Harman or DS Machine

Ok here's what I've got going on. I have 2 chimneys in my house. One of them is a brick fireplace in my partially finished basement that has a Harman elite insert in it. I gave 1550.00 for this stove used and it works well but I could do better. My other chimney currently has an oil fired Bradford white aero water heater in it. My house also used to have an oil hot air furnace tied into the chimney with the water heater but I ripped that old dirt ball out and put in a 90+ Condensing propane furnace with a heat pump. The reason I still have the oil water heater is because I work in the HVAC trade and have been getting free oil thus far from changing systems out for nat. Gas. Once my oil supply dries up I am going to hook a free standing stove up to the chimney currently used by the water heater. I have used harmans since the day I started coal burning with my parents 14 years ago and love the stoves and design. However today I went down to DS machine and took a look at the circulator just because and liked what I saw. BRAND NEW 1575.00 bucks for 1500 circulator (25 bucks more than I paid for my used harman). I think the mark 3 is close to 3 G new. My plans are finish my basement, sell my insert, use the fireplace as a fireplace again and use one of the above stoves to take over heating duties of the house. (1300 sq.ft. Rancher with full basement). Ben at DS thinks the 1500 will be enough and not need the 1600). So all that said. Would you guys give the DS a try or stick with what I know and love(harman)? Also do you think either of those 2 stoves would adequately do the job? Thanks

I should not the upstairs of the house is 1300 sq.ft. So it would have to heat the basement plus upstairs. Stove would be right next to stairway.

Both are good stoves, but I believe the convenience of the hopper feed of the DS (as well as the circulating feature) might spoil you. If it is going into a living area, the Harman has it all over the DS for looks though.

Hello,

It seems as though I've been saying this a lot in the last few days but before you buy a stove do an air flow analysis to make sure the BTUs you buy will get to the areas you want to heat. As I understand your post the stove will be going in the basement.

How do you plan to distribute the heat? What you might find out is that in order to get warmth upstairs you have to run the stove super hot in the basement so that it's uncomfortable for anyone to be in that room for any length of time. How does your floor plan effect the movement of the heat upstairs. Where do the stairs come out at? Will the heat dead end at the top of the stairs? How many corners will the heat have to make to heat the upstairs fully? You can do a simple air flow analysis with some incense. How long does it take the smell to make it to the area furthest from the stove?

You can buy a stove with a million BTU rating but if you can't move the heat to where you need it, it's wasted. Good luck, Lisa

lsayre wrote:Both are good stoves, but I believe the convenience of the hopper feed of the DS (as well as the circulating feature) might spoil you. If it is going into a living area, the Harman has it all over the DS for looks though.

Isayre, How did you steal my exact words?

How about an antique baseburner?

Here are some pictures to help visualize what I've got going on. The steps from the basement go up to my kitchen. My thoughts are if the heat doesn't circulate naturally, I'll have our sheet metal shop build me a hood and I will tie that in to the return on the furnace and rig up some 24v controls to energize the blower relay when the house drops below temperature setpoint, without enabling a call for heat to the furnace or heat pump,

Let's try those two again

As you can see the basement is in major need of an overhaul, however the side where all the mechanicals are is going to primarily stay "unfinished" except for a new ceiling, so having the prettiest coal stove is not a concern.

Having a pretty stove is not a concern............................Then why not buy a D S coal furnace & properly connect it to the existing ductwork ?? The whole house will be better heated,you will have much better control of what the temp is any place in the house. Then you can burn wood in the fireplace or insert just for the pretty look & feel.Why buy a coal stove & try to turn it into a coal furnace,you will never achieve the results that the furnace will give you.

I have thought about the furnace but here are my main concerns with that and most likely why it wont happen. I have central air conditioning (i.e. heat pump) that I want to keep. Its also only a year old. I have never heard of anyone having an air conditioning coil on top of a coal burning furnace and I simply don't think I will have space to do it even if you could put an ac coil on the furnace. Also, as you can see in the pic, I have very limited vertical space. I had a 4" tall piece of duct made to connect the top of the furnace coil to the main supply plenum/ trunk. Secondly, if I ever decide to sell my house, there is probably a <1% chance that anyone is going to want to buy a house with "coal fired forced air heat." I seriously would like a coal furnace and have looked at the DS and Harman but the above are my two main reasons. Also, I know this may offend some coal burners, but there is an off chance that municipal gas is going to be run into my neighborhood in the next year or two. If thats the case, all I have to do is put the parts back in my furnace that I took out to convert it to propane, and I will be heating my house, hot water, cooking, and drying my clothes for about 70 bucks a month in the coldest parts of winter. it would be my luck that I would spend 3 grand on a coal furnace and then two months later they would run gas down my street.

The furnace was a suggestion based on the fact that you have existing hot air ductwork , & the fact that most of those who go the coal stove in the basement then turn around & try to make it a furnace which is plain stupid because even with all the extra fussing you end up with a micky mouse setup. If you go with natural gas,just remember to keep a coal stove near to a chimney to connect when the COOLLDD weather dumps on us & the ng supply line is unable to keep up with the demand . That just happened in Lebanon County in Jan.2014 & in some other states.$70/mon won't make you happy when there is no gas & no heat.

Believe me if my damn ceilings in my basement weren't so low I would put a furnace in also if I didn't want AC I could make a coal furnace fit but with an "A" coil on top I just don't think there is anyway to do it. That's why the old Quiet May oil furnace I ripped out was called a "low boy"

It might be worth your time to stop at D S & just check out their furnace specs for height,etc.,you might be surprised at what would work & the $$ difference between a rigged stove & a full fledged furnace may not be as drastic as you think.

I use a RIB "Relay in a Box" to control a 120V fan. It is hooked up to my air conditioning contact of my thermostat upstairs. As the temperature rises upstairs the fan turns off. The delta t of the cold contacts is like .7 degrees. This is perfect with the slow reaction of the Keystoker90 in the basement family room.