Anyone own one of these and what's it like?

Does anyone own one of these Keystoker radiant stoves here like the one in the upper left most photo located here:

http://keystoker.com/radiantstove.html

and if so, what's it like to control it, how long does it burn, is it user friendly, etc.? Thanks. Basically still trying to decide if a manual load stove and/or a hopper fed gravity drop stove is better (because of lower cost) than is a fancy auger fed system that depends on electricity.

How easily can you control the temp on a manual feed stove and on a gravity drop stove?

castiron wrote:Does anyone own one of these Keystoker radiant stoves here like the one in the upper left most photo located here:

http://keystoker.com/radiantstove.html

and if so, what's it like to control it, how long does it burn, is it user friendly, etc.? Thanks. Basically still trying to decide if a manual load stove and/or a hopper fed gravity drop stove is better (because of lower cost) than is a fancy auger fed system that depends on electricity.

How easily can you control the temp on a manual feed stove and on a gravity drop stove?

Hate to beat a dead horse on my own post but with over 129 viewing this does no one out there have one of those bay-window coal stoves seen in the upper left hand corner of the 4-stove photos at the above link?

Hi Castiron, I've not seen one in the 'pictures of your stove' thread. So maybe no one here has one.

First, you are in Dayton OH. Are you planning on burning nothing but Anthrcite coal?? or do you desire to try to burn some of the Bituminous coal more easily available in Ohio??

If you are planning on trying Bituminous, you cannot burn it in a hopper/gravity fed stove or in a electric stoker fed stove. ONLY in a hand fed stove may bituminous be burned instead of anthracite.

There is only one stoker stove made for Bituminous coal, and it is out of production, it is called a Combustioneer, member Hardwood has one.

If you are planning on burning only anthracite, an electric stoker stove like a LiesureLIne, Keystoker, Harman,Reading, Alaska etc are all good stoves. I have a Liesureline Pioneer that I used during the last winter for suplemental heat out in the workshop. You are welcome to come take a look at it, I'm about 3.5 hours north of Dayton.

I like the controlability of the bed type stokers, you can idle them down to a very low burn rate, that won't chase you out of the house during a warm spell but can be turned up to make good heat in about 20-30 minutes. the gravity fed/hopper type stoves cannot be turned down as far, and will tend to be too hot during a warm spell.

Forum member Davemich has a Hitzer 503 hopper fed insert stove, and he can't burn it with temps much above 40* or it chases him out of his house, you can only turn the air down so low before the fir goes out, A hopper feeds the whole firebox, so you always have a full firebox of fuel.

An electric bed-type stoker can run with only a 1/2" to 3/4" wide strip of fire on the bed, and then can increase this to 4-6" of fire within 20-30 minutes. So it controls the quantity of fuel not trying to limit the air to a big load of fuel.

I hope this helps. Greg L

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Hi,

Thanks for the reply...for awhile there I was talking to myself on my own post....LOL... Yes, I'm a few miles from Dayton and may get (not really sure...just looking) a coal stove...if I do, given constraints such as it has to look good to gain wife approval and it's got to be smaller sized because it's going into the family room, it would probably be a hand fed one like the bay window version in the link or the Vigilant II.

You mentioned that auto stokers can be dialed down a lot so that they don't drive you out of house and home but that the gravity feed ones can't be dialed down as much. What about the hand feed ones like the bay window one in the link and the Vigilant II...can they be dialed down as much as the stoker fed ones?

A hand fired stove still has a firebox full of coal. controling the heat output is still done by reducing the air to the fire, only to a point at which the fire goes out.

With a stoker, the amount of coal being burned is controlable as well as the air to the fire.

The only way to significantly reduce the heat from a hand fired stove is to reduce the size of the firebox by adding firebrick walls or dividers in the firebox to reduce it's size or area of the coal bed. This does not work for all stove and grate designs.

With wood you can burn a small quantity of wood and make a small fire, but with coal you must have all the air go through the coal bed, so you must cover the entire grate with coal. Burning coal is much less flexible than burning wood.

Take care, Greg L.

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castiron wrote:Hate to beat a dead horse on my own post but....

Bumping a topic after a few days is perfectly acceptable. LOL after month... well I've seen people do it after a few hours.

NEPAForum Admin wrote:

castiron wrote:Hate to beat a dead horse on my own post but....

Bumping a topic after a few days is perfectly acceptable. LOL after month... well I've seen people do it after a few hours.

Hey..I like to be polite and let everyone look before I "push" my own topic....LOL....

I had a Keystoker HF 90 Insert installed last year. I think it is the same stove you are looking at, only without feet and with a shroud.

To be honest I have a mixed opinions of it. In general I am happy with my decision to burn coal. There is a definite learning curve with anthracite. Once I figured out how to start and keep a coal fire burning, I was surprised by some of the problems I had with the mechanics of the stove itself.

First of all, do not try to burn stove coal (one size larger then nut) in this stove. It got stuck in the grates and prevented shaking. Nut coal worked much better. Also be prepared to tighten all of the nuts and bolts a couple of times during the season. Twice I lost the bolt that attaches the grate to the shaker arm. It fell right into the ashes. I also had to constantly tighten the screws that attach the wooden handle to the door.

All of the other problems I had I attribute to my inexperience in burning coal and a very warm winter.

If you get the keystoker let me know. We can compare notes.

I installed a Keystoker HF70 last year, which I also think is very similar to the one you're looking at although the fire box is smaller than the HF90. It burned pea coal perfectly and was easy to start and maintain. My shaker handle bolt did come loose once but other than that it was great. It truly changed my life.