Coal stove in basement

xandrew245x wrote:So what kind of temperature would I be looking at in the basement and what range would it be upstairs.

My setup is a bit different with a forced air fully ducted thermostatically controlled coal furnace. But for reference, here's my basement temp in the room where the furnace is and my upstairs living room temp. This is for the past 3 days.


Here's the same graph with outdoor temperature shown as well.

Thats not to big of a heat difference. I don't care if it is 80 or higher degrees in the room with the stove, that is completly shut off from the rest of my basement. I just didn't want it being entirley to hot in the basement, but 75-80 I think would be rather comfortable down there, plus I should be able to some what control it since it is walled off from the rest of the basement.

My basement also has a drop ceiling in the finished area, the heat from the room i am planning on putting the stove in should flow in between the floor joists and the drop ceiling acting as ductwork.

Anyone have any input on the stove size. The total sq footage finished in my house between the basement and upstairs is around 2100 sq ft, do you think the mark 2 would be large enough for that?

I tried to convince my wife to let me buy a boiler today, but she can't see how much money it will save us. All she sees is "another bill to pay" but she doesn't realize the money we pay out every month for that would be money we saved by heating with coal!

Sigh....any ideas?

xandrew245x wrote:I tried to convince my wife to let me buy a boiler today, but she can't see how much money it will save us. All she sees is "another bill to pay" but she doesn't realize the money we pay out every month for that would be money we saved by heating with coal!

Sigh....any ideas?

Show her the fuel comparison calculator at the top of the forum page .

Not a bad idea, I will show her that.

I have been thinking if I am going to spend over 2,000 on a stove, why not just skip that and go for a boiler which isn't all that much more. I applied for a loan, so that will determine my choice.

I started with a stove. It worked well, but I still spent a lot of cash heating the second story with fuel oil, and also hot water. A stoker boiler will do it all.

How much fuel oil did you burn last year?

I know people get pretty rabid about supporting their favorite boiler, but here goes. If i ever buy another one and I hope to, it will be one of the Leisure Line boilers. I Have a Harman that is undersized and have no knocks on its quality, but due to reading good things in here and seeing the support from Flyer5, I would seriously look at the 110 they sell. I think the price is right, less then I paid for my Harman that is only rated to 95,000btu's or so. Get all you can for the money.

Kevin

xandrew245x wrote:Anyone have any input on the stove size. The total sq footage finished in my house between the basement and upstairs is around 2100 sq ft, do you think the mark 2 would be large enough for that?

it depends on too many factors to give a real accurate answer, but seat of pants, back of napkin, swag would be if the stove is in the basement a mark iii would be needed, if the stove is upstairs then the mark ii is big enough.

i had a mark iii in the unfinished, uninsulated basement heating a ranch that is about 2800 sqft. trying to get even heat circulation will be the trial and error experiment until you get it figured out.

Rob, last year I used over 500 gal of heating oil, but I didn't move into the house until around this time, I expect to use a lot more this year, I have already used 60 gallon this season, and spent almost $1000 filling it for the season.

As for leisure line goes, I looked and from what I see there are no retailers of them near me. I am approved for a 5500 4 year loan.

xandrew245x wrote:Rob, last year I used over 500 gal of heating oil, but I didn't move into the house until around this time, I expect to use a lot more this year, I have already used 60 gallon this season, and spent almost $1000 filling it for the season.

As for leisure line goes, I looked and from what I see there are no retailers of them near me. I am approved for a 5500 4 year loan.

We can work with your plumber if you need.

But we can help with all your questions, We don't hide our # 570-752-1811 Not trying to sway you just giving options.

Thanks for all the helpful replies, I am going to call both the emf dealer and leisure line to get prices on both. Now I was looking at the burning rates, it said it can burn as low as 2.5 pounds an hour putting out 25k btu. Does that mean it will constantly burn 2.5 pounds an hour when its running, or when it is sitting idle will it consume less than that?

Would I be able to burn wood in these?

The better question if I do get one is how I am going to get it into my basement!

If you can get a water heater into the base ment you can get a LL 110 in with out any difficulty. It fits through any standard man door without any trouble. Five minutes and a good hand truck is all you need to get that unit down the basement steps. I took mmine down on two pieces which I think is easier and safer. I then rolled the unit right up on the base with (3) 1-1/2" pipe rollers and (2) 4' lg. 2x8's for the ramps. Of course I should have taken pictures but at the time I just wanted to get it up and running. Here is the other thing to consider. with a hand fired stove like a mark II you will have to put up another chimney as they can't be power vented. With hthe coal boiler you can use your existing chimney nad unhook the oil from the flue for now or you could power vent the oil boiler which by the way is a cmuch cheaper power vent than the one for a stoker coal stove.

Based on your knowledge and experiance with coal, I think that a small stoker boiler that has been suggested is probably your best bet. They are about as easy to run and user friendly as it gets. Your going to pay for that but in the long run, a boiler was you plan anyways, you might as well go for it because they are not going to get cheaper as time goes on. Flyer 5 is a Leasure Line guy and forum member who will help you and answer questions along the way too.

Personally I would also think about the possibility of a coal bin down there accessed through a basement window if you have that possibility. Believe me, hauling sacks down stairs is gonna get old in a hurry.