Franco-Belge or Harman Mark3 Coal Stove

I've used both the Franco Belge and a Harman Mark II. The Franco Belge is self feeding. The Harman isn't. The Harman is good at burning hot, not good at burning low. So if you have your stove in your living room you wont' be able to use it in the shoulder months (October/November and April/May). Your house will be an oven. But the Franco Belge, if it is only 27K BTUs won't be able to handle the load when it is zero degrees.
27K BTU's sounds low. What are the measurements of the burn area?

Measurement of the stove? I was told the stove is 27k. BTU . I thought the batman mark 3 is a bigger stove so it would heat more house

I have a 2000 square foot home 2 story open floor plans. If you had to pick between the mark 3. Or the Franco belge. I have electric base board heat so I need a stove that will heat my whole house. The Franco is hooked up already in living room I just bought this home I heard there is no way the Franco belge will heat whole house as it is a small stove

Use the Franco Belge. It will heat the house for most of the winter until outside temps. get below 20 when you will need to supplement. Get some experience first before considering another stove.

The Franco Belge stoves are very efficient and very fast and easy and safe to tend with a good big ash pan. You will have to tend every 8 hours though instead of 12 or longer. Figure 2.5 to 3 tons of coal. 40 to 50 pounds per day in cold weather. You will be surprised how comfortable the steady heat of a coal stove can be in contrast to the on again and off of standard central heating systems, but you can't expect it to distribute heat as well.

There is no perfect stove and even those which get very high marks by users have their drawbacks in one area or other.

MAybe I'm confused. Why would I want to use the Franco stove if temps get very cold in the winter months? 27k BTU compared to 90k BTU with the Harman stove?

shoman70 wrote:MAybe I'm confused. Why would I want to use the Franco stove if temps get very cold in the winter months? 27k BTU compared to 90k BTU with the Harman stove?

First forget the 90,000 BTU figure, it was arrived at by firing the life out of the stove and does not reflect real world practical use. you would need to push about 200 pounds of coal per day through it to reach that figure and I don't think you would be happy. Real world is about half that figure to maintain efficiency and long tending times.

You already have the Franco stove. All you have to do is make sure the flue passages and chimney are clean. No dampers to install and far easier to learn proper burning technique than with the Harman. No additional outlay in purchase and installation. Once you get your feet wet over a winter of burning coal you will have a much better idea of your needs.

Good advise. I need a stove that will heat entire house and it gets colder than 20 degrees at nite. I will stick with the Franco but don't think it can handle the whole house. Very small stove

Just found out that the Franco is rated at 26000 btu

Shoman70 ---- Lots of smart people here... I see you are interested in heating primarily with coal, and heating the whole house evenly.. My best guess is that the little Franco probably won't achieve that goal for you. Some say try it out, (excellent advise by member franco about getting your feet wet first and learning your needs ) BUT you will probably need some electric to help when it gets hard core cold. Lets try another perspective... Got a basement?? How about putting a coal furnace down there and running some duct work to heat your whole house evenly? Your solution will be dictated by what you want the coal to do for you and how much you want to invest. When comparing electric to coal, your payback on the investment will be very short term. I bought a used furnace and it paid for itself the first year, I even saved a little on the wash.

I'm just saying consider other options before you are sold on installing a bigger stove that may leave you too warm in one part of the house and too cool in another..

Good luck and enjoy

shoman70 wrote:Just found out that the Franco is rated at 26000 btu

Your stove is rated by the maker at 5400 kcal which is 21,400 Btu. I had in mind that you had the larger model. So yes you could use a larger stove. Do consider the Hitzer with hopper and thermostat which will make life much easier.

franco b wrote:Use the Franco Belge. It will heat the house for most of the winter until outside temps. get below 20 when you will need to supplement. Get some experience first before considering another stove.

The Franco Belge stoves are very efficient and very fast and easy and safe to tend with a good big ash pan. You will have to tend every 8 hours though instead of 12 or longer. Figure 2.5 to 3 tons of coal. 40 to 50 pounds per day in cold weather. You will be surprised how comfortable the steady heat of a coal stove can be in contrast to the on again and off of standard central heating systems, but you can't expect it to distribute heat as well.
.

I think this is great advice. You have the FB and it is an easy stove to learn. Harman is a bit trickier to learn and if you have no one to show you the tricks it might not be as nice of a learning experience. Of course some of this depends on your mechanical ability.