Pellet stoves (Wind Gap, Gap: credit, to buy, tax credit)

[lialleycat]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

A small stoker which is about the same thing as pellet stove should not have those problems. It's thermostatically controlled just like your pellet stove. Same thing if it were properly sized hand fired stove. Your friends are either firing it too much or have way too big a unit. At most they might run into that issue during the spring and fall when the daytime temperatures might get really high.

Can I really get a coal stove that will do a space as small as I have and not cook my catfish in their tank? Even my little pellet stove is rarely set over a heat setting of 1, and there are many days I wish it had a .5 setting. I'd like the house to be about 68-70.

I think you are right about my friends stove, somehow I think they went too big when choosing their coal stove. It's often in the 80's in their house. Way too hot for me!

[lialleycat]

Originally Posted by DavidWebb

The Harman I have was left to me by the previous owner and was only 2 years old at the time I bought the house...I've never had to call anyone for service...the only servicing it's had is what I give by regular cleaning of the ashbox, vacuuming out the inside, and cleaning of the glass...otherwise it's performed beautifully since Oct. 2007 that I moved in and is currently running as we speak keeping me nice and toasty...if you're having that many problems with yours maybe you should consider getting another one...check with the stove dealers for any used ones that they re-service and offer for good prices...I deal with Cozy Barn located in Wind Gap and they've been very courteous and helpful when I went to them with questions on how to use it...it's also from the previous owner bought it from...I have the papers for the unit and he paid $3600.00 in 2006 for it

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I should get a new one - but I'm planning on selling this house, so for now I'll put another $130 into it to change out the auger motor and will definitely go Harman if I get another pellet stove in my next place!

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by lialleycat

Can I really get a coal stove that will do a space as small as I have and not cook my catfish in their tank? Even my little pellet stove is rarely set over a heat setting of 1, and there are many days I wish it had a .5 setting. I'd like the house to be about 68-70.

What BTU rating is your current unit? Does it have min rating? Are you just heating one room or the whole house? Basement to put it in?

If you want automated the smallest one I know of is the Leisure Line Econo for $2K. It goes from 4500 to 70,000 BTU. It's thermostatically controlled:

Leisure Line Coal Stoves - Automatic Coal Stoker Stove Home Heating Systems
http://www.leisurelinestoves.com/image/17531361_scaled_216x324.jpg (broken link)

For hand fired units Hitzer and a few other companies make smaller units:

Hitzer, Inc. - Wood & Coal Heaters, Gas Logs & Fire Places, Fireplace Inserts (http://www.hitzer.com/heaters.html - broken link)

Then there is the Chubby... LOL. Appears they will start making new ones according to web page. I know they have some used ones available for a few hundred bucks:

Welcome to Chubby coal stove

1 Million BTU boiler for 10,000 sq foot home? They have them too.

[Tankarma]

Wow! great information here. Thanks coolman, ummm coal man. LOL. Our place is 1,450 square feet. The stove is or will be in the living room. It has 2 bedrooms upstairs. There is a ceiling fan in the living room which has a very high cathedral type ceiling. What size do you think we need?

Oh, where can you store pellets. There is a coal thingy outside that they kept the coal in. Can it go in there? Does coal produce a flame that looks like fire burning? Sorry, you can tell I'm amateur on this.

[lialleycat]

Originally Posted by Tankarma

Oh, where can you store pellets. There is a coal thingy outside that they kept the coal in. Can it go in there? Does coal produce a flame that looks like fire burning? Sorry, you can tell I'm amateur on this.

Pellets must be kept dry - so I store mine inside. Coal has a major advantage there - being a rock it can be stored outside until you need it!

If they already had a coal set-up, you might be best going that way.

[lialleycat]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

What BTU rating is your current unit? Does it have min rating? Are you just heating one room or the whole house? Basement to put it in?

If you want automated the smallest one I know of is the Leisure Line Econo for $2K. It goes from 4500 to 70,000 BTU. It's thermostatically controlled:

Leisure Line Coal Stoves - Automatic Coal Stoker Stove Home Heating Systems

I'm not sure of the BTU rating of the current unit, but here's a link to it
25-PDVC Pellet Stove
As I mentioned, I got it at Lowes for $500 on clearance at the end of the season.

I don't have a basement and I'm heating all the house that I use. It's in the SE corner of the living/dining room and I have a corner fan in the upper corner of the hall to blow heat down to the bath and bed rooms. My bedroom has a ceiling fan that I run backwards to draw heat from the hall into the room.

That Econo looks cute. May have too consider that. Depends on what my raise is this year, if we get one. Been talk that we might not.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by Tankarma

Oh, where can you store pellets. There is a coal thingy outside that they kept the coal in. Can it go in there? Does coal produce a flame that looks like fire burning? Sorry, you can tell I'm amateur on this.

As mentioned pellets need to be kept dry, coal can go anywhere including in the rain and right into your stove out of the rain.

Yes of course it produces flame:



That's a lot of coal burning, the small stokers only have really small area lit. Here's the trouble though and it's a problem with just about any appliance like this including the pellets and wood. The glass gets a film on the inside and you get a foggy kind of glow. If you keep after it you can keep it clean but most people just give up and let it go...

A more practical picture would look like this:

[Tankarma]

I'm starting to lean toward the coal. It would be a waste to have that out there and not use it. It sounds like it is cheaper to use coal too. Hmmmmmmmm.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by lialleycat

I'm not sure of the BTU rating of the current unit, but here's a link to it
25-PDVC Pellet Stove
As I mentioned, I got it at Lowes for $500 on clearance at the end of the season.

I can't find any BTU rating, they mention 1500 sq foot which isn't very useful. having said that the Econo is probably about the same thing.

[Tankarma]

How do you clean the coal stove? Every week, day month?