Keystoker HFH90

kodadog · Post by **kodadog** » Wed. Jan. 31, 2018 6:41 pm

Hello everyone,
I've been reading on this forum for awhile and finally joined. We have a house we just purchased that has fuel oil boiler. After a lot of reading and research I'm seriously considering the Keystoker HFH90. Our house tends to have occasional power outages and our work schedules sometimes cause us not to be home for 24 hrs at a time. The oil boiler will remain for reasons of emergencies. I originally thought of coal boiler in series , but there is not enough room in the back boiler room for both and the expense is a major factor. Will I be able to idle this stove on low to cover 24hrs occasionally without tending and the oil will kick in once in awhile to help but not be in full use to save some money? Any other ideas for this situation? Thanks for your time

Post by **Rob R.** » Wed. Jan. 31, 2018 7:56 pm

Welcome.

Yes, you should be able to run that stove for 24 hours without intervention. Even if running the stove at a moderate output level is not enough to keep the house cozy, it will still assist the oil unit and save you money.

Do you have a feel for how much heating oil you will use per winter? (without the coal stove).

kodadog · Post by **kodadog** » Wed. Jan. 31, 2018 8:03 pm

Thank you for the reply,
I'm hoping this stove will save us a lot of cash. Heating oil is above $3 here now and 4-7 gallons a day is intolerable. The house with boiler room is 1250 sq ft. Crawlspace, no basement. I've never used a coal stove, but a friend of mine heats a 2700sq ft house with one on 4-5 ton which is remarkable in my eyes. Natural gas company wanted $19k to extend the main line 850ft to the house. Just stupid expensive.

2001Sierra · Post by **2001Sierra** » Wed. Jan. 31, 2018 9:50 pm

Once you get going that stove should easily heat 1250 sq ft. If you have trouble moving air throughout the house research solutions here, and save yourself the trouble many of us have solved before this forum.

kodadog · Post by **kodadog** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 6:10 am

Thank you. Good to know. I can't wait to get the stove and enjoy the quiet heat. I did pick up a thru-wall fan to push the heat to the boiler room since it's pretty much closed off from the main house. Hopefully keep the water lines from freezing out there.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 6:28 am

kodadog wrote: ↑
Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 6:10 am
Thank you. Good to know. I can't wait to get the stove and enjoy the quiet heat. I did pick up a thru-wall fan to push the heat to the boiler room since it's pretty much closed off from the main house. Hopefully keep the water lines from freezing out there.

You can't push heat into that room unless the cold air can come back to the room where the heat is coming from.

warminmn · Post by **warminmn** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 7:49 am

What Windy said. Ive been there, done that, or should I say tried to do that. Heat will not enter a dead space with one small entrance.

As crazy as it may or may not sound you are better off pushing cold air towards the stove instead of trying to push hot air from the stove. You will need a couple holes, top and bottom, to get air in there.

kodadog · Post by **kodadog** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 8:15 am

Thank you for the replies. I'll add a wall register return vent further down the wall and possibly reverse the fan to bring the cold air in to the stove and let the warm air filter in that room through vent?

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 9:01 am

Install the fan low & pull cold air from the room,the warm air will flow into the room thru the top vent hole.

kodadog · Post by **kodadog** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 10:03 am

Great. Thank you

kodadog · Post by **kodadog** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 1:53 pm

Realistically how long should I expect this stove to last me? This is our last house purchase through retirement and on. (at least it better be)

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 1:58 pm

kodadog wrote: ↑
Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 1:53 pm
Realistically how long should I expect this stove to last me? This is our last house purchase through retirement and on. (at least it better be)

Don't overheat it & expect it to out live you.

warminmn · Post by **warminmn** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 2:23 pm

And with oil backup there is no reason to have to overheat it. Just find its sweet spot (temp it runs/heats at best) and let it do its thing. Very pretty stoves too, just my personal opinion.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 2:45 pm

warminmn wrote: ↑
Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 2:23 pm
And with oil backup there is no reason to have to overheat it. Just find its sweet spot (temp it runs/heats at best) and let it do its thing. Very pretty stoves too, just my personal opinion.

I have yet to see a prettier stove.

kodadog · Post by **kodadog** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 3:06 pm

Thank you. Yeah I had to pick one my wife would like the looks of and not make faces every time she sees it. She's excited to pick a color to fit the house and of course be warm. Good to know on the life of it. I hated the pellet stoves I've had in the past. The only one I liked was an older corn stove but like oil too expensive.