Hand-Fired Recommendation for a Stoker Guy

I'm guessing this isn't the only thread of it's kind around now but I didn't want to hijack anybodies thread.

In the wake of Sandy I'm been reviewing my preparedness to take care of my family. I have a 4000W generator that ran most of the essentials being without power for almost a week. This included running my EFM stoker which produced my hot water and kept the chill off. While things ran smoothly I always think about what if they don't? What if the generator died? What if it stayed off for a lot longer? I'm convinced that our infrastructure is very fragile and one of these days it's going to go down HARD. When that happens not only am I risking the generator breaking down but it gets rather expensive to run the gen over night just keep the heat going.

That being said I'm looking for a hand-fed unit to keep the heat even without the generator. It wouldn't have to heat the entire house 100% but just the main living area. My only issue is my available flue is a masonry fireplace. So I'm looking for recommendations for my options. I mean I know I could go with an insert so if you have a recommendation on that let me know. Although I'm not looking to spend thousands for the setup. Or is there a hand fired option that would be good to vent out the fireplace. I'm willing to build a secondary bin to hold a few ton of a different sized coal for the emergency backup and for when I was a more ambiance fire. That would be a requirement of my wife's that it has glass so she could see the fire.

Thanks!!

Jeremy, check out Norticans Sunny Side Baltimore Heater, perfect for a fireplace and if you can do the restoration of a stove yourself you could pick one up for a lot less than a grand but they are not the easiest stoves to find.

I think Hitzer has a fireplace model too but I don't know the model number, those stoves are highly recommended here.

Just depends on what you want it too look like.

PS, after thinking about your question maybe you have an option in your kitchen to install a cook stove like Steve Zee, then you can have a source of heat and an excellent place for preparing meals in a long term outage ?

We are not staying in this house for hopefully more than the next 5 years, but if I were not planning to go anywhere I would exercise the kitchen stove option myself.

I'd recommend a gas range for cooking if you have gas or cheap LP gas in your area....and a nice round hand-stoked parlor or chubby stove for heat. It works really well.

Definitely have the LP kitchen range and I would NEVER recommend anybody to go electric. We ate very well using that for our meals and didn't have to stand outside at the gas grill! It's the perfect solution for an area where week long power outages are common.

rocketjeremy wrote:Definitely have the LP kitchen range and I would NEVER recommend anybody to go electric. We ate very well using that for our meals and didn't have to stand outside at the gas grill! It's the perfect solution for an area where week long power outages are common.

Yeah, that's part of the reason I have one. I lose power any time there's a stiff breeze and sometimes on bright sunny days for no reason. LP gas all the way.

I'd look at a stove inserts first, hitzer makes some that have a good reputation. The only thing I'm not sure of is if they need blowers to get the heat out of it. IF it is finished the baseburner guys will tell you all about them and how nice they are, the hitzer, d.s. machine or harmon's are good choices too.

Like tcalo I suggest a Chubby. Mine is piped right into my fireplace and the stove sits on the hearth. Simple and effective. Both the setup and the stove. You just can't go wrong with a Chubby.

http://www.chubbystove.com has some diagrams for a fireplace setup.

Hope this helps!

I have a Harman Mark II sitting on my fireplace hearth. I made shorter legs for it to get the pipe low enough to go into the fireplace opening (you could even just remove the legs). This was easier, and cheaper then finding a used insert, and a benefit is I can fit a barometric damper behind the stove (not an option with an insert).

Cowentz,

You hit my research from last night right on the head. I was all excited for the Mark I to put on my fireplace but then I used the spec sheet on the Harman website to see that the top of the flue is 25.5 inches up and the top of my fireplace is 22 inches higher than the hearth. Does anybody know how high the feet are on the Mark I and/or Mark II?

I'm beginning to think that is an ideal setup that I could route the stove pipe into the fireplace and as you said put a baro damper on to make it run real nice. A pic of your setup would be great if you are so inclined too to help convince the wife.

I have a Hitzer 503 EZ Flow. It's hand fed with a gravity hopper, and is rated up to 100,000 BTU's.

The 503 has a blower to circulate warmed air. While the blower helps considerably, it's not necessary. In fact, I often turn the blower off to help regulate room temperature.

My masonry fireplace was a little lower than typical fireplaces, but Hitzer reduced the height of the exhaust flange on my insert, and it fit without a problem. I don't remember the specifics, but I can look for the details if you want.

I was without power for one day with Sandy, and it was a relief to not have to worry about heat.

rocketjeremy,
I think the legs are around 6" tall. If I remember correctly I made new legs around 3" tall (if I had to do it again I would probably just unbolt the legs and use it without) I will try to measure them tonight and take a few pictures of my set up.

The original legs on the stove are 5" tall. My pipe setup is a tee on the back of the stove running horizontal. right side has baro, left side has another tee running vertical. Clean out on bottom, top connected to 5' long stainless steel liner which goes up in the clay flue tile. Stuffed insulation around ss liner where it goes into flue tile.

Hi cowentz.
Very nice looking installation you have. All is in harmony
A question about the gun on the back wall: is it possible to hang a shotgun there in you'r region? No problem for me but just a little jealous cause here in Québec Province, an arm shouldn't be visible, locked, in a safe, at the bank .
P/S, not an obligation to answer the gun question if you don't want, I will understand...

Hoops