Recommendations on New Furnace

I am considering a new furnace for my home. Little background info. first.
I have a 20 yr. old split level home in NW Ohio with approx. 2000 sq. ft. living area.
Primary heating and cooling is Heat Pump with Johnson 7900 add-on wood/coal burner.
I have been able to heat my home with approx. 4 cords of firewood per season with heat pump turned off.
The wood burner is connected into my ductwork with one blower motor on the wood burner.
The wood burner has served its purpose so it is time to replace.
I originally thought the corn/ wood pellet furnace would be best but after finding this forum I am leaning toward a coal furnace. I have found a local source for anthracite coal and now if I can convince the wife that coal is not as dirty as it was 30 yrs. ago, I think I can pull this off.
I have researched the Alaska 140 auger feed furnace and think this might work for me.
Questions?
Is this my best option?
What other furnaces should I look at?
Will this keep my house too warm? (normal is 66-70 degrees)
Thanks for any assistance/comments.

Ohiocoal wrote:I am considering a new furnace for my home. Little background info. first.
I have a 20 yr. old split level home in NW Ohio with approx. 2000 sq. ft. living area.
Primary heating and cooling is Heat Pump with Johnson 7900 add-on wood/coal burner.
I have been able to heat my home with approx. 4 cords of firewood per season with heat pump turned off.
The wood burner is connected into my ductwork with one blower motor on the wood burner.
The wood burner has served its purpose so it is time to replace.
I originally thought the corn/ wood pellet furnace would be best but after finding this forum I am leaning toward a coal furnace. I have found a local source for anthracite coal and now if I can convince the wife that coal is not as dirty as it was 30 yrs. ago, I think I can pull this off.
I have researched the Alaska 140 auger feed furnace and think this might work for me.
Questions?
Is this my best option?
What other furnaces should I look at?
Will this keep my house too warm? (normal is 66-70 degrees)
Thanks for any assistance/comments.

Hi there,

I have a 30 year old split level about your size & I heat the entire place with a hand-fired coalstove in my basement family room in Massachusetts. I burn about 2 tons of coal a year & just use my gas furnace very rarely to dump some heat quickly. (maybe a total of 10 minutes run this winter!) If your heat pump still works, for alot less money than a furnace you could look at just a stove to heat your place & still have your heat pump for back-up/quick heat surge.
Just a thought, but either way you be glad switching from wood to coal

Hi ohiocoal,
You could consider Newmac. http://www.newmac.com They do not make a stoker model, but if you are happy with twice a day stoking as with wood then they will do a good job. I run a GAO addon. They also sell oil/gas and coal combos and a coil boiler...all hand fired.

Keystoker has a few models of Furnaces and the KOKER which a few members on here have, they all see to work well.

A Liesure Line Hyfire I or II can be adapated (Hot air jacket) into plenums or ducted upstairs.

I would not recommend any form of a furnace, especially when you have concerns about making your house too warm. The problem with coal furnaces is that the fire cannot be turned up and down in short controlled cycles... if your thermostat calls for heat, the stoker increase the fire which will increase the heat output of the furnace.. but once the thremostat is satisfied, the fire doesn't just 'turn off'. There will be continued heat from the fire, and if this heat is excessive, it must be dumped into the house or you overheat the furnace. You cannot 'store' heat with a furnace.

I would certainly NEVER recommend a combo oil/wood/coal furnace or boiler... Anything designed to burn multiple fuels has to make compromises in the design to make the unit capable of burning the different fuels.. The firebox design for a wood/oil furnace or boiler is very different from that designed for correctly and easily burning coal.. I highly recommend staying away from them if you plan on burning coal as the primary fuel.. Coal is just too fussy and frustrating if burnt in a firebox designed to burn wood... But burn coal in a designed for coal firebox/grate system... that's a dream.

The best setup for a forced air heat system is to install a small coal fired boiler, and use a water-to-air heat exchanger in the ductwork to tranfer the heat to the ducts and to the house... With a coal boiler, once the thermostat is satisfied, the water in the boiler will continue to absorb and store any excess heat from the coal fire as the fire burns down to an idle, waiting for the next call for heat. There a many forum members who use a system like this.. it works very well, and also provides all your domestic hot water.

The suggestion of a centrally located coal stove, providing suplemental heat for most of the house with your current system for backup is probably the easiest, least expensive way to get started saving on your heat bill. And you very well may find this setup to your liking... Having a central stove that provides heat for the house as well as a warm central place to enjoy some radiant heat from the stove is a very nice side benefit.

Hope this helps... Where in NW Ohio are you??? Is your coal source Dennis' Farms? They are west of Toledo by ~25 miles.

Greg L

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I have to agree with Greg on this.

Thanks for the input, now I am having to rethink my situation.
The room where my present wood burner and HP is located is in the basement area with a door between that and the living area. I sometimes open this door, temps below 0, to get radiant heat off the W/B as the blower usually runs 24/7.There is warm air, although not much volume coming out of the registers located throughout the house. I am beginning to think I am getting more radiant heat from the W/B than actual forced air.Now for the questions.
What is a good choice for a boiler if I go that route? Also, does it need to be on year round for domestic water purposes?
Can I go with a stove and some type of blower that I can regulate the speed and control the heat? ( turn on/off)
I can see the problems with a combo furnace/boiler but I thought I could have the best of all worlds.
LsFarms, I can get bagged anthracite coal for $275/ton @ a supplier 30 miles away. I know bulk would be cheaper, but I would have a storage problem.
I am located 50 miles south of Toledo.
Thanks for all your help, looking forward to more replys.

Ohio Coal, check your PM's

Yes you can get a stoker stove with either hand-controled reostats for the fan and hand controls to vary the stoker unit and therefore the fire size and heat output.

Or, you can get a stoker with a digital stove control unit that controls the fan speeds, and the stoker unit automaticly. The automatic digital controller is called a Coal Trol.. They can be adapted to various brands and Makes of stoker stoves.

The Stoker stove that is sold with a Coal Trol from the factory are the Leisure Line stoves. If you look under the "board Index' you will see the 'manufacturer's forum' In there are the factory reps for both Leisure Line and Coal Trol... Go to their websites, give the folks a call, most if not all the Leisure Line customers with the Coal Trol unit absolutely love them.
And there are many other stoker stove owners that have added a Coal Trol to their stoves with very good results.

Spend an evening or two reading on this forum, you will get a much broader view about stoves and controling them.

Greg L

The nice thing about using the boiler is that you can run the blower slow and continuous. That will provide a more comfortable even heat than a furnace that starts and stops all the time.

If you are heating that well with only 4 cords of wood per winter I would not change a thing.
I have a coal and a pellet stove. The Pellet stove will cost twice as much to run as a coal stove
and corn is out of the question because of the cost and its being used for ethanol production now.
Coal is cheap and effecient but dirty compared to wood or pellets.

Will

LsFarm wrote:The Stoker stove that is sold with a Coal Trol from the factory are the Leisure Line stoves.

Quick correction, Keystoker stoves and furnaces can also be ordered from the factory with Coal-trol on them.

Sounds like you have existing FHA supply and cold air return ducts? I'd recommend a coal furnace in a heartbeat. I've had outstanding luck with my Keystoker Koker; but, there are other brands out there which perform really well too. Having a reputable dealer within reasonable distance is a big factor to consider too. I'd check out the Keystoker Koker, Alaska 140, or Leisure Line Hyfire I or II with hot air jacket solution. I personally like the Koker---built like a tank, with "industrial strength" controls, fans, etc. And being a stoker, with a little bit of trial and error, you can set the BTU output to meet your needs. With a COAL-TROL setup (which I don't have...) you can dial in your exact heat requirements with the latest Keystoker and Leisure Line units.

Don't even consider wood pellets. They are a joke; unless, you have a mega cheap supply. Pellets only have 1/2 the stored BTU content with respect to antracite coal (roughly 13 million BTUs/ton versus 26 million BTUs/ton). Once pellets get wet 'yer done too. You can store coal outside, that doesn't even phase coal. I often burn wet coal in my Koker---the coal actually dries in the hopper before it burns...

Being an experienced wood burner, you're gonna love coal. Wood sucks. End of conversation. Nothing else to say. After burning coal for my first year there's no comparison---especially with a thermostat controlled "girly man" stoker! Even if I owned significant acreage of wood, I'd cut the dang stuff down and sell it to buy coal.

Oh, with respect to your wife's concern about coal being dirty: burning coal is WAY cleaner than burning wood. You may want to consider a metal case shop-vac with dry wall filter to clean up ashes when servicing the stove/furnace. That's what I've been using and it makes my daily furnace servicing chore a breeze!

Good luck on your search for a new and improved solid fuel system.

Thanks, watkinsdr, those are the three main brands I have looked at.
Have to go out and look at them in action as there is a Alaska and Keystoker dealer 30 minutes away.
Talked to him the other day and he seemed quite knowledgable. I need someone to install b\c I have no clue as far as HVAC goes. That is the only concern about Leisureline is they do not have a dealer in Ohio at the present time.
Need to find Good HVAC person locally.
This site is great so I can seem somewhat knowledgable when I go to the dealer.
Anyone else have any input, fire away.
Thanks again.

I don't know how your existing ducting is configured; but, I recommend checking out the following diagram at Leisure Line's web site:

http://www.leisurelinestoves.com/1904137.html

This is by far the easiest and most effective way to plumb in a stove/furnace to augment an existing FHA system.

If you don't have an existing furnace with a convection hot air blower, the Koker has a pretty beefy convection blower built in, rated at 1530 CFM.

The only drawback I'm aware of with the Alaska 140 is the smaller coal hopper size. The Koker holds 240 lbs. The Alaska holds significantly less. My dealer recommended the Koker to me specifically on hopper capacity size; and, on a cold day with the wind blowing, you'll be glad to have that extra capacity.

Plumbing a furnace into you existing system isn't too difficult. Actually, if you're a serious "handy man" all the materials are available at any Home Depot/Lowe's. If you prefer a "professional" installation, your dealer should be able to hook you up with a reputable HVAC ducting installer. As site moderator Greg pointed out to me, with the current slow down in new home construction, finding a reasonably priced HVAC guy who can bend/fabricate the sheet metal duct work for you should be easier today than it has been in serveral years.

Go coal. You'll be glad you did.

Ohiocoal wrote: and now if I can convince the wife that coal is not as dirty as it was 30 yrs. ago, I think I can pull this off.

I strongly suggest you call Blaschak coal http://www.blaschakcoal.com and ask to speak only to the sales manager; Jack S. and have your wife listen to the conversation. Tell Jack about your wife's concern (and that she is listening) and ask him to describe how they clean the coal and where it is stored; prior to being bagged. Then ask him if customers ever call, about their coal being dirty or dusty. I can almost guarantee that your wife will be so impressed and content; that she will give you the go ahead. You both will enjoy speaking to him about coal and heating with coal; as I did.