Advice on coal stove setup

Hello, new to the forum, and Coal, and would like thoughts and suggestions to see what type of set up would work for my situation.
About me, 60 years old, and worn out, burned a lot of firewood, and I’m done with it. Located in Northwest New Jersey, about 40 minutes east of the Pocono mountains Appalachian Trail area. Winters here can be very cold and snowy, although last year was warm everywhere in the Northeast.
About the house, Dutch colonial built in 1957. Forced hot air oil heat. House is basically a T shape, has a large great room with 20 foot ceiling, open concept to kitchen and large upstairs loft with garage underneath. Great room has huge fireplace all brick. Two flus, one has jotul box stove, other is a very large fireplace. Doorway in kitchen leads to other side of the home. ranch style, 9 foot ceilings. 2600 ft.² total home. House sided with cedar shake and tarpaper underneath. Not very well insulated, lots of windows. My father-in-law built the house and often told me that a house is supposed to breathe. And breathe she does .
About the proposed set up. I’d like to place coal stove on the hearth and use the fireplace chimney. Chimney is 24 feet high with 18 x 18 terra-cotta lined flu. Chimney is 3 1/2 feet above roofline. Can I run stove pipe up the flue just passed the smoke shelf? Will there be enough draft at that point to pull exhaust up and out? I’ve got steel lined insert for my woodstove, but I’ve read they are not very good for smokeless coal.
Goal.. I would like a hand fired hopper stove. I am leaning towards a hitzer 5093. The people in the know claim they are a very good stove and throws a lot of BTUs. I’ve got ceiling fans in the great room and kitchen. I am wondering if I can heat the whole home, I’m talking 68 to 72°. I don’t like my home too hot.
Is my situation realistic? Or am I just going to have a space heater for the great room end of the house. I have looked into pellet, stoves for that scenario, but I’m not a fan of them. Too noisy and lots of breakdowns. I will try to attach a couple of photos, although I’m computer challenged.
Any and all advice is appreciated…Jeff

I think you should be good to go if the chimney is in good repair.

Just running a short section of pipe v. all the way up ? I think that should be OK if you insulate around it to prevent backflow.

Others may chime in. Draft should not be an issue from the pics.

With my 503 I have a flexible SS stove piping going to top of chimney , 503 shown in my pic avatar

Worst case is you find you need piping up to top. I considered running mine w/o any pipe and just the chimney.

Yes, just a space heater.

Thanks for reply, how far above smoke shelf? 1-2 feet? we are talking about regular black stovepipe that can be used for woodstove? if so it cant be to expensive to run 24 ft of standard pipe , id rather not do it. but i want the safest, easiest way to do this job. dont really have any help ,so id have to pay a helper. as for insulating around it, i take it you mean where the pipe enters the smoke shelf? or at the fireplace damper?

Old Jeff wrote: ↑

Sat. Sep. 16, 2023 2:47 pm

Thanks for reply, <snip> i take it you mean where the pipe enters the smoke shelf? or at the fireplace damper?

I would think either place would be fine but ideally the pipe area. Others may have different ideas...I welcome their views

Will you have to remove your fireplace damper ? Mine got removed during the stove install. I had a pro do the install...was $600 including flexible pipe..a back saver

yes, i was just looking at my damper, you cannot pass a 6 inch pipe through without removing damper. damper is 50 inches long, so im trying to figure out how to remove it? am i understanding correctly that cost included the flex pipe? what kind of liner are you using, this may be worth my while to explore. some folks have said that liners wont hold up to smokeless coal. sure sounds like an easier option than what i had in mind. i thought the liners were very expensive.

Liners are expensive. However you could use a shorter section forced up through the damper. Oblong it a little to go through. Insulate/seal damper with a layer of rock wool.

i will look into the liner, just not sure if i can bend it to fit thru, its titanium,so im guessing its pretty tough. im gonna have to see if im able to remove that damper on my own. have a look see up there! but keeping all options open.

The flex pipe will go through you need to remove the flapper and that’s connected to the handle with a pin you may need to compress the SS flex pipe a little my neighbor did last year when he hocked up his stove to the fireplace. The pipe was around $500’ and it comes with a plate. And cape

You shouldn't need but just enough flex to get it above the smoke shelf/damper if chimney looks decent. Mirror & flashlight to see.

Thanks for replies, had chimney cleaned and inspected years ago, guy said it was in good shape. There are some cobwebs hanging around but I don’t think that’s an issue. It is a poker style damper, handle with pin at top. Once I remove pin, how does the flapper come out? Is it on a hinge , how does it slide out? As for the sleeve, looks like I need a 316 TI. Short piece to get it above smoke shelf, like 10 feet…. Also should I come off back of stove with black stovepipe, maybe have a clean out then run to an elbow and hook the liner up there? reason I’m thinking this is because if I run liner right to stove outlet it’s gonna be easily seen. That stove will sit on the hearth, you’re gonna be able to see behind stove with that large fireplace opening. Not sure if the wife will think it looks unsightly. Thanks for letting me pick your brains guys, appreciate it…… ps. I found a guy has a Hitzer 50-93 , excellent condition, 3 years old. Asking 2 grand, I haven’t seen it in person yet, but if it’s as clean as it looks I think it’s worth 1500 bucks. Thoughts? ……Jeff

https://www.ebay.com/itm/225450347455?hash=item34 ... R_Trrb_UYg

New one ~ $3500 (wow, those prices have gone up since I bought mine ~ my 503 is priced about the same..I got mine for $2300 in 2007). Paid for itself in 2 years (oil prices sky high at time, 4-5 dollars a gallon, and coal price was $300/ton).

You got a 3 yr old 50-93 asking 2K ? A $1500 price would be a good price. Offer cash and removal upon inspection & seller likely would take it. Bring the wifey so she can put it into the vehicle.
Hopper feed is nice. The Hitzer is easy to work on when needed. And replacement parts are not high cost for those consumables of the stove (grates, blower, etc).

After you pull the pin you should be able to pull the handle out then lift the flapper up on a angle and it should slide through the damper How I did my installation I got a piece of concrete board spray painted it black and secured it to the brick and cut a hole through it and matched up to the outlet of the stove and attached hard pipe with a 90’ and used flex from
There up you may want to put a barometric damper in or in line damper to control the draft but a lot guys on this forum have a lot more experience with that

Check facebook marketplace for a short piece of flexible chimney. Its not uncommon for people to have short lengths left from their own project. Ebay has short sections too but thats more of a gamble.

Not to knock on hitzer , but ds machine makes some outstanding products and they are a little south of you in Lancaster pa