Best automatic coal stove with power vent? Opinions please

I would like to hear opinions on the best automatic stoker coal stove for use with a with a power venter.
I am researching this for my brother who is considering burning wood because he was given a wood stove. He is a dairy farmer and what he doesn't need more of in his life is wood heat (cutting, splitting, stacking, hauling, cleaning the basement of the dirt, etc.).
His house is a two story uninsulated stone farm house with old windows, about 2,000 square feet, in Lehigh County, PA.
He will need to install a masonry chimney (about 40') for this wood stove. Budget price $2,500 to $3,500.
I am going to propose to him that he purchase a stoker stove for installation in the living room and power vent it though the wall. I know some say every stove can be power vented but I also gather some have been specially designed for power venting and carry the UL rating for this.
I am assuming we can find a used stove for $2K.
I have looked at the web sites for Leasure Line, Reading Stove, Hitzer, and Harman. I would like to hear your opinions on what may best fit our requirements.
Thank you!

As far as I remember, LL was the only stove to have the UL rating for using a power vent as they were the only one to pay to get it IL listed.

How is his house heated now ??? And how do you propose to circulate the heat through the house ?? Does he suffer frequent power outages ??


Rick

Friend has a Leisure Line with a powervent...........works amazingly well for him and his needs. Don't forget to think about a power backup supply if the area has a lot of power outages

Harman's DVC-500 (Direct Vent Coal) is designed with the 'power vent' built right into it. Yes, it is UL approved.

http://www.harmanstoves.com/products/de ... s&f=DVC500

Pine grove coal user,
I would stay away from reading, just my opinion they don't seem as well built or designed as the others you listed. The Hitzer I believe is leisure lines feeder in there cabinet, so it is probably a pretty decent stove. The harman DVC-500 is a really nice stove, but it commands a premium when it comes to price so that must be wieghed out. Don't forget to check out alaska and keystoker also.

How is he heating his house now? If he is putting up a chimney why power vent? Is he going to use wood and coal? Why not put up a chimney and get a hand fed. Much better heat than a stoker, ecspecially I am assuming for a drafty old farm house. Then he has no worries of power outages, and doesn't have to deal with wood.
Have a great weekend, Eric

Thanks for the input so far.
My brother heats the house with about 1000 gallons of oil in a new EFM oil burner connected to a masonry chimney. The chimney is in the wrong location for use by the wood or coal stove.
What I am proposing to him is to not use his money on a new chimney, instead just purchase the power vented stoker stove.
The living room is close to the middle of the house on the first floor so heat distribution should not be a problem.
If he does the wood stove, it would be in the basement with the heat going up the stairs at both ends of the basement. I don't think it will be as effective as a lot of heat will be lost through the foundation walls (two sides of basement walls are exposed).

So is he going to build another chimney for this wood stove? Is that his proposed plan? His efm is that a furnace or a boiler? Why not trade that in on a dual fuel and forgo the expense of another chinmey for the wood stove? or another stoker or stove?

Or powervent the oil appliance, and put a bonafied whole house stoker in its place, and save all that oil money. I can see why with a 1000 gallon tank if oil would go up to $3-$4 he would want to do something ouch .

Keep us posted, Eric

pine grove coal user wrote:Thanks for the input so far.
My brother heats the house with about 1000 gallons of oil in a new EFM oil burner connected to a masonry chimney. The chimney is in the wrong location for use by the wood or coal stove.
What I am proposing to him is to not use his money on a new chimney, instead just purchase the power vented stoker stove.
The living room is close to the middle of the house on the first floor so heat distribution should not be a problem.
If he does the wood stove, it would be in the basement with the heat going up the stairs at both ends of the basement. I don't think it will be as effective as a lot of heat will be lost through the foundation walls (two sides of basement walls are exposed).

Why not unhook the efm oil and stick a efm Refurb 350 or 520 coal stoker in if he has hot water if not then use a hot water to hot air heat exchanger tie in to his duct work on oil furnace also can use a DHW coil either way he can burn all year long on coal saving lots of cash Contact member Scrapper 23 Jr he is in the your Neighborhood .

I have a harman dvc-500, i really like the stove. I did not have any of the smoke issues as stated from a previous user, no smoke, no fumes and less dust. A nice feature on the dvc-500 is the firebox is negative pressure and the piping is positive pressure, meaning less ash when emptying. I have a housefull of children and my unit is safe. It's direct venting so no $2500-3000 for chimmeny. Yes the stove does cost a little more but i think you will find it to cost less than stoker/new chimmney combo. It should be noted that most every power venter requires maintenance and if you are not ontop of it it could be a $500-600 item. Power venters are usually an outside cap-like attachment exposed to elements, the dvc-500 motors are inside the unit, thus extending their lifecycle (my opinion). the dvc-500 does produce a white noise constantly. to put it into prespective, during summer months (stove in tv room) with stove off, the tv vol is at approx. 14. In the winter, stove running, the tv vol. must be bumped to 17. Not very scientific but gives you an idea somewhat regarding sound levels. Final point EASY INSTALL, put the pipe out the wall and plug the unit in, that easy. Power venters usually need to ne dialed in via damper/restricter plates and/or a variable speed control as I understand it, never had one but always thought they would be too much of a headache.

frank

PelletstoCoal wrote:I have a harman dvc-500, i really like the stove. I did not have any of the smoke issues as stated from a previous user, no smoke, no fumes and less dust. A nice feature on the dvc-500 is the firebox is negative pressure and the piping is positive pressure, meaning less ash when emptying. I have a housefull of children and my unit is safe. It's direct venting so no $2500-3000 for chimmeny. Yes the stove does cost a little more but i think you will find it to cost less than stoker/new chimmney combo. It should be noted that most every power venter requires maintenance and if you are not ontop of it it could be a $500-600 item. Power venters are usually an outside cap-like attachment exposed to elements, the dvc-500 motors are inside the unit, thus extending their lifecycle (my opinion). the dvc-500 does produce a white noise constantly. to put it into prespective, during summer months (stove in tv room) with stove off, the tv vol is at approx. 14. In the winter, stove running, the tv vol. must be bumped to 17. Not very scientific but gives you an idea somewhat regarding sound levels. Final point EASY INSTALL, put the pipe out the wall and plug the unit in, that easy. Power venters usually need to ne dialed in via damper/restricter plates and/or a variable speed control as I understand it, never had one but always thought they would be too much of a headache.

frank

First the Harman customer service is none existing second wait until the control board goes when the unit is out of warranty it will be not that cost effective then Harman DVC does have issues can't burn anything but Rice coal
unless you want a hopper fire issue I would prefer a stoker that can burn more then one size coal and has at least some kind of customer service

I tell people that Powerventer's are a great alternative to a chimney . If you can do a chimney that is the better way in the long run but the most upfront costs . The thing I like about the powerventer is the whole system is under negative pressure from the stove to the piping . Not knocking the direct vent system but what happens if the pipe gets knocked off by the family dog between the DV and outside ,or the pipe rots a hole in it that is not visible. Also the direct vent has the noise right in the room with the stove ,the powervent most of the noise is outside . Again not knocking direct vent but in researching the idea of adding a direct vent to our line these were the things that were brought up from people in the industry . The scary one for me was the pipe rotting to the point of having a hole . If the pipe gets a hole in it with our powerventers that are properly installed with the saftey switch the stove should shut down. And it does work ,we had someone with that exact problem last season . He was complaining that the safety switch kept tripping after working fine for 3 or 4 yrs . The cons to the PV were I believe mentioned previously . Again with proper maintenance both systems are a great alternative to a chimney . I just am not sure we will do a DV , weighing the options I keep leaning towards the PV being the best alternative and working with field controls to improve it being the better alternative . Thanks,Dave

I love my Harman Mag Stoker, its right out in the open and tends to be more a piece of eye candy than just a heating appliance... She's ALL trimmed out, complete gold kit, tiles in the ash door etc..... BUT, hate the factory thermostat/control box... So, I also have an old Alaska Stoker stove downstairs that runs on a SWG power vent that I fully reworked and I couldn't be any happier with it!!! With that said, I can only tell you that if someone put a blank check in my hand right now and said- "go and buy yourself any automatic stoker stove you want as long as it is reasonably priced and is efficient in operation"... I would simply have to purchase a Leisure Line stoker stove.... Are they the greatest looking stove??? No, not in my opinion... Nothing comes anywhere close to a dressed up Mag Stoker.... Are the Leisure Line stoves well built??? Yes... Why??? Very simple feed mechanism, parts are reasonably priced and readily available and any mo-ron can replace the parts if and when they fail without standing there scratching their head... They run great on a powervent... The newer models already come with the coaltrol thermostat/system which is the finest around IMO... Customer service is top notch as far as I have read on here, heck, the owners are members and very active with this forum... Have a question??? Go to the manufacturers corner and ask away, or give em a call, either way they'll get ya straight... The reasons to choose a Leisure Line go on and on in my opinion... Of course my response is aimed directly at the question you asked so take it easy on me fellas, I answered the question that the man asked, not considering any variables, just what was asked!!!

P.S.- The reason I mentioned my Alaska Stove is because I modified the feeder assy. to closely resemble that on the Leisure Line stoves, put an independent combustion blower in place of the gear motor high speed secondary shaft... So in essence it operates just as a Leisure Line does... As a result, I am very happy with the way the stove operates now... The original Alaska tri-burner setup is for the birds!!!

Hope this helps...

Murdoc

I bought a used Alaska Channing 3 last year, installed baro damper, a variable speed powervent (dwyer manometer also) it had a direct vent. I basicaly used this board for my source of information and had a great year burning coal! I think the alaska stove is a pretty simple machine (burns wet coal well). Really dont know any more as a rookie about stokers, but time after time Liesure Line is highly spoked about.

I have two Leisure Line Pioneer Stoves [house and garage] running on powerventers. Three years with no problems at all. Simple maintance with a few drops of oil durning the season. The end of the season takes about one hour of cleaning and oil. If I were to buy a stove again it would be a Leisure Line.
John