AK 110 Vs. Hyfire II

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Jirwin
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Post by Jirwin » Sun. Oct. 26, 2014 10:53 pm

I have a simple question. Why would someone buy the Hyfire II in place of the 110 to be tied into the duct work and to be used as a true furnace? I am in the market for a coal furnace to be tied into my existing duct work. The unit will be in the basement and there is plenty of room for an install. I have a Hitzer on the main floor but due to the layout I just can't get the heat into 1 bed room or kitchen I would like. My wife's office and the laundry is in the basement and it would be nice to heat them also. I am not interested in messing with a boiler system. I don't have that kind of money. This is my first year burning coal and so far I am sold. I have done a lot of lurking and really like the leisure line as far as a furnace type unit.

 
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EarthWindandFire
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Post by EarthWindandFire » Mon. Oct. 27, 2014 5:46 pm

If you have ever worked on or disassembled a hot-air oil furnace you would see a good comparison to the Anthraking. The burner shoots flame into a heat exchanger which is about the size of a beer keg. The furnace blower then blows cool air around and up the heat exchanger. This method is simple but fairly efficient. Now, imagine removing the outer metal shroud from the furnace. This would completely expose the burner and the heat-exchanger. This would be similar to the Hyfire.

If I owned a big barn or a house with just a few rooms I would purchase the Hyfire. Any other situation the Anthraking would be more efficient because you have much more control of where you want the heated air. However, the Hyfire has two 90,000 BTU grates and the AK110 has just a single large burner. The AK220 would be more similar in size.

Edit: spell check on my iPad is killing me. lol

 
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heatwithcoal
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Post by heatwithcoal » Mon. Oct. 27, 2014 6:52 pm

I asked the same question about 1-1/2 years ago and decided on the AK110 for my 1650sfft house plus 1100sqft semi insulated basement and I could not be happier. The house is a even 72 degrees upstairs and 67 downstairs all winter, burning about 5 ton. Dave (flyer5) from LL PM'ed me regarding choosing between the Hyfire II and the AK110 and below is an excerpt of his response: (I ran all the ductwork required because my house was electric baseboard.)
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'The AK110 has a much higher efficiency than the Hyfire through design. If you look at the other stoves and competition out there you get a box with a fire burning inside and minimal surface area. Just throwing a big fan is all that is needed to call it a furnace to some. We took it a step further and added the heat exchanger, there are 18 of the 2 1/2 " tubes on the 110. As far as over kill with the coal trol that is taken care of because now with a 110k max BTU output unit it now becomes variable and will deliver only what is needed to heat the area.
The problem with the Hyfire is trying to move the air. They work well and you would be happy with either, but you may find it is a little harder to control the movement of air and would end up running duct fans or tying into your existing furnace to use that fan. Actually you would probably be OK with a Pocono if you were to go the stove w hot air jacket route.

As far as the hook up of the 110kFurnace it has a standard 20" x 20" square opening on top for connecting to duct work. Because of the way it is jacketed it will put less radiant heat into the basement unless you wanted to heat the area. '

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Also, the cold air return box with 20 x 20 filter on the AK110 is a feature that creates a 'closed' loop system. This is not available on the hyfire (that I am aware of)

Mark


 
Jirwin
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Post by Jirwin » Mon. Oct. 27, 2014 7:05 pm

Thanks for the replies, I was just looking for another opinion than what I had already assumed myself. Really like the 110, the price is pretty high, 4600 for the base unit. Is that what they are going for on a normal basis? I do realize it will pay for itself within "X" years, but that does not help me paying for it now, lol.

 
coalnewbie
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Post by coalnewbie » Mon. Oct. 27, 2014 7:24 pm

If you can swing it go for the AK180. I will report soon when the weather gets colder but right now I can tell you it's incredibly efficient. You get what you pay for.

 
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Rick 386
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Post by Rick 386 » Mon. Oct. 27, 2014 7:40 pm

Well my take on the whole deal is that the Hyfire II was a product of the previous owner. It was a massive beast of a stove at the time with the 2 burner set up. BUT it along with most of the other stove manufacturers of the time only made these type stoves as a "supplemental" heating appliance. In fact most of the literature cautioned that the stoves were NOT to be used as a sole heating unit. And then to make them more versatile a heat jacket was made to tie the Hyfire II into an existing ductwork system. In fact on here a lot of member created and perfected their own heat jackets as well.

Now along comes 2 guys from the forum who were into refurbishing old stoves and boilers and reselling them. They found out that the original owner of Leisure line was looking to sell. So being the entrepreneurs they are, they bought the company. They then began to develop both coal furnaces and coal boiler under the Leisure Line name. These new units were created as whole house burners right from the get go. And that was how the Anthraking Series was born.

And as was mentioned previously, if you wish to use some of the radiant heat in the burner' space, go with the Hyfire II. If you want to scrub off all the heat and direct it into ductwork, choose the Anthraking furnaces.

Different strokes for different folks...........

I'm sure one of the owners will correct me if I'm wrong on this.......

Rick


 
coalnewbie
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Post by coalnewbie » Tue. Oct. 28, 2014 5:30 pm

If you want to scrub off all the heat and direct it into ductwork, choose the Anthraking furnaces.

Different strokes for different folks...........

I'm sure one of the owners will correct me if I'm wrong on this.......
Oh baby, are you ever right. So far it looks excellent with my new AK180 but a lot of water has to run under the bridge this winter, so we will see. My AK 110 was great too. Hurts like hell to pay more but I am already sensing less coal use. So it's down to ROI and getting the heat where you direct it. The capital cost of a stove is a small part of the equation if you get 10 years use out of it. The old AK 110 sold straight away - minus 20* plus wind was just too much for this smaller unit. Remember I have a big leaky Victorian c rapbox for a house.

 
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Flyer5
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Post by Flyer5 » Tue. Oct. 28, 2014 7:17 pm

Hi

So far everything here was already pretty well covered the only thing I want to change / add is you can easily heat the area the furnace is in with a set of louvers in the duct. Open for more heat close for less. Simple

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. It means a lot to meet the standards of this forum. :)

 
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heatwithcoal
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Post by heatwithcoal » Tue. Oct. 28, 2014 8:44 pm

I left a portion of my main ducting in the basement uninsulated and louvered vent at the end of 14" trunk. ( I know, this is not good practice) but this helps out with heat down there. It may not be the most efficient but I am not complaining at 5 ton/year for a very warm house.

 
coalnewbie
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Coal Size/Type: Rice,
Other Heating: Heating Oil CH, Toyotomi OM 22

Post by coalnewbie » Wed. Oct. 29, 2014 3:31 am

Rather than formal ducting and spend a ton on HVAC ducting, I use 25'x14" Hart & Cooley Insulated Flexible Duct R4.2 after the stove feeding the existing A/C ducting. The LFM is really low (very quiet) the fan noise - almost inaudible and that is very important to me. MERV 13 intake filtration - oh yeah, love it. Tons of warm air washing around and so upstairs I get to play with my base heaters. Multiple hydronic fed zones all at 70* is just not required. Winter is a fun time but last winter was a b itch. I was still warm but everything was maxed out and that is not efficient. Now I have bigger hammers.

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