looking to purchase a coal stove

hello, im looking for a coal stove and the prices fluctuate alot..ebay has them for 575, used ones ive found are from 500-900...what is i look for...some stoves have two exhaust pipes...some are top exhaust or rear exhaust...and a coal stove that can also burn wood..is that as efficient as a pure coal stove? i live in ct in a 1500sqf house..how big of a stove do i need? i like the harmen magnafire 2 with the blower, is that overkill? thanks in advance for the help...o and what kind of coal burns the longest?

Depends on if you want to tend it every 8-12 hours (hand Fed) or automatic Stoker type stoves, you just fill up and empty the ashes. The Stokers have thermostats and can regulate much better and some can run for a couple days without refilling.

Only certain hand fed stoves can burn wood also. Stokers cannot burn wood.

What type of heating do you currently have.? That may depend on a stove, furnace or boiler application.

Do you have a chimney or fireplace, etc...? for venting?

Many options available.

i have used a wood stove, moved on to a pellet stove and currently have a propane stove...have a chimney..looking for a 12-24hr burn time..

how do you heat your house now ? forced hot air , base board hot water , steam or electric, is the house really insulated good? or as another member said on here is a "corn crib'? are you using the chimney now for your central heat ? the more info you can give us the better we can help.

and welcome to the boards

jeff

thank you for the welcome...i heat the house with hot water/oil furnace..looking to heat the house with only coal and eliminate the furnace and install a hot water on demand setup...my propane is in the basement and so will the coal stove be located..the basement is insulated..its not air tight but insulated with drywall..i want a stove that will heat the house at around 68 and up with minimal attention..i sometimes work 16hr shifts and need the wife to be able to maintain the stove..

duramaxdrift66 wrote:thank you for the welcome...i heat the house with hot water/oil furnace..looking to heat the house with only coal and eliminate the furnace and install a hot water on demand setup...my propane is in the basement and so will the coal stove be located..the basement is insulated..its not air tight but insulated with drywall..i want a stove that will heat the house at around 68 and up with minimal attention..i sometimes work 16hr shifts and need the wife to be able to maintain the stove..

How old is the oil burner? do you heat your DHW water with it? the best way is to replace your oil burner with a hot water stoker not a cheap option but the best way to do it, i have a stoker and my NG gas boiler side by side the NG is power vented use the chimney for the stoker.You can't have both into the same chimney,

if you search on here there is a wealth of info on doing this, and some great people that will help you on your way

i want to heat the house with only the coal stove...the furnace is about 15yrs old with a 83% efficiency rating..it gets serviced every year but looks like poo...i want to finish the basement and eliminate the furnace setup..coal will be the primary heat source...im looking for a 55000btu stove...but would like a blower on it to move the hot air...i like being hot rather than being cold..thats what windows are for..

The Hitzer 30-95 hopper is 60000 btu and the 50-93 hopper is 90000 btu. I would suggest the 50-93, you can turn it down and it will heat your whole house. Now your 1500 sq ft is that per floor, 1500 basement and 1500 up stairs? If you are heating 3000 sq ft go with the 50-93 and if it is total 1500 sq ft the 30-95 will do the job. Both these stoves will go 16 to 24 hours with no sweat on those cold days. I just looked on craigs list for CT and there is a outfit in Greenfield Center selling Hitzer new with gold trim for $1969 and all black is $1809. Also both of these will burn wood.

Welcome to the FORUM my friend. If it were me, I too would go the Hitzer route--tend & top off every 12 hrs w/ the 50-93. It's a good looking stove for that finished basement. A couple floor vents should do the job nicely. Real simplistic operation, no worries about power outages. Yes it has a blower but does radiant real well during outages. I use anthracite nut & go through about 3-3 1/2 ton per season heating 2500 sq 200 yr old farm house real comfortably When you make your decision,finish your avatar--where are you from?? I promise nobody will steal ya. PS--I purchased mine used & am happy as a pig in slop with it. Fastcat, what the hell is wood??

First thing you need to understand is that burning coal for residential heat has a huge learning curve. You can get a coal stove dirt cheap but it may cause you plenty of pain while you learn how to burn it. Are you going new or used? If you're looking used, ask about what to look for in an overfired stove so you don't get screwed. If simplification is your goal I'd go with one of the bigger name brands; the Hitzer or a Harman are very easy to use. If you'd rather pay less upfront and are patient you could go with just about any coal stove out there. There are forum members who can help you successfully burn any stove. Check out the archives for postings on different brands. I see that you are looking to heat 1500 sq ft but what is your floor plan. I have a split level and my stove is in an addition that sticks out in the back of the house; my set up is not the best for heating with one stove. The upstairs is 10* cooler then my family room where my stove is. Had I known then what I know now I would have put my stove in a different location and would have been able to heat the house more uniformly. Or I may have decided to go with 2 smaller stoves, one at each end of the house. You may want to look through some posts in the archives dealing with air circulation and moving the heat around. Once you think about stove placement and how your going to spread the heat around, you can determine how many BTUs you need. It's better to go a little over then just at what you need. Then you can start looking around for the stove that will meet your needs. Good luck, Lisa

freetown fred wrote:Welcome to the FORUM my friend. If it were me, I too would go the Hitzer route--tend & top off every 12 hrs w/ the 50-93. It's a good looking stove for that finished basement. A couple floor vents should do the job nicely. Real simplistic operation, no worries about power outages. Yes it has a blower but does radiant real well during outages. I use anthracite nut & go through about 3-3 1/2 ton per season heating 2500 sq 200 yr old farm house real comfortably When you make your decision,finish your avatar--where are you from?? I promise nobody will steal ya. PS--I purchased mine used & am happy as a pig in slop with it. Fastcat, what the hell is wood??:

Sorry Fred I really didn't mean to use that nasty word.

fastcat wrote:The Hitzer 30-95 hopper is 60000 btu and the 50-93 hopper is 90000 btu. I would suggest the 50-93, you can turn it down and it will heat your whole house. Now your 1500 sq ft is that per floor, 1500 basement and 1500 up stairs? If you are heating 3000 sq ft go with the 50-93 and if it is total 1500 sq ft the 30-95 will do the job. Both these stoves will go 16 to 24 hours with no sweat on those cold days. I just looked on craigs list for CT and there is a outfit in Greenfield Center selling Hitzer new with gold trim for $1969 and all black is $1809. Also both of these will burn wood.

Be aware that many dual fuel stoves really only burn one fuel well and the other sort of ok. Make sure the fuel you want to burn the most is the one that burns well in the stove you end up with. My Harman burns both but it was primarily designed for coal. You can see this by the shaking grates and under the fire air intake. Oh, it burns wood to but not as well because it doesn't have a true over the fire air intake. You need that for burning wood. Just something to think about. Lisa

duramaxdrift66 wrote:i want to heat the house with only the coal stove...the furnace is about 15yrs old with a 83% efficiency rating..it gets serviced every year but looks like poo...i want to finish the basement and eliminate the furnace setup..coal will be the primary heat source...im looking for a 55000btu stove...but would like a blower on it to move the hot air...i like being hot rather than being cold..thats what windows are for..

If you finish the basement you may have trouble getting heat upstairs without cutting holes in the floor. You said you have a hot water furnace, by that you mean you have baseboards, or convectors, or something like that in your house? If so why not put in a stoker boiler? minimal tending if it has coal and ash is empty, and you would be using the method of transfering heat you already have and know works, rather than getting a stove, then cutting a hole here and then one here, and then putting a fan here when it doesn;t heat as planned


Just a thought, Eric

good mornin!!! ok the house is a raised ranch, baseboard heat (water)..im thinking the hitzer or the harmen with a blower will be the best option..my propane stove is 65000btu and heated very good...thinkin the price may determine the purchase..o ya the house is a total of 1500sqf...i live in preston ct and have looked at every stove on craigslist...the one for sale in ledyard ct is $750 for a harmin mark1, i looked at it and its 15yrs old and looks worked, did have a blower but geez...didnt want to insult the guy and offer $300..

i have vents in the floors for circulation.