Update on TL300

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Pallet Pete

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This stove is very nice and really throws the heat however it is a pain to start. I love the box size and the heat the TL300 throws however the other morning I went to load it and it ended up taking 45 minutes to get the after burner to kick in. This happened while I had a 4 inch bed of coals already there! The problem seems to be the stove is starved for air so it looks like I am putting an outside air kit in after all. I am in amazement that a house as drafty as mine (1800's house) doesn't provide enough air for the stove. I can burn a full load down and have a huge bed of coal but the issue now is that the huge bed of coal will stop burning and start to turn black. We opened a window near the stove an wooosh it came to life and started to burn flawlessly. This is very strange to me non of the other stoves we have had needed outside air I guess this guy is a monster. Overall I love it compared to our previous stoves and can say when all burns right this stove goes all day. My first burn with it was perfect in every way it burned for 14 hours without a load and still had big bed of coals. The second load went for 11 hours and had a lot of coals now I am having issues keeping coals hot unless a window is open. AAAAA the joys of figuring out the new stove!

Pete
 
Mine was hard to run when it was above 30 out. Now that it's colder it runs much better. Mine is oaked and still can take 10-15min to get the burner goiong. Pat
 
I find with a deep coal bed at the end of a long burn, sometimes I have to keep the air fully open, as well as the bypass open, to really get the coals lively again. I'll burn them down a bit before reloading. If it has been an overnight burn on low air it can act like a bed of charcoal rather than coals, especially if there was more moisture in the wood.

When you reload, are you leaving the bypass and the air control open for a while? And then shutting the air back in stages? The timing will also depend on how dry the wood is, and the type and size of the splits.

With an old house, unless you've really tightened it up, I'd be surprised if you needed an OAK.
 
Thanks Curber, Branchburner for the advice the last load went really smooth! I watched a interesting video on Harman's web site this morning that said to shut the bypass down after its burning well and leave the air on high for ten minutes and the smoke should stop. The combination of that and turning it down in stages took about 20 minutes and it was roaring again. The ten minute thing was not explained any ware that I saw other than that video but it was dead on and works like a charm the smoke quite and the stove took off well. It just about makes me want to go naked cuz its so warm inside now on the first notch We love it.

Thanks Guys
Pete

Here is what it looks like know that I think we figured it out (its a beast man).
 

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All woodstoves require quite a bit of air to operate ,and cant always pull enough from the room they are in. My stove pulls air from an under ground pipe going out to the garage 150 Ft away
That way the ground warms the air to about 55 degrees.
 
Naked! What are you, some kind of savage running naked around the fire? No wonder you weren't asimilated by the BorgK. Modesty demands boxer shorts! Boxers + welding gloves. . .that's how we r0ll in da H.C. :p
 
I am too sexy for asimilation to the borgk hahaha and boxer shorts in my house thats just weird man ! The wedding gloves thats cool dude rock on.

Pete
 
That first year with less than ideal wood, I would have unbelievable coal beds and still it would take forever to light up the AB.
With dry wood, I'm going on less air and half the coal bed I used to. It just seems that these Downdraft stoves have got to burn hot. I'm always between 625* and 725* stovetop before the air is reduced for the long run.


Strange what you say about opening the window and the fire taking off. Coincidence?
 
I have two years dried wood thtat I burn in it so there is no issue there. I got the kinks out
And now it burns fine.
Pete
 
Pete,

Just had the same stove installed about a month ago. There has been and still is a bit of a lurning curve. Can you tell me what your stove top temp is when you engage the AB? Also, what kind of stove top cruising temps do you normally see? Any other TL300 owners please reply as well. Overall happy with the stove, still trying to get it dialed in.
 
Hi Metz and welcome to hearth forums.

First off this stove is amazing now that I have learned a few tricks with it here is what I know so far.
1) When lighting from a cold start take your time and burn down a lot of kindling first.
2) when you scoop your ashes around don't use a shovel use a fire poker, this will prevent you from breaking apart hot coals that could otherwise still provide a hot bead.
3) Scoop them to the front and sides then replace them even around the box.
4) In order to start a new fire on hot coals put a couple of pieces of kindling on the bottom letting them burn with the damper open until the stove reaches 500. (Stove not Pipe temp) Get a surface thermometer and put it on the top load door in the center.
5) Then put a load in and let that burn until its burning well.
6) Shut the damper and leave it on high for about 15 minutes then turn it to where you want and walk away.
It should be noted but they only tell you in one video on the harman web site that you can shut the damper then wait about ten minutes and the smoke should vanish. When I follow these steps it usually vanishes
within 5 minutes. My cruising stove top temps are around 450 to 550 if I hit 400 I usually dial it up a little, also I don't care if people tell you not to get a probe thermometer for your chimney it is vital with this stove!!!! The flue can get very hot very fast and you need to figure out where to set the air control in order to stay under 900 for your safety. When I follow these steps so far its been a winner and lights right away, it should also be noted that I am new to this stove and have only been using it for about a week however I find it to be very easy to use with these steps.

Good luck and let me know how it goes.
Pete
 
Pete1983 said:
Hi Metz and welcome to hearth forums.

First off this stove is amazing now that I have learned a few tricks with it here is what I know so far.
1) When lighting from a cold start take your time and burn down a lot of kindling first.
2) when you scoop your ashes around don't use a shovel use a fire poker, this will prevent you from breaking apart hot coals that could otherwise still provide a hot bead.
3) Scoop them to the front and sides then replace them even around the box.
4) In order to start a new fire on hot coals put a couple of pieces of kindling on the bottom letting them burn with the damper open until the stove reaches 500. (Stove not Pipe temp) Get a surface thermometer and put it on the top load door in the center.
5) Then put a load in and let that burn until its burning well.
6) Shut the damper and leave it on high for about 15 minutes then turn it to where you want and walk away.
It should be noted but they only tell you in one video on the harman web site that you can shut the damper then wait about ten minutes and the smoke should vanish. When I follow these steps it usually vanishes
within 5 minutes. My cruising stove top temps are around 450 to 550 if I hit 400 I usually dial it up a little, also I don't care if people tell you not to get a probe thermometer for your chimney it is vital with this stove!!!! The flue can get very hot very fast and you need to figure out where to set the air control in order to stay under 900 for your safety. When I follow these steps so far its been a winner and lights right away, it should also be noted that I am new to this stove and have only been using it for about a week however I find it to be very easy to use with these steps.

Good luck and let me know how it goes.
Pete
Click to expand...


Yeah what Pete said!! But I sometimes let mine get a bit hotter, 650 and let it go to 200 and can still get the next load to light off. Pat
 
Whats the reccomended square footage of house for a stove like this? From what Ive seen on this site and comparing over a dozen stove brands both big box stores and more exclusive dealer models, the Harman is one hell of a stove.
 
Thanks for the info.

My experience is that from a cold start it is pretty hard to get the AB going. I might even say that it is the second cycle of wood before the stove does what it is supposed to do.

I started a fire tonight from a cold stove at about 9pm with outside temps at 26F. It took until about 10pm to get the AB going and it was pretty short lived before i had to fiddle with it to get the AB to kick back in.

Something i found curious when I had my stove installed. The guys who put it in did not seem particularily excited about the fact that all I had for wood was black locust. They said that BL takes a long to time to really coal up so a good coal bed would take a good bit longer to build than if I had oak for example. Could this explain why it takes until my second cycle of wood from a cold start before the stove performs like I think it should?

Before the TL300 I burned a Fisher Grandma Bear for almost 20 years and BL was the bomb. Strange to me that BL would be less desireable to the guys I bought the stove from. Perhaps this something unique to a downdraft stove?

All this being said I am burning half the wood I used to, get 12 hour burns (once i have gone through a couple of cycles) and my house is warmer than with the Fisher. Although a wood eating machine the Fisher I believed had no equal heat output wise. I am thrilled with the TL300, just still in the learning curve.
 
metz said:
Thanks for the info.

My experience is that from a cold start it is pretty hard to get the AB going. I might even say that it is the second cycle of wood before the stove does what it is supposed to do.

Something i found curious when I had my stove installed. The guys who put it in did not seem particularily excited about the fact that all I had for wood was black locust. They said that BL takes a long to time to really coal up so a good coal bed would take a good bit longer to build than if I had oak for example. Could this explain why it takes until my second cycle of wood from a cold start before the stove performs like I think it should?
Click to expand...

Pete summed it up pretty well, especially with the extra kindling idea, because the stove temps don't really tell you when the AB is good to go. I think in the deep of winter you will be real happy with locust for 24/7 burning, it is only on the startups where it's tough. You need branch-wood, hardwood scraps or smaller splits to get enough coals in a hurry - it is not just the stove top temps, which get plenty high quick enough, but rather the temps right at the throat of the afterburner, which require the really hot coal bed. So I'm not at all surprised it doesn't kick in til the second load of wood, especially from a cold stove. It goes much smoother when reloading a hot stove. I always try to reload before the coals get too low.
 
BigBadJohn86 said:
Whats the reccomended square footage of house for a stove like this? From what Ive seen on this site and comparing over a dozen stove brands both big box stores and more exclusive dealer models, the Harman is one hell of a stove.
Click to expand...

They say 1500-3000 SF, but I think 3000 would be pushing it. It has a 3 cu ft box. The Oakwood is 2.2 cu ft, plenty for heating under 1500 SF.
 
There is a 3300sqft gun club near me that we looked at before buying and they heat the building really well with the tl300. We heat 1500 sqft so far on the second notch extreamly well. The gn club loads every 4 hours with it running about 3/4 air.

Pete
 
Pete1983 said:
The gn club loads every 4 hours with it running about 3/4 air.
Click to expand...

That's running pretty hard. I can feel the heat from here! I suppose they have a blower? With a thermometer on the back/side on my Oakwood, I will sometimes see the afterburner temps push 800F with the air at half open and no blower.

I'd bet that shortens the life of the afterburner and firebricks a bit, if not the stove itself.
 
The way I understand it they have been using the same afterburner since 2009, the stoves are the most efficient around the halfway point. That being said I run mine no higher than the 2nd notch and it gets my house to 75 in no time at all. This supposedly shortens the life of the afterburner I guess we will see.

Pete
 
One trick to getting the AB(Afterburner) to kick in fast with a cold stove is to use pine on start up. It burns hot and fast and heat s the stove up to temp quick. I get AB action with a very smsll coal bed at times. And sometimes as soon as 30 minutes from startup.The main thing is the internal stove temp. THe internal stove temp must be 1100 Deg or higher for the AB to ignite,once its going it seems to maintain that temp on its own as long as the draft is good and you dont cut the air down too fast. I also try to stack the wood so i can see the AB area while the stove is burning so i know for sure whats going on.
 
There may be varying opinions here, but I just discovered something called an eco brick I put two in my stove at 10:30 I will let you know how it goes they claim to burn 2x longer than normal firewood. So far they look promising when mixed with cord wood for a longer burn time. They are basically compressed dry sawdust (a super sized pellet) and they burn very clean from what I can tell. An 8 pack at tsc costs 3.69 so I got 3 packs to try.

Pete
 
I'm new here and bought a tl300 also, still working on getting it installed, but I'm reading all I can on here and have a question, how did that "super sized" wood pellet go? also I see these "starter logs" at the store but I can't find anyone using them everyone seems to use kindling, is that a cost issue or should I not be thinking about burning these types of things in my stove?
 
Oklaguy77 said:
I'm new here and bought a tl300 also, still working on getting it installed, but I'm reading all I can on here and have a question, how did that "super sized" wood pellet go? also I see these "starter logs" at the store but I can't find anyone using them everyone seems to use kindling, is that a cost issue or should I not be thinking about burning these types of things in my stove?
Click to expand...

At the hardware store those things are very high price but at the grocery store they are much cheaper. DOnt know how they work cuz i dont buy my wood ,ever.
 
Oklaguy77 I tried mixing them and they work well for long lasting coal beds however they work best by themselves! When I put them in buy themselves I actually got about 14 hours burn that was before I got the stove vacuum correct so it would probably be even better now. We are going to stick with wood most likely due to the fact that I can get a lot for free. It is a good idea to try some different brands red stone was what I used, they are not all created equal from what I understand. They say they get 2.5 times the burn of wood which means with my stove two pallets would be about 4 cords equivalent.

Merry Christmas
Pete
 
I called Harman when we were having problems last year. We were burning kiln dried wood and it was actually too dry. I asked about the ecobricks and Harman said they can be used in the TL 300 but should be mixed with wetter wood.

Our home is roughly 3000 sq ft and the Tl300 heats it just fine (we like the family room, where the stove is, about 72, so the rest of the house is slightly cooler).
 
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