I not only got to run it but also got a chance to meet one of the coolest sociable dudes ever
The stove itself is clearly built for reliability, Its big to be sure... but its fairly simple and easy to maintain (which I feel is critically important with any stoker type stove!). I asked Paulie how old his stove was and was shocked to discover that after 5 years of heavy use he has done NOTHING to it, yet their it is still blazing away! It was painfully clear Paulie is a workin' man for sure... drives his cars hard, his tractors hard, his woman hard and his stoves hard
I was impressed at how well the stove has held up (the only part that showed any abuse was the hopper after 5 long hard years of burning and moving locations, etc.) A solid stainless steel flu pipe that goes uncleaned for 5 years of hard coal burning would not have faired as well as this hopper did)! Paulie was sitting on 20 ton of rice so Im going to assume its in the weather someplace which may have been the cause of the hopper abuse... The beauty is... everything on this unit can be easily swapped out by the customer in minutes (including the hopper)! In closing, Id like to give a big thank you to Paulie for being so gracious to me and inviting me over!
