Switching Stoves

Good morning all! I still cant believe what a great site this
its like looking things up in a dictionary.I have a fire chief 500
wood/coal/ burner? its built a lot like the clayton and hotblast
V shaped fire box.It burns wood great coal not so much.I
can get it to burn coal ok.200 to 250 stove temp. for 2-3 days
but then have to shut dn to clean out ash.Iv read burning coal
in a clayton and others.got us through the winter thanks whew!
Very hard to get a good shake to clear ash. So I want to buy a
true coal burner.
What do I look for? Heating 1600sqft not well insulated.also wanted to
hookup DHW. To those folks who run these stove and make them work
my hat is off to you I just need some thing a little more user friendly
by the way I like the hitzer 82 fa. thanks for any advice.

Welcome cbd, correct me if I am wrong; the Hitzer 82 fa is a hot air furnace simular principle to your present firechief. Making DHW with this type of coal furnace is done by some but sounds more hands on than what you want. What is your conventional heat source, i.e. hw boiler, warm air furnace, oil, propain, or Ng. If I wanted DHW from a coal stove, it would not be a hand fed stove although an indirect system can be rigged but...more info about your home would be helpful. Mike.

Welcome to the forum cbd!

Do you want to stay with a hand fed for the ability to burn wood or maybe due to power outages?

Hitzer makes a good stove, there are a lot of satisfied users here. Hitzer also has a couple stoker models if you are looking to be a little more automated but still wanted to stick with them.

If you go to items for sale --click FORUM, top left, (furnaces, HVAC stoves for sale area) there is a 82 fa for sale as we speak from one of our FORUM members--I'm sure if you contact him he would answer any questions you might have on that stove.

Assuming you already have air duct work in place ,go with a boiler which is the easiest/best way to do your dhw ,install a water to air heat exchanger in the duct work,hook up return duct ,warm house ,hot water ,little fuss. Check the manufacturers listed on the forum,look at the boiler threads,lots of info, & you can ask more questions ,but be prepared to answer lots of questions,do you have co detectors ? where do you live ? will coal burner be in the basement ? how many people- dwh use ?

Yes the 82 fa is a hot air furnance . I took out my propane furn. I do have electric base boards .I like the hand fired stove furnances.Its kinda fun working with them.I will check that stove out. maybe ill wait on the DHW.Thank you for the welcome.I just want a good basic fireing furn. Ok I see I need to do some homework here.

Yes I do have a co det. thanks to this site.burner will be in furnance rm
on 1st flr.2 people will be using water. myself and my 12 yr. old son I live in Geauga county in OH.

I have the 82fa with a dhw coil and works great in my 1700sqft rancher, 4 people using hot water. Mine is ducted in to the oil furnace trunk line. With the timing of showeres it works out good for us. I'm thinking you may have too much hot water though for you and your son. That coupled with your house size , I'm thinking that the 82fa will run you out. Perhaps the 55 would suit better. Better to have more than you need than not enough though. Figured I'd share what I know. Good luck.