DS Machine's Kozy-King & Economiser Models

Does anyone own a Kozy-King or Ecomiser by DS Machine? I'm looking at the model for my parents. Any stove that claims to do both wood and coal worries me. But it seems to be the right choice for them. They want a handfired unit with a thermostat controlled blower, plus I'm pretty comitted to DS Machine stoves.

I was looking at these models myself. Unfortunately this original post was never answered? Any new owners out there?

There is a video on youtube of a kozy-king. If you search for kozy king it should turn up in the search results. Although I didn't learn anything by watching the video.

It's looking like I'll probably get the Kozy King for my parents this summer. The fastest setting on the 3 speed blower is 1450 cfm, which is about what they'll need to push the air though their duct work. I've seen both the Kozy King and the Economiser at my local DS dealer. They both look nice, but the Kozy King looks really impressive. To my knowledge my dealer hasn't sold one yet, so he can't tell me much about them.

For some reason the price of a Kozy-King is about twice the cost of a Basement #4 model. $3,000 vs. $1,500. The BTU's are about the same. It must be the sheet metal housing and blower unit that adds the extra $$$. They look like great units. I wish there was a DS Machine dealer around here.

Vin.

The economiser is 2k and the kozy king is 3k, like you said. My local dealer told me "the Economiser and the kozy king are basically the same unit, but the kozy king comes with all the bells and whistles." I'm not sure what he means by this, as they look like completely different units. DS Machine told me that the kozy king has a blower that supplies air to the fire, while the heat circulating blower is on. When the blower is off, the draft fan turns off and your stove is basically in idle. Sounds great to me.

I love my basement #4, but the Kozy King is definately a much larger and nicer looking unit. If I like my parents unit, I think I'll upgrade.

If you haven't already, you could call DS Machine. They will tell you where the closest dealer is. They can also give you a price for the unit delivered to your door.

Well. I am kind of a "kick the tires" kind of guy. I like to look at and feel the construction of the units. View the designs and get a feel for the way they function. I just hate to buy a stove blind like that.

Btw. You have a basement #4 model right? Does it have a hopper? Does the hopper ever bind up and stop flowing? I like the concept of a hopper system but prefer the basic "steel box" simplicity of the hand feed units.

Vin.

My stove has a hopper. I have had no problems with it burning nut. I do like the hopper because I can pour my buckets of coal straight into the stove, which is very fast. I do need to let the hopper empty out and rake the corners on occassion otherwise the ash builds up in the corners.

So what am I Iooking at? The first pictures appears to be a shot of the top of the stove looking down. But it looks like a straight shot down to the firebox. The second picture looks like a shot looking into the front door. But this picture also looks like it is a straight shot into the fire box. Am I missing something? Am I looking at the hopper? I guess I was expecting something that looked like a wood pellet stove hopper. Not a coal chute to the firebox. I obviously am very confused. lol.

You got it right, the hopper flows directly into the stove. It's not like a pellet hopper, some versions of stoker stoves have that style hopper.

NorthernIndiana wrote:My stove has a hopper. I have had no problems with it burning nut. I do like the hopper because I can pour my buckets of coal straight into the stove, which is very fast. I do need to let the hopper empty out and rake the corners on occassion otherwise the ash builds up in the corners.

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do you keep your hopper full or just add coal through the hopper after shake down.. just got my #4 2 weeks ago started it up day before thanksgiving. after i had it full top of bricks,,filled hpper all the way and it finally went out sunday evening 5 days..had to go out of town for work and wife isnt comfortable yet with the stove.. i have to say im impressed so far.. coal bob

Vinmaker wrote:So what am I Iooking at? The first pictures appears to be a shot of the top of the stove looking down. But it looks like a straight shot down to the firebox. The second picture looks like a shot looking into the front door. But this picture also looks like it is a straight shot into the fire box. Am I missing something? Am I looking at the hopper? I guess I was expecting something that looked like a wood pellet stove hopper. Not a coal chute to the firebox. I obviously am very confused. lol.

The hopper can be kept completely full and the coal in the hopper that is directly in contact with the coal fire will not burn. You can only do this with anthracite. With bituminous the coal in the hopper would all ignite.

I too have a ds machine basedment #4. Awesome piece... I did a ton of research, found it to be the best to fit my exact need... which is lots of heat, and each of use.

Nut anthracite is the only coal I burn. I have never once had a problem. Shake twice a day, fill it up at the same time... empty ashes 1 time/day. Treat it good, it will treat you good... DS knows what they are doing.

strat0 wrote:I too have a ds machine basedment #4. Awesome piece... I did a ton of research, found it to be the best to fit my exact need... which is lots of heat, and each of use.

Nut anthracite is the only coal I burn. I have never once had a problem. Shake twice a day, fill it up at the same time... empty ashes 1 time/day. Treat it good, it will treat you good... DS knows what they are doing.

Amen

I've got a DS - 1600 Circulator, same as the #4 but has 14 circulation tubes that run through it. Best stove I've ever used and bought. I burn nut myself but also ran pea through it this fall; it let me idle it lower.

Ok. so the coal just falls down as it burns. !! I get it. One is basically making a column of coal and as the coal burns up, the weight of the stack pushes the coal (ash) down and the system just keeps burning. Is this how a Chubby type stove works also. Those seem to be tall units also and could also contain a stack of coal.

From the comments, it seems to work great and it looks like such a simple design that looks clog-proof. Those Amish craftsman are so ingenious.

Vin.