magic heat reclaimer

whats everybodies Opinion on the heat reclaimer. is it worth the 149.00$ or what . i would be running it on a keystoker kaa-2 and my stack temp on a full fire ranges between 250-275.

Is that temp from a magnetic stick-on thermometer or a probe thermometer reading the temp in the middle of the pipe??

If it is the surface thermometer, the temps inside are nearly double, and you will be able to extract lots of heat from the flue pipe... However, how strong is your chimney draft?? Do you have a barometric damper installed and is it open a fair amount most of the time?? I'm not sure how much the 'Magic Heat' will restrict the air flow in the chimney, but it might be an important consideration.

Greg L

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I think it takes the heat of the exterior of the pipe, with a good barometric damper you will just be wasting electricity because the pipe won't be overly hot.

Firstly, you can touch the flue pipe on my furnace for an extended period of time unless it has been stoking for a few minutes. So there shouldn't be a whole lot of heat there to begin with.

Secondly considering the price tag (which BTW I find excessive) and the electricity its going to use. By the time you recover what you have invested the thing will probably no longer work and/or be all rotted out.

These may make economic sense for a wood stove but I really don't think its suitable for a coal stove.

i do have a barometric damper and it is open a fingures with most of the time. the temp was taking with a probe type therometer that i drilled into my flue pipe. with barometric damper fully closed my draft is .035-.04. hope this info helps

Richard S. wrote:Firstly, you can touch the flue pipe on my furnace for an extended period of time unless it has been stoking for a few minutes. So there shouldn't be a whole lot of heat there to begin with.

Isn't it a boiler?

After the baro, the pipes on both stoves are warm, sometimes hot, if freshly loaded (Harman) or on a higher burn (Alaska). If the pipes were really hot something is wrong. The Magic Heat would work on the Harman if I had enough room to install one.

Personally I'd save the money and spend it on coal.. $149.00 plus tax will buy a ton of bulk coal at most breakers, and you won't ever recover enough heat from the Magic heat to save that much coal... Unless your room/basement where your boiler is is too cold, and you are trying to heat it.

You sound like you just barely have enough draft for your current application, I wouldn't add anything in the flue pipe to restrict the airflow.

Try it for a while as it is.. How long have you been running the boiler??

Greg L.

To gain any heat from the reclaimer it will have to be between the boiler and the baro. To put it after the baro would be an exorcises in futility. After saying all that I agree with the rest that it is most likely not even a break even proposition. As Greg points out you have to SAVE one ton of coal to break even.

I bought a cheap Vogelzang and wish I had not. It only put's out marginal heat and the stove has to be running at 65% or more to get it to turn on.

Like they said, not much of a return.

BK

gaw wrote:To gain any heat from the reclaimer it will have to be between the boiler and the baro. To put it after the baro would be an exorcises in futility. After saying all that I agree with the rest that it is most likely not even a break even proposition. As Greg points out you have to SAVE one ton of coal to break even.

Actually I said that wrong. To be more precise you need to reclaim about 24,916,000 BTUs to pay it off, or if you want maybe 75% of that to be more realistic that is still 18,687,000 BTU's. The heat reclaimer is not saving coal per se it is capturing heat otherwise wasted up the chimney.

1975gt750 wrote:whats everybodies Opinion on the heat reclaimer. is it worth the 149.00$ or what . i would be running it on a keystoker kaa-2 and my stack temp on a full fire ranges between 250-275.

I wouldn't bother. It was designed for fuel wasting appliances to begin with. Your stack temps indicate that you are efficient.


But, If you are refering to the one from vogelzang, and you gottahabbit, pm me.

I don't think you need it though.

I installed a Magic Heat reclaimer on my LL Pocono and it's marginal if it's worth the money. Has to be stoking pretty good until it turns on and if you keep it in the on position, just blows cool air. The key is to put a dimmer/variable switch in place to key down the fan speed, then you get a constant warm low air flow off it. Figured I'd put this in place and do it right but I'd probably not spend the money if I had to do it over again.

I have Magic heat reclaimer in Mark III stove burning wood or coal and I love it.It gives me tons of HOT, really HOT air .It turns on and off auto wich I liked. Otherwise I think heat will be waisted in chimney. No dampers (manual or another).I regulate burning by lover door special knob to let air in.I bought my on Ebay for $75 and I think it's worth it. Also I have fan at back of stove and it's also very good heat flow.Only I have to turn it on and off manually wich is I dont like I wish to connect both of them togeher.Serge.