Looking for Info on Picking a Stove

I agree with the "stoker crowd"- if you want coal and if you're gonna be in there quite a bit, I think it will be easier to let the stoker maintain a minimal fire, then just crank the thermostat up when you're ready for it and turn it down when done. The heat will be not as instant as, say, electric heat, but a lot faster than cleaning out, lighting, and filling a hand-fire. The stoker, whichever brand, will cost more than a hand-fire (you pay for the convenience)

Fussing with lighting a coal fire every few days, which takes awhile, will get old fast and take longer to make heat. If you are talking "weekends only" then I'll change my tune...

Don't forget...The stoker can be direct vent, eliminating a costly chimney. also allows other placement options.

Major safety concern if you have explosive vapors in the garage. Many stokers burn outside air. BONUS!!!!

my vote is for stoker and let it at least idle when you're not there. That concrete floor will take a long time to heat up. Plus a stoker can probably go a couple of days without tending in idle mode.

hueyguns wrote: -the walls are OSB/insulation (R13)/OSB
-Ceiling is the same with OSB/insulation (R19) with a ridge vent that runs the 40ft of the garage
-2 new 4ft x 2 1/2ft foot double pane windows
-new 9 lite insulated man door
-16ft x 8ft insulated garage door
-new concrete 4 inches thick, no insulation

I live in Erie, PA and I don't know if is the "hard" side or the "soft side".
Thanks again.

Are there any suggestions for hueyguns that meet the needs for heating ~ 15,000 cubic feet? A few come to mind...

• Keystoker Koker @ 160,000 btu/hr

• Leisure Line Hyfire II @ 180,000 btu/hr

• Alaska A-140 auger fed @ 170,000 btu/hr

• Reading Susquehanna RSDB-06 @ 170,000 btu/hr

The above list will give both convection/hot air and radiant heat. Double barrel aproach. My point of reference is I once heated my bank barn that had uninsulated poured concrete walls half buried in the ground with an old oil fired warehouse oil furnace. It was ~ 350,000 btu/hr but I had to weld off a few of the rusted thru tubes. I'd guess about 250,000 btu/hr was functional. It would heat ~ 10,000 cu. ft. from 28 to 70 in just over 20 minutes You could feel the walls sucking the heat out of the air. If left on, it would level out in a few days. Do I miss that barn....

Guys, all I can say is WOW!! You folks are top notch. I asked for it and I got it. Since I am new to this, I have been absorbing all of your information and researching dealers for all of the stoves recommended so far. Looks like there is a lot for me to learn. Any other recommendations? I am being drawn to the stokers, but on the other hand, does anybody have reccommendations for hand fired for comparison purposes? Also, do the stokers parts go bad often (ie, thermostat controler, feeder, blower, etc)? I want to do this right and cover all of my bases. A big thanks to all.

That is a lot of information to absorb. I think the determining factor is going to be your budget, the fuel you intend to use, and how much time you want to spend with the fire. The chimney alone is going to set you back $1000 or so. Stokers are great and do a very nice job but only burn anthracite rice or buckwheat coal. They can burn on a low setting and don't require much tending. Load the hopper with coal and empty the ashes. Really care free.

The hand fire units are going to require more time, starting the fire, shaking, draft setting. But you do have the option to burn wood if you have it. You will be tending to it more often. A buddy of mine has a 70' X 100' plastic green house and he heats that uninsulated concrete floor building with a hand fire coal furnace to 80* easily. The benefit to a hand fired furnace is that you can load it up with large logs or load it with whatever coal to the top of the firebricks and get a lot of heat really fast and also choke the fire down for overnight burns, 12-18 hours. The furnaces usually are come with blower fans too. You don't have to run duct work to them either. Just a short plenum will be fine with an opening cut to the direction you want to through the heat.

Just another thought. You have to decide how much time you what to dedicate to tending the fire, how much heat you want and how fast you want it, the fuel you intend to burn, and how much you want to spend doing it.

There a number of great possibilities and options for you in different price ranges. Check around your area for the kind of fuel options you have and the prices of each to help decide. Then decide if you want hand fired or stoker fired. Some guys love to tend to the fire and some guys don't. Free wood is nice but most have to pay for it. If you pay for it coal is the way to go! What kind of coal you plan on using, bituminous or anthracite will determine if it is stoker fired or hand fired too.

Just more to think about.

Hueyguns,

I just installed a stove in my garage also. Its 26' x 32' Split Face Concrete Block, 5" conc uninsulated floor, 11' high ceiling with drywall and 6" of insulation. I have a Hotblast 1300 by USSC. It has 2-8" ducts on top, I just put 90's on them and blow them right out into the room. It does take a little while for the concrete to feel warm, but the air is comfortable in there after about 30 minutes. After the concrete heats up it stays warm. I've been lighting it usually Friday afternoon and run it all weekend. Its been anywhere between 0 and 20 deg. around here lately, basically same as where you are at, I'm just a little south of ya. I can get it up to about 65 in a half hour then its easy to maintain mid 70's after a while. You should do better with insulated studded walls. I must say I'm glad I got a hand fired stove so I can use any fuel I want. I don't mind tending it, I actually enjoy it. The stove was $999. Then of course you'll have to add the cost of what ever kind of chimney you go with.

DOUG wrote:That is a lot of information to absorb. ,,,>8,,8<....Just more to think about.

... and a hand fired furnace will operate and radiate heat w/o electricity. W/an inexpensive inverter, you could run the blower motor w/a 12 V battery system of sorts. Could run either stoker or hand fed's blower that way. Having a direct vent or power vent in lieu of a chimney & natural draft makes that a bit harder to do gathering from what I've read on other threads. The next level of power backup is a generator.

I'm getting proverbial cart in front of the horse but it's worth considering it in the plan at some point. A lot of versatility in the options presented in this thread. I have both styles in the house but have yet to install the stoker into the house's main duct system. Each have thier virtues.

O.K. guys, I have taken heed to all advice posted and researched the different types of burners to suit my needs. I have spent hours on this site "looking around". One thing that a generous poster offered was to think about the cost of fuel, that is the price of wood vs. cost of coal when pertaining to hand fired and stoker. I understand that I can burn wood and coal in a hand fired but not in a stoker. Having said that, I do have access to free wood, over 100 acres. I would prefer to burn more coal than wood during the cold months and use wood to start the fire, and use wood in the warmer months. So in a nutshell, I am leaning to buy a hand fired, but I need a little more help. How big do I go? After thinking about it, I realized that I need to heat the shop, at the before mentioned specifics, with a twist. I goof around on hot rods. So there will be at least 3 cars, and a dragster in the shop with a metal lift, plus all the other tools and gadgetry used to work on these things. That equals alot of cold metal and cold concrete floor to heat up. I can supplement the heat with a kerosene torpedo heater until the fire gets going if I chose a hand fire. With that in mind, what size hand fire would you recommend? Or based on what I have said about all the cold metal, tools and air to heat up, would that just seal the deal to buy a stoker and keep it warm and forget about it? I'm learning, slowly but surely. By the way, I will be in the garage a couple of hours each day, longer on the weekends. Thanks again folks.

It sounds like a hand fired furnace is in order then. I recommend, not because I own one but because It is the best value for the money, a Clayton 1600G furnace from United States Stove Company. One can be had for around $1800-$2000. This will definitely heat your man cave with giving you all the fueling options you want. A set up similar to CHICKENBOY will perform wonderful. The Clayton 1600G can take large logs, burn bituminous or anthracite coal, has a thermostat draft control for when firing wood only, a large enough firebox for long overnight burn times on whatever fuel, and a very large three speed blower to meet the different heating demands. Take a look at these posts. Clayton Furnace Fired on Wood Slow Blue Dancing With Red Dressed Ladies in a Clayton Stove BTU Output Based on Temp and Surface Area? This may help. Warning, you will get spoiled with this heater! It is easy to operate and will do more than what you want. So no excuses for not getting any work done because it's too cold.

The thing with dual fuel is very cool,but only one problem, once you burn coal, you are never going back! So, if money for
fuel is not an issue, coal is the way. Nice thing about a stoker, it will burn slow or fast, adjusting heat output as required.
100 ac of wood is tempting, but it still has to be cut, hauled,split, stacked, seasoned, then moved again unless you give green wood
precious space in the man cave. So now you need to store it in several places.......logistically wood is a loser. Time spent producing fire wood is time away from other manly activities. Having produced,sold, and used firewood for many years, I almost died when I started burning coal in my stoker. My first reaction
when it was up and running......" That's it?" Pretty darn close to no work. The Leisure Line Hyfire is the HOT ROD stoker,
duel burners , duel fans, trick controls, large hopper and ash bin, (order two ash bins...trust me). It will warm hard and fast
or easy and slow, and you can pick your colors! How cool is that! Manual or stoker, they both blow wood away, but really,
why walk when you can fly?

Yes stoker stoves are really nice to have, and I would look into one for your house. But the man cave? I think you will be much happier with a hand fired Clayton furnace. The price of a stoker fired stove or furnace for your man cave will be as high or probably much higher than a Clayton furnace. I don't know what the price is for anthracite in your area, but it is going for $240.00 a ton in Pittsburgh. Yes cutting, splitting, stacking, and moving the wood is a lot more work, but you will have a ton of long burning heat and won't need the kerosene torpedo heater anymore. Even if you lose power, you'll have heat.

So as Paulie says

Paulie wrote:but really,
why walk when you can fly?

is true. But an option I would consider for your home over the man cave. With a coal stoker in your home, you will be able to save some money on the conventional fuel bill, giving you the money you would have paid for fixing up your toys in the man cave.

It's also nice to save any scrap wood, crates or pallets, phone books, newspapers, junk uncolored paper, even the leftover pizza from the night before, the bag of rotten potatoes, and throw it into the fire for some free heat. Not that I recommend doing that, but I sometimes do.

Anyway, there are a lot of options for you. I would go with a furnace over a stove. Coal is King, but if you have the wood, the time in the summer to prepare it, and the place to store it, a hand fired coal furnace is the way to go for the man cave. Stoker fired stove, furnace, or boiler for the house.

Here is a thread that may interest you on a stoker conversion I did. With your knowledge and metal working ability, it maybe a option for you.Clayton Furnace With Dual Reading Stokers DOUG

hueyguns wrote:.... So there will be at least 3 cars, and a dragster in the shop with a metal lift, plus all the other tools and gadgetry used to work on these things. That equals alot of cold metal and cold concrete floor to heat up. I can supplement the heat with a kerosene torpedo heater until the fire gets going if I chose a hand fire....Or based on what I have said about all the cold metal, tools and air to heat up, would that just seal the deal to buy a stoker and keep it warm and forget about it? .... I will be in the garage a couple of hours each day, longer on the weekends.

I think it seals the deal for a stoker. If you will be in the garage only a couple hours each day, a hand-fired stove will barely heat up the place before it's time for you to leave, due to the long lead time of getting a new fire going. Wood is NOT a great way to start a coal fire, in my opinion; charcoal is much faster. Re-read the arguments for a stoker stove offered by lots of folks. With a stoker, you can heat up all that metal once, throttle your thermostat back to maybe 45 or 50 degrees when you are away from the garage, and have it back up to the comfort zone pretty quickly when you turn up the thermostat. The metal will act as thermal mass helping to maintain the garage temp for hours after you throttle back the coal stoker. Using a kerosene torpedo heater AND a hand-fired stove is kind of redundant -- you might as well stick with the kero entirely because you'll need it for almost the entire two hours while your hand-fired coal stove gets up to temp. And personally, having used a torpedo heater even with K-1 kero in a house under reconstruction, I would not want to spend an hour or two in a closed space with it.

I'm sorry rberq, I have to big time disagree with you on that. I have both stokers and hand fired furnaces. If I want fast serious heat from nothing, I fire up small kindling sized pieces of wood and paper and I would have already heated my house up before the already lit coal stokers came up to full fire. I also like to fire up my coal with wood over charcoal, it is so much faster when you know how to do it. As for the kerosene torpedo heater, sell it and put the money toward your new set up. You won't need it anymore.

Whether you fire wood or coal in a hand fired furnace, you can still throttle it back for long burn times. Any of the stoker fired stoves are still going to need more coal added and the ashes emptied. The only stokers that compare to the possible heat moving potential are furnaces, not any of the stoves, and the stoker furnaces are quite pricey.

So if you are going to visit your man cave for at least 10 minutes a day, you have plenty of time to keep the hand fired furnace going from the first match in the fall, all the way to spring. Stokers are a great thing to have and I recommend getting one only if you decide to burn only anthracite coal. It still will be better than buying kerosene for you torpedo heater. Coal heat without the kerosene fumes and headache is a better of the two.

Well, there you go, hueyguns, two diametrically opposite opinions to make your decision easier! Actually Doug and I are not totally opposite. I did say in an earlier post that hand-fired was an option if you keep it going day and night from November to April, rather than start a fresh fire each day. As Doug points out, you can throttle a hand-fired stove way back, to a low output level, and it will come back quickly when you give it more air again. My Harman is one of the smaller stoves in common use, and it will burn 36 hours if I close the air off to a minimum-burn level. So either hand-fired or stoker can work for you, neither one is a magic bullet, one might be less hands-on than the other but maybe you'd prefer hands-on, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

P.S. Doug and I have agreed to fight a duel over this, fireplace pokers at 30 yards. Looking for a second....