Which hand fed to buy

Hi everyone,
I am thinking of going back to a hand fed stove. Last year bought a mag stoker, awsome stoker but the heat is not the same, I miss the radiant heat and warm floors, and lower coal consumption. the one thing the mag does have though is nicer temp control. All that aside though, I used to burn a gibralter hand fed (for 18 years), told it was rated at 70K btu. So i would be looking for something in that btu range or higher. My question is what is everyone burning? I am looking for something that is easily bought, I willl probably try to find something used. I would like an external shaker handle, hopper fed or front load really haven't decided. Pros and Cons please.
Thanks in advance and have a great day, Eric

Send a PM to member "coalkirk". He does rebuilds on some handfed stoves. Great deals on stoves that are essentially new when he is done with them. By looking at mapquest, he looks to be only about 70 miles from you.

Here is a link to one of the stoves that he rebuilt and recently sold.

Jeff

Harman mark ll

Your close to Bowmans stove shop in Ephrata. They have
a good selection to at least get a staring point. I think
you'll be shocked by the prices. Hard to imagine that the
magnum didn't work out. Noise maybe ?

I went back to a hand fed after trying a Harman mag for a while. But you better get a large hand fed to beat the heat of the Mag. The Mag is no slouch. A Harman Mark III or better.

Hi everyone,
Yes tsb the noise is one issue. The mag is rated at 85kbtu my old hand fed was only 70k. I know the mag will crank heat. I have one duct coming upstairs, upstairs is 73 degrees, but my feet get cold. my wife even said it doesn't seem as warm. with the hand fed it was all radiant heat. I have a ranch house so when the basement was hot the the floors all felt like radiant floor heat coming right through your body. Thanks for the info so far I am looking for more pros and cons to some of your hand feds that evryone is using.
Have a great day Eric

The Harman SF250 is a serious stove, with a price to match. A few members have them, I'm sure they will put in their $0.02

Some other ideas: A Hitzer Model 82 will put out impressive heat for short money. DS Machine also makes some heavy-hitter hand fed stoves.

markviii wrote:The Harman SF250 is a serious stove, with a price to match. A few members have them, I'm sure they will put in their $0.02

Some other ideas: A Hitzer Model 82 will put out impressive heat for short money. DS Machine also makes some heavy-hitter hand fed stoves.

I had a Harman SF-250... That stove will put out the heat ! But they also make lots of DUST...
Like markviii said, look at the Hitzer model 82 or the DS Machine. Lots of heat with a much lower price than the Harman.

Why so much dust. I thought they had an external shaker. The dust was one of the reasons for going to the mag, the gibralter you always had the ash pan door open to shake it so dust was always comming out. I guess my question is do the hand feds really put out dust even with the external shaker?
Thanks, Eric

My Mark III doesn't put out dust when shaking. Prior to shaking I open the ash pan door to liven up the fire, then while shaking I keep the ash pan door closed and have the spinner all the way out and no dust escapes.

I am always looking for a hand fed that has the three big things that I want:

Large Ash Pan

Longest Unattended Burn Time

High BTU Output

I have not found any that have these three things are some have come close. They include:

Alaska Kodiak (Coal Burner has a like new one for sale)

Hitzer 50-93

Stradford SC100

Coalbrookdale Darby (LONG burn time but only a 55K BTU stove)

Harman Mark III (Duvals in Rising Sun, MD has them for $1,790.00 New)

I just switched from the Darby to the Hitzer and while the Hitzer is a very nice stove I am not yet sold on the external blower.

Better get back to the party before the wife catches me. I have been informed that the Coal Forums is not where I am supposed to be on our honeymoon. Haha.

Glenn

I have a Mark III and had the opposite experience of opening the air inlet. The morning sun shined brightly around the stove and while shaking and keeping the inlet open it reminded me of the "Monster" on the series "LOST". The dust kept pushing out and getting sucked back in. The ash dust accumulated on the stove top as evidence.

I tried a recommendation on a similar post whereby I open the loading slightly door while shaking. I have not gotten and dust using this method - it surprised me!

I shut the air inlet & keep all doors closed when shaking ... then slowly open ash door when done. I have a tenth of the dust that I've had in previous years.

Take a look at the DS Machine Stove line...
Upgraded from a Mark II to a DS Machine Basement #4...
No regrets, got the red paint...
The Basement #4...
No fan, no noise...
Hopper fed, no dust...
Holds 175# of coal, long burn time...
I got 48 hours before the stove lost the fire at a medium/high burn...
Good sized ashpan, once a day trip to the ash can...
130,000 btu/hr rating...
Priced right $1250
http://www.altheating.com/dsmachine.htm

WTF! I paid double that plus for my Mark III!

Coalfire wrote:Hi everyone,
Yes tsb the noise is one issue. The mag is rated at 85kbtu my old hand fed was only 70k. I know the mag will crank heat. I have one duct coming upstairs, upstairs is 73 degrees, but my feet get cold. my wife even said it doesn't seem as warm. with the hand fed it was all radiant heat. I have a ranch house so when the basement was hot the the floors all felt like radiant floor heat coming right through your body. Thanks for the info so far I am looking for more pros and cons to some of your hand feds that evryone is using.
Have a great day Eric

PM Me I have a 1998 Alaska kodiak 3 stove with the outside shaker handel on the right side .
The Stove is Refurb and ready for a new home
New glass all new gaskets all parts painted with hi temp paint and a new blower fan in the box.
Also has the Removable rear heatshield and I have the owners manual.
Aswell as the extra grate adjitator which is used if you want to shake threw the ash door using the combo tool .
This stove has the 6 big firebricks not the cheap little firebricks like on the new stoves today .
PM Me I will send Pics .