Hand Fired or Stoker Stove Which?

Thanks for all the great help. I am going to decide soon. VW

Old thread bumping to post my thoughts...

I've always been a hand fired coal guy (its easy for me, its what I know and I'm of the opinion the 4 minutes it takes to shake and load each day is so minimal I cant get myself to spend thousands on a stoker to save 2 minutes per day...only to loose any time savings with the hassle of constant cleaning, maintenance and all the possible problems a stoker brings with it that I wont elaborate on here).

However I will say that I would certainly consider and love a whole house stoker boiler/furnace someday, EFM, Leisure Line, Etc. would be at the front of my list!

The stoker better lends itself to central heating and to higher output than would be expected of a parlor stove.

franco b wrote:The stoker better lends itself to central heating and to higher output than would be expected of a parlor stove.

I too agree with heat output. I found my Keystoker 90 soon became my primary heat source purely by accident. I ran a Buderus 3115 for 28 years that served us well, and wanted something with a little less work. I will support my less work claim on a hand fed with coal quality. The Buderus loved low white ash coal which was hit or miss for me for many years. You also must realize I had no "Forum" members to talk with and was the only person I knew that did not give up on coal. That being said I supplemented my oil boiler with the 60,000 BTU Buderus. Many years later that same stove supplemented my new Buderus oil bolier, with an installed value of $8000.00 done by me and some good friends. Along came my Keystoker 90 and the supplement concept became replacement. The Buderus now heats my hot water only to the tune 0f $600.00 per year