What Stove

Iam new to this but Iam preparing to purchase a stove. Does anyone have any comments on a Baker, Alaskan or a the new vermont castings stove ? I would like one with a blower on it. My house is a 2100 sq ft ranch, the stove will be placed in the living room. My wife has concerns are they dirty, do they give of an odor ? Any help would be great, Thanks Tommy Also do they make a boiler that would heat water, that can be utilized with a super store water tank. I would consider replacing my oil fired boiler with such a product.

Do some research on here, there are many brands that people use and are very happy with. (Keystoker, Leisure Line, etc...), If you already have a boiler (gas, oil, etc..) why not just add a coil fired boiler in "parallel" with your existing boiler. Then, no mess in the living room....might a be a bit more in price, You can also get them with the hot water coils also. It would function just like your current boiler, but you just have to add coal and empty the ashes.

As for smell, if everything is functioning properly, there should not be a smell, unless you open the door for any reason. you might get a faint sulpher smell. Sometimes, the coal comes wet, and it might have a slight smell to it.

The Vermont castings coal stove at 50,000 BTU may be a little undersized for your 2100sq ft home.

You have to figure out if you want a Hand Fired stove (like a wood stove) you have to tend to every 10-12 hours, or an Automatic Stoker Type stove. You just have to fill the coal and empty the ashes.....You can get stoker stoves in just about any BTU output from 60K to 180K BTU's.

why not consider a boiler unit added on to you existing boiler.great heat through out you whole house and any concerns of the misses's are isolated to boiler area and easily dealt with.

WNY wrote:You have to figure out if you want a Hand Fired stove (like a wood stove) you have to tend to every 10-12 hours, or an Automatic Stoker Type stove. You just have to fill the coal and empty the ashes.....You can get stoker stoves in just about any BTU output from 60K to 180K BTU's.

Keep in mind, a hand fired stove requires no electricity to operate ( is thus silent, costs nothing to run & will work fine during power failures) is less expensive to buy, has very few moving parts to break, burns almost any size coaL & is really just a little less convenient than a stoker. (I shake mine down once a day, but I do add a few shovels full of coal from time to time to keep a nice fresh bed of coal)
My plug for hand fired stoves!