Keystoker a120?

Well first full winter with the Harman. Used alittle more coal than most, but damn wind blows day and night at an average of 10-15 mph. Im looking at a possible upgrade to a keystoker a120 coal furnace, any thoughts? Any one using this model? Prior to this i tossed the idea of using the harman for what i wanted, but it would be no where near the efficiency i would like to see. 2400 sqft with what id say to be decent insulation and still burned 6 ton this winter at a 72-75 average temp. Basement is stove location so it was really toasty down thier. I would like to avoid a boiler because the added expense of all the plumbing, already have the ducts. I still saved a boat load by burning rocks so if i will continue to use the harman I wont loose a bit of sleep over it.

The Keystoker furnaces are nice units, so are the Anthraking units offered by Leisure Line.

I don't expect you will burn less coal with a furnace, but the heat should be much more even throughout the house.

A furnace would be a great upgrade from your stove. I will be doing the same thing, a furnace is very efficient and has much more control than a stove. No need for a boiler, not unless you have one already or are building a new home.

EarthWindandFire wrote:No need for a boiler, not unless you have one already or are building a new home.

No need for one, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be an economical solution.

If you can handle installing a boiler yourself, you can probably install a refurbished stoker boiler and water to air heat exchanger in your existing furnace for about the same $$ as a new furnace. It all depends what you want to do...if cheap & plentiful domestic hot water is part of the equation, a boiler is worth considering. If you don't care about DHW, a furnace is a great way to go.

I like my electric hot water. It fits the bill for now. Water to air is not something I really thought too much into. I'm assuming I would still have to have some type of blower unit for air movement? Or have both boiler and furnace setup? Unsure yet.

i ran an a 120 last season for the first time and i love it. i heat 1700 sq feet. i have 2 french doors,1 sliding glass door,1 5'x10' bay window,1 4'x'8 window a bunch of regular sized windows vaulted ceiling in my living room and not very well insulated. the house gets alot of wind so all this stuff together its not that easy to heat.i burnt 4 ton last winter at 72 degrees. i think i could have used less i didn't get the stove really dialed in till the end of winter this is my first coal stove ever. it heated it with ease probably could have gotten the a 90.

i have been burning a a120 for the last 4 years and love it. i have a 3 story home in pa and it works great. i just fired mine up today. and there is a hot water coil as a option for this stoker also. i am going to install one on mine in the next few weeks.

I bought a Keystoker A-80 furnace two years ago and love it. I normally go through about 4 tons in a winter, running the furnace basically from mid-late November through early May. I live in a 1,500 square foot house in the southern Adirondacks with pretty good insulation in all but the living room (in the old part of the house) with a bunch of old leaky windows there as well. I looked at an A-120, but didn't like the cold air return not easy to connect to ductwork. I run the heat between 68-70 during the day, and about 65 at night. In even the coldest part of the winter (year before last, our lowest temp was -29) it only takes about half an hour to warm the place up in the morning. Most days, just a couple 40 lb. bags of Blaschak is all I use. 3-4 on the very coldest or windy days. I'm laying in 5 tons for this winter. After the mild one we had last year, it wouldn't surprise me if I needed that extra ton before spring!