Going to buy a stove have a couple of questions

Welp, I will be puchasing a new stove at the end of this season and have a couple of questions. My local dealer here in eastern long Island , NY sells harman and keystoker. My wife dosnt want the stove in the living space so I am interested in the keystoker stove 90 (90,000 btu's) or the koker (160,000 btu's). I would like to place it in the basement and direct the heat into my first floor duct system. Problem is I have a 275 gallon oil tank in the same room. It is the only place I can place it in the basement. Not sure if it wise to place stove in the same room. So my second choice is to place it in the garage. If i place it in the garage I would need to drop the vent for the heat (not the exhaust) below the outlet to go to the basement and into the duct system. I would not need to drop it to far, less then a foot. Is this possible to do? hopefully my explination makes sence.

Also was wondering if the koker is too much for a 2 floor 3,000sq ft house? I would rather have to much heat then not enough.

Thanks in advance Jerry

jeryd wrote: I would like to place it in the basement and direct the heat into my first floor duct system. Problem is I have a 275 gallon oil tank in the same room. It is the only place I can place it in the basement. Not sure if it wise to place stove in the same room.

That shouldn't be a problem, depending on the stoker. Is it a furnace or a stove? The furnaces are insulated, no different than putting in any other furnace. Not sure about the regulations but even if it's a stove sufficient space between the sthe stove and drums should be fine.

So my second choice is to place it in the garage. If i place it in the garage I would need to drop the vent for the heat (not the exhaust) below the outlet to go to the basement and into the duct system.

Actually that's an even better idea, you'll keep the dirt and dust out of the house, not sure if you can duct downawards though. As far as the BTU's that should be plenty. Probably about perfect.

If ducted downwards, I think that there wouldnt be a problem when the thermistat in the house is calling for heat. but when it isnt the blower shuts off and there is risidual heat coming from the stove and into the pipe that is bothering me. I guess i will have to call keystoker to find out.

the brochure says furnace for the koker but nothing of isulation and the 90 is listed as a stove.

My oil tank would be 5 ft from the koker if placed in the basement.

Maybe a constant run fan? A smaller one, maybe you could blow it into the basement, Anything so it's constantly going into the house.

Perhaps someone else can help or talk to a duct guy...

The fan should run uuntil the heat has been blown away from the firebox.
The same as any other furnance.

They do make boiler furnaces, that's an option too. That's what we have. They even have oil/coal combo units. From my understanding they are not very efficient using oil since they are designed primarily for coal but it's a nice feature if you're away from the house fpr extended periods of time in the winter.

Thanks for the replies. I called keystoker and they told me droping the heat vent down will not effect the stove and that I should be fine. They also stated that the stove should be atleast 3ft away from the oil tank.

Jerry--

I tried experimenting with piping 6" round pipe maybe 15' into the cool air return duct on my first floor. It was a simple run with only 3 --90's. I guess I have a total of 50' of square insulated return duct work. I have a Harman SF-250 with 135 cfm fan. The main heating system in my home is dual zone heat pumps. Therefore I have duct work for the 1st floor which is seperate from the 2nd floor.

The experiment failed! I could feel no warm air movement from the 1st floor return vents. Yes, the vents did get warm but no air movement. The Harman fan motor is simply too small to fill the duct work with warm air with any force behind it. I made a change and ran 6" round pipe from the stove directly to a 12" x 24" vent which I cut into the floor 3 years ago when I was using a Mark III. The Mark III does not have the option to connect round pipe to it. I have great air flow into the first floor loosing just enough in the basement to keep it warm. I guess I am saying not to be so sure running round pipe into existing duct is a SURE thing. It wasn't for me. Not enough CFM'S And the SF-250 boasts 120k btu's

Mark (Cap)
Can you post a picture of your setup ? I am trying to design something myself.

Thanks, Eric

Thanks for the reply Cap.

The Keystoker Koker has a 1529 cfm blower on the furnace and 160,000 btu's. I hope it will be powerful enough to blow air into my duct work. If not I will vent it directly into my livingroom.

Eric--

I do plan on posting an image of my stove soon however I am waiting for some new *auxillary equipment* to arrive so I can put it in place. Once I have it set-up the way I want it, I will post a new image under the * images of stoves * thread. You guys are going to be impressed or you will think I am just a little eccentric. But this comes with being a field service tech for 25 years.

For nearly the money that a stove is going to cost you, consider a central heating unit instead. Even if you have duct work, a coal fired stoker boiler can be used. Have a water to air coil installed in your duct work and circulate hot water from the boiler through it. You can use the same boiler to provide all of your domestic hot water also. Look at the Harmon VF3000 stoker. I've been using one for 3 years and it's great. I used a stove for years and had the saem problem all the time. Hot in one area of the home and cool in another. This unit keeps my entire 2500sf home toasty warm.