Could you achieve use and function in the Hitzer for a full 24 hour period without touching it (Fred had to tend his twice per day and he is pro)... can you recall how many times per day you went to go touch your manual hopper feed stove?Rob R. wrote:I am not a stove expert, but I did have a few winters to test out a big Heatrola with a round fire pot and later a big squareHitzer. The grate system on the Hitzer was much more rugged and the bi-metallic thermostat held an even stove temperature over a much longer time period. The Hitzer I had wasn't much to look at, but it excelled at producing heat.
I guess one con would be to burn wood during the spring & fall you have to take out and remove that whole hopper monstrocity and find some HUGE closet to stuff it in (I don't see a lot of people doing that so they would simply never burn wood) the other problem I could see with the football field coal bed is you cant maintain a small, slow burn coal fire in it unless you try to make a 1 inch thick coal bed accross the entire football field of the D.C. (so I guess another con may be these are not real good spring/fall coal burners).