tl300 question

I won't disagree with you on the safety concern. The slight glow does disappear at the snap of your fingers. I just watch it extremely close, if I feel like it is getting too hot, I go ahead and shut the by-pass. It seems like this only happens when the wood position allows the flames to shoot more at the open damper than the top of the stove. That only makes sense, I do try to manuever the wook chunks around a little to help that out.

Does anyone have problems/issues with how the pieces of wood are positioned in the stove? It seems like the way I stack the wood in, the flames end up shooting right up the open damper into the chimney rather than the inside of the stove top itself. When this happens, my chimney can get too hot and the stove top temp is only at 450 degrees before having to close the damper. Does anyone have suggestions?

ksburner said:

Does anyone have problems/issues with how the pieces of wood are positioned in the stove? It seems like the way I stack the wood in, the flames end up shooting right up the open damper into the chimney rather than the inside of the stove top itself. When this happens, my chimney can get too hot and the stove top temp is only at 450 degrees before having to close the damper. Does anyone have suggestions?

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What I do is close the damper and set it at the second setting. If you have a good coal bed it should fire the afterburner.
Then after about 1/2- 1 hour I go back down again and check the temps, if stove top has dropped below 400 I open it back up. and crank her back up.

Note: The 500 degree mark is just a benchmark, you may find the 450 may be your sweet spot then agian it might be 550.

smokey beaver said:

Hi, we are having a problem, we are debating on giving back the stove tl300, and getting an old fashioned buck stove. we are not sure if it is working right or what. we get a full load of wood in and it burns out in bout 6 hrs. then we also get puffs of smoke out of it alot, we have in the basement thank gush or what a mess we would have. we always have about a 4 inch cool bed. so we don't know what else to do . we think the ab is working but not sure. also a concern is alot of people talk on here about having to replace the ab after 5 yrs, well installed we just paid 6,000 for it! we can't afford to replace parts! we have been burning stait for about a month in a half now, and its cold upstairs and ok down but not real hot, we have used alot of wood so far. so do you all think it will get better or should we get rid of it and go with the buck with no ab. we had one before in a different house and never a problem at all, just low burn time but we are not getting that now neither. we feel like we can't go any where because of the puffs of smoke in the house, we have a brand new house to. open to sugestions please help!

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I am using the TL-300 in a home under construction with No insulation yet and even no drywall on many of the walls. This stove puts out serious heat. The first floor is about 70 Degrees ,outside temp 20 i get 18 hour burn on 1 load of wood,never any smoke in the room or any type of back puffs. the only way my stove burns out in 6 hours is if i have the air control on full air. What cost so much with your stove($6000) My stove was $1900 and about $25 worth of stove pipe into the chimney and thats It.

I haven't had great experiences with this stove, and wish I saved lots of wood and money by buying a tube type. I wonder if the 12 hour burn times someone else mentioned were with diesel soaked teak wood or something over at Harman headquarters. I can have 3" of bright hot coals (up to the glass) and put in a half load of 50 year old dry as a bone pine shelving ( I did this out of frustration) and I have draft so strong the air intake in the front of the stove sounds like a jet engine it sucks so hard. I let the temp get to 600F at the upper left front of the stove just above the front door. I wait until the wood is blackened and up to temp with the whole stack on fire. I kick in the secondary burn lever and leave it blasting away for awhile, then slowly (over 10 minutes) turn it to half way and it seems fine, but cools down to about 500F. If I turn it down past half way at the air control the secondary burn dies in under 3 hours. Oak, Maple, Pine, it really doesn't matter much this thing just dies and spends the rest of the day or night smoking away out the chimney. Doesn't matter how the wood's stacked either. Once the coals pile up they fall into the little cave in the back and it puts itself out back there. I have a 1745 historical house with plenty of make up air, so it's not starved for air. I also have an 8" clay lined cinder block chimney that's 1 story tall and I live on a pretty flat piece of land. I don't have any excessive bends in my flue pipe either, and it's only horizontal long enough to give the min. fire code clearance to the chimney wall, and that piece of pipe is pitched an inch up over the minimum span possible to achieve the required stove clearance which is well within specifications for horizontal flue length. This downdraft stove is just a really bad design. I have a little non-cat Vermont Castings Intrepid down draft that came with the house and it's just a better design with the secondary exhaust entrance higher so it doesn't put itself out overnight. I complained to the dealer and they sold me a load of moisture content checked bio bricks which were a rip off, and that didn't improve things much since they don't make good coals. Then they blamed my chimney which they said was perfect when they were trying to sell me the stove. Their final recommendation was that I buy a two story double insulated steel chimney and put it straight up out of the stove. What a bunch of clowns. This stove is just a bad design.

It's a great stove if you like running it at half to full power all the time because it's awesome for this. That's the only way it works right. I have a really old house that is over 2100 square feet and this thing will make the whole place over 80 degrees all day long while being squeaky clean with no smoke the whole time. It's not much of a useful stove as far as heating a house goes, but if you're looking for a really fancy wood incinerator get a Harman TL-300! It can burn 3 cubic feet of perfect sugar maple in about 6 hours, but's that is about all I have to say that's nice about it. Even the top door makes an ungodly shreak every time the handle's moved, and I had to take it in to have the gaskets glued back in too!

If anyone can help me enjoy this thing please do. I've tried about everything to make it work right.

If anyone can help me enjoy this thing please do. I've tried about everything to make it work right.[/quote

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WOW what a horror story! I have no idea whats wrong with yourd stove but i suspect its a problem with your afterburner. MIne lights off at about 550
about 1 hour after a cold start. YOU should get NO SMOKE after your AB lights. IT should also remaim lit until your burned down to coals. WHether you use soft or hard wood the only difference is how long a burn time you will get. Iv had this stove in 2 different locations so far and it does work slightly differend depending on draft. BUt it seems the more draft the better. ANother thing don,t expect to maintain 550 -600 stovwe top temp while in AB,your stove top temp will drop to 400- 450. partly cuz heat is now coming up the back and out the top around the ABchamber and the load of wood is burning slower. I feel i still get the same amount of heat while in AB especially cuz i have the optional blower i turn on when AB is engaged. If you have good draft you should be able to turn your primary air down all the way and still get a good secondary burn. I heated a house for the whole winter last year on just over 2 chords of wood. AND the house was not yet insulated!
THere is definitely something wrong with your stove.
THere are guys on this site that have experience with a variety of stoves and most of them Really like the TL-300,ill tell you i would buy another one in a minute. AS for the dealers ,not worth pissin in the wind, your pretty much on your own and the factory will keep refering you to the dealer as they do not deal with the customer directly. You have 2 choices, try to fix what ever is wrong with your stove or sell it and buy a different brand.
YOU could try a CAT stove or a Tube type Re-burn stove.
Good luck.

I had some of the troubles that were mentioned. First off, last year was my first year as a wood burner. What first turned me on to this stove was the advertised burn times. However, you must know the wood burning basics and understand a downdraft stove. Oh yes importantly have dry wood, not semi dried. This my second year has been a pleasure compeared to last. Easily achieving 8= hour burn times with this stove. I learned some much and still am learning more, but importanly you must learn your stove.

For instance many with this stove talk about the AB engaged. I know when mine is engaged and when not. Some start over when not engaged and get it back up to temp and close it back downb to kick in to AB. What I do when not engaged is put it up to the highest air level and begin to work it down slowly after time and let it on the third setting. This usually kicks it in.

If anyone can help me enjoy this thing please do. I've tried about everything to make it work right.[/quote]
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WHile i still think there is something wrong with your AB cuz you should be getting ZERO smoke once engaged after a short period of white steam.
I am suspecting this stove may be undersized for your needs. Remember that 75000 BTU is only achieved with the best seasoned hardwood and not for the full burn cycle ,as when you get to the coaling stage the heat output will drop off somewhat. Iv heard some o these forums state that the Blaze KIng Ultra is larger and holds more wood and thus puts out more heat. My stove(TL-300) will eaisily heat a home 24/7 that has an output requirement of something less than 80,000 BTUs ,If you need more than that you will be constantly overfiring the stove which will not giv good results.
WHile this stove will eaisily heat a medium sized ranch home a very old not very well insulated 1700 victorian may be another story.
Also the more draft the better as your AB performance is all about the draft, you can simply turn down the primary air and let the AB do all the burning.
One mistake i was making was using the optional blower before the stove was good and hot,as it tends to throw a lot of heat but it also brings down your stove temp ,and if left onn to high will stsll your AB.
Regards

Sorry to hear you are having problems. I had problems from the start, could not get the AB to run, the dealer told me that to achieve proper draft the outside temp has to be less than 30. I ran the stove without the ab until the first night that it got below 30, and that was the ticket. The colder it gets outside the easier it is to run. 500 stove top is as hot as mine gets with the ab on, usually more in the mid 400's is what I am looking for. The TL heats my home to 75 without even trying. once the winter gets going and it gets and stays cold outside, I only load it twice a day except when the temp dips below say -10 or -15 then another half load is needed right after work to keep the house above 70. I get the coal bed good and hot (usually is enough coals to burn loads back to back without have to build up the coal bed for the next load), fill the stove with wood run on high until the fire is fully going, turn it down to half then let it go until 500-600 stove top, turn to high, close the damper, wait 30 seconds close the primary air to 2 or 3, come back in 10-12 hours to refill. One thing I have found is that if you stack the wood real tight its harder to get the ab running.

I'm not sure what to tell you I have a basement install, with a 25' interior chimney, 6.5x 10.5 tile liner, and it runs just great, my wife runs it like a pro in a couple hours of me teaching her. Not sure how you are loading the stove but mine has never been put out because of the height of the ab system I doubt yours has either.

How high is 1 story? interior or exterior chimney? What is the temp outside?

There has to be something wrong with your stove or the chimney.

Mike

I appreciate the replies on this, but I think maybe the point is missed. My point isn't that it's impossible to use the stove, it's that it's a bad design. Sure, you can spend tons of time babysitting the thing and fussing over the wood but you shouldn't have to. You should be able to read the directions and heat the house with it. It's not a learning curve issue either, it's that it's a major pain even after you've learned it. It's a good tinkering piece and a bad heater. It's even sized right for my place. I can close the doors to some of the rooms so I can go without heating them. I can effectively scale my home to the size of the heater to within a few hundred square feet.

Someone else mentioned that secondary burn only works well when outside temps are below 30. I can tell you from experience that you have to warm up the chimney for about 8 hours or more too. Again, this is the mark of a design flaw. Would you leave your house at 31 degrees, or do you expect your stove to work properly at this temperature? Obviously most folks want a stove that works well at even 40 degrees.

I suppose the closest comparison would be if you were sold a Mercedes and told it was a big initial investment but that it would pay for itself by being a good efficient to drive car that gets 35mpg.
When you get it home you learn that it runs on only 100 octane gas (perfect wood), and only drives between 0-25 (bypass) or 65-130 (secondary burn) miles per hour. It's either roaring or stalling all the time, and it only gets 35mpg at 65 miles per hour (those are your long burn times) and it's hard to keep it from stalling. The rest of the time it only gets 10 miles per gallon and you have to keep your eyes on the dash board and keep working the clutch or it will stall out. You see, the design is for such expert drivers that they "designed it" without second, third, or fourth gear (like the TH-300 that is either in bypass mode, or nuclear hot to maintain secondary burn, and if you don't have it perfect it either takes off or stalls). I suppose some people are proud that they can drive around in it, and maybe it's fun. I can see that, and if that floats your boat I'm really not knocking that. It's not a mainstream stove though. If it were a car, it would be illegal to sell it to the general market.

If you're in the market for a stove, don't buy a TH-300 unless you know up front that it's more of a conversation piece and that there are better stoves out there if you're just looking to heat your house. The ashpan is the envy of the neighborhood however! :exclaim:

If you're in the market for a stove, don't buy a TH-300 unless you know up front that it's more of a conversation piece and that there are better stoves out there if you're just looking to heat your house. The ashpan is the envy of the neighborhood however! :exclaim:[/quote]
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NO matter what kind of stove you have there will always be a better stove out there somewhere.
Bottom line is there is something wrong with your stove,if its a bad design ,how can it work perfectly in so many other locations, thats not possible. THe only time i need to fuss at all with my stove is during a cold start,and were talking occasional checking the stove top temp gauge to decide when to engage the AB. About the 30 Degree outside thing not so with my stove but when its warmer out side your draft gets weaker , i use my stove when i goes below about 50-55 but when its colder the draft gets stronger,so above 40 its just an extra 10 minuts warmup before i engage the AB. The only way my stove would get any eaisier to use is if it loaded the wood by itself .
Once the stove is up to operating temp , the AB will stay lit and all to do is load and enjoy. Iv burned every kind of wood in this stove soft wood, hard wood ,seasoned wood, green wood. 2x4 scraps.cut up floor joists. THe only difference as i said is burn times are longer with seasoned hard wood.
YOu said you burned a lot of wood for the amount of heat you got, I heated a house for the whole winter on 2.5 cords of wood with a TL-300. I think thats amazing,as my old stove would have used 3 times as much wood and the burn times were abysmal.
Sounds to me like your AB air nozzles are blocked ,i clean em out with the shop vac when the stove is cold now and then. All the problems you mentioned could occur with blocked air nozzles. The ones all the way at the bottom of the ceramic combustor.in the very back of the stove Must be 8-10 of them have wood coals piled against them on a regular basis so its not hard to block them, 1 or 2 is OK But when you lose half your secondary air intake nozzles your AB performance will be hit and miss.
Regards

Other TL-300 Users ,HOw do you guys deal with those air tubes in the ceramic combustor. Every once in a while ill pile the wood so as to make an opening under the burning wood so i can see the whole AB in operation. When all is well i can see all the AB air supply holes, each one looks like a little blow torch,but if they are partially or totally block you can tell right away. I use a shop vac to clean em out about once a month or so. Does everyone do this or perhaps Should do this?

"Sure, you can spend tons of time babysitting the thing and fussing over the wood but you shouldn’t have to"

I spend 5-10 minutes a day running the stove, that's the thing I like best about the stove its a load and forget stove.

"You should be able to read the directions and heat the house with it."

On this we agree it is one of the worst manuals for any piece of equipment I have ever seen, no way could I have been able to run the stove with just the manual, it tells you almost nothing. That said give us some more info on your set-up and maybe someone can help, don't just throw up your hands and give in. If I can run mine you can run yours.

"It’s not a learning curve issue either, it’s that it’s a major pain even after you’ve learned it"

You haven't learned to use it yet, there is a learning curve with this stove (and all others too), it takes some trial an error, you are the only one on here that hates the stove.

"I can tell you from experience that you have to warm up the chimney for about 8 hours or more too"

Come on, 8 hours? once the stove is warm the chimney is plenty warm, in the mornings I wake up at 6:09 (gotta hit that snooze button 1 time ya know) open the damper from the night before, rake the coals, load the stove with wood, make coffee, take a shower, shave, get dressed and shut down the damper on the stove and am out the door by 6:45 for work 90% of the time, sometimes it takes a bit longer to get the stove up to temp and the wife will shut the damper when she gets up at 7:00. Now of course that only if I was running a load the night before which from November on is almost always.

"Would you leave your house at 31 degrees, or do you expect your stove to work properly at this temperature? Obviously most folks want a stove that works well at even 40 degrees."

Once mine is going it doesn't stop easily, if it hits 40 it probably will stall but at that point my house would be so hot I would have to open the windows to let the heat out. Generally if its 30 or above by the time the coal bed is right the last thing I want to do is add more wood to damper down my house will stay warm all night with the 1 fire. I will give you the stove runs MUCH less efficiently and takes more work (having to light a fire from scratch) when the temp is 40, and I cant (don't need) to damper down. The best thing about the damper is the nice big coal bed in the morning no paper and kindling just throw full sized splits on the fire and go. That is the only thing I don't like about the stove lighting a fire every day, that when I have to do the most babysitting probably doubles the time (10-20 minutes a day) I have to care for the stove and forget an overnight burn.

"If you’re in the market for a stove, don’t buy a TH-300 unless you know up front that it’s more of a conversation piece and that there are better stoves out there if you’re just looking to heat your house. The ashpan is the envy of the neighborhood however!"

There may very well be better stoves out there, I haven't tried them all, but if you want a stove that heats very well and sips wood I personally would recommend the TL-300, I love mine. Glad you mentioned the ash pan, I empty mine so infrequently I forget about it, 5-7 days between empties, the only thing better would be 10-14 day empties.

I know you already stated that we missed the point and you were just stating you opinion of the stove and its operation so if I'm out of line here please forgive me, and let me know and that will be the end of it. I know you spend a lot of money that's pretty hard to come by these days. It should be your dealer or Harman helping you, but we all know how that goes, give us a chance what have you got to loose but a minutes on the computer. I for one received help on from everything from wood storage to woodstove selection on here and would be more than happy to return the favor to you if I can. please post a bit more info about your set up so we can possibly see what the problem is I KNOW the stove runs good with the right set-up. Last year I burned wood that was cut in April and stacked mostly uncovered for 1 summer, not exactly what I would call perfect wood, it still ran great, but nothing compared to this year with a year longer to season. This stove is designed to throw out a bunch of heat on a little wood, while being smoke free, it has fulfulled all of its promises to me, I would buy another in a heartbeat.

Mike

trump said:

Other TL-300 Users ,HOw do you guys deal with those air tubes in the ceramic combustor. Every once in a while ill pile the wood so as to make an opening under the burning wood so i can see the whole AB in operation. When all is well i can see all the AB air supply holes, each one looks like a little blow torch,but if they are partially or totally block you can tell right away. I use a shop vac to clean em out about once a month or so. Does everyone do this or perhaps Should do this?

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Its COLD here in the winter very cold but every couple of months we get a warm day or 2. When that warm day comes and I don't need to run the stove 24/7 I will do the same thing with the shop vac, infact I take all the fire brick out and sweep every thing (sucked up one of them fiber seals behind the big holes by accident late in the season last year) not really sure why, I have never noticed the stove not burning well just thought it couldn't hurt. BTW the stove runs very well without the fiber seals (I did verify with the dealer and Harmen that the stove could be run without them before I started it again). I have seen the holes spitting fire like you describe, its pretty cool.

I have a bigger chimney than is recomended I will be correcting that with a liner this summer, I wonder if that may have something to do with the 30 degree thing. Not that it really matters if its above 30 there is no need for me to run the ab it just gets too darn hot. its 20 outside here right now and the house is 75, guess I should have just put in half a load of wood and closed the damper instead of a full load.

I burned 4 full cords last year but kept the house very warm, family loved it. There was 2 weekends we were gone and the electric heat had to pick up the slack but other than that 4 cords heated my home for the winter. I buy my wood by on the log so it cost me about $300 in heat last year in wood, you could argue chain saw gas/oil, wear and tear on equipment (split all 10 cords I had delivered by hand) lets go big and say $400 still pretty cheap.

Mike

For all the WOod heads out there (of which i am one) I saw a piece on the green channel the other day. guy built a wood gasification stove on the back of his pickup truck ,coverted his truck to run on wood gas ,and drove through the streets of london from on side to the other. craziest thing i ever saw.He went pretty far on 1 load of wood. NOt sure what his Miles Per cord was. What will they come up with next.
Regards everyone.

Yesterday was the first day since thanksgiving I let the stove burn out. I had a meeting a could not tend to the stove. However I been burning 24/7seven since Thnksgiving and cannot wait to get the stove going again tonight. My normal weekday for running the stove is wake up 4:30 make coffe, shower, shave ,etc.. Grab a cup of cooffe go downstairs rake the coals even thing out, throw some smaller splits and get a good fire rolling. Takes about 25 minutes bfore I close down the damper. However this year which is a big help is the stove top thrmometr and the thermometer i have on the stove pipe. I have Henry's single wall stove pipe. I place the thermometer about 12inches up the piep. Once this gets around 500-25 I close the damper.

However, I am out the door at 7:45am and back home at 4:00pm. Rake the coals and load up. I tend to the fire one more time when I go to bed..