To stoke or not to stoke?

Hi all,need some input on something I've been thinking about,before I reline my chimney with 8" was thinking of getting the Hitzer 608(girly man )stove due to the ability to control the heat output better(or is that a pipe dream?)I would like to keep the house more consistent with the heat.I been reading up on stokers and I want a top flue that Can be chimney vented or power vented(because I don't know what the future holds)I will try to vent it in the chimney first but I will have to put in a thimble if I have the room above the smoke shelf(any thoughts on this would be a help)my 983 does a great job on keeping the house warm without oil or electric I just don't want to install a stove that will not heat my house.I have considered the pros and cons of both types of stoves (and I like both types of stoves)I just don't like the fact without electric you have no heat but I have a big generator to run everything in my house(not all at the same time) but you have to be there to start it.If any of you have this,had,or know someone that has this stove please tell me all about it the good,bad,and the ugley(for all stokers not just Hitzer)I don't have the room for a boiler or a second furnace(I'm not a fan of dual purpose anything)so I would like to here from as many of you as possible on this to help me decide.Thanks Keepaeyeonit

I am new to this but we have a new home that is all elec and installed a Pocono Stoker with a Power Vent for the simple reason that my wife can take care of it someday when i can"t. It is the only thing heating our house 2100sq ft basement and 1900sq ft upstairs that stays at 71 for the most part dips down below at nite to 68 but when we wake up and air moves around it's back to 71. We also have a generator that takes care of the whole house, I want Mama to be ok some day soon i wont be able to help much. For us the stoker is the way to go which has the Coaltroll and we can adjust the temp to make it warmer we keep it at 74 now. Thanks for your time Jeff.

Hello, Keepaeyeonit
i am currently running a hitzer 608 this is my 3rd year running it. it is a great stove, very easy to control the heat output using the coaltrol. i have the stoker down stairs in a finished basement. I also cut floor vent in the ceiling with 8'' powered duct fans. i ran with that setup for 2 years worked pretty good i lost about 10 degrees from downstairs to upstairs. this year i installed a hitzer 354 hand fed stove in the upstairs. i have been running both for a about a month. i would say the pros for a stoker are easy to maintain a fire. easy to load, closer clearances, easy to regulate heat output, the cons are takes electric to run, fans are noisy if installing in a living room. i am very happy with both stoves that i have, the hand fed has to be shaken down every 10-12 hrs and reloaded. the stoker i can go 1 1/2 -2 days without ever touching it. the hand fed also produces a ton more radiant heat even though the stoker is 90k btu and the handfed is i believe 100 there is no comparison

I have one of those girly guy stoves and love it. If I ever want a real mans stove I'll have to go visit FF .

When I wanted to switch to coal from wood the wife really wanted no part of a "regular" coal stove due to all of the "fun" she had with them as a kid. Showed her all the neat stuff I learned from here ( I lurked for a year) and she agreed to a stoker, even tho it is still referred to as my project. We did the power vent as we really had no other options. I can honestly say that if I did it over, I wouldn't change a thing. Feed it-dump it, doesn't get much easier.

We for the most part have great luck as far as the electric goes, I've has to bring a generator home a couple of times for a day or two. Not a big problem at this point in life, if I didn't get to borrow them at n/c, I would buy one to have it there for those times.

Modell79,I to will have sitting on the hearth(in a finished lower level of a bi-level)where my insert is now and far as the fans go my insert has two 110 cfm so I can put up with some noise but the stoker has a bigger blower plus the feed motor(and a combustion blower?)I don't know what or who's stoker unit they use but is there two blowers plus a feed motor?.I know I'm not getting all of the heat out of the insert just because of the design of the stove but I have never had to run the insert over 475* to keep the house in the mid to upper 70's even with near 0*outside.Thanks for the reply.Keepaeyeonit

Ok I just answered own question about the blowers now I would like to see one in action for the noise comparison but maybe I will call Hitzer and ask some questions.

there is 1 motor that runs 2 blowers rated at 320cfm total. they are dayton blowers. 1 combustion blower. and 1 feed motor. the combustion blower i ducted outside air into using 4'' dryer vent. with the temps you are running your hand fed at the stoker should be just fine. the 608 was my first experience using a coal stove. i remember the first day i hooked it up. i was all excited to get it up and running, i followed the manual, started a wood fire, turned on the unit and the combustion blower blew all of my wood fire of the grate, as the wife was laughing i was thinking what else can i start the stove with. so i headed into the garage and picked up a old box of road flares. big mistake that filled the house up with smoke faster than i could turn the stove on. so after a little bit of a learning curve and reading on this site i realized there was easier way to lite the stove. since you are coming from a hand fed stove it will be a peice of cake. if you are going to purchase a stoker be sure you get the WMO-1 safety switch that would shut the stove down if you loose draft.

Keepaeyeonit wrote:Modell79,I to will have sitting on the hearth(in a finished lower level of a bi-level)where my insert is now and far as the fans go my insert has two 110 cfm so I can put up with some noise but the stoker has a bigger blower plus the feed motor(and a combustion blower?)I don't know what or who's stoker unit they use but is there two blowers plus a feed motor?.I know I'm not getting all of the heat out of the insert just because of the design of the stove but I have never had to run the insert over 475* to keep the house in the mid to upper 70's even with near 0*outside.Thanks for the reply.Keepaeyeonit

You do have a valid point on the blower motors/feeder motors making some noise, I don't find it to bad, our stove in not right next to the tv or anything. We do have a single level and I rarely see the stove get over 450* keeping the same temps as you.

it's funny how you get to a point where you don't hear the fans after time. you just turn up the tv a little louder. you don't realize it until you shut it down how loud it is. the only really annoying fan on the stoker is the convection blower that blows the hot air into the room. if i get a pretty warm day outside where its not calling for alot of heat the blower will run at a really low rpm and make a annoying sound. there is a set point in the coaltrol that you have to turn up so that the fan does not turn on until you reach a higher firing rate.

"it's funny how you get to a point where you don't hear the fans after time. you just turn up the tv a little louder. you don't realize it until you shut it down how loud it is."

There is something else in the house like that

LOL isn't that true

Is that switch for a power vent only or can it be used with a chimney vent to?I feel like I'm asking dumb questions but I don't have a clue about stokers so please bear with me! Ok don't answer that I got it but the thing I don't get is the inside of the stove under a slight pressure do to the combustion blower? I know Hitzer install says to set the baro to .03 to .06"WC but that must be with a power vent.

should work with powervent or chimney. its a good safety to have. i always check mine every time i shut the stove down for cleaning. i will turn my powervent off and it usually trips off pretty quick. a little trick i learned on mine was to leave the electrical cover off of the switch so that i could reset the switch a little easier. i live in a pretty windy area and once in a while if the wind blows the right direction i would loose draft for a second. i got sick of taking the back of the stove apart so now i use a non conductive wood kabob stick to reach in and reset the switch. as i was typing this i wondered to my self why i didn't just drill a small hole in the cover.

The only dumb ones are the ones not asked. That switch came with our power vent, had to drill a hole in the back of the stove and install it, very simple (even for me)! If the powervent shuts down for any reason, the heat backs up into the tube trips the switch and shuts down the stove until you reset the switch. One of the main reasons I feel at ease with this stove/vent setup. I don't think it can be used on a reg. chimney setup, but, don't take that as final as I've only used the powervent.

If it can be used on a reg. chimney setup, I would say don't be without it. great safety feature in my mind.