ISO new coal stove-perhaps Hitzer 30-95. opinions welcome

Hello, everyone.

I've been lurking for a few days, trying to learn all i can. We have a Coalbrookdale Much Wenlock that we bought used in 1999. We now have to consider replacing it because of the worn liner/boiler inside and the rear flue cover thingie is showing wear (when we looked with a flashlight, the light shone through the stove to the wall ).

DH is thinking that we can fix the Much Wenlock at some point. I'm not as hopeful since our sweep who's willing to fix just about anything and who's very knowledgeable just shook his head no when i asked if he could repair it. He has made repairs on it in the past, although the last time he made one, he did tell us that we'd probably have to consider replacing the stove in a year or two. Here we are 18 months later.

I wanted a coal/wood stove because i knew we wouldn't be disciplined enough to have enough dry wood on hand. We also don't have acreage where we'd be able to harvest our own wood.

We love burning with coal, and with the crack our Much Wenlock has, we felt we were unable to use our stove with this last bit of sleety stuff we got around St. Patrick's Day. This only confirmed our desire to find a replacement stove in time for the next stove season.

When we first moved here, we had enough power outages so that i wanted something that didn't require electricity (I won't go on a rant about how i dislike our electric company). I wanted a stove that would keep one room warm and the rest of the house warm enough so that pipes wouldn't burst. Little did i know that the Much Wenlock would heat the entire house!

We went looking and found a Hitzer, model 30-95 that looks like it'll fit the bill nicely.

I was thinking how convenient it would be to have a hopper. We hand feed right now (so i guess that would make me a shovel and shake kind of gal).

I read the thread about hopper fires and must say, i never thought about having a hopper fire. That scares me.

Has anyone here used a Hitzer 30-95? We saw one in action in a space that was a little bit larger than our ground floor where the stove will be, so i have no doubt that it'll be a good size for our house (1600 sq ft).

We'll also get one of those heat-generated circulating fans, which ought to move the air around a bit. Right now, we're just radiant heat shovellers and shakers. Or i should say were

Sorry so long--wanted this to be an intro as well as asking about the Hitzer 30-95. Please share your opinion on how this stove has/hasn't worked for you.

thanks,
megan

Hello Megan and welcome to the forum. I have the 30-95's big brother, the 50-93 and love it. My configuration is a rancher 1100 sq ft main floor with a full basement, The stove is located in the basement, as that is where the previous owners had an old woodstove. Even during the coldest days (or nights) this season, the unit kept the main floor a comfortable 66-68 degrees. At 1600 sq. ft. the 30-95 should serve you well, however, if you have expansion plans in your forseeable future, you may want to bump it up. Good luck with your quest and happy heating.
Bob

Hello Megan, welcome to the forum.. Where are you located??

Forum member Davemich will eventually [I PM'd him] post an answer to your questions, he has a Hitzer hopper-type fireplace insert heating his home.

Don't be concerned about a hopper fire, these stoves if operated correctly are not going to have a hopper fire. In a Hitzer stove, the hopper cover has a gasket to keep air from entering through the hopper providing combustion air in the hopper. As long as care is take to not leave a piece of coal on the gasket, which would prop the cover open, or damaging the gasket, there is no way to get a hopper fire.

Hitzer stoves are VERY well built, and have excellent customer service, I'd highly recommend them.


Hope this helps. Greg L

.

Thanks for the replies. I'm located in SE PA. I don't think we'll be adding onto the house (if we do, it'd most likely be a garage), so the 30-95 ought to meet our needs nicely.

Thanks, too for reassuring me about hopper fires. I hadn't even considered them when we were looking, i just thought how cool it would be to have a hopper feed the stove. What we do now is simply load up as much as we think the stove can take and shake it when we get home (or get up in the morning).

It seems that loading the hopper will create less dust, although i know that dumping the ashes create far more dust than opening a 50 lb bag and loading it into smaller containers so we can feed the stove more easily.

megan

Hi Megan,

We installed a 50-93 last fall so we are just finishing up our first winter using it. I highly recommend the Hitzer line. As Greg said the stoves are very well built. I also think they are very efficient. We have gone through about 4 1/2 tons of anthracite this winter. We are in an old farm house about 2300 square feet. Very Drafty! We are able to move the air enough with a couple of fans so that the house is at least 65 degrees everywhere and the rooms near the coal stove are usually in the low 70's.

I generally load coal and empty the ashes once a day. We did go through a very cold spell in February that required twice a day loading. We would burn from 40 to 80 pounds a day.

One issue with the hopper fed stove is to be careful when loading and shaking the stove. Most people want to empty the ashes when they are cool so they dump the cool ashes and then shake the grates immediately after emptying the ash pan. If you don't open the hopper top right away gases from the coal will build up above the remaining coal and when you open the hopper lid they are exposed to the oxygen in the air and they will ignite. You get a very quick flash of blue flame. It goes out right away but you certainly don't want your face down there when it flashes. So anyway if you can't get the coal in right away wait 45 minutes to 1 hour before opening the hopper door. I sure hope I have explained this adequately. It really isn't that big of a deal. It just startles you the first time it happens!

Keep reading the posts on this forum. I know I picked up alot of information here. These people really know their stuff!

Mark

Mark,
thanks for the info!

What we typically do with the stove we have now is to empty the ash then add more coal. If we think there's more ash that needs to go, we empty the ash that's already collected in the ash pan, then shake and empty the ash pan again, then add coal.

A few of the firebars burned through so it was very difficult to remove the ash and keep the fire going. We resigned ourselves to allowing the fire to go out then restarting. Not a big whoop as we do have another heat source, it's just not that wonderful coal heat thing.

So from what you're saying, if we do what we typically have done, that is, dump the ash and add the coal right away, we ought to be okay.

I appreciate the heads up about the blue flame jump. I'm not the swiftest person in the morning, and i don't need to be jolted into an awakened state by a blue flame in the face!

megan

bigdog wrote:Hi Megan,

We installed a 50-93 last fall so we are just finishing up our first winter using it. I highly recommend the Hitzer line. As Greg said the stoves are very well built. I also think they are very efficient. We have gone through about 4 1/2 tons of anthracite this winter. We are in an old farm house about 2300 square feet. Very Drafty! We are able to move the air enough with a couple of fans so that the house is at least 65 degrees everywhere and the rooms near the coal stove are usually in the low 70's.

I generally load coal and empty the ashes once a day. We did go through a very cold spell in February that required twice a day loading. We would burn from 40 to 80 pounds a day.

One issue with the hopper fed stove is to be careful when loading and shaking the stove. Most people want to empty the ashes when they are cool so they dump the cool ashes and then shake the grates immediately after emptying the ash pan. If you don't open the hopper top right away gases from the coal will build up above the remaining coal and when you open the hopper lid they are exposed to the oxygen in the air and they will ignite. You get a very quick flash of blue flame. It goes out right away but you certainly don't want your face down there when it flashes. So anyway if you can't get the coal in right away wait 45 minutes to 1 hour before opening the hopper door. I sure hope I have explained this adequately. It really isn't that big of a deal. It just startles you the first time it happens!

Keep reading the posts on this forum. I know I picked up alot of information here. These people really know their stuff!

Mark

Hi Megan...sorry for the long delay in responding. Greg did call me and asked me to respond last week but I have been busy. I also have a Hitzer as many of the responders to this post do and I highly recommend the hopper style stoves that Hitzer offers. I have 503 fireplace insert that includes the hopper and have nothing but praise for this stove. Hopper fires have never been an issue with me and my blood pressure stays static when I leave the house for extended periods of time with a fire going strong. The only maintenance required on the hopper is the actual hopper door which is located on top of the hopper opening. There is a gasket that needs to be replaced aout once every 2 or 3 years. This is my 4th year burning with my unit and I noticed that the red coals were creeping up towards the hopper opening. I called Hitzer and Dean, one of the owners indicated that my gasket was leaking thereby causing air to permeate the hopper door resulting in the coals reaching upward into the opening. I have replaced the gasket but have not fired up the stove since because of the weather but when I removed the old gasket, it was evident that the gasket was worn out. Keep us posted on what you eventually buy and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask or PM.

Thanks for mentioning about the gasket--i'll be sure to replace it.

no worries about the late response, spring has sprung in SE PA, so i'm not going to be burning for a few months, i guess.

megan

Hi Megan,

I see you are considering a Hitzer, if you decide to go with the larger unit (50-95) I have a nice used one in great shape that I am looking to sell. I dont know how much the 30-95 retails for but im pretty sure that you could have mine for cheaper the a new 30-95 would cost. Im located in NEPA (Mt. Pocono) and may even be able to help with delivery. Let me know if your interested.

Steve

Steve.
Thanks for the kind offer, although the 30-95 actually will heat our house plus some. Our house is 1600 sq ft, and the 30-95 can heat up to 1800 sq ft.

DH is still lamenting that the loss of our Much Wenlock, and i think the 30-95 is the closest we can find to replace it.

megan