What Brand of Stoker Stove is Best

I'm no expert but from what I've seen a heard. The combustion of coal gases is more complete with a stoker that shoves fresh coal up from the bottom of the fire box. The bottom feed system suffer fewer to no hopper fires. An auger feed is less trouble than a "push block" feeder.

Hi,

I am also a new buyer who does not have the first idea about coal stoves. I have heard from a few people that the Leisure Line is a great way to go and seems to have dealers in my area of Northern Maine. Anyone have advise for buying a coal pellet vs a wood pellet? Thanks

bsb wrote:Anyone have advise for buying a coal pellet vs a wood pellet?

If you drive a Prius and are willing to waste money to be cold and hunt for fuel because you feel guilty about everything you ever heard about the environment and MMGW, you will want to go with the pellet stove.
If you want to save money and be warm as toast, go with the coal.

Best advice I can give you.

coaledsweat wrote:

bsb wrote:Anyone have advise for buying a coal pellet vs a wood pellet?

If you drive a Prius and are willing to waste money to be cold and hunt for fuel because you feel guilty about everything you ever heard about the environment and MMGW, you will want to go with the pellet stove.
If you want to save money and be warm as toast, go with the coal.

Best advice I can give you.

Any advise on the rice pellets stoves such as Leisure?

Hello board. I am going to attempt to switch from natural gas to coal with a used but good condition alaska channing II. This will be a project since I have no chimney, futhermore I will have to build a hearth to manufacturing specs. This is a direct vent model. So I will have my work cut out for me. I might very well be the first in my family to use coal when all is said and done. I can't comment on my stove just yet, because it isn't installed. I will be sure to post my thoughts after a month of use.


As for the subject matter of this thread..... I've done alot of research as to what stove gives the best performance. Judging from the many i talk to, here is the list in sequential order.

1) Harmon
2) Keystoker
3) Alaska
4) Leisure Line
5) Reading

Someone mention "Hitzer" as a good company, but I don't know if they make stoker stoves.

Here is the list in sequential order for best economical.

1) Leisure Line
2) Alaska
3) Reading
4) Keystoker
5) Harmon

Here is the list in sequential order for best customer service

1) Leisure Line
2) Keystoker
3) Reading
4) Alaska
5) Harmon


There are many factors when the question asks "what is the BEST?"
I choose the alaska channing II because it is the BEST price I can afford right now. At $950 the price was right for the documented performance. I hope i don't start a debate on what is better than the other. The point is that you've got to go with what fits your most wanted needs.


By the way, Does anyone knows the difference between the channingII VS channingIII? Besides the channingIII being the newer model. Please let me know. I can't wait to get this big sucker up and running. I am so sick and tired of having to deal with a cold room eventhough my therm reads 69 degrees. The house is old and drafty with no insulation with the exception of the attic which is two stories from where the stove is going to be installed.

Coal stoker or not. Why try to heat a building that is so drafty it's equivalent to have a couple of windows open year round? Sealing doors, windows, cranks, seams,electrical outlets and around service entrances is cheaper and more effective than insulation. A few cans of expanding foam and chalking tubes will your halve your heating/cooling bills.
We have companies around here that install a massive fan in a doorway then leak check the house. It's pretty sobering to realize how leaky some houses are and how simple it is to seal things up tighter.

buickanddeere,

I have chaulked, repaired cracks, and foamed everywhere imaginable where needed. I have blow dried plastic sheeting around my windows. Whatever my thermostat displays, it just didn't feel like that temp. I even replaced my thermostat. I honestly feel that my hard plaster walls has something to do with my problem. I think my walls takes deep breaths. On cold days the outside walls are very cold to the touch, and funny thing is that right beneath those walls are my radiant baseboard heat. I got to think that the heat comming from the coal stove will well surpass the heat comming out of my current baseboard heat.

I have an ALASKA Channing III and I am very happy with it. You can control the amount of coal you use. I burn about 40# a day . It is a good solid stove. I am looking to get a boiler next year and will probably will get a Keystocker

[quote="bsb"]Hi,

I am also a new buyer who does not have the first idea about coal stoves. I have heard from a few people that the Leisure Line is a great way to go and seems to have dealers in my area of Northern Maine. Anyone have advise for buying a coal pellet vs a wood pellet? Thanks [/ Wood pellets does not compare to coal,if you like it hot!

stoker wrote:

bsb wrote:Hi,

I am also a new buyer who does not have the first idea about coal stoves. I have heard from a few people that the Leisure Line is a great way to go and seems to have dealers in my area of Northern Maine. Anyone have advise for buying a coal pellet vs a wood pellet? Thanks [/ Wood pellets does not compare to coal,if you like it hot!

Yep........Stick with coal. Coal is not affected by moisture like wood pellets are. Coal produces more btu's, etc.

If you heat your house with a hydronic system, consider installing a coal boiler. It would also produce your domestic hot water all year long if need be.

Can't go wrong with a LL.




Rick

Best for what ?

I have been studying these stokers for a while, and here are some results I found by actually observing and testing some of these stokers :

The best for burning , would be a harman stoker, but that tend to be on the pricey side, super heavy and bulky, I have noticed however, that spare parts ( blower, grates, etc ) tend to be extremely reasonably priced. By the way , looking at the ashes, gives you an idea how well a stoker would burn, ashes coming from a Harman, don't contain too many black particles ( unburnt coal ).

Keystokers units are great if you will be using the stove in a living area, and like to see those flames, Keystokers have the clean glass system, where part of the blown air is redirected at the front glass, and keeps the glass clear for a long long time, the newer Keystokers, have a close to horizontal burning area, where the efficiency of the burn tend to increase, thus they burn as efficient as the Harman , if not better. Keystokers are pricey too !

The older Alaska type stoves, along with the Reading , have the most reliable and simple mechanism, they use a sliding carpet system, and they have no problem burning wet coal, ( harman, Keystokers and others ) use a push bar and may jam with wet coal. Alaska and reading sold too many so you can always find them on Criagslist. It's also extremly easy to service the Alaska type or make few improvements and modifications.

I can not say much about the Leisure lines stoves or the newer Alaska models, since I haven't had any experinces with them.


I hope this would help.

dvc is a great stove. Bought mine 3 years ago, well worth every penny. The dvc heats my entire 2 story house, (down stairs 70-72, upstairs at 68.
Gas heat in winter is never on, burns 4 ton of coal a heating season. not am I saving money on fuel but we now have a house that is toasty all winter.
Buy it you won't be sorry.

GeorgiePorgie wrote:I can not say much about the Leisure lines stoves or the newer Alaska models, since I haven't had any experinces with them.

Then how can you say that Harmans are the best???

Hi Rick:

Please don't cut off my phrases, I said: For burning, the Harmans are best, and I only mention that after observing ashes coming out of various type of stokers, I did not mean in any negative way about the stoves I did not experiment with , I simply haven't come across any Leisure lines stove to look at the ashes contents.


There are pro and cons to every stove, and I am sure Leisure Lines and the New Alaska have many benefits to their design, I simply did not want to give any opinion about something I am not familiar with.

Here is an education piece about the efficiency of burn:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=-dkMAAAAEBAJ

click on read this patent, inventor :George E. Somers

GeorgiePorgie wrote:Hi Rick:

Please don't cut off my phrases, I said: For burning, the Harmans are best, and I only mention that after observing ashes coming out of various type of stokers, I did not mean in any negative way about the stoves I did not experiment with , I simply haven't come across any Leisure lines stove to look at the ashes contents.


There are pro and cons to every stove, and I am sure Leisure Lines and the New Alaska have many benefits to their design, I simply did not want to give any opinion about something I am not familiar with.

Here is an education piece about the efficiency of burn:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=-dkMAAAAEBAJ

click on read this patent, inventor :George E. Somers

Then how can you draw the conclusion that Harmans are the best burning if you haven't tried them all?? Which Harman, magnum or DCV?
You just can't make a broad statement like that unless you have actually tried them all.
So in your opinion, Harmans are the best burning stove.