First break in fire on Harman TL 300

Check out that last picture. Thats so cool when a stove burns like that. It did this for twenty min or so. Man, this stove is so much nicer than the old Englander 12 I had! I am going to have my wife running around the house naked this winter.

Cool pictures!
Kinda neat when you get that re-burn activated.
Sounds like a jet with just a small poof of fire here and there.
You be amazed how much heat it puts out and how much wood you have left after an over night burn.
Very easy to get a 24/7 burn out it. I just use a long handled shovel in the morning to get rid of some of the ash build up and load her up again and off she goes.

MishMouse, I got the re-burn kicked in, but it only lasted about 3 min or so at a time then it stalled. I had the stove good and hot, About 600 stove top and 1000 on the pipe thermometer. Had a fair amount of coals in it but it was only in the mid to high 40s out. Probly could have used a better coal bed maybe??? And I am sure from what I have read about these type of stoves it would have helped if it were colder out. It was just to hot in my house at this point to continue to burn and build up the coal bed. But even without using the re-burn, it was amazing how little wood I used for as long as it burned with the heat output. So far I am happy with the stove. Also, up to this point, I have had three fires in it and the break in smell is almost all but gone. So I think I will be good to burn with the windows closed. And I think the WD-40 trick my dealer told me to do with the door gasket worked. The gasket is on there strong.

Nice looking stove and cool burn effects!

Could you repeat the WD-40 trick that the dealer told you about? Would I want to trythat on my new stove?

What stove did you get? The TL 300 is known for having the door gasket fall off after a few burns. From what I know the paint gets tacky enough during seasoning to cause the door gasket to stick to it when the paint is curing; causing the gasket to pull away from the seal and door. Then you will need to re-seal the gasket to the door. The WD-40 keeps the seal from sticking to the new paint.

That is something I could do. I have a Lopi Leyden and the manual states the door gasket may stick to the paint during seasoning.

I'll do that when I get home in the morning. The mornings have been cool and I'll fire the stove to knock off the chill.

I hope you like your new stove. I doubt you will need to do the WD-40 trick on your stove. I have not herd anything regarding the Lopi stoves having this issue. Lopi makes a good stove. I almost bought one. You spray the WD-40 on the gasket to keep it from sticking to the stove.

Looks Good!!

I am going to do my first burn this evening with My hrman TL 300. I will take some pictures and post??

How much wood should I put in for the first time?? What temp should I let it get to????

Any other suggesstions for the first burn beside the WD 40???

The best way to tell if it stalled is when the temp starts to drop below 400 when it is set at the first notch.
If it stays between 400-500 then it is still working, though it may not be as spectacular as it was when it just takes off.
But a good coal bed is the key to how well the re-burn works and the amount of heat that you will get out of it.
Which is actually good for someone who wants to burn 24/7.

Mish you stated before to me you have a sweet spot with your stove before you kick it in to afterburn. If not mistaken you said 450 degrees.

What happens if you get your stove to the right temp and kick it into afterburn and everthing is working fine. You go upstairs to sleep and it stalls. The damper is closed, may this present prbolem??

Thanks

As you operate your stove you will get to know when it has a better chance of stalling.
If it is going to stall it will generally stall within 10-15 of you activating it.
Note: I define a stall as when I have the stove set on the first notch the stove temp drops below 400 and doesn't level off at around 450.

Tips to ensure that it won't stall.
Step 1) Get a good coal bed at least 2 inches, the more the better, 4 inches I would say is optimal.
Step 2) Get the stove up to around 500, maybe 550 if it is above 50 (these temps depends on your installation and the draft you are pulling)
Step 3) When you add wood make sure that you get a good blaze going before you push the lever and activate the afterburn.
Note: Pushing the lever only changes the direction of the flow of the gases, the air control for the stove is on the front of the stove.
The reason for the above tips is to establish a good draft through the afterburn system once that is established you do not have to worry about stalls.

As for your scenario..
What I do is about 1 hour before I go to bed I load up the stove and open the air all the way to right to get a good blaze going and to get the temp around 500. This normally takes around 15 mins depending on how low the wood is and how full I stuff it.
Then I push the lever to put it into afterburn and slowly move the air control to the left down to the to the lowest setting(the first notch), if it kicks off with a roar and I get the dancing flames or the occasional poof of flames this tells me it is activated.
This whole process take at the most 20 mins depending on your draft.
Then right before I go to bed about 30 mins since putting into afterburn, I check the temp if is between 425-500 I know that it is activated and ready for an overnight burn. If it dropped below 400, it stalled and I repeat.

Thanks again, great information

I agree!

I really dont know about how much wood. The first fire I took it easy as I was not sure at all what to expect. And I didnt want to get myself into a situation of over-firing the stove. I was not sure with the air adjustment how much control I would have over the fire. I didnt want to operate it like my old stove which is totally different from this one. My first fire I used only slab wood and went through about an arm full. It did the job. Then the last two fires I ran it full throttle. Using more and more wood each time. At this point the only thing that limited me was the ability to stand my house being at 95 degrees! And thats with all the windows and doors open. I hear some guys talk about having to build up to a big fire and starting out small due to the proper paint cure as recommended in there owners manual. I didnt find anything like that for the Harman so I would just let her rip. By the third fire, I had stove top temps of 600 easy. Also, thanks a bunch MishMouse for your step by step directions. You answered allot of questions and took out allot of figuring and guess work. You have done a great job helping me the whole way with this new stove. My thanks to you

Thanks, Gald I could help.

I had my first fire in my TL 300 yesterday with little would. I let the temp get around 275-300. Only thing I may have put to little WD 40 on the gasket around the door. Some stuck to the stove and a small section less than a half inch started to fray. My dealer said put some gasket cement in those areas and that will fix the problem. He was also unsure of what size gasket it was.

Do any of you guys know what size it is???

Again thanks for the information, it's great!!

My dealer said that the gasket size listed in there book was the wrong size and that he had to go with a little bigger one.
He did report it to Harman.

Can't remember the size though. :red:

Not sure of the size ether. If I was you, I would burn it again as is. Using more WD-40 again this time before you fix the gasket. Then I would try and fix the old gasket with some gasket cement. I dont know if I would replace the whole gasket or not if thats all the more it pulled away??

I don't have any idea. Could it be just regular Rutland brand stove gasket that sorta looks like a 1/2 or 3/8-inch white woven fiberglass rope? If it is that stuff, I used to be able to find it at hardware stores anywhere. I'm not sure but they would sell the gasket in 5-foot lengths and there would be a container or tube of paste to stick it on with.

My dealer contacted me back and told me it was 3/8ths and 6ft in length. Will any brand work such as Rutlands. They have 3/8ths with the gasket cement in the package. It is a 7ft section..

I would think that it would. If I was going to build something, I would try to factor in standard parts unless there was no way around it.

Had my first all night burn with the stove last night :cheese: Got it to go into after-burn after pushing all the wood and coals in front of the intake in the back of the stove. And let me tell you, I am very impressed. After I had the coal bed established, I put in four small splits only about eight inches long and four inches in diameter. Got into after-burn and that little bit of wood burned all night long! The stove top temp was at 500 and didnt move a bit. There was still hot coals in the bottom when I got up. And the house was very warm...lol I almost think I got to large of a stove for my home LOL...

No comparison to a Pellet Stove.
Nice Fire
A Wood stove just burns much nicer.

Murry, you may want to verify that it is truly 3/8.
If you get all the gunk out before putting a different gasket in the door, it may be closer to 1/2.
Like, I said in an earlier post my dealer thought the one listed in the book may be to small.

That is what I like about this stove, surprises you how much heat it puts out verse the wood it burns.
On the Dolet that I had I was constantly feeding it and it still could do the job.
It is better to get to large then to small, but one thing for certain the propain guy will get less money from us this year. :coolsmile: