Recommend me a stove

I am in the market for a hand fired stove. I live in a cape cod in Northern Lancaster County Pa. I find myself in the Mt Carmel area time to time, so I am familiar with some of the coal suppliers. I grew up burning wood, so I am familar with stoves. I currently maintain my grandfathers decades old Harman coal stove, so I am familiar with burning coal. My home has a 750 sq ft basement, main floor, and 375 sp ft second story, built in the 50's, replacement windows, and semi insulated. My home was build and designed to be heated with a coal stove. They traded coal for oil heat some time ago. I installed a heat pump a few years back and used my oil as supplimental heat. My tanks will be empty this year and instead of spending the money to fill them I plan to buy a coal stove to suppliment my heat pump. A blower and water jacket would be nice to have on the stove. I was looking pretty hard at the Harman Magnafire Mark II, but have heard mixed reviews on Harman as a company. The members on this site have way more knowledge on the subject than I do so I am open to suggestions, and appreciate your time.

The negatives you hear are about the customer service of the parent company. They insist you use a Harman dealer for all service. Many in here are do it your selfers and hate that. They make a fine stove. I don't know if Leisure Line makes one with a water jacket but Flyer5 is the owner and I am sure he will weigh in if he can recommend one.

Kevin

Flydelsolsi welcome,I was at a harmon dealer to buy rope gasket and that was the first time I saw a Harmon Magnafire Mark I,II,and III I must say that those are some badass stoves real heavy duty and look well made but I have a Hitzer it"s a heavy stove to and would not hesitate to get another one.I don"t think you will go wrong with either stove make just get what's right for you and I have not heard much on Baker stoves but a hand fired stove pushing 700# must be a beast!Take care Keepaeyeonit

Ok sounds like you are going to put the stove in the basement and you want to heat about 18 - 1900 sqft. Hitzer 50-93 w/fan and w/water coil 100,000 btu, DS 1600 w/water coil 120,000 btu no fan offered. I am heating 100% with a 50-93 24 to 2500sqft and loving it. Hopper is a must.

I am northern lancaster county as well. I'm in denver where are you at? If you want to see a DS in action send me a PM


Eric

Thank you for all the quick responses. I have been on the site reading for a couple years, but I just had to sign up now to post. Yes the stove would be in the basement. Originally I considered a stoker, but since it will be mainly be used along with my heat pump and I wont be depending on it, I would prefer the freedom a hand fired gives you. Eric, I was hoping to hear from you at some point as well. I am actually in the Denver area as well, its a small world. I appreciate everyones help and after work tomorrow will be spending some more time researching what everyone has offered. I appreciate all the help I can get since I will have to live with whatever I get for a long time.

Having a hopper and thermostat in the stove is a real advantage in terms of ease of use.

flydelsolsi,

With a new auto, we don't think of calling or taking it to the manufacturer for service. We use the auto dealership. Same thing with Harman. You could do that years ago when Mr Harman owned and operated the company but not now. There really isn't much that can break on a Harman hand fired stove anyway. I know of two where the shaker handle broke but any welder can fix that. I have mine bent a little. Rock in the coal getting stuck in the grates. About eight years ago I had to replace the fan on my 'decades old stove'. What model does your grandfather have?

Ray

I cant speak of Harman's customer service. They make a good product. The reps I have met have been nice. Dane is a great guy and extremely intelligent, I enjoy every time I run into him at a show and get to speak to him. I always walk away smarter. The current stoves are still his ideas and are terrific. I would not be afraid of anything they make. ( that we don't )
We do not make any hand fired stoves yet.

Another great product is the Hitzer, great people very involved in there business and very high on the customer satisfaction list.

I have no direct personal experience with DS machines. But they seem to have a great product as well from talk around the industry.

Basically anything you go with from the major players you will be satisfied. Shop for what grabs you attention and price range and decide what you want it to do. Stay away from the box store stuff. Good for short term is my understanding.
Dave

Three Labs wrote:flydelsolsi,

With a new auto, we don't think of calling or taking it to the manufacturer for service. We use the auto dealership. Same thing with Harman. You could do that years ago when Mr Harman owned and operated the company but not now. There really isn't much that can break on a Harman hand fired stove anyway. I know of two where the shaker handle broke but any welder can fix that. I have mine bent a little. Rock in the coal getting stuck in the grates. About eight years ago I had to replace the fan on my 'decades old stove'. What model does your grandfather have?

Ray

We also try to get the dealers to answer all service and trouble calls. but we also don't want the customer to be neglected because we may not have done our job in getting them the training. So we do take the calls and are happy to help when ever we can . But some days we get overwhelmed so some days I can understand Harman's stance.