Stoked Boiler or Hot Air Furnace??

hotblast1357 · Post by **hotblast1357** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 8:23 am

Ok guys and gals I would like some opinions on a dream of mine, right now I have the hotblast hand fed furnace heating the house through ductwork tied into my oil furnace, and I heat the garage with the base burner, the hotblast has treated me well, but have had a stoker in the back of my mind for a while. So I could find a stoker furnace and tie Into my duct work like now, or I could put a boiler in and put a correct size water to air exchanger. Now with a boiler I can see DHW heat easily, then I could put a modine in the garage. The garage is attached to my basement, or what I could do is put the boiler in the garage like stokerdon and let the radiant heat off that heat my garage and run pipe to my heat exchanger In the ductwork in the house... What would be the best bang for my buck?

lzaharis · Post by **lzaharis** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 8:39 am

Depends strictly on your wallet as you could do
it either way.

hotblast1357 · Post by **hotblast1357** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 8:40 am

I'm heating 2100sq ft of house including open basement and about 900sq ft of garage, 2 people currently using DHW with new electric 40 gallon tank.

hotblast1357 · Post by **hotblast1357** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 8:42 am

Well I'm hoping to run across something used on CL or something, just wondering what too look for a boiler or furnace, I'm heating very well right now so it is no rush or anything, just am looking for the convienence of a stoker. I should add that I would be able to set up a coal bin in both places, house and garage, and possibl do a auger feed also.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 9:12 am

The problem with the radiant heat from the boiler heating your garage is this, how do you regulate the temp in your garage ? Install a stoker boiler in your basement (EFM)

run pipes to modine style exchanger in the garage & also install an exchanger in your duct work,heat your DHW,insulate the boiler & control the temp in your basement.The best of everything in heating,But you need a chimney to hook your antique stove to so you can have a WARM room to go to when it is nasty cold outside.

Post by **StokerDon** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 9:29 am

Hotblast,

You are in exactly the same place I was a little over a year ago, mindset wise. I found 2 stoker hot air furnaces, a Keystoker A125 and an Alaska 140 for cheap money. I ended up installing the Alaska in the spot where my Harman handfired furnace sat and selling the Keystoker.

The Alaska worked great! My house was nice and warm, tended it once every 2 or 3 days. I would go down in the basement just to "check on it" a couple times a day. It just did it's thing, no muss, no fuss.

After that, I was diagnosed with "Stoker Maddness". It seems that even though the little Alaska 140 was doing a great job of heating my house, and was the least needy solid fuel burning heater I have ever had, I needed a stoker boiler!

Details in these two threads; Post by StokerDon - Yellow Flame X510 Stoker Boiler, Info?
Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Bottom line,

A stoker hot air furnace is much easier and cheaper to install than a boiler. It will heat your house just fine and possibly use a little less coal then a boiler.

A stoker boiler will heat your house, garage, shed, outhouse, ect... You just plumb boiler water to whatever you need to heat. You will then only have ONE heater to feed. Other advantages are that you can easily heat DHW and your house will not be as "dry" in the winter because you will not have the "scorched air" of a furnace.

Advice; If you can use basic hand tools, get a used but serviceable unit (boiler or furnace) and try it out. If you hunt the internet, you can find one cheap. I see them fairly often, even though I don't need one (Stoker Maddness).

Sending you a PM,

-Don

hotblast1357 · Post by **hotblast1357** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 9:48 am

windyhill4.2 wrote:The problem with the radiant heat from the boiler heating your garage is this, how do you regulate the temp in your garage ? Install a stoker boiler in your basement (EFM) run pipes to modine style exchanger in the garage & also install an exchanger in your duct work,heat your DHW,insulate the boiler & control the temp in your basement.The best of everything in heating,But you need a chimney to hook your antique stove to so you can have a WARM room to go to when it is nasty cold outside.

Oh don't worry I have places to hook that up, either leave it in the garage or put it in the living room. Thanks WH for your response and info, that is one way I've thought of doing it.

hotblast1357 · Post by **hotblast1357** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 9:53 am

Stokerdon, many good points! The garage is good now with the base burner, and I have a hot air duct and return to it so I can assist with the furnace if need be, I think your right with the ease of a furnace install, it would basically be a swap out, the only thing I'm worried abou is how much more coal I will use with a stoker, from what I've seen on here they like there coal. Lol I know every setup is different, but I've followed your threads and noticed 90-100 lb fills per day, that is about twice what I feed my hand fed, now I wouldn't mind sacrificing some coal for the 3-4 day tends with a stoker, but I would have to stay under 60-70 lbs a day or I would be unhappy with it, and I know unfortunately there is no way too tell what I'll go through till I hook it up. But I'm leaning towards a hot air furnace now, the savings on DHW would be questionable with only the two of us using it, it's not a big load.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 10:28 am

A stoker furnace will certainly be a lower cost install & quicker too.Don't judge all stoker coal consumption by those used by stokerdon,that kind is known to like eating coal.Page 51, pictures of your stove thread shows a low cost furnace install.