Mark I

I'm thinking about buying a Mark I or Mark II that would be installed in my living / dining room (700sqFt.) I'm not sure what one to get?
I would think either stove would do the job. Does anyone have a Mark I ?
How long will the stove go putting out good heat before needing to be loaded? I really like that the stove is smaller but like most people I'm gone for 9 to 12 hours at a time. Any opinions would be great.

is there a 2nd floor above what you described? is the structure well insulated?
if you have a one-floor ranch then the mark1 might be suitable, but i would advise against it. the mark1 is a very small coal stove. i always try to buy bigger (in btu terms) than what i need, and with the mark2 or 3 you might be surprised that it's heating the whole house too even on the coldest & windiest days. a manual coal stove needs maintenance twice a day normally, and have a barometric damper installed so that a percentage of your heat isn't going up the chimney and heating syracuse, ny instead of your home.

best regards,
tom

I have a Mark II in my basement ( just to heat my finished basement, not the whole house.) It works really well. I usually tend the fire twice a day. I burn bituminous coal so If you burn anthracite you will probably get even better results. It also burns wood very well also.

You could probably get a 10 hour burn if it isn't super cold outside. But this all depends on your house and the quality of coal. If you damp it down it will last a while. But it is starting to die off at about the 8 hour mark. I would go with the Mark II or even the III. The Mark II is not all that big and is a decent looking stove. The window id quite large and you can see the fire well.

if your house is a single story at 700sq.ft. the mark II will heat it well I'm sure.

The only thing I don't like is the small ash pan. Other than that it is a great little stove and I think you will like the heat it outs out.

Be sure and have a quality chimney. This is one area that you absolutely can not cut corners on. If in doubt call a chimney sweep and have him take a look.

Thanks for the input guys.

My house is 1750 Sq. Ft. single story ranch. But I can close doors to the kitcken and the 3 bedrooms. That leaves the living room and dinning room that is "L" shaped at 700 sq. ft. In the past I've had a wood stove in the living/dinning room. An old Fisher middle size 6" flue that would take the house from 45F to 80F in a few hours. But I had to take down the chimney, they poured the brick and clay liner solid..... I'm lucky I never had a problem but after ten years of wood heat the chimney was shot.

I'm planning on installing a class A chimney. My house should have been a 1 1/2 story but they didn't finish the attic. That would give me 12 feet of pipe inside the attic and then another 3 feet outside. They say you need 15 feet of chimney for it to work well. I know it's in a cold attic but I guess I could frame and insulate with the proper clearances.

To give you guy's an example If I run a Kero heater in the living room it puts out about 20K Btu an hour on a 25F day the living room is 77F
If it gets colder I just close the doors to the kitcken.

Well I've got the day off so I'm headed to the stove store.....

Blue Duck,

I live in an 85' single level ranch, Mark III at one end , 3 bedrooms at the other,, house has no insulation at all. I use a small 3 speed 9" fan in the corner of the french door opening to push the heat to the bed room end. The family room where the stove is will be in the low 80s and the bed rooms mid 70s. I'm glad I went with the III vs the II because on days that are near 0* I can push the stove and it will keep the house toasty. It also will hold a large amount of wood when I choose that fuel.

Eric

"But I had to take down the chimney, they poured the brick and clay liner solid..... I'm lucky I never had a problem but after ten years of wood heat the chimney was shot"

what do you mean? how was it shot? and why not simply build another masonry 8/8 chimney and use that? stainless, even 316ti does not last long burning coal, clay is a far superior liner and will last well over 100 years.

When I went out to look at stoves today I decided to look in the paper first and there was a listing for a Mark I. So I went and got it. If it turns out to be too small I'll just sell it next year. The Stove seems to be in good shape and the nice man I got it from said he burned about 20 bags a year. If I can keep it going after work and it saves me on fuel oil then I'll be happy. I can always go back to the Fisher.... Who knows mabe I won't like the coal and buy a new catalytic wood stove.

Berlin, My chimney was a double flue brick with clay liner. It ran from the bottom of the roof free standing taller than the peak. It didn't have the air gap between the brick and liner, just poured cement. It was very unsafe when taking it down you could remove most of the bricks by hand.
I looked into saving it but 20% of the bricks were not reuseable and after going to 4 brick yards I could match the brick. The front of the house is brick as well. I put on a new roof this year and it just wasn't worth saving the chimney.

How long will a new class A from Selkirk last? 20 years??

Well I fired it up for the first time. Lets see if I can keep it going.....