readingcoal stoves

am looking into buying the swatara coal stove by reading ,any one have any and all in put on this model / thanx coalfan

Not a lot of users here w/ those Reading Stoves...so not a lot of discussion.

What little has been said was not so promising, click on link for one sample>>> Reading Mahantongo Coal Stove

McGiever wrote:Not a lot of users here w/ those Reading Stoves...so not a lot of discussion.

What little has been said was not so promising, click on link for one sample>>> Reading Mahantongo Coal Stove

That particular model is China built and looks to me as an effort to convert a wood stove of similar construction. It did not work well.

The Swatara model is US built and from having seen it my guess is that it would be very similar in use to The Harman of the same general look. If I liked the look and the price were right I would buy it.

From the Reading web site it looks like a reasonable stove. However, the specs say "6 - 12 hour unattended burn time", which is not good -- maybe it's a misprint??? Most hand-fed coal stoves get a minimum 12 hours unattended burn, otherwise you might as well be burning wood and getting out of bed at 3 AM every night to stoke the stove. Check the dimensions of the area that is lined with firebrick -- that is, how wide/long and HOW DEEP will the coal bed be?

Personally I would not buy another hand-fed stove without a gravity-feed hopper. Have you looked at the Hitzer stoves, models 30-95 and 50-93? Not quite as stylish in appearance as the Swatara, but they have an excellent reputation.

franco b wrote:

McGiever wrote:Not a lot of users here w/ those Reading Stoves...so not a lot of discussion.

What little has been said was not so promising, click on link for one sample>>> Reading Mahantongo Coal Stove

That particular model is China built and looks to me as an effort to convert a wood stove of similar construction. It did not work well.

The Swatara model is US built and from having seen it my guess is that it would be very similar in use to The Harman of the same general look. If I liked the look and the price were right I would buy it.

I agree with Franco... looks like a wood stove to me (and holy ashpans! )

the firebox and grate on the Swatera is very small, thats why the burn time is so short. I like the looks of their stoves but there are much better performers out there, Hitzer, Harman and so on.

Bk

From looking at the pdf for the swartara stove I don't see any way to control secondary air. Looks like it is internally ducted through cast channels?

recieved info on reading swatara and am glad i did thanx all , i had a hitzer years ago and liked it but with all the new tech. out there am not sure what to lean to i hear a lot about the harman and the good reviews any one have any thoughts on the two ? thanx. coalfan

coalfan wrote:recieved info on reading swatara and am glad i did thanx all , i had a hitzer years ago and liked it but with all the new tech. out there am not sure what to lean to i hear a lot about the harman and the good reviews any one have any thoughts on the two ? thanx. coalfan

if u had a hitzer before and liked it why change????? they are great, and i never hear/read about anyone bitching bout em...from what i have read on here i would like to give the D M circulator a try...

my next concern is ,reading coal/blashack/and orany one here in northwest ohio to what you burn and prefer and in what type of stove am trying to do my home work on this so wife dont get mad when i get back into this which her n i both want and to enjoy, oh and also anyone know about pkcc , coal ? thanx to all for the help and info,//coalfan thanx !!!!!!!!!!!

coalfan wrote:... i had a hitzer years ago and liked it but with all the new tech. out there am not sure what to lean to i hear a lot about the harman ...

In new technology there are now fancy expensive automatic stoker stoves made for sissies. I'm not sure there is much new technology for burning coal in hand-fired stoves, in fact some will tell you the antique stoves are better heaters. That's probably true, but the new ones seem simpler, made of steel and welded rather than screwed and cemented together. Harman and Hitzer are both good. I had a Harman and it was excellent quality. But like I said above, I am now a fan of hopper feed, so that would mean Hitzer rather than Harman.

coalfan wrote:my next concern is ,reading coal/blashack/and orany one here in northwest ohio to what you burn and prefer

This is dealer in West Central OHIO:
http://www.champaigncoalandstove.com/pu ... l_ohio.php

coalfan, did you have a look at the Chubby stoves? I was just supposed to buy a Reading stove but... went for a Vermont Castings Vigll then I forgot the Reading stove for ever...After a few years, I forgot the Vigll and went to the Antique stoves world. Take time to read all you can about new/modern stoves and antique stoves...
Good luck.