Hitzer 30-95 and Coal Burning Questions

Hello, I have been a wood burner for the last 12 years and have just purchased a Hitzer 30-95 w/blower to heat the house with, it will be delivered next week. Our home is a 1100sq ft cape cod w/basement. The stove will be 8 feet from the stairwell and the home is well insullated. Will the stove be sufficient to heat the home? I bought the hard coal with the low ash content. I plan on running the fan on my oil furnace to help circulate the warm air. Can I hook that up to a seperate thermostat to turn the fan off and on and also I would especially like advice about coal burning and how to use the Hitzer stove, it would be greatly appreciated. I have searched and read in the forum over the last 2 weeks and have learned so much-Thanks Guys, I just wanted to expand on what I have read. Advice from experienced people would be a big help. Our goal is to not have the oil furnace not come on at all like it did with the wood burner during the day when it burned down. Thanks again-Bobby

Hi Bob , Congrats on the 30-95 purchase. Very nice little stove. I have both , the 30-95 (Garage) , and the 50-93 (House). I like them both. My house is 1700 foot , well insulated , ranch style , on a full basement. I heat the entire un-insulated basement , in order to heat the house. So , I'm actually heating 3400 square feet. I'm assumeing you are wanting to do the same thing. The 50-93 is rated for heating up to 2500 square feet. On the coldest days of the year , my gas fired furnace will kick on once in a great while. Just long enough to circulate the heat from the coal stove. The combination works very well. It doesn't hurt a thing to leave your furnace fan run 24/7. The only reason I don't is because of fan noise. In comparison , I think you are wanting to do the same thing. Yes , the 30-95 will heat your place at rated output. But , you too will be pushing it , due to actually heating 2200 square feet.

Hi, thanks for the info. When you figure the sq/ft on a home on the stove ratings do you normally include the basement or is that implied? Our installer said not to go with the Hitzer 50-93 because it would be too much stove for the house. He said that for UL listings that stove manufactures always under rate their stoves. Also, I have a 2 wire system on my thermostat for the oil furnace, is there any way to hook up a second thermostat to run the fan to circulate the heat? Thanks again for helping the rookie-Bobby

bobmakita7777 wrote:Hi, thanks for the info. When you figure the sq/ft on a home on the stove ratings do you normally include the basement or is that implied? Our installer said not to go with the Hitzer 50-93 because it would be too much stove for the house. He said that for UL listings that stove manufactures always under rate their stoves. Also, I have a 2 wire system on my thermostat for the oil furnace, is there any way to hook up a second thermostat to run the fan to circulate the heat? Thanks again for helping the rookie-Bobby

Figuring When figuring square footage , you figure the area you are going to heat. And if you are going to put the stove in the basement , and heat the basement in order to heat the up stairs , that means you are heating the basement too , and not just the living quarters. So Yes , the square footage of the basement also has to be included. As far as the fan operation goes , What you want to do can be done. Someone with a better understanding of how to wire it will have to jump in on this post.

Hitzer sells an adjustable fan controller for the blower, called a Rehostat (spelling might be off). You plug that into the wall outlet, and then the blower into the rehostat. It's got a control knob on it so you can set the fans to run where you want them, as opposed to on/off only. As far as wiring the fan right into a thermostat, I'm not sure of what do for that.

Hi, thanks for the advice. Have got the stove running and Love the Hitzer 30-95! We have burned coal but with the warmer weather we have been burning wood-I have 6 cords cut and split. We will switch to coal tomorrow since they are calling for colder temps next week and from all the great advice on the forum daytime highs should be below 55* for coal. When burning wood we open the ash door for 2 minutes and still get some smoke in the room-any suggestions on how to fix this??? Also, our stove is set in front of the fireplace and about 8 ft from the stairs. 1 ft connector to a stainless steel chimney liner. Downstairs 78*, upstairs 74*. Thanks for all the advice-Bobby

".....When burning wood we open the ash door for 2 minutes and still get some smoke in the room-any suggestions on how to fix this??? ....."

I assume this happens when you first start the wood fire? ( If so, you have to make sure you preheat the chimney to get a good draw going. I have occassionaly rushed a small wood fire & gotten smoke in the room becasue I didn't get a nice warm air draft going up the chimney first)

Hi, thanks for the reply. I will try pre-heating the chimney when we next use wood. Started coal last night and as everyone on this forum says, it is great. I was geting smoke in the room even after the stove was going for a while. The therm was at 400* and I still got smoke in the room when opening the front door after opening the damper for a couple minutes. We have 21` of 5" flex stainless liner in the flue put there by a professional installer at his recomendation and we also called Hitzer who told us that the 5" was ok in this app. Our wood has been seasoned for over a year. When we burn coal the draft if fine. We live accross from a golf course and that is also where our wind comes from so there are no obstructions. I do not know if I need to add a baro damper or a draft inducer? Or perhaps my wood is not as dry as I think, sound and weight feel right. One more thing, my wife this morning is now a converted coal burner-we liked the wood, but the coal is so much easier and so much less mess. Thanks-Bobby