Furnace

I am thinking of replacing my propane furnace with a coal furnace. I am currently using a mark II on the hearth of my fireplace but my wife would really like to be able to use the fireplace. I have been looking at keystoker but their website is not that great. What is the difference between the A-## and the koker?

Do they make a handfired furnace or are they alll stokers?

Anybody have any other suggestions on good coal furnaces, hand fired or stoker? I'm heating 2500sq ft. in the coldest part of Vermont.

Thanks,

Bill.

EFM is making there hot air furnace again.

http://www.efmheating.com/stokerfiredfurnace.html

I'll leave the Keystoker answers to the experts here.

I had existing FHA oil fired system so the Alaska 140 was a great fit.

1400 sq ft upstairs and 2k total area if you include the basement. 85k BTU single feeder, works great, love it.

As you are probably aware, finding a new stove for this season will be a challenge especially if you are just starting to shop now.

Good luck and post pictures of the set up.

I would just hook the Coal Furnace in parallel with your existing one, and use the existing duct work. Most are Stoker Fed "Furnaces" By Keystoker or Alaska 140 and can be adapted to most existing systems. If the coal fire goes out, you still have your existing as a backup.

The A-XXX from Keystoker ARE furnace type equipment, the Koker is kinda of a split between a stove and furnace, but many on here have the Koker and really like it, it can be hooked to existing ducts and has a larger blower than most stoves (1500 cfm vs. 300-500 CFM for most stand alone stoves).

Other types of stoves would require a Heat Jacket and additional blower, either from an existing furnace or an inline blower.

To answer your question about a handfired furnace.. yes there are handfired furnaces.. and they in general are a real pain for their owners to opperate and control the heat output..

I HIGHLY recommend a stoker furnace.. even though it will have to burn a different size coal than your current stove..

WNY's recomendation is on target. A good quality stoker furnace ducted in parallel is a great way to heat your house..

Greg L

joespond wrote:I have been looking at keystoker but their website is not that great.

Yea, their website isn't very flashy. But don't be put off by that. Their furnaces and boilers are very nice. Keep the gas furnace as backup or for when you go away or sell the house. Add the coal unit. I'm a big believer in boilers. More efficient and you get domestic hot water as a bonus. You'd need a water to air heat exchanger.

Thanks for the advice. My new concern is that I only have a 6" flue in the basement, and I think most of the furnaces have an 8" outlet. I may have to go back to my Elite Insert idea, since the wife isn't to psyched about the Mark II on the hearth. It works well, but ain't a thing of beauty.

I also don't understand how the coal furnace gets connected in parallel to the propane furnace. Don't you wind up blasting hot air into the plenum of the other unit?

Is there some automatic baffle or something?

Bill.

Yes, you may have to put in a back draft damper so you are moving the air the wrong way into the plenum(s), that would close off when one or the other is running. SOME, however, plumb the stove into the Cold air return and just use the existing furnace blower to suck the heat from the coal stove/furnace. That could be an option.

Or depending on how you can get to the ducts, maybe just hook a couple of them up to get the warm air upstairs. A lot of options to explore, depending on where/how your current furnace is hooked up.

Check, I thought most coal appliances have a 6" exhaust depending on the BTU output. the larger ones may have 8", but depending on your draft, you "might" be able to adapt it down to 6".