Harman TL 300

[cyclone]

I have many questions being a new wood burner. My stove of choice was the Hrman TL 300. I am asking from some advice from fellow wood burners that have this stove and others who would like to share their expertise.

Questions?

Stove thermometer.. Where should it be placed, on the flue pipe or on the stove?

What temps should this stove run. I live in a ranch home. Finished basement with the upstairs. I would like to keep the upstairs around 68 -70. So, how hot should the stove be maximum and minimum, and how hot should the stove pipe be maximum and minimum?

The harman TL 300 after burner. Not really sure what this is? How does this kick in? The the stove need to be a certain temperature? How do I know when this kicks in?

Individulas with this particular stove, what burn times are you getting? I will be burning assorted hard woods, oak, hickory, cherry, maple, and ash.......

Thanks again everyone

 

[begreen]

stanleyjohn and mishmouse have this stove as an insert and a freestander IIRC. Try a search on Harman Exception and on Harman TL300 for some more threads. It burns similar to the Harman Oakwood, so you might also want to look at those threads.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/20111/

 

[MishMouse]

Questions?

Stove thermometer.. Where should it be placed, on the flue pipe or on the stove?

What temps should this stove run. I live in a ranch home. Finished basement with the upstairs. I would like to keep the upstairs around 68 -70. So, how hot should the stove be maximum and minimum, and how hot should the stove pipe be maximum and minimum?

The harman TL 300 after burner. Not really sure what this is? How does this kick in? The the stove need to be a certain temperature? How do I know when this kicks in?

Individuals with this particular stove, what burn times are you getting? I will be burning assorted hard woods, oak, hickory, cherry, maple, and ash.......

Thanks again everyone

Congrats on the stove !!

For me I place my thermometer on stove top about 2 inches from the pipe on the top load door.
I normally let the temps get to around 550 before I kick it into the after burn.
It does take some time for the stove to get up to temp and the after burn to kick in properly.
You will get a few stalls before you find the sweet spot, but once you hear the roar of the after burn you know it's burning efficiently. The heat from the stove will dramatically increase and if you look at the inside of the stove all you will see is only a slight glow from the coals and an occasional poof of fire.

As for max temps I wouldn't let the stove top to get much above 600, especially before putting into after burn.
Remember the after burn chamber once it activates raises the temp 2x to 3x from what you are seeing on stove top.
(Another location to check on what the after burn chamber is really doing would probably be a flue thermometer see posts by James04 for info on this).

As for day to day running of the stove, on the first notch temps stayed around 400 stove top with around 10-12 hour burn times.
It kept the unfinished, uninsulated 8 foot basement with 3-5 block exposure in the lower 70's with upstairs 1024sq ft in the upper 60's to lower 70's. Once I got it insulated, the temps were in the high 70's in the basement in the lower 70's upstairs.
When it got colder I moved it to the second notch and stop top stayed around 450 with upstaris in the middle 70's.

For safety I wouldn't run the stove in after burn on its max setting, it could damage the stove and your pipes. A stove at 800 degrees, in after burn could potentially put out 2,400 degrees of heat. :gulp:

 

[cyclone]

Thanks for the infomation everyone. When you say for the afterburner to kick in, does this kick in automatically or is there a part on the stove you need to operate for it to kick in??? Please explain!!

Thank You

 

[MishMouse]

After the stove hits its sweet spot (mine is around 550 stove top, yours may be different depending on your installation and the outside temps), you move the handle that is used to open the top loader in the opposite direction you used to open it, this closes the door on the top back of the stove redirecting the smoke into the after burn chamber located at the bottom of the stove.

The following is the user manual for this stove and its explains the operation of this stove.
(broken link removed to http://www.harmanstoves.com/doc/TL300) Manualr1.pdf
Page 16 shows how to operate the stove and the direction of the smoke into the after burn chamber.

Your best bet would be to have your dealer do a demo of the TL-300 for you, if he doesn't have one operational, you can check the operation of the Oakwood or the Exception TL-200 as it operates in a similar manor. If your dealer doesn't have any of these in operation check around for other Harman dealers as a demo is one of the best ways to see how the after burn chamber works.

 

[stanleyjohn]

hello murry!Im sure mish mouse knows more about Harman's downdraft stoves and afterburner system but ill put in my 2 cents.I bought the Harman exception insert wood stove at the end of last winter and got to use it only 4 days before weather started to warm up and i closed up the stove till next winter.I have read up all i can about downdraft stoves and secondary burn that they use to meet the EPA standards.Harman uses what the call after burn to heat up and burn unused gases at very high temps in a enclosed chamber at the back of the stove.When the stove is first started!The afterburner is not used!alot of the heat exits the stoves damper.After the stove heats up and a good hot coal bed is established then the damper is closed and the heat which needs to escape gets sucked into small holes in the back of the stove into the after burn chamber which is designed to burn the wood gases(smoke etc)at Hi temps then exits via the stove flue.This is why a good draft and a hot bed of coal is important for Harman's afterburner to work well.Vt castings uses ever burn and some other stove companies have there own downdraft stove EPA technology.For the four days that i used my Harman i had good results!the afterburner worked well and no smoke came out of the stack.The one downside to this type of stove is that when your starting the stove from a cold start!it may take a hour or more to get the after burn to kick in!but the positive side is that when the stove is hot and the afterburner is running,you can get a real long burn on a load of wood (8 to 12 hrs).I'm no expert!but i have tried to explain the best that can!If i am wrong on anything that i have said!someone please correct me.

 

[cyclone]

Thank you to everyone. All your information is a big help.I'm sure the dealer has reviewed this with me but I was probably overwhelmed with pleasure of getting the stove that I was in a fog.

I didn't fire up the stove yet. Waiting for it to get a cooler here in Pennsylvania.

Any other tips and suggestions you have with this stove would be great.......

Thanks Again

 

[stanleyjohn]

Harman makes good stoves!the stove you have should give you plenty of heat and many years of good service.Just be sure to have your flue pipe cleaned out yearly and burn only dry seasoned wood.

 

[begreen]

Thank you to everyone. All your information is a big help.I'm sure the dealer has reviewed this with me but I was probably overwhelmed with pleasure of getting the stove that I was in a fog.

I didn't fire up the stove yet. Waiting for it to get a cooler here in Pennsylvania.

Any other tips and suggestions you have with this stove would be great.......

Thanks Again

Don't wait for it to get too cool before doing your break in fires. The stove is going to stink for the first few fires. It's nice if you can get them out of the way with the windows wide open.

 

[cyclone]

Thanks again I will do that...

 

[cyclone]

Stanley John and Mish Mouse Is there a certain temp you should reach before kicking in the after burn. Mish I know you said yours kick in at 550 and you mentioned you need to find the sweet spot.

What I am getting at is should your stove be at a higher temp before kicking it in and how long can you keep it in afterburn mode??


Thanks again for all your help!

 

[MishMouse]

Stanley John and Mish Mouse Is there a certain temp you should reach before kicking in the after burn. Mish I know you said yours kick in at 550 and you mentioned you need to find the sweet spot.

What I am getting at is should your stove be at a higher temp before kicking it in and how long can you keep it in afterburn mode??


Thanks again for all your help!

Once the stove gets hot enough and you establish a good coal bed and you push the lever to redirect the flow into the after burn chamber and it kicks in, you turn down the heat to your desired level and you keep it in after burn until you need to re-load it.

Can you post some pictures of your install in the Perfect Picture area?

 

[stanleyjohn]

ditto on what mish mouse says!I found after 500 deg and a good bed of hot coals !close the damper and the afterburn should kick in.