High draft is nice when starting the fire. But after it's going hot, those flames need to be slowed down to retain the heat in the shop.
Looks like a well made stove. I've had a few and now use a Morsø, great stove but cheaper ones are just as good, though perhaps not a durable long term. The glass fronts always get etched if you burn coal, just keep on top of the soot build up. If its not cracked there's no need to replace unless the cosmetics bother you.
Cut your logs so they are either the depth of the fire box, or the width minus a few inches. My box is about the same size as yours, about 14" deep I think. So my logs are about 10" log as I put mine front-to-back.
Once the fire/stove is at high heat, toss in some larger chunks of wood, about 4 - 6 diameter with the cut face down on the embers.
Close the flue damper down about 1/2 way (fine adjust later), and close the doors. Let the fire run a few minutes with the screw damper (or whatever it's called. Down in Fl we don't use coal, so therefore we use a slider) open. Then after the new logs have caught, slowly dial in the screw damper.
What you want is a hot/bright glowing embers. They will produce a LOT of heat, burn cleanly, burn longer, and leave very little ash behind.
Also, check the smoke coming out of the stack outside. If it's smoky, you need to get the fire hotter. Smoke means that there is a potential for buildup inside the flue. The first fire to get things going need to be really hot to burn off any residue from the previous fire that cooled down.
I'm actually in the process of building my own fire box. The one I currently have was not designed for being "inside" a house/shop. At least I don't think so. When you open the door, smoke will always billow out of it. The top plate inside that the fire licks up against is actually angled towards the front of the stove. So when a fire started, the smoke/flames will actually roll along that plate right out the door when it's open. Not exactly safe for inside.
The new box I'm building will be larger, and have a chamber for copper coils that heat water.
I'm curious as to why you put the steel plate in there. Why not just build the fire on the grate and let the ash fall down into the bottom compartment. Then you can just shovel the it as it builds up. Seems like it'd be inconvenient to remove from the main compartment. As for the glass, there was some special cleaner I used on our wood stoves growing up. Idk if it will get rid of the sand blasted look but definitely the browning. I'll see if I can find it.
Plus you restrict the airflow from underneath.
Looks like you could put a kettle on top and then have tea or coffee in the shop whenever you want. That would be one of the main features I'd enjoy about a stove like that.
It's 62 degrees here in central Texas on the day you posted this, and though I don't need one of these stoves at this moment, I find myself wanting one anyway. It was cold here once. I mean, one day some years ago, I even had to put on a flannel shirt just to work out in my shop! I ended up getting too warm, and had to take it off, but still! Maybe it'll get cold again one day.
All kidding aside, a friend of mine had a small piece of land out in west Texas, and there was a stove like this in the cabin. We'd go out there in the winter, and the damn thing would make that cinder block cabin almost too hot. It'd be in the 20s outside (I know, right?? The 20s ... can you even believe it??), and it'd be like 90 in the cabin. You could even slow roast corn on the top of the stove, which my younger self found immensely entertaining.
I think you would be surprised how small the world is and how close some of your viewers are. But congrats on the stove, they are a real rewarding heat if you can continue to use them. My favorite method of starting my stove is hitting old coals with a snap plumbers torch then using essentially a PC fan on a metal tube to blow on them. That kind of set up might not work with the shape of your firebox though. As others have said I would keep the firebrick. Its really there to help get the temps up and gasify the wood. Without them you would probably notice more coals and unburnt wood. Doubt it will hurt to try though.
That boiler with piping sounds like systems that were used around here only for cooling rather than heating. I did a variety of projects where we modernized their systems and was kind of amazed at how the old systems worked. This older systems were basically rooms filled with chillers, they would freeze vast amounts of water and then pump air through the ice during the day to cool the classrooms. It wasn't exactly energy efficient but they were making use of the night time, when energy was billed at cheaper rates, to lower their energy costs. I've actually heard these type of systems are making a comeback with more efficient versions but I've not seen one locally as of yet.
Thinking about how extensive that type of system was/is:
You know what system is severely under-utilized? Geothermal. In the summer, the air 60 feet down is as cool as AC, and in the winter, it's nowhere near chilly. Why aren't we using simple duct systems to help stabilize our internal environments? It's an unlimited supply of comfortable air, and it requires only a fan and a pipe to make use of it.
Simply put, it's because such systems would employ localized services and technicians, rather than boxes of corporate manufactured "high efficiency" products. Our short-sighted market is always looking for a quick-fix product as a solution, so that's where the advertising and research funding go. The initial investment of digging is just too off-putting, even though a system like that would pay for itself in only a few years.
So we burn fuel, instead- while sitting on a giant, warm rock. Sheesh.
@@pocket83squared yeah where I live in California, I've never even seen a geothermal system put in place here but I've read studies on them. It's always made sense to me. The cost was even lower than I thought it would be.
Just wondering what you make or fix in your fantastic workshop
Great video I am looking for a mark 3 I'm currently running a mark 2 in my basement and burn wood. I have a mark 1 also I'm planning on restoring it when I get time. I believe you're stove is the mark 1 it looks dimensionally identical to my mark 1. Anyway these Harman's are quality stoves for sure. Happy burning 👍👍😉
My dad put a simple mechanical thermostatic switch on our wood burner that turns the fan on at a certain temp (100 F maybe?)
That way the fire gets up to heat quickly to create draw, and then the fan kicks in when needed. He also can leave the fan plugged in 24/7, and it only turns on when the fire is hot. Let the fire burn out over night and the fan shuts off.
How hot does the top get? Can you cook on it or put a big pot of water on it to increase the humidity?
Casey Urquhart you probably could cook on it, and yes you can put a big pot of water on top, we do it, although we have a coal fire
I've cooked eggs on my Harman Mark II with a cast iron skillet haha. I usually keep a pot of water on top to help humidify the air. I burn coal mostly.
try vinegar on the glass, should give an acid/base reaction with the gunk and loosen things a bit. Also highly recommend one of the heat powered fans, really helps to heat a room.
you have a beautiful home. when I was much younger, I made several iterations of a coal/wood burning stoves. yes, I did burn coal. I learned a lot about burning in a stove as a result. the best stove I ever had was a 375 gal. fuel tank with 2 cast iron doors welded on. anyway, I found burning coal is much less work and dirt cheap. I would drive to the coal mine and buy coal by the pickup load ($20 then). 2 loads would easily last all winter. BTY, it was a 1600 sq. ft. shop. I would stoke it up at the end of the day and turn down the draft and it would run all night. one thing you should do is put fire brick around the inside edge so the all the air has to flow up into the burn chamber thru the fire in the middle. with a small flow of air straight thru the fire it will burn more efficiently and hotter (keep upper door closed). with coal, you will be adding to the fire 1/3rd as often. one more thing, put a fan behind the stove to slowly blow across it to move the air for better overall room warmth (not too close).
The fire brick is so the coals will not burn out the steel. I'm not familiar with coal stoves,but have been burning wood stoves forover 35 years. Wood stoves come with fire brick in the lower part of the fire boxes .
Triple wall chimney is a creosote maker,( it super cools the smoke and creosote condense on the pipe, where the insulated pipe keeps it warm and it doesn't do that ), but cheaper than insulated chimney . I am still burning my original metalbestas chimney. I have replaced the flue pipes several times and that is about the only thing that needs cleaned when I brush out my chimney.
My insulated chimney pipe cost, about the same price as my Temp Wood ,wood stoves . I have one in the house and one in my 24 x 24 garage, both are the same size.
Be safe, but stay warm :- )
I’m a blacksmith. That fire brick is to protect your stove and make sure the heat is where you want it. Built several different forges and ovens with fire brick if the brick goes bad and there is a constant heating and cooling of the sides of the stove it will wear out faster. The fire brick helps it cool of slower which is better for it. If you don’t want to deal with fire brick Kale wool can be an alternative. It’s a little bit easier to work with.
Thanks. I added firebrick to the sides shortly after this video. It has been working great.
...LOL!!! it's actually "KAO-Wool",..... (not "Kale wool").
I worked at Harman stove for 6 years, You got one of the best stove in the World. You need to put the Fire brick where it's Suppose to be ,Stove will Heat Better
Kim Brady I just inherited a Harman Mark II with my new home. Did Harman get out of the coal stove business?
I have looked into this subject a bit (as well as having personal experience of both wood and coal burning.
They are two completely different beasts! Having said that you can get dual fuel types like yours (and mine) but they do not work well with both fuel types! I am only talking about modern high efficiency types now but a wood burner needs air to pass over the top of the fuel and form a vortex allowing the gasses given off the wood as it cooks to burn. It is This gas flame that produces the heat. Coal needs an air flow Through the coal from underneath!
Coal also burns cooler than wood (Anthracite may be an exception though) The purpose of the fire bricks is to prevent oxidisation of the stove from becoming excessive ..... You would need it to be glowing before this happens though. In effect the bricks concentrate the heat where you want it.
You will notice there is a big difference in burning ability and temperature of different woods .... the pines tend to be good and hot starters, hardwoods generally last longer in the burn!
I assume the fan is simply passing air over the body of the stove rather than inside (you can get some designed for an exterior air inlet (so you don't pump your nice warm air from inside the room up the chimney causing cold draughts) but there are many different types!
Care needs to be given when using a damper with a wood burner ..... damp it down too much and you run the risk of CO poisoning (it is a colourless and tasteless gas) but when using it on coal can be handy for keeping the fire burning overnight! But again care is needed as if the flue is damped more than the fire inlets it will leak smoke (and CO).
There are a whole range of different coals and Cokes available ranging from Anthracite (hard to light but burns Hot) down to high Bitumastic Coals (light easily, burns dirty and cooler) Cokes may be needed if you are in a smokeless fuel area ..... I think Hoth is exempt from that ;0)
As has been mentioned in other posts a magnetic thermomiter is a must to clip on your flue to be able to regulate the heat efficiently to between 300 and 600F (175 - 300C)!
newspaper and spit is one of the best ways to clean glass.. I'd keep/replace the firebricks , will take a bit longer to get up to radiating temp but will save burning out the walls , as for dampers /airflow.. yeah you just gotta play around with em.
I spent Au $4000 on a pellet heater.. much easier than splitting wood but struggles under 10c
I love this stove, that's exactly how I would use it too. I leave my damper open all the time, I use the vents to control airflow and I've been burning wood since I owned a home. If I use a damper the creosote accumulates and I have to clean the chimney more. If I leave it open and burn it hot I think its safer. The chimney never gets an accumulation of creosote. When I clean it in the spring there's only a tiny amount of dust. Yeah the window is probably dickered, maybe a vinegar soak then try cleaning it but I wouldn't, too much work. Right on about oak - That stuff burns hot and leaves great coals. I burn it overnight or when I go to work. When I'm home I burn all the other trash I have. You mentioned maple, I use it as kindling, not because its the best or hottest or easiest to light, but the smoke from starting a fire inevitably gets in the room and maple smoke is pleasant.
Oohhhh the sound of that snow crunching under foot
I have been heating the lower floors of my mountain house with a wood-burning stove since i have memory. By the looks of the grid thingy at the bottom of your coal stove i wouldn't say that you particularly needed that steel plate that you made. It's very similar to the one i have in my wood stove, although mine is a static grid. The shifting mechanism is very interesting! It allows you to filter down the ash and leave the embers up, to finish burning. Anyway, I have no experience with coal burners (in Europe it's widely used as a domestic heating only in Germany and neighboring areas, I'm from northern Italy) and you probably did your tests and considerations. Did your steel plate improve the burning, and how?
Second thing, in order to better exploit the heat produced by wood, which is fast-burning respect to coal, we usually lengthen the exhaust pipes, by placing the stove further from the exit hole to the chimney, or forcing the flow through a "radiator", where the pipes multiply in number and have a smaller section. Since your garage-shop is so huge (even if you split it with the wall you were saying) this could be an interesting solution to better distribute the heat and extract more warmth from the combustion gases, before dumping them outside. Nicely done in removing the extra layers of the pipes.
I'd also love to keep the door open and look at the fire, but i would be too scared that a spark jumped outside while I am not looking and do same damage... Wood can be particularly hyperactive, if you burned something with resin inside (like fir or larch, common where i live) you would notice! :P
Anyway, these are my 2 cents, please keep up the good work, i love your channels and "toys" and could listen endlessly at your ramblings :D
Hello sir, thanks for the video. Since it's been a few years since making it I'm sure you have the stove mastered by now. I grew up with a mark 2 in our home and it was excellent with coal, but we did burn wood when we were available to.
My question is, what is the longest you can get a burn? If it's packed tightly and dampened back will it last 8-10 hours? I like that you added the plate over the grates for just wood burning, that has to help tremendously.
Thanks again and let me know.
Because it's in a shop, I don't really try to extend the burn time to its maximum. That said, no, I don't suspect that you could get 8-10 hours with this unit-at least not while using wood as fuel.
If I were to (first) get a bed of coals, then put in two nice big logs that'd fill up most of its space, and then dial back the air, I _might_ get five hours before having to rekindle it. The downside to doing this is how outrageously hot the fire becomes about ½ an hour after loading it. In practice, it's just easier for me to drop in the appropriately sized chunk every hour or so. Often, I'll just let it burn all the way down and finish out the day on the unit's thermal mass: _that_ heat carries on for 8-10 hours, easily.
By the way, I no longer use the stainless steel grate. It's tricky to learn to get a fire going at first without it, but there's no point after you've become better at kindling it over those large slots. In terms of efficiency, there's probably a price I'm paying for (not) doing so, but luckily the fuel grows on the trees around here!
Thanks.
Pretty bizarre to see the state of the weather in the US right now considering the 40°C we're dealing with here in Australia right now. Don't think I've ever heard of trees squeaking from ice before
Sometimes they POP! It sounds like a quick, loud crack. It rarely gets this cold, though. A few years back, I used to watch a permaculture channel that was in Australia, and it _was_ a bit bizarre to always see the exact opposite season.
Well, enjoy it now- because in two months I will be watching paradise as it begins to wake up! We get about half a year of beautiful temperatures here, but we do pay for it.
Here the trees only 'POP' is due to bushfires.. :)
I'm happy in an Aussie city where the record lowest temperature was 2°C.. A month or two where it gets to 35°C and you need a fan to sleep is well worth it for the nice warm winter and being able to go outside in shorts.
But it's nice to watch others enjoy what they like too..
Any idea what your draft measurement is. ( waterculem is)
18:04 the glass has been etched and if you want to see though it clearly, you will need to replace it, and the epozy may or may not hold up. The High heat gasket glue is the way to go, a little goes a long way for your gasket repair.
Does the Harman have a baffle so the wood heat and flames don’t just shoot up the chimney?
There's a baffle at the top/back. Exhaust enters at the front, moves over the top, then down its back before going up & out. This curve helps the metal capture lots of heat before it escapes through the flue.
Yes re anthracite. Here in the UK most large cities are smokeless zones since the 60s. Anthracite is still allowed because of how clean it burns. The bituminous coal that's more common in the UK now is filthy when burned domestically.
I put in a similar coal stove this year, a gibraltar. I haven't yet found the tag/name plate. I assume mine might be a bit older, doesn't have the internal vent and no brass. I started the year burning just wood, no plate in the bottom. worked well, provided more than enough heat for my house. I put a 60 pound slab of steel on top the stove to store more heat, and have the fire brick inside. the last few weeks I've been learning the art of coal. the first nut sized andesite batch I got was pretty big pieces. I had much trouble keeping it burning. the batch of andesite I just got, also nut sized, much smaller sifting. I guess that's just the luck of the draw what actual size it is. the smaller coal as more surface area, burns and spreads filling the inside of the stove much easier than the bigger stuff. keeping it burning until I wake up in the morning is another problem.
Do run the blower on that stove? How much of a difference would it make? Noise?
The blower can actually make a huge difference. The one on mine didn't work this year, and i think it's making an impact on the heat I can collect. There isn't enough natural convection to make the air move fast enough. Also, once the outer plate gets hot, the convection starts to slow down. So yeah, the fan can make a difference. I have to replace mine for next year.
we have a harman coal stove, we burn plenty of wood in the warmer months, it should be plenty big enough for that space. it keeps 1500sq ft plenty warm, I only fire up the second stove in our basement when the temps drop below 0
I’m in southwest PA too, near Kittanning.
Hey I’m up in Erie, it’s cool that you’re from nearby
Hey up there. I was in Westmoreland, now I'm in Cambria. It's been a long time since I've been up to the lake, and even longer since I've been to Presque Isle.
pocket83² Presque Isle is our little gem up here
Hello im from Tamimant PA 15 miles north of Stroudsburg,I have Harman mark 2 -you have Harman mark 1 I think --. A mark 2 has 4 grates ,get brick that lines stove but don't buy from cheap Northern Company for 15 dollars ,its junk actually brick melts, Anthracite is clean, no smoke at all -once it gets going and its a blue flame ,they call it ---blue dancing ladies. im very happy with my Harmand,we had BAD snow STORM and no power . that little stove kept1800 sqft house at 70' outside -10 uses 40lb bag in 24hrs with 1 shake at 12 hrs.you just give fast dump of tray after 24 hrs and keep adding.dump used ash in metal container. goodluck.
If you want a cheap fire starter, use google to find the online contacts for local churches and ask if they have any candle stubs. Doesn't usually work for the bigger candles as they cost more, but there are usually cheap ones being used at some event or another. Some churches also do candle-lit services around holidays, and just throw out pounds and pounds of quarter-burnt cheap paraffin candles after every Christmas. They buy in bulk and most find it's cheaper to throw them out as they cost pennies to the candle, and new ones get more donations. Probably works for most other places of worship as well.
You can remelt the wax with a cheap double boiler for crafts, or pour it over dryer lint or balled up paper if you want to light a fire in a storm or want something for a camping kit, but you really don't need to most of the time.
Reminds me of home in the white mountains when we'd get snowed in but we were warm.
If you remove all the fire bricks it will not store and radiant heat as well, which is the secondary function of refractory material. It protects the steel from warping, which can still be possible if you have a hot enough fire going. But refractory bricks hold and radiates heat long after the wood has burned down. My wood pro 2000 was still hot two days after the wood burned away. If it were just steel it would have cool down shortly after your fire died
Quite the contrary, I think I'm actually pretty close to where you're at, though I'm more towards the anthracite coal area and not too terribly far from where those stoves are manufactured. I used to have a Harmon very similar to that, in fact.
For that reason, it hurt a bit to see you get rid of the boiler, because nothing transfers heat like water, but that thing looked like the work investment would have far outweighed the results. That said, you mentioned that it ran under the driveway. That's... unique. Was it to melt it? And how didn't it freeze?
Great video. Very enjoyable.
If you start with crumpled balls of paper then kindling over it, light the paper, you won’t have to go through the whole lighting 20 pieces of paper to start your fire, just an idea. That’s just how I start my fires, thank you Boy Scouts of America hahaha. Btw, is it strictly a coal stove? I grew up with a coal/wood stove and yours doesn’t appear to be a hell of a lot different. It heated our whole house which was a basic ranch, but it heated both the main floor and the basement where the stove was located. Excellent stove. Did you name your stove Mark Harmon the second? Bahahaha
..... or a few drops of BP spirit?
I agree. I use old new paper. Take 1 page (1/2 sheet) and ball it up about the size of a tennis to gold ball sized. I put my paper under the grate and let the flames come up and lick at the pitch and fire it up. Once the pitch lights, then I put the heavier/heartier wood on top. Normally can have a hot fire in about 20mins
Per my Harman manual you ball up newspaper and line the bottom then put kindling over top. I usually heat my flue with a little propane torch first as a cheater.
Carbon monoxide detector? Especially if you run the fan.
The fan moves air over/through the baffle, but that duct is sealed off away from the actual firebox. It's pretty much just moving air over a heated steel plate.
@@pocket83squared Yeah, I'm just projecting my own fears. Our neighbors when I was little had a wood stove in their detached garage that developed a cracked weld from hot/cold cycles. Only injury was to their cat, but impressionable youth and all that.
i live in an old castle in the middle of germany, and in the dining hall we have an open fireplace, 1 meter diameter. Awesome for heating
I just built a pole barn this fall. I am looking for a used coal stove to heat it. How has your Harman held up and what have you learned from it so far?
It's a solid piece of equipment. When I made this video, I didn't really know what I was doing. I just got lucky. The space I heat with it is rather small--something like 22'², but it generates more heat than I can stand. Much of controlling heat is in the type of fuel you're using. Coal burns much too hot for my space, and even Maple will have me opening doors. I try to balance it out by alternating with Cherry and Pine.
The reason that I would recommend this sort of stove is simple: coal burns much hotter than wood fuel, so a coal burner is built to withstand more abuse. Looking at most woodburners, they're like laughably chintzy in comparison. A Harman is built like a tank that can last a lifetime. Check Craigslist (especially during the off-season), and if you're willing to drive, you can find one for a steal. I have zero regrets about it.
Why are you not posting on your main chanel?
What’s the width and depth of your garage workshop
23' squared, with 9' ceilings.
Stay warm!
I just love these videos
That ibis may be a piece of art in America but in Australia it's not much more then a bin chicken
So true when I moved to Australia from NewZealand we thought they were some sort of exotic bird and would feed them at the parks, we saw the signs don't feed the ibises but we didn't know they were one and the same lol...we got informed pretty quickly however. Quite a few of us kiwis and Aussies watching pocket I see from the comments
Love the star wars reference
What happened to the draft diverter ?
I'm not sure I understand the question. "Draft diverter" is not a very well-defined concept.
@@pocket83squared all coal ,wood, and oil burners require a draft diverted to maintain a steady draft and peak heating efficient.
@@danthurman9076 Great. So then, maybe you can define it for me; how, for example, is my flue failing to draft properly?
@@pocket83squared the correct terminology is a barometric damper, it will allow the draft to remain constant leading to more heat output in real BTU's which is the reason for burning coal ,wood, or oil.
@@danthurman9076 A damper is essentially a valve. Yes, there's one there. See 23:00. It does little in this case, because it's permanently set. Because my flue is short and wider diameter than necessary, the draw already accommodates a higher volume than the stove is capable of delivering, so the combustion can be easily throttled on the intake side.
In terms of overall efficiency, using the damper to slow down heat escape isn't really sensible here, for several reasons. For one, slowing air flow _after_ the combustion has taken place means that you're creating a blockage (higher pressure inside the stove), which allows more exhaust into my breathing space. For two, any additional heat captured by creating a back-pressure is negligible in comparison to other methods of increasing efficiency, like blowing a heat-stealing fan on the flue for example, or even more importantly, by using only fully-cured firewood.
The biggest variations I seem to get relate to the type of fuel I burn, and not so much to _how_ I burn them; though I've tried to squeeze out every drop by controlling my burns appropriately, ultimately the best way to reduce my overall effort has been to simply use as much Maple wood as possible. Per unit of heat, Cherry is a little more of a struggle to keep up, and Pine is a complete waste of time.
Remember, efficiency isn't just measured in BTUs. It also has to do with time and work spent, like moving & storing firewood, cleaning out ash, and tinkering with the valves on the stove.
I spy The Princess Bride in your video, if I remember the movie correctly. Come to think of it, one of your other videos had a Princess Bride clip. You must have watched it recently, am I right?
I live in the deep South. I tell ya, we don't use coal at all that I know of. It's all wood burning. And the people around here want above premium prices for them. Even the crappiest of stoves are way overpriced. So I'd say, be happy with a working stove you got $200!! 'Cause down here, that's an $800 stove!!
You might want to take a flatbed up here in the summer, when everyone is selling them. You could come back down and retire!
Heck, even if I had something shipped down here it would still be cheaper!! I looked around for the same basic stove you just got and it's $1150. No way!! But you have a good point. I do have a flatbed.
find some big pieces of recycled soapstone, set on top of stove, they store for a very long time
What about cutting your coal with wood, or just adding some coal to the tons pieces of wood? Also if you want to pull more heat out of the exhaust you could put the second layer of tubing back over the flue and put a small fan at the top to force air through it. You could even point it towards the coldest corner of the room. I think the airflow would work best pointed down rightso that it is coldest at the top and warmest at the bottom but i have no idea why that would be best other than just to to have the colder end remain colder instead of putting a cold point in the middle between a hot point at both ends. Hope you survive the polar vortex...
23:56 If it's cool, it's not working. If it's lit on the other hand...
pocket aka the modest immortal who took the jack of all trades feat
I could be wrong but I believe that's a mark I stove not a mark II. Not a big deal. I have a hard time burning wood in my Mark II. Wood only last's about 3 hrs. Usually I can leave a coal fire for at least 12 hrs.
It is hard to tell. Look at the tag at 15:19. They stamped it between 'Hearth Hero' and 'Mark II.' How is your different? And what does your stamp say?
@@pocket83squared ah ok. mine is stamped mark II. the body of my stove is 23 inches wide and the load door and ash door are 20 inches wide. you're looks a tad narrower.
found this coalpail.com/coal-forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=5006
Even wood ash is corrosive... So some form of brick on the sides would make it last longer.
Very nice.
two videoes in one day!? thanks!
I belive that. Gray bark wood is beach. Good firewood.
If the glass is smooth on the inside use a razor blade scraper that will clean it right up.
Just a word of advice Quakeing aspin does not burn the greatest plus the smoke stinks terrible, as for wood working I don't know but if you de-bark it and let it dry you won't be able to pound a nail In it.
Let the glass heat up a bit and then spray room temp or a little warmer windex on the warm glass. This should get the soot to flake off with an old rag.
I didn’t know you lived in pa, I’m relatively close I live in western ny
Now you just need to add a stove range to the top of it and you'll be able to cook or heat meals.
"quick look" hey a 25 min video by pocket is all good with me!
im so jealous of that weather! west cost of BC has been unfairly warm and free of snow.... Good video, refreshing to see someone talk about a woodstove without being a nazi about its use and doctrine
Your piece of stainless steel at 3:33 looks very stained.
Put the small pieces (sticks) of tinder wood on the paper first then ignite the paper...much easier to start.
i like his voice
I run a small wood stove (jotul) and it has no firebrick at all. Its cast iron not steel so perhaps that makes a difference? But I run more or less 24 hours a day and even at its hottest (which you never really want) its totally fine. I vote remove the brick. More volume is a big advantage.
Love your vid’s pocket
Are you sure that's a Mark 2 and not a Mark 1?
I'm not sure that anybody really knows the difference. The metal tag on mine claims that it's a II, but there have been some pretty demanding comments that disagree.
@@pocket83squared HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
that style of stove in serbian speaking countries is called "kraljica"(queen on english)......i can only guess why its called like that
aaand we only use wood for heating....
Yes you kept my attention
Coal stoves have such strong drafts because coal is significantly harder to burn than wood. It’s actually impressively hard. And unlike wood ash, coal ash cements itself together. That shaker grate is to break up the “clinkers” or “cinders” that form as the coal burns. The coal ash is really toxic too, and if you cooked over an open coal fire, your food would be both unsafe to eat, and taste absolutely horrible. Coal is pretty weird stuff man
Coal is awesome my grandfather cooked and heated with it all his life , lived to be 93. Don't believe all the bs propaganda out there.
Man U have beautiful piece of land
IMHO: You REALLY need to rework that exhaust stack exiting the back of that stove. Instead of coming out, directly into a 90 degree elbow, then up and out thru the roof,.... you need to replace the elbow with a "T" so that the bottom of the "T" is at the back of the stove, with one side of the "T" goint up and out. Then, the lower side of the "T" is connected to another side, of another"T", and then a clean-out cap goes at the low end (the lowest, side of the lower "T". Then, run a pipe from the bottom of the lower "T", over and out to the side wall of the shop. Put a (airflow) damper in that pipe, just behind the stove, close to the bottow "T". This will control the amount of cold, outside air that can come in and up, into the vertical stack, to help mix with the hot stove exhaust air. This column of mixing air, will help reduce the amount of "siphoning" force that you likely have been struggling to limit, as the exhaust stack heats up, once you start burning. Also, add another (airflow) damper, into the vertical stack, at about 4' above the floor, so that it's at a height that is easy to reach. This damper limits the amount of total airflow that rises up and out of the exhaust stack. You may need to play with both damper controls, to adjust the total airflow thru the firebox, but, with a bit of experimentation, you will be able to get the stove system to work, fairly steadily, with minimal tending, and, you won't be sucking all of the hot air out of the shop, as the firebox burns! The incoming, cold, outside air, feeds the fire, and, helps cool the exhaust gases, to keep the siphoning to a minimal amount. You will be way better off if you keep the entire lining of the stove protected with the firebrick, etc.! Raw coal/coke flame will over heat the bare metal, causing eventual rusting, flaking, or sagging, or exen burning ("sparkling"), warping, and finally holes thru the walls! Good luck! Keep a big cast iron pan, or galvanized tub, full of water, on top of the warm stove. The water will slowly evaporate, as the stove heats it, and, the addition of a bit of humidity in the shop will be very nice, because the winter air is so damned dry, usually! Just dump out the water, if you're going to leave the shop, for the night. If you have some stove pipe thermometers, place them around, near by, to monitor the heat in the stove pipes, near the dampers. They'll soon help you to know if your system is heating, or cooling, or running at steady temperatures.
guloguloguy
Coal isn't finite, it just takes a while to form :)
I dont think you need the fire bricks. the only make it less effcient.
Fire brick are required for coal it refle ts heat back Into coal fire to burn coal completely
It also makes wood fires burn hotter to combust the gasses inside the stove instead of unburned smoke going out the chimney.
Also I removed my firebrick years ago in my MK2. Only burning wood and my temps aren't getting hot enough to concern me about warpage.. I'm also plenty far away from any combustibles. My burn times vary from 6- 10 hours of steady heat with seasoned hardwood. I clean my glass with wet ash and fine steel wool. Works great for me 👍👍
if you remove the firebrick be careful, i'm sure you probably already know but firebricks aren't particularly healthy for your lungs if they get crushed some when you break them out
Ok time to subscribe
That's why he hasn't uploaded for so long all his videos are on pocket8(squared)
I wish I could get bituminous cheaper. 4$ for 40 lbs of anthracite or I can pay 50$ for 40 lbs of bituminous. I use it for a forge though and not for heating. Anthracite is super clean burning though. Once it gets going it’s just a boring glowing rock. No smell. Small flames that are barely visible and no visible smoke