Stoker or Hand Fed, which do you use?

i'm the girly man with the stokers.......skip wont give up his kenmore

i have a stoker stove keystone 105 k unit with 500 cfm blower

I have a hand fed Hotblast.
Some days it takes a 12 pack to get it to run just right.

Just installed my new Reading utility stoker RSFD-07 on 2/9/08. I like it much better than previous stove. A hand fired United States Stove Wondercoal heater. To bad i did not find this site months ago. Could have saved myself much grief. I have been reading and learning much here. This is a wonderful sight. Thank you

stanggt24 , what amount of coal you using a day and how bigs the house? is it just a free standing unit with chimney or DV? thank you , ken

Went with the handfed due to power outages and the ability to burn wood. In the Harman line, the 250 has the highest BTU rating, other than a furnce. I don't mind hand feed at all. Sling in a 5 gallon bucket 2-3 times per 24 hours and that's it.

Anyone know who makes a bigger manual feed?

Hitzer 50-93?

I'm starting to bum that the season is ending... I like messing with the handfired. It's easy, very predictable and consistent and simple. We all hang out around it each evening, lab with head on the stone. Kids do their homework in front of it. I'm going to miss it. It's changed how we live.

Charlie Z wrote:We all hang out around it each evening, lab with head on the stone. Kids do their homework in front of it. I'm going to miss it. It's changed how we live.

Back to the future.

Now I own both,

Alaska Channing III

Harman MK III

BK

Running a Harman Mark II, waiting for a chimney is a Godin Petite Round. A VC Vigilant Multi-Fuel needs fixing and will get sold next fall along with a VC Vigilant wood burner.
Slowly convincing the ‘rents to get some coal in their life.
Envious of a stoker boiler, content with the Mark II looking for a good Mark III.

first year burning coal,bought koker stove / kestoker awwwsome unit added to oil fha furnace.if stoker is girlie man count me in .gone from home to long to foss with hand feed.i like firebugging to that is for the pit and hardwood sat.nite by the river.anyway i vote STOKER.

We just bought a Pioneer LE, so I guess that makes me a girlie man. But I still have to hand feed the big box in the back of it, doesn't that count for something manly?

I like a good hand fed over a stoker because:

1. They are cheaper to buy
2. Need no power to run
3. are silent
4. Very few moving parts to break
5. Not much more work to operate

Looks like the rice is going to be tight this year.
Bigger sizes should be no problem. If you do not have your rice yet get friendly with someone who does.
The A-A's and hand fed stoves take larger size coal which does not seem to be a problem yet.

US stove hotblast.I know it's a peice of junk by a lot of the posts here but I love it.A furnace keeps all the dust and stuff in the cellar,heats the whole house evenly(connected to ductwork).Just a great set up.Twice a day shake and dump,not to much work.
DON