Harman tl300 afterburn issues

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Right now,,,staring into my stove,,,i see very tiny flames in the corner,,but the flue is running 759 deg. It is hard to see the afterburner running,,but that probe will tell you.
Thanks for the reply! Where did you get your digital pipecac probe?
 
Right now,,,staring into my stove,,,i see very tiny flames in the corner,,but the flue is running 759 deg. It is hard to see the afterburner running,,but that probe will tell you.
Thanks for the reply! Where did you get your digital pipecac probe?
I think your wood is to wet, what is happening is the outside of the wood is dry causing it to catch fire, but as the inside heats up and lets off the moisture it is stalling your AB. Try splitting your wood into smaller pieces and running your air higher once you engage. With dry wood and a good draft it will work really well, with wet wood it is a real pain and requires more babying to get it to burn properly. Because first the wood needs to dry in order for it to burn properly. Which is why a good bed of coals really helps the situation.
I did split the stuff smaller and it really helped to get it hot faster, but never hear the "roar"of the AB when it takes of. .?
 
When you put wood into your stove are you blocking the AB chamber? I know for me every time I put a piece of wood in there it is like there is a black hole pulling the wood towards the opening. You should leave some space between the wood and the chamber in order for it to burn properly, also try putting the dryer stuff towards the rear of the stove. One thing to also make certain is that you have a good coal bed at least an inch thick especially if your wood is sub par. Another thing that might be happening is your closing the bypass to soon. You need to heat the flue to get a very good draft going. Also what are the temps outside? Colder temps = better draft and easy burning, warmer temps with poor wood = PIA.
 
When you put wood into your stove are you blocking the AB chamber? I know for me every time I put a piece of wood in there it is like there is a black hole pulling the wood towards the opening. You should leave some space between the wood and the chamber in order for it to burn properly, also try putting the dryer stuff towards the rear of the stove. One thing to also make certain is that you have a good coal bed at least an inch thick especially if your wood is sub par. Another thing that might be happening is your closing the bypass to soon. You need to heat the flue to get a very good draft going. Also what are the temps outside? Colder temps = better draft and easy burning, warmer temps with poor wood = PIA.
I keep stuff to the front. .I have this fire roaring and push the lever down and within a few minutes the temp drops. ..? I still have a good coal bed in the morning after 8 to 10 hrs. I open the ash pan door and the coal s come right alive and ready for new wood. Does that mean the afterburn is working?
 
my stovetop temps drop immediately when i shut dampener. They wont come back up until later in the burn cycle. I seem to get my big heat from the rest of the stove,,then after the whole load is coaling,,i get stovetop heat too. The heat is moving in a different way in this stove. Have you watched the heavy sheets of smoke going downward thru the window? This smoke goes down instead of up,,,under the wood, thru the hot coals,,thru the rear opening,,,where it feeds the afterburner. The afterburner burns that smoke instead of lots of flames burning the wood. When i am burning smoke and gasses,, i have zero visible smoke coming out my chimney,,,but you would swear that is not possible watching the smoke roll past the window.

Also, i pack mine full as i can. I stack right up against the opening. My stove runs better if it is blocked by wood. Possibly because it slows my draft down. I rarely ever open air past notch 3
 
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I keep stuff to the front. .I have this fire roaring and push the lever down and within a few minutes the temp drops. ..? I still have a good coal bed in the morning after 8 to 10 hrs. I open the ash pan door and the coal s come right alive and ready for new wood. Does that mean the afterburn is working?
It probably is working. You just need to learn it. Put a probe in the flue,,,you will be amazed how quick you figure it out. The probe will give you instant feedback on what is happening. You can see the afterburner light up and know exactly when it goes out by temp changes. It wont be gradual like the mag thermometers,,,

You see the difference in how mishmouse and i run our stoves? We load differently. Every setup is slightly different, so you will have to figure out yours. It will be similar to ours, but there will be tricks that you will figure out specific to just your system. I have the problem of too much draft, so i run lower air then most people, and just installed a key damper. I think my setup is perfect,,,,now that i have learned it.
 
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It probably is working. You just need to learn it. Put a probe in the flue,,,you will be amazed how quick you figure it out. The probe will give you instant feedback on what is happening. You can see the afterburner light up and know exactly when it goes out by temp changes. It wont be gradual like the mag thermometers,,,

You see the difference in how mishmouse and i run our stoves? We load differently. Every setup is slightly different, so you will have to figure out yours. It will be similar to ours, but there will be tricks that you will figure out specific to just your system. I have the problem of too much draft, so i run lower air then most people, and just installed a key damper. I think my setup is perfect,,,,now that i have learned it.
 
That makes allot of sense with the stove top temp dropping because the heat is bring sucked into the AB. I have tons of draft too. I need to get one of those probes ordered!
 
If you are getting long 8-10 hours, I'd say the AB is probably working even if you don't hear it. It is normal for stove top temps to drop when closing the bypass, because after all, you are now directing the hot gasses down into the rear chamber instead of up and out. (EDIT: haha, I noticed you just posted the same thing!)

I don't know if you can do it with the TL300, but I had a very easy way to see if my AB was burning smoke in my cast-iron Oakwood.. I would point my IR gun at the rear/side of the stove and check the temps at various spots exterior to where the AB is. If the AB was getting good secondary combustion, it would be the hottest place on the stove, often 500-700f but sometimes over 800f. If the AB had stalled, that rear area would be one of the coolest places on the stove, maybe only 200-300f. Seeing the rear temps is the only sure-fire way I know to get proof of performance, other than the gut feeling you get when the stove is blasting out an enormous amount of heat.
 
my stovetop temps drop immediately when i shut dampener. They wont come back up until later in the burn cycle. I seem to get my big heat from the rest of the stove,,then after the whole load is coaling,,i get stovetop heat too. The heat is moving in a different way in this stove. Have you watched the heavy sheets of smoke going downward thru the window? This smoke goes down instead of up,,,under the wood, thru the hot coals,,thru the rear opening,,,where it feeds the afterburner. The afterburner burns that smoke instead of lots of flames burning the wood. When i am burning smoke and gasses,, i have zero visible smoke coming out my chimney,,,but you would swear that is not possible watching the smoke roll past the window.

Also, i pack mine full as i can. I stack right up against the opening. My stove runs better if it is blocked by wood. Possibly because it slows my draft down. I rarely ever open air past notch 3
What type of discharge air temps are you getting? Do you measure that?
 
Flue temps are going to drop as soon as you close the bypass, but they are going to drop whether the AB kicks in or not. What I have noticed as a rule is that when the bypass is closed, the flue temps will not drop by as much if I am not getting a good secondary burn. But personally, I didn't think flue temps were always a reliable way to judge AB performance.

One thing I was not crazy about was how high the flue temps were as a rule with the Harman, whether with or without secondary burn. I measure external a foot up on single wall pipe, so I can only guess at the internal temps. But where the Woodstock Absolute Steel I am now beta testing hardly ever runs over what I'd suppose is about 500f internal, the Harman rarely ever ran BELOW that, and was often a good bit higher.

One of the more important techniques in running the Oakwood was to cut the air in steps. If I went from full open down to 1/4 open right after closing the bypass, I would stall the AB. It had to be more like full to 3/4 to 1/2 to 1/4. But the TL300 air control may be very different, I don't know.
 
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