Compare Coal Gun Vrs Keystoker

coal-cooker · Post by **coal-cooker** » Thu. Apr. 17, 2008 8:28 pm

Freddy,

Where are you located in Maine? I am outside of Augusta and there are several coal dealers I buy from in the area.

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Thu. Apr. 17, 2008 8:30 pm

Of course I'm willing to buy any anthracite out there.... I got the impression from readin gon here that Blaxchak was "the best". I have phoned a bunch of truckers. Every one insists that the coal be bagged & on pallets. The only one I've found to bring bulk is Penn Coal. They have their own trucks that dump. I wish I could find a list of coal suppliers & phone numbers. I'll go read more on here & see what I can find.

Still leaning toward the AHS S 130.

I'm in the Bangor area.

coal-cooker · Post by **coal-cooker** » Thu. Apr. 17, 2008 8:40 pm

Rings Coal Products in Auburn has rice coal
**Broken Link(s) Removed**I'm not sure about Down East Coal In Gouldsboro, they deliver anywhere, but may not have rice http://www.downeastcoal.com/
Farmingdale agway carries Blaschak rice but that is down by Augusta and you would have to pick it up. 582-4604

I will check with my other dealers, I am not sure if they carry rice or not. I burn pea and nut. I keep a list of every dealer I can find and call them all once a week or so to check prices.

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Fri. Apr. 18, 2008 2:24 pm

Oh no! I just discovered the Harman VF 3000. Another choice!! The price at $4,197 is right too.

coal-cooker · Post by **coal-cooker** » Fri. Apr. 18, 2008 4:04 pm

I've checked around some and not many dealers are carrying rice coal yet. Most of them carry pea and nut and some stove. Some like Damariscotta Hardware will special order rice. Hopefully with more people using stokers, more of the dealers will start carrying it. I know Farmingdale Agway carries bagged Blashak rice. That's why I like a hand fed stove, I can burn what ever I can get, pea or larger. You never know what is going to be available and if I get real desperate, I can burn wood in it.

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Sat. Apr. 19, 2008 7:11 am

I am here all the time and could feed a hand fired boiler, but, I'm hoping this is something the little lady could learn to do and if I kick the bucket she could run the rig. We burned wood for years and she enjoyed that but when we built this house 14 years ago we went from wood to oil, from hot air to hot water. We do enjoy the hot water as it's nice & even & not drafty at all.

Highlander · Post by **Highlander** » Sun. Apr. 20, 2008 8:30 am

Freddy

You should look at the Harman VF3000 too, I and several of the board members have them and are very pleased with the performance of it. Size wise it is between the KAA2 and KA6 Keystokers, about the same size as the discontinued KA4 . It burns rice coal like the Keystokers, but uses an aluminum block to push the coal up into the fire instead of leaving it all up to gravity. Price wise they are a bit more than keystoker, but cheaper then AHS, AA or EFM unless you can find one of those units used or reconditioned.

It is a two piece boiler so its easier to get it into a basement and can be setup with the flue pipe on either the left or right which is very convenient. The hopper holds 250#, and the ash tub is 30 gallons, so it only has to be filled / emptied twice a week in cold weather.

If you search this forum, you will find lots of discussions about the Harman and the other boilers, good luck with your decision.

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Mon. Apr. 21, 2008 6:10 am

Thanks for all the help! I'm going to look into the Harmon.

Yesterday the wife said OK to putting the boiler in the back room in the cellar. Yippeee!

bowman · Post by **bowman** » Tue. Apr. 22, 2008 12:55 pm

I installed a keystoker kaa-2 6 weeks ago and so far liking it very much. With the warm weather starting to arrive the boiler is idling most of the time with no problems. It uses about 7 lb a day to just idle. The combustion blower runs 24/7 and uses only 30 watts to run (.26 amp x 115 volts)

beatle78 · Post by **beatle78** » Tue. Apr. 22, 2008 2:03 pm

bowman wrote:I installed a keystoker kaa-2 6 weeks ago and so far liking it very much. With the warm weather starting to arrive the boiler is idling most of the time with no problems. It uses about 7 lb a day to just idle. The combustion blower runs 24/7 and uses only 30 watts to run (.26 amp x 115 volts)

Are you getting your hot water from the KAA-2 as well? What's your daily hot water load look like?

pret · Post by **pret** » Tue. Apr. 22, 2008 3:04 pm

7lbs a day! That's incredible! Can other machines do that?? AA, AHS, EFM??? 7 lbs!

That would get my vote if I was planning on heating my domestic hot water over the summer... DUDE!

beatle78 · Post by **beatle78** » Tue. Apr. 22, 2008 3:17 pm

pret wrote:7lbs a day! That's incredible! Can other machines do that?? AA, AHS, EFM??? 7 lbs!

That would get my vote if I was planning on heating my domestic hot water over the summer... DUDE!

That's what I'm wondering. Well, in summer of '09 I will be able to provide some number for the KA-4 for summer use.

pret · Post by **pret** » Tue. Apr. 22, 2008 3:21 pm

I will be able to provide some numbers for this summer - at least partially, for an restored AA 130. I'll begin that data collection in July - I hope!

bowman · Post by **bowman** » Wed. Apr. 23, 2008 7:45 am

the 7 lbs per day is for the boiler to just idle with no domestic hot water load. boiler stays at 180. I do have a domestic hot water coil but have yet to calculate coal consumption with hot water load. shouldn't be too much for just 2 showers per day and 1 dishwater load 1 washer load every other day

beatle78 · Post by **beatle78** » Wed. Apr. 23, 2008 2:09 pm

bowman wrote:the 7 lbs per day is for the boiler to just idle with no domestic hot water load. boiler stays at 180. I do have a domestic hot water coil but have yet to calculate coal consumption with hot water load. shouldn't be too much for just 2 showers per day and 1 dishwater load 1 washer load every other day

ya know, you should turn the boiler temp down to 140F now that it's spring time. I winder how much additional coal that would save you?

Compare Coal Gun Vrs Keystoker

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