Newbie Questions

[Mike Ainsel]

hello folks. I just moved into an old farmhouse. The home heats with wood and has a stove that I'm quite unfamiliar with. The stove is made by Harman Stove Company & I'm hoping a few of you woodstove veterans could answer a few questions for me.

this stove has a handle on the side that had two positions. It opens a flap in the top of the stove. What is this for? The prior owner told me it was a damper but it does not affect the fire in any way. My best guess was that it opened up to heat the cook top?

also there's a white foam looking piece in the back of the stove. Its very fragile to the touch. What is this?

the stove seems to be pretty inefficient and seems to be missing the majority of the seals around the doors. I believe we have some draft issues as well (7" square flue w/ loose brick filling in where the cleanout door should be). I'm planning on replacing this setup with a US stoves model 2000 from tractor supply but I'll need to make due with this one for the next several weeks. Thanks for reading.

 

[begreen]

Greetings. A picture would be helpful here. There are a couple Harman stoves that come to mind. One is the Oakwood and the other is the TL300. Door seal gaskets are replaceable. The chimney sounds like it needs work in order for either stove to be safe and successful. The clean out needs to be sealed and the chimney needs a 6" liner. 12x12 is too large. The wood supply will need to be dry and fully seasoned as well.

 

[branchburner]

this stove has a handle on the side that had two positions. It opens a flap in the top of the stove. What is this for? The prior owner told me it was a damper but it does not affect the fire in any way.

also there's a white foam looking piece in the back of the stove. Its very fragile to the touch. What is this?
.

Welcome to the forums! Yes, that handle/flap is a damper. When closed, that flap forces the air down and into the rear of the stove... the white foam looking piece in the back of the stove is the chamber where secondary combustion takes place. Be careful not to poke it, pieces can break off very easily. I'm surprised to hear you say the damper does not affect the fire in any way, but perhaps it will take a little more use to see, or it could just not appear to make much difference because of the poor draft.

The stove model and production year should be on a metal plate on the rear of the stove, if you care to check it out. These stoves new run about $2500, but sounds like its been run hard with less than optimal flue conditions. My guess is that without a 6" liner the previous owner had trouble getting good draft for secondary combustion, and may have overfired the stove by running it with the air too far open. It is quite possible that rear combustion chamber need replacing, too, which is a $300 part.

When in good shape, with dry wood, these stoves can put out great heat, but they can be difficult and expensive to maintain and to run properly. This time of year, I usually run mine with just a few very dry pine splits (or pallet cut-offs) at a time, leaving the damper open and shutting the primary air all the way down. This gives me no secondary combustion, but brings the stove top to about 600f and the flue about 300f and takes the chill out of the room pretty quickly... with your draft conditions, you may of course have much different results.

 

[Mike Ainsel]

thanks! I didn't think to look for the plate on the back. Turns out I have a CW30 wood/coal stove. I was able to find another helpful thread on here about that model. Unfortunately when I close the top damper I get a lot of smoke into the house, which I'm assuming is due to the bad door seals. I also was incorrect about the diameter of my chimney. Its a 7" square.

I tried covering the cleanout opening but I'm still having trouble keeping a fire going without keeping the lower door open.

I appreciate everyones feedback. Thanks!

 

[branchburner]

Ah, near the VA/WVA border... of course it burns coal!

Sounds like an oldie but a goodie, if you like the coal option. The Harman coal stoves have a good following and reputation among coal burners, as far as I know . Maybe part of your smoke problem is that missing cleanout door --- are you getting an airtight seal when you cover it? It would also be possible you have another problem, like the flue is partly clogged. Have you inspected and cleaned it? How tall is the chimney, form where it connect to the stove? A 7" sq flue sounds pretty typical for a coal stove, and in theory I don't see why it shouldn't draw well enough to prevent smoke spill. I have to assume the previous owner had it working. What are you burning for wood? If you are having trouble keeping a fire going without keeping the lower door open, something is wrong, more likely with the wood or the flue than with the stove, though perhaps the air supply is blocked or more likely the re-burn chamber is filled with ash.

But consider, the way that top damper is supposed to work is it only gets closed once a strong fire with a deep coal bed is established, and that only working well with very dry, fully seasoned wood. Although my stove is different and newer, the basic principle is the same. From a cold stove, I don't close the damper for 45-60 minutes, depending.on the load. Secondary combustion only kicks in at sustained high temps, and only then does all that smoke get re-burned. In the moderate temps of early fall, you can burn with the damper open, as long as you keep the air setting low.