What's the Best Stoker IYO

tight-group · Post by **tight-group** » Sun. Jun. 15, 2008 4:33 pm

Just wondering what you would choose for a furnace application
and why with 150K being the minimum also the aprox cost new .

Post by **Richard S.** » Sun. Jun. 15, 2008 4:56 pm

Van-Wert but since they don't make them anymore I'd have to go with EFM. The auger feed is the big selling point there.

Keystoker has coal only boilers listed at 85,000 BTU on their website unless they don't make them anymore?

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LsFarm · Post by **LsFarm** » Sun. Jun. 15, 2008 4:58 pm

Furnace or boiler??? heating air or water??

Just to make sure we are using the right nomenclature... do you mean a hot-air furnace.. or a hot water [or steam] boiler???

For a Furnace,, the choices are few,,Keystoker and Harman.. and non of them are 150K btu, [that I remember] but come close..

For a boiler, your choices are several,, EFM, Keystoker, AHS, AxemanAnderson, Harman and a few more..

If you are looking for a forced hot air unit,, a Furnace,, the best way to accomplish this is to use a Hot water boiler,, and use a water to air heat exchanger in the hot air plenum in the existing furnace's ductwork.. A boiler is a more controlable heat, stores residual heat, and also easily heats your Domestic hot water, which is roughly 30% of your heating bill..

There are dozend of threads on this subject.. grab an Iced Tea, or your favorite beverage and read a few pages of the stoker forums... There is a wealth of information to be read..

All The currently available coal stoker boilers and furnaces are good units.. stay away from US Stove products at your TSC, Hardware and Home Depot,, they are not good coal burners..

Hope this helps... Greg L

Post by **stoker-man** » Sun. Jun. 15, 2008 5:09 pm

efm does make a stoker furnace, rated up to 150K BTUH

LsFarm · Post by **LsFarm** » Sun. Jun. 15, 2008 5:22 pm

The EFM furnace is currently in production?? I thought they dropped production on it 10-15 years ago??

Greg L

Post by **Richard S.** » Sun. Jun. 15, 2008 5:22 pm

So what's your choice for best stoker stoker-man?

The EFM furnace is currently in production?? I thought they dropped production on it 10-15 years ago??

Are you joking or still in that cave?

Or do we have a semantical problem here? Boilers/furnace ??

http://www.efmheating.com/

Post by **stoker-man** » Sun. Jun. 15, 2008 6:59 pm

http://www.efmheating.com/stokerfiredfurnace.html

The furnace is in production and the re-engineered heat exchanger will drop into any of the old units without modifications.

LsFarm · Post by **LsFarm** » Sun. Jun. 15, 2008 9:12 pm

I'm pretty sure it was out of production for quite a few years.. I don't remember where I heard that, or read it..

I'm stil waiting to find out whether 'tight group' needs a hot air furnace, or a hot water boiler...

Greg L

1termite · Post by **1termite** » Sun. Jun. 15, 2008 9:40 pm

i have a friend who is building a new boiler based on the vanwert stoker. stoker unit is made and have one boiler made and at a testing lab. will let you know how it goes.

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Mon. Jun. 16, 2008 4:21 am

The best stoker ..... is the one in your basement.

coal berner · Post by **coal berner** » Mon. Jun. 16, 2008 4:50 am

Richard S. wrote:Van-Wert but since they don't make them anymore I'd have to go with EFM. The auger feed is the big selling point there.

Keystoker has coal only boilers listed at 85,000 BTU on their website unless they don't make them anymore?

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The A 120 & The koker are the only to hot Air furnace you can get all othe'sr are no longer made

A 120 is 120.000 BTU's & The Koker is 160.000 BTU's

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coal berner · Post by **coal berner** » Mon. Jun. 16, 2008 4:58 am

LsFarm wrote:The EFM furnace is currently in production?? I thought they dropped production on it 10-15 years ago??

Greg L

Greg If I Remember correctly they stopped making the 150A in 1986 Then they Started Making them again in Late 2006
early 2007

FingerLakesStoker · Post by **FingerLakesStoker** » Mon. Jun. 16, 2008 6:21 am

I just went through the research and as far as a boiler goes, the two best I saw were the AHS S-130 and the Keystoker KA-6. I'm using circulated hot water and an indirect hot water tank for heat and hot water respectively. I went with the Keystoker in the end because of the direct vent option and the cost was about $1500 cheaper than the AHS.

LsFarm · Post by **LsFarm** » Mon. Jun. 16, 2008 8:56 am

coal berner wrote:
LsFarm wrote:The EFM furnace is currently in production?? I thought they dropped production on it 10-15 years ago??

Greg L
Greg If I Remember correctly they stopped making the 150A in 1986 Then they Started Making them again in Late 2006
early 2007

Thanks JC,, I'm glad I wasn't imagining that !1

Greg L

Lumberjack · Post by **Lumberjack** » Mon. Jun. 16, 2008 9:44 am

I have a 3 grand koker on order .....