niawatch wrote:chris thanks ,, pictures are very impressive--especially the coal bin. are you able to heat most of your house from just the stove? i am thinking of putting my stove in the basement, powervented out, then using a "jacket" to tap into the cold return of my forced air duct work. i am hoping this will heat the house. looking at a 90 or 110 btu..its a small house, i think 1300 sq ft,,,currently on propane and i just cant afford it...also thinking of getting the hot water coil. do you think i am on the right track with my plans? anyone?
thanks
The DVC500 will heat a 1300 sq ft house, assuming its properly insulated

You won't need a coal stove rated the same as your firnace, cuz the coal stove will be running 24 x 7, unlike your furnace, which fires up only when the thrmostat calls for heat. A 75k stove should be more than enough for 1300 Sq Ft.
My stove is in the lower level of the house, which is 1300sq ft. The upper level is 1500sq ft, and thats heated by my FireplaceXtrordinair. If the outside temp is 30F or above, I only need the DVC500, it'll heat the whole house well above 72F. if the temp is lower then 30F, I'll fire up the FireplaceXtrordinair.
I didn't have to do any duct work. Normal convection is working pretty good. The upper-level hardwood floors stay nice and warm too! I've been contemplating a DHW coil, but decided against it. We have a super-insulated Electric HWH that works pretty good.
The cool thing is during the winter, we no longer run the electric clothes dryer. The DVC500 produces so much dry heat, I string clothes lines in the same room, and we dry the clothes the old fashoned way

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Chris F.
THATS what I'm Talkin' about.