Choosing the Right Stove.

Hey guys, I am looking to purchase a coal stove for my house. I have a brick ranch house built in 1959, it has a basement which is 80% finished. I have about 1200 sq ft upstairs and 900 sq ft finished in the basement. I want the stove to be located in the basement, I don't have access to a chimney, so It would have to be power vented. I plan on setting up some duct work to move the warm air throughout the house upstairs and then using the stairwell as a cold air return. Could you please recommend a stove that would fit my needs. Thank you.

xandrew245x wrote:Hey guys, I am looking to purchase a coal stove for my house. I have a brick ranch house built in 1959, it has a basement which is 80% finished. I have about 1200 sq ft upstairs and 900 sq ft finished in the basement. I want the stove to be located in the basement, I don't have access to a chimney, so It would have to be power vented. I plan on setting up some duct work to move the warm air throughout the house upstairs and then using the stairwell as a cold air return. Could you please recommend a stove that would fit my needs. Thank you.

What is your main source of heat now?

Oil fired boiler.

xandrew245x wrote:Oil fired boiler.

By the time you go through installing duct and making things work a boiler would probably be the most effective.

I made the decision to buy a handfired stove to start with, kinda break into coal burning without spending alot of money. As the years have gone bye and the money I have spent to move heat where I want it has made me decide to just cut losses and install a boiler. The stove has heated home great just not where I want too.

I had the wl110 priced out already and came to the conclusion that it was a lot of money to spend up front. Another reason I don't want the boiler is because I plan on moving in the next 2-5 years and If I buy a stove I will be able to take it with me. The duct work I planned on doing was just 1 vent installed in each bedroom and one in the living room and then connect that to the room with the stove and install a inline fan controlled by a thermostat.

I had another option of installing a stove in front of my fire place (there is already a hearth pad, the previous owner heated with coal) and vent it through the chimney. He already has a vent installed in the wall with a fan to help move the heat around. I shyed away from this option for two reasons, I spend a lot of time in the finished basement and it is always so cold down there, unless you crank the heat above 75, the stove would provide a nice warmth down there. Secondly, with it being in the living room upstairs, I feel like it would get very hot and uncomfortable in the living room.

xandrew245x wrote:I had the wl110 priced out already and came to the conclusion that it was a lot of money to spend up front. Another reason I don't want the boiler is because I plan on moving in the next 2-5 years and If I buy a stove I will be able to take it with me. The duct work I planned on doing was just 1 vent installed in each bedroom and one in the living room and then connect that to the room with the stove and install a inline fan controlled by a thermostat.

I had another option of installing a stove in front of my fire place (there is already a hearth pad, the previous owner heated with coal) and vent it through the chimney. He already has a vent installed in the wall with a fan to help move the heat around. I shyed away from this option for two reasons, I spend a lot of time in the finished basement and it is always so cold down there, unless you crank the heat above 75, the stove would provide a nice warmth down there. Secondly, with it being in the living room upstairs, I feel like it would get very hot and uncomfortable in the living room.

I would go with the Pocono then. The reason is if you get another house and it is larger you will have the extra capacity.

What is the price of that stove?

I used two Poconos in the basement for that reason for three years so I know how they perform. Great stoves but besides the Anthraking AK 110 it is a poor second in that type of application and yet no one mentions it not even Dave. So it remains a worlds best kept secret. That is fine by me as I come out of a -10F dance with freezing my nuts off I can tell you it's a great stove and it never missed a beat and it's efficiency is the greatest. There are many sides to efficiency. Of course, how well it burns the coal but then how to get that heat where you want it. I have heard of understated marketing but this is ridiculous. LL in Berwick has a 4000 sq ft engineering shop that has no insulation that I could see. Overhead doors opening and closing to the outside and yet they only use one AnthraKing 220. I think they want to keep them all to themselves. Way to go..... Do I sound biased..... guilty as charged.

coalnewbie wrote:I used two Poconos in the basement for that reason for three years so I know how they perform. Great stoves but besides the Anthraking AK 110 it is a poor second in that type of application and yet no one mentions it not even Dave. So it remains a worlds best kept secret. That is fine by me as I come out of a -10F dance with freezing my nuts off I can tell you it's a great stove and it never missed a beat and it's efficiency is the greatest. There are many sides to efficiency. Of course, how well it burns the coal but then how to get that heat where you want it. I have heard of understated marketing but this is ridiculous. LL in Berwick has a 4000 sq ft engineering shop that has no insulation that I could see. Overhead doors opening and closing to the outside and yet they only use one AnthraKing 220. I think they want to keep them all to themselves. Way to go..... Do I sound biased..... guilty as charged.

He wants to keep the price down. So trying to help him make a middle of the road choice.

Agree with the Flyer Man. Do the Poke.

Has a larger coal and ash capacity meaning less trips down stairs........and if you need duct work the top plate will well big enough to cut a large hole (8" easily) or rectangle, etc into it. The heat transfer area is also larger that the other smaller stoves that all use the same stoker. That implies you are pulling more heat from the box for the same stoker meaning the Poke has a higher efficiency that other LL ves (I'm not talking anything about boilers).

I was on the fence like you before my final purchase for my basement and I was very glad I did the Poke. Another feacher the Poke has is that the inside is so large that for summer storage the disassembled pipes are stored inside the firebox with a dessicant (that removes the moisture to stop steel from rusting). In this way with all the firebox holes plugged up with plastic, etc, I don't need to coat the steel pipes with a messy anti-rust preservative.

He wants to keep the price down. So trying to help him make a middle of the road choice.

OK, I get it. Going the hydronic route for an ab initio install is a big price leap but the AnthraKing is not that much more expensive. Once the pain of payment recedes the performance difference will live on.

What do you guys think about a Harman dvc-500. I found a used one on craiglist with the vent pipe for a pretty good deal. I don't know if it would be a large enough heating capacity though.

xandrew245x wrote:What do you guys think about a Harman dvc-500. I found a used one on craiglist with the vent pipe for a pretty good deal. I don't know if it would be a large enough heating capacity though.

I think its the wrong forum for that. Just kidding.

just exploring my options