Hot Blast 1557M Vs ? for Burning Bituminous

I have pretty much made my mind up on buying a Hot Blast 1557M furnace from TSC with the optional rear air induction kit to instal in my new house to burn bituminous coal with. But before I pull the trigger and spend $1600, I thought I would check with you guys first to make sure there is not a better furnace on the market for the same price that I should be considering. Bituminous coal and wood are my only options in western / southern Ohio.
The house it will be going into is a 2,499 sqft very long single story ranch built on a slab. It currently only has a heat pump central furnace for heating / AC that is mounted horizontally in the attic. There is a large 6' wide x 12' long closet / pantry underneath the furnace that I am going to use for the furnace room and tie into the duct work above it. I plan on controlling the induction motor with a remote thermostat. I will be wiring in overtemp controls to over ride the thermostat in case of over fire along with an audible alarm.
With the length of this house, a forced air furnace is the only option.
Are there any other models of furnace I should also be considering?

Hello, I'm from southern Ohio as well

I cant say of how good they work but, there sure is a lot of them on craigslist so I'm gonna guess they arnt that great. There are similar furnaces like Clayton and Norseman but from what I have seen of them they are basically carbon copies of the US stove hotblast.

carlherrnstein wrote:Hello, I'm from southern Ohio as well

I cant say of how good they work but, there sure is a lot of them on craigslist so I'm gonna guess they arnt that great. There are similar furnaces like Clayton and Norseman but from what I have seen of them they are basically carbon copies of the US stove hotblast.

I believe Clayton and Norseman are all a part United States Stove Company. That's why they all look the same.
I see them on Craigslist all the time too, makes me nervous. I considered buying one off Craigslist but they price them not much less than a new one so I did not see the point.

I posted this question a while back but never did figure out the answer.
Differences Between a USSC 1557M and a 1500?

And now TSC is selling both models priced differently. The only difference I see is the door.
Anybody know the differences?

1557M
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/united-stat ... _vc=-10005

1500
http://www.tractorsupply.com/ProductDisplay?cm_vc ... reId=10151

I finally just called USSC and asked their technical service department the difference between these two models.
The 1557M has a manual damper on the door.
The 1500 has an automatic damper on the door.

Since I plan on using the induction kit, is there an advantage, disadvantage or no gain with having the auto damper?

The 1500 for the same price as a 1557M.
http://www.ruralking.com/us-stove-1500-series-hot ... stove.html

Good price for the induction kit too.
http://www.ruralking.com/us-stove-1400-1500-serie ... 1dikl.html

You are going to burn a fuel much like wood in that it has a high percentage of gas that wants to burn all at once when heated. If it is not burnt it then becomes smoke soot and smell. To do it automatically is even harder.

I have no experience with bit coal but member Berlin has and is quite expert. His recommendation for clean burning is certain models of stoker.

Those stoves are not that good at burning anthracite and I suspect a lot worse at burning bit. I think you will be disappointed.

I would much rather burn pellets in a furnace designed for them, if available.

I only plan on using the coal furnace during the 4 coldest months of the winter when the temp outside is 5 - 35 degrees. During the milder temps we will be using the heat pump, propane vent free fireplace and maybe burn some hardwood. Considering how warm we like the house to be in the winter (80) and the sqft involved, I suspect the thermostat will be calling for heat most of the time and rarely smothering the fire. I fully expect to wear out the blowers very soon and am planning on replacing them with a higher duty cycle furnace blower. I have no plans to burn anthracite and these stoves only specify bituminous.

Here's the deal: they won't burn bit coal well, and you'll be loading it often. If you're getting ready to drop 1600, why not drop less than that and buy a combustioneer 77b stoker stove - lots of people use them like add-on furnaces and they work great. I've been using mine for a number of years as an add-on furnace (ditch top grate, add squirrel cage fan to back and add return plenum - just like this guy did :

here's two for sale: **Broken Link(S) Removed**

The bigger clayton's seem to work better than the hotblasts, either way, you really don't want to use the blower.

Berlin wrote:Here's the deal: they won't burn bit coal well, and you'll be loading it often. If you're getting ready to drop 1600, why not drop less than that and buy a combustioneer 77b stoker stove - lots of people use them like add-on furnaces and they work great. I've been using mine for a number of years as an add-on furnace (ditch top grate, add squirrel cage fan to back and add return plenum - just like this guy did :

here's two for sale: **Broken Link(S) Removed**

The bigger clayton's seem to work better than the hotblasts, either way, you really don't want to use the blower.

That's pretty neat. They burn bituminous well? Where do I buy one?

I take it these are no longer manufactured. Darn, thought I was onto something here.

It isn't as if you have a lot of choices to burn bit well. You should check out those used ones. If they were available new the price would no doubt be double the Hotblast.

So the US Stove 1602R works better than the Hot Blasts?
http://www.ruralking.com/us-stove-1602r-series-ho ... rnace.html

I like the idea of adding the water jacket.
http://www.ruralking.com/us-stove-hot-water-coil- ... -1124.html

franco b wrote:It isn't as if you have a lot of choices to burn bit well. You should check out those used ones. If they were available new the price would no doubt be double the Hotblast.

I am sure those used ones would work well and were very pricey when new but......, LOL......, if I dragged one of those ugly dirty ole things home and told my wife I was going to install it in even a remotely visible place in our house it would have to include a divorce lawyer with it.
I could probably get away with it if I had a basement or had maybe in the attached garage if I had it built already, but even that would be pushing it. Even then I would have to hide it in the barn first to clean it up and paint it.
As long as what I bring in looks "pretty" and new when I install it, she will keep it clean from that point on.

Well heck, I don't know. I found these. I might be able to get away with one of them without her throwing a fit.
So I have to add a blower?
How did they originally work?
Is it messy to fill the hopper?
How often do you have to fill the hopper?
How many BTU's are these?
Would one of these be big enough to heat a well insulated house with good windows @ 2,500 sq ft?
When they calculated the sq ft capacity back then, was it for an old drafty house common at the time?
Anybody got a brochure?

**Broken Link(S) Removed**

**Broken Link(S) Removed**