Hot Blast 1557M or Clayton 1602R, Opinions Please

 
BrantSFGDS
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Post by BrantSFGDS » Sat. Jan. 24, 2015 11:09 pm

Alright, for the money I have to spend and the stoves/furnaces available in my area, I've narrowed my choices down to a 1557 or a 1602. I have a brick home built in the 50's that is 1200 sq ft with an unfinished basement that will be heated as well. I installed an older freestanding stove in the basement last winter with a new 8" class A chimney that has more draft than the Guiness brewery. The stove does great until the temps get into the 20's and then it just isn't enough so I'm wanting to replace it with a furnace. I burn wood and coal and I know that these furnaces are not as efficient as something designed for a single fuel. I can't seem to make up my mind which of these I want so I'm hoping your opinions will help. I know both will be way better than my current set up, I'm mainly concerned that the 1602 may be overkill. What say ye?


 
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McGiever
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Post by McGiever » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 8:16 am

Will bituminous coal be your choice of coal?
I see you are in Kentucky.

You'll want a stove set up to have a good secondary burn to gain heat and reduce smoke/soot output.
Another feature desired would be ease of dealing with ash clinkers on the grates, or even minimizing clinkers being created in the first place.

Have you considered a older used cast iron octopus furnace with the kidney and jacketing?
Have you looked into finding an old Combustioneer or Sokermatic in you area.

 
BrantSFGDS
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Post by BrantSFGDS » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 11:16 am

Thanks for the reply McGiever. I'm only interested in the two furnaces listed. I am currently burning wood and anthracite in my old stove and it works great, it's just not enough when it gets down to 25 or less. I almost pulled the trigger on a Drolet Tundra for wood only but I got scared away from it because the Drolet guy on another forum was pretty adamant that I would have problems with it since I would be adapting it to my 8" chimney. Anyway, I'm down to these two options and I may just have to flip a coin at this point, lol.

 
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Post by McGiever » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 12:45 pm

The larger of the 2...the Clayton, may be a wise choice. You may reduce the size of the Clayton's fire box, if need be, and then still have the larger heat transfer area/size than the smaller Hot Blast. :idea:

Tractor Supply is reducing some prices on their inventory in order to move left over stock out for the season...you may find you can save a few hundred bucks. :idea:

 
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Post by BrantSFGDS » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 1:03 pm

Yessir, I can get the 1557 for a under a grand or the 1602 for 1550.00

 
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Post by Lightning » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 2:27 pm

I've only used the 1557.. but given the choice I might go big and get the 1602. The 1602 seems better built, better shaker design and has bigger blowers. Given 1200 ft to heat and your location it's granted that it's probably too big.

Do you have duct work in place already? Or will it be all new with the install? Don't forget that cold air return to the furnace is just as important as the warm air going to the living space.

 
BrantSFGDS
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Post by BrantSFGDS » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 2:49 pm

Howdy Lightning! I'll be heating the basement and the living space so it will be just under 2400 sq ft total. I have a gas furnace and ductwork already so I plan to connect to the main duct above the A-coil. I would split the outlet with a 1602 and dump part of the heat in the basement. The 1557 has two outlets which would make things easier. My main concern with the 1557 is the rear flue connection, this unit will actually take up more space than the bigger unit and I will have to change some things around to get it in place. The 1602 would sit right where the stove is now and be a straight up connection to my chimney. I guess my main concern with the 1602 is whether or not I can make it work without running us out of the house or if I can reduce the size of the firebox.


 
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Ky Speedracer
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Post by Ky Speedracer » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 3:01 pm

BrantSFGDS wrote:Yessir, I can get the 1557 for a under a grand or the 1602 for 1550.00
I picked up a 1557m a couple of months back. Hooked it up the first week of January. I can honestly say it's been the best money I've spent as an update to my home. I was heating with oil. I will save enough money this year to just about pay for the stove itself.
I am in KY as well and burn only bit. I'm heating about 1650 square feet. I have a 100+ year old bungalow type home and have no problem keeping it the mid to upper 70s. It will keep it in the 80s if you want. I have no problem with 12 to 14 hour burns.
There are a couple of simple modifications that need to made to this stove. Some of them will help you to burn anthracite and some will help you burn bit.
Lightning who posted just before me has documented several of these modifications. I believe there is a link to his post in his signature.
You will need to determine which type of coal you are going to burn though. If you go with bit, an 8" flue pipe is a MUST!
Lightning maybe right about the Clayton being a little better built. But I have not had any issues with mine.

I posted a lot of my installation and experiences when I put mine in. Here's the link " Newbie Burning KY Bit in a Hotblast 1557M "

 
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Post by BrantSFGDS » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 3:42 pm

Hi Ky, thanks for the reply! I might have to get up with you someday and check out your set up. I've been in touch with Lightning quite a bit and read all of his posts. I also saw your post on the coal price topic a few days ago. I had planned to burn bit since that is what I grew up with in Pike County but I don't have a trailer to haul it with yet and 200 miles is a long way to drive with a bed full of coal. I did recently pick up a ton of bagged anthracite for my current set up.

 
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Ky Speedracer
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Post by Ky Speedracer » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 4:47 pm

BrantSFGDS wrote:I had planned to burn bit since that is what I grew up with in Pike County but I don't have a trailer to haul it with yet and 200 miles is a long way to drive with a bed full of coal.
Pike County!? Nice! Aren't you right in the heart of Eastern KY bit?
They're only a couple of things that I did different that seem to work well with burning bit than Lightning did for anthracite. First, I only blocked the front liner instead of both liners. In the 1557 there is only a very small area in the rear liner for the air to bypass and the bit really seems to like that warm air coming up from the bottom. Also, this is a modification that I just made a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about it in my thread but haven't expanded or updated it recently. What I did was to double line the fire-brick. I bought 12 more bricks, slid the first row all the way back from the grates to fire-box and just put another row in there. It just makes it two layers instead of one.
There are two things this has helped with; first - it helps tremendously with clearing ash. The powdery bit ash would really pile up and pack on the ledge between the grate and the fire brick and was a challenge to thoroughly clean out. Now the ash falls right out and with a quick scrape down with a poker it's almost all gone. Two - this narrows the "V" shape of the fire box. Previously if I filled the fire box to the top of the fire-brick with bit, I would get a really hot fire at first. Not uncommon to get over 700 degrees in the firebox. It would be hard to slow it down and safely avoid any puff-backs. With adding the additional row of bricks, it allows me to load less and still deep. Makes it much easier to keep the new fire in the 550 range and it seems to hold the temp quite a bit longer.
Lightning had made a comment about the fire brick insulating the stove from the transfer of heat. Initially I think this does seem to slow that transfer down but after it burns for a day or so I think it seems to do the opposite. It seems to hold heat in longer and keeps the fire longer...if that makes sense.
Good luck if you're ever close to the 'Ville and we can try and hook up.

 
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Post by BrantSFGDS » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 6:05 pm

I live in Frankfort now and get to Louisville quite a bit. I like the idea of doubling the bricks, that might be a way to reduce the size of the 1602. Seems like I read something about a guy that totally filled in the back 1/3 of the firebox of his furnace to cut back on the amount of whatever it was he was burning.

 
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Ky Speedracer
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Post by Ky Speedracer » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 6:16 pm

I get my bit coal from a guy just off of I-71 a little north of Lagrange in Sligo. I know he delivers to Shelbyville. I'm sure he'd deliver to Frankfort. Seems to be a nice guy and honest. He makes a trip once or twice a week to eastern KY to pick up a load and brings it back to sell it. My last load was$180 a ton. It's good stuff.
Let me know if you want his number.

 
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Post by BrantSFGDS » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 8:18 pm

Heck yeah! I wish I knew about him back in December, lol.

 
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Post by BrantSFGDS » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 7:06 am

Have any of you looked at both the 1500 and the 1557? I haven't decided to go that route yet but I can get a better deal on a 1500 and I was curious if there is any difference between them other than the feed door.

 
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Ky Speedracer
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Post by Ky Speedracer » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 12:08 pm

BrantSFGDS wrote:Have any of you looked at both the 1500 and the 1557? I haven't decided to go that route yet but I can get a better deal on a 1500 and I was curious if there is any difference between them other than the feed door.
I have friend that took an add from Rual King for a HB 1500 at $999 to Tractor Supply and ask them to match the price and sell him the 1557M for $999. They did it.
I'm not sure what the difference is in the two stoves but they knocked off $400 to match the price.


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