Leisure Line Ak- 110 or Keystoker Koker?

We currently have a reading coal stove and are displeased. It is capable of 85,000 BTU and has a 760 cfm blower. It is not keeping our 1650 sq ft home up to temperature with these cold winters. We are currently trying to decide between a Leisure Line ak- 110 and a Keystoker koker. The unit will be placed in the basement and hooked to existing duct work for our 2 story home. Any advice that can be offered will be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the forum. I can't help with your question, but you can search both stoves with the search box at the top right. That search is specific to NEPA.

You can also search here: Stoker Coal Furnaces and Stoves Using Anthracite Coal (Hot Air)

Good luck in your search.

Don

The Koker doesn't have a heat jacket like the AK does. So the koker is like a really big stove with a very big blower, and two duct hook ups on it. The Koker would be great if you are looking for a bit more radiant heat in the basement. I don't see a BTU rating on the ak 110, but the koker is 160,000.

Do you have a chimeny or direct vent?

Honestly I think either should heat your home easily.

Brandon and Taylor,

We just put a Koker 160 in our basement this past November, connected to first floor ductwork with heat carrying to second floor. Basement stays in the 70's, and keeping the first floor at 72 was easy. Second floor was 63-66 most of the time, with the exception of the really really cold days in February, but we only sleep up there.

I know nothing about the LL, and I can tell you putting the Koker in was a no-brainer, looking back on the decision. Our house is around 2000 sf, so this would be easy work for the Koker. And we will have burned about 4.5 tons of rice through March.

Ours is direct vent, as we did not have access to a chimney, if that makes a difference for you.

And Olllotj is right, the Koker, while not having a heat jacket, is double-walled, so you get good capture of the heat into the ductwork, and also good radiant heat. In the area where our Koker sits, when it is really cold outside, that part of the basement is around 80-82 degrees. Given that our basement is partially finished, this works well for us, and we actually put floor registers in above the stove to allow heat to get to the first floor that way, too.

And where are you located? Your profile did not say.

We are located in Rome Northeast Pa. It has reached -20 here this winter. We have a chimney and are currently using the fuel oil but do not want to pay the price to refill it. It is more of a backup plan. The basement is unfinished and we are not worried about heating that portion of the house. We used about 4 tons of rice with our Reading stoker from October to February when we finally unhooked it and started using the fuel oil again. On cold days our house would drop to 58 with the Reading. We use the wood stove insert in the living room as a second heating source which has a 4 hour burn time. The reading was obviously not a main heating source. We are looking for that in a new furnace. We enjoy our wood stove but would not like to depend on it to heat our home along with the new furnace.

I would better like to recommend the LL AK with the better hot air jacketing arrangement.

Once the hot air is inside the duct...you control where any/all hot air goes to...don't let the appliance dictate how much heat stays/goes into the basement.

You can have registers in the duct work to open and close to suit your temps down there in the basement. And when it's -20* outside you may prefer some of that basement heat to be upstairs.

Either of these would work. However, the AK110 is a true furnace whereas the Koker is a hybrid stove/furnace. The Koker is the larger of the two, Leisure Line does make the AK220 which is the same as the AK110 but with 2 burners for a total of 220,000 btu's.

If the ak 110 is only 110,000 BTU, I would look for larger.

Here is a list of the true furnaces Keystoker has. Maybe the a-150 is what you're looking for.

Warm Air Furnace
Specifications

Model No. Bonnet Output
B.T.U. Length Height Width
A-80 125,000 66 48 27
A-150 150,000 78 48 30
A-250 250,000 88 54 ½ 36 ¾
A-350 350,000 94 60 41
A-450 450,000 94 66 41

AK180, 'nuff said. You will not be sorry.

Simon,

The AK180 was designed and built for those needing a 6" inch exhaust outlet.

Simon,

The AK180 was designed and built for those needing a 6" inch exhaust outlet.

No, it has a preferred 7" (8" down to 7") outlet but that is a function of btu. I did run it on 6" for this winter without problems, however, I always tell others to follow LL instructions. Still the stove of choice for this application, end of story. See my install posts. LOL. For the life of me I can't fathom why this stove is so overlooked - it's fabulous. It's like my wife, expensive but worth it.

I checked leisure lines web site and cant find anything about a ak 180?

coalnewbie wrote:For the life of me I can't fathom why this stove is so overlooked - it's fabulous

Brandon and Taylor wrote:I checked leisure lines web site and cant find anything about a ak 180?

These two things are probably related!!

I second the thoughts of bigger than 110k BTU's is better and a furnace rather than an adapted stove is the way to go.

I would also suggest to set up it's use of the duct work so the oil burner or coal furnace could be running without having to manually move a damper so the oil burner airflow doesn't back feed into the coal furnace.

Make sure to connect the return side of the ducting so you aren't pulling cold air from teh basement.

I stand corrected about the exhaust, Simon knows what he's talking about.

However, unless the exhaust size is an issue, I would recommend the AK220 instead of the AK180. The difference in cost would be minimal, but the BTU difference is a lot.

The AK 180 is available. Website is under construction. I asked the question in the Leisure Line Forum.: Post by SWPaDon - AK 180 Discontinued?