Need Help Picking Out a Stove? Hitzer ?

 
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oliver power
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Post by oliver power » Tue. Mar. 27, 2007 8:01 pm

Hi Woody 30 , the boiler I bought is a Keystoker model KAA-2. It would be the perfect size boiler for your place too. On this site , go to home page ; then to Anthracite Coal Stoker Stoves & Furnaces. Look for post by Highlander. "Keystoker or Harman boiler". You will see the pictures of my boiler on pages 2 and 3. Highlander posted them for me. read all the replies. Lots of good info. Scott

 
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Post by gambler » Tue. Mar. 27, 2007 8:20 pm

You can put a boiler in the garage, pipe the hot water inside to your existing hot water system, and keep the coal, ashes etc out in the garage.
You had better watch the rules and regulations where you live about boilers in the garage. Some places allow it and other places don't.

 
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Yanche
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Post by Yanche » Tue. Mar. 27, 2007 8:32 pm

LsFarm wrote:You can put the boiler almost anywhere. Do you have an attached garage? or even a detached garage close to the house?? You can put a boiler in the garage, pipe the hot water inside to your existing hot water system, and keep the coal, ashes etc out in the garage.
Putting solid flue appliances in residential attached garages violates NFPA 211. The concern is the open flame igniting gasoline vapors. Modern autos have sealed evaporative fuel tank systems with vapor recovery so it's not the big problem it once was. I once watched a house burn to the ground. A garage natural gas hot water heater flame ignited vapors from a motorcycle parked next to it. The motorcycle had just been parked, the hot water heater came on and boom. The attached garage was engulfed instantly. The gasoline in the car went next and the house was soon history. The fire department arrived in 5 minutes but it was too late.

Yanche

 
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Post by LsFarm » Tue. Mar. 27, 2007 9:20 pm

Code for my township reqires any standing pilot or open flame appliance to be 16" above the floor.. That's the code, no mention of outside air venting, or enclosing the appliance in a room with sealed doors or anything to seal out flamable fumes.

Gasoline fumes are heavy, they flow over the floor seaking the lowest areas. Somehow the building code in my area feels that 16" above the floor is high enough to prevent danger of ignition.

I know ktm rider has his ahs multifuel boiler in his shop/garage, and several others on the site have similar setups.

Done right, I don't see it being a safety hazard. Almost any coal burning appliance will have the fire up above an ashpan, so the open flame is well above the 16" needed to meet my township's code.


 
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Post by woody30 » Tue. Mar. 27, 2007 9:50 pm

Greg, You have some great ideas. I like the put it in the garage, that would solve the chimney problem. My only problem with that is the portion of my basement near the garage is finished so I would have a hard time piping to the existing boiler. The more I think about this I kinda leaning towards a stove. I have a pantry right behind where I would put the stove, that I can run some metal pipe in. That way I wouldn't see any pipe inside the house. And I would like to sell this place in about 3 years, and move south for the winters. Other wise I would surely go with the boiler. I have some time before it gets real cold again, so I will think this over good. I sure will miss the infloor heating, but I will spend a lot less with the stove.

 
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Post by woody30 » Tue. Mar. 27, 2007 10:09 pm

Scott, Great info with the pics. That does look like a very nice boiler. Do you have it hooked up yet?

 
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oliver power
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Post by oliver power » Wed. Mar. 28, 2007 6:28 am

woody30 wrote:Scott, Great info with the pics. That does look like a very nice boiler. Do you have it hooked up yet?
No , it's not hooked up yet. I've got to install all the piping , radiation , valves , etc.. Would like to have it in by fall. Figured by the time I'm done , I'll have around $10,000 into this hot water heat system. Very expensive! And , if I can't find time to install it myself , it may cost more , should the project be hired out. So , no doubt , the HITZER stove is the cheepest way to go. Some people think I'm out of my mind spending that kind of money for the coal fired hot water heat system. Sometimes I thing they're right. I do have central hot air heat , which rarely turns on , due to my HITZER 50-93 coal stove. As I've mentioned , I'm heating 3400 square feet. The HITZER 50-93 is rated at 2500 square feet. In the coldest days of winter , my house will be 71 - 72 degrees. I live south of Rochester , New York I keep forgetting to tell you that. Not to far from you. Scott

 
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Post by woody30 » Wed. Mar. 28, 2007 7:36 am

Scott, That is a good chunk of change , but I'm sure you will love a boiler. I know that I would miss my infloor heat, should I get a coal stove. I did n't know that you were so close, so you know what winter is like around central N.Y. Do you have a ranch or two story and I take it that the 3400 is counting the basement where the stove is located? Tim


 
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Post by coaledsweat » Wed. Mar. 28, 2007 8:15 am

The weather over the last few days is really a good reason to take a harder look at a boiler install. It was 65* Monday and 75* yesterday and today it will be back to 60* with lows around 40-45* and tonight it will be 30*. I have run my boiler right through all of this on a few pounds of coal and will be ready for the next week at the 30-50 temps we are looking at. A boiler can run way down low and store the heat. I would not even attempt to do that with a stove, it would be very unpleasant. Cleaning and restarting the unit will cost more in the long run than running right through the changes in weather. More convieniance, less cost, no mess in the house.
If you go with the stove, you'll remember what Oliver Power said. He has two great stoves and is switching to a boiler, if you catch my drift.

 
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Post by LsFarm » Wed. Mar. 28, 2007 10:03 am

An important question to ask yourself is do you think you can find a buyer for your house that will appreciate the coal boiler, and give you a decent return on your expense of buying it and installing it.

If it were me, I'd buy a boiler, set it up so that it could be easily removed [like in the garage :) ] and if a buyer for the home in three years is not interested take it out and move it to the new home or sell it.

If you don't want to go to the trouble, and the Hitzer is real inexpensive, something around 1/3 or less of retail price, then I'd go with the Hitzer, and use it for the cold weather, let the stove go out for intermediate weather and use the floor heat.

For only three years, a stove may make more sense, even if it comes with cold feet and slippers where your home used to be a barefoot home.

Greg L.

 
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Post by woody30 » Wed. Mar. 28, 2007 10:44 am

Good points from you both. I'm not going to jump into anything within the next couple of weeks or so. I will have to mill this over check both systems out, figure a cost for both, then get serious. Tim

 
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Post by oliver power » Wed. Mar. 28, 2007 8:09 pm

woody30 wrote:Scott, That is a good chunk of change , but I'm sure you will love a boiler. I know that I would miss my infloor heat, should I get a coal stove. I did n't know that you were so close, so you know what winter is like around central N.Y. Do you have a ranch or two story and I take it that the 3400 is counting the basement where the stove is located? Tim
It's a ranch style home. I'll have double the piping in my system. It is actually called a "two pipe" system. The hot water circulates around the loop continuously. Each room has it's own thermostat. When the thermostat calls for heat , a valve opens. The hot water travels through the heat emitter , and drops into the second pipe , which is the cooler return water for the boiler. Meanwhile , the hot water in pipe 1 , continues to circulate. That's why my hot water system is a little costly. I also do not plan to move. In order to be able to afford to live here in the future , I have to make things as efficient as possible. The one pipe system (very common) , the water looses heat while traveling through the heat emitter , and continues to the next heat emitter , where it looses more heat , etc.. Thought I'd also mention , both my HITZER coal stoves can idle down very low during these warm days. I tend them once every 24 hours during the warm days. That is , one 5 gallon pail every 24 hours. Here is how you do it. 1.) turn off the fan , so that it doesn't take heat off the stove. 2.) Barely have the ash pan door draft open. 3.) Turn the thermostat dial down to about 6. The stove will continue to run , with very little heat comming from stove. At night nime , turn the back dial up to about 8. Leave the draft on the ash pan door where it is. During cold weather , open the ash pan door draft till the draft holes look round. Run the back dial between 9 and 10. One 5 gallon bucket every 12 hours.

 
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Post by woody30 » Wed. Mar. 28, 2007 8:43 pm

Thanks that sounds great. Thanks to all for the input this is a great place to get feedback from guys who know. Tim

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