Help decide what stove to get

I am new to the forum. I currently have an Englander pellet stove, and am looking for a change. The pellet stove is nice but definately doesn't put out the heat a coal or wood stove does. I am trying to decide what stove or furnace I should get. I have a chimney with a clay flue but that is hooked up to my oil furnace. So I would need a new chimney, direct vent stove, or power vent. Is coal better then wood? I can probably get wood for free but it is a lot of work cutting, splitting, stacking ect. How much dust and dirt is there with a coal stove. I can put it where the pellet stove is in the living room or in the basement. Would it be too much dust in the living room? I was considering the Harman DVC 500 but the price is more then I wanted to spend. My last question would a hand fired stove last the 12hrs a day I am not home or do I need a stoker that will feed it all day? In advance thanks for any and all info.

[quote][/How much dust and dirt is there with a coal stove.quote]

I have burned both pellets and corn and this is my first year burning coal. I can tell you that the coal stove (stoker stove)in my dining room is not any dirtier than my pellet-corn stove was. It may actually be slightly cleaner. As with any stove in the living space there is a certain amount of dust and dirt associated with it. Coal is definetly cleaner than wood.

I think if you want guaranteed 12 hour or longer burns you'll need to consider a stoker (you hand-fired guys correct me if I'm wrong) I looked at Harman, Alaska and Leisure Line. Harman was too pricey for me. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. I bought a LL after talking to folks here, locally and Jerry at LL. So far, so good. My wife hates a dusty house and will not tolerate any odors. The coal stove is the only thing she would settle with and now that we have it, she loves being toasty all the time! No additional dust that I can observe, but I'm using oiled coal which reduces the dust significantly.

Best wishes in your search. You've found a wonderful resource in this forum.

Probably most stokers will be in the approx. $2000-$3000+ Range for a new one.

If you decide on a stoker, make sure you have a source for RICE size coal (either bagged or bulk) that is what most, if not all stokers burn, some can go a bit bigger with buckwheat, but not normally recommended.

You need to determine your heating area of your house, normally with it mounted upstairs, you will get alot of radiant heat and would probably heat quite nicely and maybe not need a very large stove, if you put in your basement, you need a way to get the heat upstairs (duct work). Most stoves are rated around 70,000BTU and up to 180,000+ BTU depending on the models.

We heated our old house in the dining room with a Keystoker 90K, this larger house we have the Leisure Line Hyfire (130K) in the basement, ducted upstairs and does quite nicely.

I just went through this process and had taken into consideration Harmon, Alaska, Keystoker and Leisure Line. Hand Fired or Stoker.... Not saying any one is better than the other, but my preference went to the stoker, Leisure Line Pocono. We just brought a new one home last weekend. Wanted good amount of heat, good reputation, current operating configuration, good support, ease of use and cleanliness was important. Not having to mess with it every day guided me toward the stoker....

Good luck!

I would recomend a hand fired coal stove. They are typicaly cheaper than a stoker, operate totaly silently (if used for radiant heat only), will operate with no electricity needed, have very few moving parts to worry about & you can easliy get 12 hr burn times out of them. ( I am going 24 hours between shake-downs by adding a few shovels of coal now & then) If operated correctly, dust can be minimal.

My house is about 1,100 sq ft. Brick Cape Cod. I have a forced hot air oil furnace so if I put it in the basment I could tap into the existing ducts. I think I am leaning towards a stoker because it is nice to fill it and forget about it for awhile, but if I find a hand fired for a good price I wouldn't turn it down. Any opinions about direct vent vs powervent vs chimney? If installed in living room I could put the chimney throught the roof or vent out the wall (direct or power). If put in the basement I would need a power vent or a brick chimney built because wife hates the stainless chimneys on the outside of the house.

cowentz wrote:My house is about 1,100 sq ft. Brick Cape Cod. I have a forced hot air oil furnace so if I put it in the basment I could tap into the existing ducts. I think I am leaning towards a stoker because it is nice to fill it and forget about it for awhile, but if I find a hand fired for a good price I wouldn't turn it down. Any opinions about direct vent vs powervent vs chimney? If installed in living room I could put the chimney throught the roof or vent out the wall (direct or power). If put in the basement I would need a power vent or a brick chimney built because wife hates the stainless chimneys on the outside of the house.

I don't Know about the fill it and forget it part, I have both types and this is my first year using the stoker sometimes it feels like the stoker is more work, the coal in the hopper needs to be moved forward during the day or else you get a hole over the feed, my victory takes a bucket a day of coal and you empty the ash pan once a day the stoker needs three buckets every two days and in between you might have to throw one in for good measure and the ashes seem easier about every three days the stoker heats better than the Franco B. it replaced it's a trade off but all good in the end . But I would forget that fill it and forget it thinking .

I have Keystoker 90DV for twelve years with no problems other than minor maintenance cleaning and replacing the exhaust fan to the direct vent . Its direct vent and if your putting it in the basement sound should not be an issue. If you already run a pellet stove ,You already know what tending issues are involved. You can also order the optional top hole cut in for venting to duct work. I am heating well over three times your square footage with mine. By putting it in the basement you would be heating your basement also. I am not knocking any of the other stoves because I have no knowledge of them. I just know the
Keystoker is built like a tank. You must also have good access to put it in the basement its heavy as hell and decent size. Mine was delivered and set into place with a power handtruck. The stoker stoves have less of a clearence issue also

I have the LL Pioneer & it takes me less than 5 minutes to empty the ash pan & load hopper (once a day) along with the coal-trol you can't beat it. I maintain 71* on the 1st floor & 68* on the 2nd floor of my home. Get the pioneer & put it on your first floor, it should heat your 1,100 sq ft. house easily & its nice to watch. If possible go with a chimney, direct or power vent is just more maintenance. Good luck.

spc wrote:I have the LL Pioneer & it takes me less than 5 minutes to empty the ash pan & load hopper (once a day) along with the coal-trol you can't beat it. I maintain 71* on the 1st floor & 68* on the 2nd floor of my home. Get the pioneer & put it on your first floor, it should heat your 1,100 sq ft. house easily & its nice to watch. If possible go with a chimney, direct or power vent is just more maintenance. Good luck.

Yes, Coal-Trol is a must have item with a stoker in my opinion. I installed mine and set it and it holds within 1 degree all the time. Amazing. My buddy has an Alaska Channing III and just a programmable tstat and his stove is always either running full out or idling. Mine runs at idle or just above with no big swings
which has to be more efficient.

The stokers I priced ran from $1500 for a Channing III to $2400 for the hearth/Console models. Pricing was all over the place even on the same model from dealer to dealer. PA pricing was consistently higher than NY prices by at least $200 on the models I was considering.

Get a larger coal stoker furnace . Hook it into your hot air heating system . Use your clay chimney for the coal ,put the Power vent on the oil furnace since you wont hardly be using it anyway . Dave

av8r wrote:[Yes, Coal-Trol is a must have item with a stoker in my opinion. I installed mine and set it and it holds within 1 degree all the time. Amazing. My buddy has an Alaska Channing III and just a programmable tstat and his stove is always either running full out or idling. Mine runs at idle or just above with no big swings
which has to be more efficient.

On my Channing I've neither, just the stock controller, maybe it's just me but I like futtsing with things a bit. I really don't adjust mine all that much, usually kick it down at night before bed so it's idling along at 64*/65* throughout the house. I think I adjust it about 3 times on average in a 24hr cycle. Compare that to wood tending and no comparison in heat output I'd say it's just about right for me. Oh and I like stirring the hopper and leveling it off now and again, makes feel like I'm good for something.

av8r wrote:The stokers I priced ran from $1500 for a Channing III to $2400 for the hearth/Console models. Pricing was all over the place even on the same model from dealer to dealer. PA pricing was consistently higher than NY prices by at least $200 on the models I was considering.

I paid around $1800 up here, actually that was the average for my model where ever I checked. Hell for $300 I'd would have driven up to NY state...Doh!

I am new to this forum so don't know where this will go. But I installed this summer a Keystoker 150 stoker furnace with oil burner back-up and a domestic water heating coal. It is hooked in to my house duct work where I removed the wood furnace that also had a oil burner for back up. I absolutely love the Keystoker 150. I am heating about 4000 sq ft and it keeps the house here in NW PA within one degree of whatever I set the thermostat. The hopper holds about 6 bags of coal and I add 4 or 5 about every 2 1/2 days and empty the ashes about every 2 1/2 days. It is quiet with little stoker noise. Blower is large and handles my house well. I really wanted the coal-trol on it but now see no need. I had just under $5000 in it with the oil burner and the water coil. By the way, I used the oil burner before the weather turned colder and it also worked well. The whole unit is extremely heavy duty and comes in pieces so it is easy to get into the basement. I installed it myself but you do need to be quite handy to do that. I also installed a 4 inch pipe from my garage down to the hopper with a small vibrator on the pipe. No carrying the coal to the basement. Works beautifully. Heated with wood 21 years - this is a bit of magic.

Karl

karl59062 wrote: I also installed a 4 inch pipe from my garage down to the hopper with a small vibrator on the pipe. No carrying the coal to the basement. Works beautifully. Karl

Hi, Karl - welcome!! You've come to the right place!

Can you share some pictures of your installation, especially your coal loading setup? It sounds very interesting. You can post them to the "Pictures of your stove" thread here: http://www.nepadigital.com/bb/post20758.html Lots of good information around here, so it should keep you busy reading for a while!

Keep warm!

Chris