My 1912 Hub Heater Baseburner Thread

 
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oros35
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Baseburners & Antiques: 1912 Smith & Anthony Hub Heater #215

Post by oros35 » Sat. Feb. 13, 2010 11:29 pm

They pretty much said to do a little grinding on the door. I did and it fits much better now but this summer I'm going to work it a bit more. Not real pleased with the quality of the restoration.

After a lot of trial and error I've learned how to control the draft pretty well. Its much easier to control burning coal.

I've been burning about 50lbs of coal a day keeping the temps on the stove around 450 with the chimney temp around 150. It is night and day different with coal, much easier. The first day I was only getting about 200 on the stove but I had it dampered down too much. Nice to know that it will idle that low.

I need to get a draft gauge on it and see what it is making now.


 
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wsherrick
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Post by wsherrick » Sat. Feb. 13, 2010 11:39 pm

I sounds like you fixed it pretty good, BUT; you need to have it fit right. You can have a new door cast for it without spending too much money if you need to. You should get a good 20-to-30 hour burn on one load once it is running right and you have figured it out. I absolutely love my Glenwood Baseburner, I wouldn't trade it. Just be careful and watch what you are doing. If you can keep the stove down to 200 degrees it sounds like you've got it fairly tight. 150 degrees on the pipe is good too. My Glenwood can run at 500-600 degrees and the pipe temperature stays around 130-150 degrees depending on how I set the dampers. Keep us up to date as you learn how to operate your stove.

 
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Post by grumpy » Sat. Feb. 13, 2010 11:56 pm

wsherrick wrote:I sounds like you fixed it pretty good, BUT; you need to have it fit right. You can have a new door cast for it without spending too much money if you need to. You should get a good 20-to-30 hour burn on one load once it is running right and you have figured it out. I absolutely love my Glenwood Baseburner, I wouldn't trade it. Just be careful and watch what you are doing. If you can keep the stove down to 200 degrees it sounds like you've got it fairly tight. 150 degrees on the pipe is good too. My Glenwood can run at 500-600 degrees and the pipe temperature stays around 130-150 degrees depending on how I set the dampers. Keep us up to date as you learn how to operate your stove.
For what it's worth I had a new firebowl cast from the old by a company in Wisconsin called Tomahawk foundry. They did a great job, I shipped them my old firebowl , they cast a new one , shipped it back to me and then asked to be paid. I was kinda surprised at that part.. but they do old stove parts on the side. Just remember whatever you cast it will come back a little smaller..

 
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Post by oros35 » Wed. Feb. 13, 2013 2:46 pm

WOW How far I've come since I started this thread! Time for an update?

So I've certaintly learned alot.

Ash door now fits snuggly. Little true-ing up with a grinder went along way.
Changed the mica a couple times, wood fires are hard on them.
I broke a grate, and had all 4 new ones cast at Tomahawk Foundry. They should be good for another 100 years.
I melted the cast divider in the back pipe. Oops... So for now I built one out of 3/16 steel plate. On the list to get a new one cast. Been working good for a year now like that though. Was operator error.
I've learned the importance of sealing all the pipes and metal to metal joints. I've gone over 75% of all the joints this summer with new sealant. Drastic improvement. I can actually control the fire now.
Learned I must have a window open slightly on warm windy days for the draft to stay consistent. Set off the CO2 alarm a couple times to learn this. Seems a southernly wind plays havoc on my chimney draft. No problems since.

So performance results - I'm heating 3000sqft using a couple fans to move air. No problem down to single digit outside temps. I can roast you out of the house if it is in the 40's.
I've been able to idle it down low enough to get a 36hr burn and still have plenty of coals left to have it roaring in about an hours time.
Typical temps - load 3 times a day and I can maintain 700 degree barel temps with temps at the wall chimney around 200. That's for the coldest days. I can only get about 10 hrs before I have to tend to it.
Typical 30 degree days, tend every 12hrs. One full coal hod. Barrel temps 400, pipe temps under 150. House stays about 70 degrees throughout.

I've also been successful at mixing Bituminous coal. (which is under $100 a ton here, compared to close to $300 for Ant.) I load a layer of Bit first, then cover with a layer of Ant. I'm using about 40% Bit and 60% Ant. The Ant acts as a screen for the Bit soot and keeps the backpipe relatively clean. You can see the tar-like soot build up on the Ant coal, then it burns away clean. (Just straight Bit coal would clog the back pipe in under 24hrs. Been burning this blend all year and no problems yet. Cleaned the pipes one time and it was not much worse than just with Ant. coal)

So in conclusion, these old stoves are the best, and I couldn't have done it without the help from everyone on here.!!

 
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Post by SMITTY » Wed. Feb. 13, 2013 2:54 pm

WOW .. 3k sq.ft. - that's impressive!!

I'm ashamed to say I could've got one of these for FREE 8 years ago .. but I didn't know what it was at the time. Was in mint condition too. My buddy just wanted it gone. Hindsight is always 20/20 as they say .... :(

 
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Post by wsherrick » Wed. Feb. 13, 2013 9:15 pm

How in the heck did you get the stove hot enough to melt the back pipe divider ? Did that happen when you were running a large Bituminous fire in the stove?

 
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Post by oros35 » Thu. Feb. 14, 2013 9:11 am

Believe it or not..... a wood fire. Loaded it up but it was taking forever to catch. Walked away from it for just a little too long. I think having the logs stacked up high (as high as the outlet from the stove) and everything caught at once and created a blow tortch effect. It warped the divider damper (it was open) so bad it wouldn't close and ended up getting a good crack in the verticle divider.


 
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Post by lobsterman » Sun. Feb. 17, 2013 1:16 pm

I can see how it could happen. I absolutely hate burning wood in my No. 6 even though it is designed for it. It is very hard to control the heat output. Very smokey if I try to damper it or way to hot if I do not. And forget baseheater mode with wood. Others have told me they do not have the same problem. I had a beautiful Crawford wood burning stove that I got from Barnstable. Got several good years out of it and it saved me a lot of money but I damaged the indirect draft on that thing from burning wood. The problem with the steel and and cast combination is the different expansion. I would want to be careful with that and not fire it too hot until it is fixed.
BTW I never worried about sealing mine perfectly (my stove is NOT restored except I bought new grates). I know the purists will be on my case for this. I did spend some time on the ash door to get that to be a good fit as it feeds the primary air. Mine is slightly leaky in a couple of places, not real bad understand, but not perfectly tight. All this means is the stove sucks a little air (sort of a poor man's baro, ha ha) but the whole thing is so efficient I have not bothered to mess with it yet. I am careful, of course, about monitoring CO and no issues there whatsoever.

 
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Post by dlj » Sun. Feb. 17, 2013 2:35 pm

oros35 wrote:Believe it or not..... a wood fire. Loaded it up but it was taking forever to catch. Walked away from it for just a little too long. I think having the logs stacked up high (as high as the outlet from the stove) and everything caught at once and created a blow tortch effect. It warped the divider damper (it was open) so bad it wouldn't close and ended up getting a good crack in the verticle divider.
I hear on here all the time that coal burns hotter than wood, however, I don't agree. I've burned a lot of wood in my Glenwood and I ran a whole lot hotter with wood than I can with coal. I've left my bottom door wide open with coal and the draft straight out with the damper open for hours. If I did that with wood I'd burn something out. Not with coal though. I used to run with the whole fire pot on that stove glowing red, but I can't get it to do that with coal. Not that I really want to at this point. But clearly the hottest fires I've had are with wood, not coal...

dj

 
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Post by joeq » Mon. Dec. 05, 2016 2:13 pm

i know I'm bringing back an old thread, but curious if you ever finished this installation? it looked like it was coming right along. hope you didn't drop the ball on it. Maybe you continued it under another thread?

 
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Post by oros35 » Tue. Dec. 06, 2016 8:57 am

It's heating the house right now!

It's done it's job well. I've put probably around 35 ton of coal through it. But I'm thinking of retiring it for occasional use or not as the primary source of heat. Pushing it hard on the cold days is taking it's toll on it and I don't like it. One more piece that holds the grates in place cracked. I don't want to damage it any more.

But for this year, it's all I have. It will keep us warm at least 1 more year before it's semi-retirement.

I don't have a more current picture, but not much has changed other than finishing the concrete floor with ceramic tile.

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Post by Sunny Boy » Tue. Dec. 06, 2016 9:30 am

oros35 wrote:Believe it or not..... a wood fire. Loaded it up but it was taking forever to catch. Walked away from it for just a little too long. I think having the logs stacked up high (as high as the outlet from the stove) and everything caught at once and created a blow tortch effect. It warped the divider damper (it was open) so bad it wouldn't close and ended up getting a good crack in the verticle divider.
I believe it ! In fact I have one.

The back pipe baffle on a Glenwood 118 I bought is warped and cracked. No coal grates in it, just a wood plate. The previous owner had been only using it as an outdoor patio wood stove,....... with the loading door left open so that the fire could be watched. :shock:

I bought it for a "parts stove" price just to get the back pipe parts to recast for another 118 project. Luckily, it turns out that the rest is restorable and not just a junker parts stove.

Because of the tendency of those back pipe baffles to warp with a hot wood fire, Wilson made a reinforced pattern for recasting the baffle plate in the 114, 116. He added flanges along the edges to help stiffen it and reduce chances of warping and cracking. Seems to have solved that problem.

Paul

 
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Post by joeq » Tue. Dec. 06, 2016 9:58 am

oros35 wrote:It's heating the house right now!

It's done it's job well. I've put probably around 35 ton of coal through it. But I'm thinking of retiring it for occasional use or not as the primary source of heat. Pushing it hard on the cold days is taking it's toll on it and I don't like it. One more piece that holds the grates in place cracked. I don't want to damage it any more.

But for this year, it's all I have. It will keep us warm at least 1 more year before it's semi-retirement.

I don't have a more current picture, but not much has changed other than finishing the concrete floor with ceramic tile.
Looks nice. Was wondering about the lone standing brick post in the foreground. Will you be connecting it to the wall with something in the future?

 
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Post by oros35 » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 8:37 am

Well that was the original intent. To build a railing from the post to the wall. But after using it a few years, that's never going to happen, would just be in the way and piss me off! It makes a nice place to stack wood against.... But other than that it has no real use right now.

 
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Post by joeq » Wed. Dec. 07, 2016 9:16 am

oros35 wrote:Well that was the original intent. To build a railing from the post to the wall. But after using it a few years, that's never going to happen, would just be in the way and piss me off! It makes a nice place to stack wood against.... But other than that it has no real use right now.
Hey, now there's an idea. You could go to one of the renovator, or the "Restore" places, (where they have building supplies from older homes that have been demoed), purchase a 4-6' banister, and secure it in that opening. Would really finish it off nice. Then you could still use it to rest your wood against, and it appears you still have plenty of space to get behind the stove for maintenance.
So what do you mostly burn in your Hub?


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