Interested in Your Stoves Heating Abilities...

Hey MVman,
I handfire with a Harman SF250. House is 2400sf + my full basement so about 3200 sf total. On days like today, frigid & windy, house gets chilly ( mid 60's F ) in ceratin rooms and very warm just above the stove on fl1. House is 1988 construction, Anderson windows, 2x6 construction with R17. Not the best set up for heat but still very effective and economical. Hope this helps.

I love my Mark II and it does a great job of keeping my split level, the 1800 sq ft that I keep heated, in the mid 70s*. The issue with a hand fed stove is not the BTUs or sq ft it is rated for - the issue is distributing that heat. I could easily be heating 2000 or even 2500 sq if my floor plan allowed for a better distribution of the heat. It's not the stove's problem, it's the floor plan. A hand fed stove even with a fan on it is mostly likely a radiant stove. That means the area immediately surrounding the stove will be very hot - chasing you from the room - and the out reaches of the house will be cooler or even cold. My bedroom, the farthest point from the stove in our house is always 65* while the stove room is around 78*. At night when no one is in that room I bump the stove to 80* plus so the upstairs is warmer. I don't even try to heat the office in the basement with the Mark II. Had I known what I now know when I first looked into using coal as a supplemental heat for my natural gas whole house furnace, I would have gone with something I could have hooked directly into my existing duct work or gone with 2 hand fed stoves on both levels of the house. However, it never occurred to me that I would be able to heat most of the house at a higher temperature for less money when I got the stove. I was blessed to end up with a stove that could do that for me. Our whole house furnace hasn't come on in 2 years. My advise is that before you buy any coal stove you already have a plan in mind as to how you intend to distribute that heat. Good hunting, Lisa

I am curently running a U.S. Stove 1600M hand fired Add-on Furnace. This is my second season with this unit. Last season I used 7 ton of anthracite to warm my 3000 + Sq. ft. home. It typically would go through 2 five gallon buckets of nut coal per day. The temp in the house was about 76 most of the time. The stove pipe is 6" with 28' of stainless class A chimney. While this unit keep the floors and whole house warm, I am still (yes STILL) trying to learn how to regulate the temp better. I am considering replacing it with an Alaska 140 strictly because of the attention the 1600 needs. I am shaking out the ashes 3 times a day and now trying to determine why I have to much ash build up at the rear of the fire box that requires more draft to get the heat out of it I need.
Good luck

I have an Alaska Kodiak gravity fed. It has been up and running for the past week on a single match and I have to say this is an incredible unit. I moved from a pellet stove for the sake of power, or lack thereof. Cant take the risk while working 100 miles from home, away 3 consecutive nights, with a wife and 2 infant newborns. I want to KNOW they will be ok even in a blizzard. Nevertheless, its been in the single digits this past week and 40mph gusts with obvious wind chills in the negatives and I have to say my house is very comfortable and I feel the stove isnt even trying. (Geez, we've had the windows cracked in this weather,.... Hey, fresh air for the babies anyhow!!) I only run the blower at night(bedtime) to circulate the heat better as I live in a 2 level house. Wow does it! On these cold knights my upstairs is consistantly only 3 - 6 degrees cooler than the stove level. If I were to leave the blower on all the time I think the house would begin taking flight. This all being done with my front draft controls closed and soley using the bi-metal thermo that works incredibly. Once up to burn, heat doesnt fluctuate at all. Aside from the obvious shaking period when new coal needs to catch. In these outside temps I havent had the need to run the stove temp above 475, and I did that one night only because the native Floridian came out in me,....woke up to 83 deg. Nice!!! My nominal stove temp has been 350-375, house temp 74-78.

Question???? I have had no issues with clinkers as of yet, but, I have read on some forums that people with my particular stove have done a "poke" through the coal to get the ashes to the grate and then shake again. I then read that "poking" the coal can cause clinkers.?? Should I?? Shouldnt I???

Thanks for any input.

SB

i have made up my mind... I am buying both stoves. I just purchased the hitzer, now I am looking for a kodiak to replace our old vigilant. I plan on moving the vigilant to a garage where 24/7 heat is not a priority. thanks for everyone help, I cant wait to get the hitzer fired up and hopefully have the great experiences everyone posts.