What Brand of Stoker Stove Is Best

I have a Harman MAGNIFIER 111 this stove is very easy to light and produces plenty of heat for my 1800sqft home keeps @ 72 on a 20degree day on low fire my daily operating costs are about $5.75 per day and I only fill 2 x a day.

captcaper wrote:Why my Super Mag of course...I've finally had a chance to get the new Harman Super Mag Stoker running for 2 weeks. The reason I think it's the best is. I"m impressed with that it channels all the forced hot air upstairs so I don't have extra heat in my work area because the front air openings can be blocked completely with their blocking kit allowing all forced air to transit the duct work from on top of the stove. Also the distribution blower filter's ease of access under the stove and common style filter. Tried and true common blower motors. I have the same one and still running after long NH winters 24/7 til April. The latches and hinges down to the Ash Pan is first rate. Ease of access to all internal parts. Far cry from the Chubby's,Scandian Stoves,Pot Bellys,Parlour types I used to run over the years. Just amazing build design and quality.
Temps have ranged these past weeks from mid 20's to 65 deg.F. This stove idles down to almost nothing but will heat up fast as temps drop outside.
The room sensor is a simple idea and keeps the living area to within a degree 24/7 it seems. No fancy thermostats needed.
It was simple to setup and simple to control. As mentioned in my other posts I'm quite impressed with the build quality and with Harmans customer service. And that they have many many dealers around my state and neighboring states. Haman Corp also answered my 2 emails on questions I had on the probe and the fire brick placement behind the grates in a timely manor.

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Hey,
I'm kicking around the idea of a second stoker in the basement. I've had a Harman DVC 500 for roughly 7-8 years. NO OTHER heat in my 2800 sf colonial. No S#it, my burnham boiler sits in its shipping crate, and 500 gallon steel oil tank sit empty. Never hooked up the hot water baseboard (factory installed, modular home). About 8 years since purchase! Pics available for proof!
I have a few cars in the basement I would like to work on this year, and could use a little heat.
Do you use the out side air option? I always thought this was a HUGE benefit of the DVC 500, which they stopped making.

I do find it funny that Keystoker refers to it's 105K BTU unit as suitable for a "small home". Really?? My "Small Home" is only a bit over 1600 SQ ft (living space) and my Alaska Channing III is a 75K unit, which as many know is more than enough to sweat you out in a NE winter nite.

How "small" is that 105K unit heating LOL!

Not trying to trash Keystoker by any means, but jeeze loueeze...that be alot of BTU 's and perhaps I would have bought one if I thought my 75K unit was inadequate....which is not the case.

Then of course I found my old school Stoker II which has the Tri-burner (and I love) that is rated much lower than the KS-105K but drives me to open the door to my shop on more occasions than I care to list.

Stokers have the ability to run through their entire heat output range. Years ago I bought a Buderus hopper fed 3115 and was told by my dealer that "You can't buy too big of a coal stove". There is some limited truth to that with a hand fed, but that was 33 years ago, also the stove was only about 50000 BTU's as well, typical for a European made product. My new Keystoker 90 is 90,000 BTUS and rarely gets challenged heating 2200 sq feet of an upgraded 60's ranch. Pretty much any single burner stoker will heat a house of 1500 sq ft or less with ease in my opinion.

Nevercold wrote:

captcaper wrote:Why my Super Mag of course...I've finally had a chance to get the new Harman Super Mag Stoker running for 2 weeks. The reason I think it's the best is. I"m impressed with that it channels all the forced hot air upstairs so I don't have extra heat in my work area because the front air openings can be blocked completely with their blocking kit allowing all forced air to transit the duct work from on top of the stove. Also the distribution blower filter's ease of access under the stove and common style filter. Tried and true common blower motors. I have the same one and still running after long NH winters 24/7 til April. The latches and hinges down to the Ash Pan is first rate. Ease of access to all internal parts. Far cry from the Chubby's,Scandian Stoves,Pot Bellys,Parlour types I used to run over the years. Just amazing build design and quality.
Temps have ranged these past weeks from mid 20's to 65 deg.F. This stove idles down to almost nothing but will heat up fast as temps drop outside.
The room sensor is a simple idea and keeps the living area to within a degree 24/7 it seems. No fancy thermostats needed.
It was simple to setup and simple to control. As mentioned in my other posts I'm quite impressed with the build quality and with Harmans customer service. And that they have many many dealers around my state and neighboring states. Haman Corp also answered my 2 emails on questions I had on the probe and the fire brick placement behind the grates in a timely manor.

\
Hey,
I'm kicking around the idea of a second stoker in the basement. I've had a Harman DVC 500 for roughly 7-8 years. NO OTHER heat in my 2800 sf colonial. No S#it, my burnham boiler sits in its shipping crate, and 500 gallon steel oil tank sit empty. Never hooked up the hot water baseboard (factory installed, modular home). About 8 years since purchase! Pics available for proof!
I have a few cars in the basement I would like to work on this year, and could use a little heat.
Do you use the out side air option? I always thought this was a HUGE benefit of the DVC 500, which they stopped making.

No I didn't use the outside air option. Lot's of outside air coming in the cellar thru the beat up doors I have ruined carrying furniture and snow machines brought inside to work on.

2001Sierra wrote:Stokers have the ability to run through their entire heat output range. Years ago I bought a Buderus hopper fed 3115 and was told by my dealer that "You can't buy too big of a coal stove". There is some limited truth to that with a hand fed, but that was 33 years ago, also the stove was only about 50000 BTU's as well, typical for a European made product. My new Keystoker 90 is 90,000 BTUS and rarely gets challenged heating 2200 sq feet of an upgraded 60's ranch. Pretty much any single burner stoker will heat a house of 1500 sq ft or less with ease in my opinion.

I would agree to a point, but would also add that every situation is different. My 1500 sq foot home is heated adequately with my Keystoker 105, but it struggles at times due to low insulation quality in the roof and sidewalls. I have replacement windows which were a tremendous help, but no access internally to roof without ripping walls and ceilings down, so that's a project for another day.

Rick

Greyhound wrote: I would agree to a point, but would also add that every situation is different. My 1500 sq foot home is heated adequately with my Keystoker 105, but it struggles at times due to low insulation quality in the roof and sidewalls. I have replacement windows which were a tremendous help, but no access internally to roof without ripping walls and ceilings down, so that's a project for another day.

Rick

That makes sense. My home was built when the Electric Companies were touting their super cheap prices and easy heat, water etc.

Sometimes the early '80's wanna make me puke when I remember feeling like a complete idiot when my bill was hitting $400 a month in 1995 or so. Yeah whata deal.

Of course now when you take into account I have 6" walls, super well insulated attic and windows ( which were prerequisites of a "ALL ELECTRIC MODERN HOME" yada yada),
my Channing has no issues.

Because of it's size and being a RR, I can pretty much set it and forget it. On occasion (which we all have) I turn it down and/or crank it up...As much as I'd like to be part of Coal-Trol Club, I just can't justify it.

I myself am new to coal I installed a keystoker Koker 160 and could not be happier with it I am little south of you north east of Albany the stove heats my 1800 sq feet house to 73 and keeps it there within 1 to 2 degrees the basement is about 70 degrees I would highly recomend this stove to anyone

Hey Group, I am a newbie from the Southwestern part of NY, close to the PA line. I am new to this forum and having been reading so much. I am disabled and we moved into a house with a high efficiency wood stove. But due to my illness and issues with help, we have decided to go with coal!! I have been researching and looking at the Keystroker 105. Pricey for sure, but want to know if there is something with more bpu output? We live in an old 2,200 sq. ft. farmhouse. Lots of issues with the home. Previous owner neglected it and we are doing our best to do remodeling. Anywhoo, I need a stove on our first floor that I am able to feed and clean. Basement is out of the question for me to do that many stairs. We stayed on just the first floor this year and still froze with the wood heat. Granted I live in the area that broke all kinds of records for being the coldest. What I am asking is what other brands are good for our home? Insulation in basement is non existent at this point but working on that. Also have insulation issues in upper level as well. We have a chimney that we plan to hook up the stove to that is centrally located in the home. We were also thinking of ordering the keystroker 105 with the extra pipe to push heat towards our kitchen area. There is a vent in our ceiling/floor for the upstairs and looking to add a few more. Everyone has told us to keep using the wood and put a pellet stove upstairs. But I am unable to do so, as my husband is only home on weekends and a 5 yr old can't fill it. Not to mention having to keep them dry. Any help and assistance is greatly appreciated.

i burned pellets for 5 years. I will suggest forget about them. I burned 7 tons last winter and house was LUCKY to be 64 degrees. it cost me $1800 to still have a cold house. I have an old home like yours but I have new windows, doors, and insulation in the walls. I expect to be about $1,000 with coal. my advice get the keystoker. look at good used stoves, I bought a 90K keystoker built in 2006 and its awesome. I paid $800 plus delivery and a couple cans of paint. I have been running the stove now for 3 days straight still kind of mild temps in the 30's and low 40's with the cold front. I can tell you that this thing produces a ton of heat and it's turned down quite a bit right now. keystoker makes a great product, I expect this stove to last a long time. personally I think keystoker is among the best

Het guys, If your heating on the main floor, why a stoker?? Look into a big a$$ hitzer 50-93 Half the price & LOTZ of heat. Just a thought.
Jim

i think those are well suited for people that don't have to work. I like the stoker idea. fill the hopper and you have a couple days of heat without having to worry about it 8 hours later. its also pretty easy to control with a wall thermostat

Stokers will go longer between tendings than handfeds, but I really doubt you will get "days" between fillings and emptying when it gets cold out.
Will probably be more like daily. I had a stoker for years and liked it. Switched to a handfed hopper stove when I moved. I like that too..

One of my alasks's holds 100# I only have to tend that once a day in cold weather

I burnt hand fired for 20 years... never again...I'll take a good stoker any day.. on cold days you have to tend it at least once a day... yes..but my stoker keeps the temp in the house at a constant withing 2 degrees no matter what it's doing outside. And no shaking and less tending as well.