Refurbishing a Salvo Citation

I decided to start a new thread to cover refurbishing the Salvo Citation stove that I bought a few days ago. This initial post will be a bit long as I summarize info from my previous post where I was looking to buy a Vermont Castings Resolute. Here is a link to that thread for anyone interested in that history:

http://nepacrossroads.com/about15049.html

My appreciation to users rewinder, dlj, VigIIPeaBurner, and coal berner among others for their input on that post and through pm.

So I have been cruising Craigslist and ebay for coal stoves and had the requirements of: good looking parlor stove to use in my living room, short enough to reset slightly into the fireplace and cheap enough to pay for itself quickly. I presently use a Jotul 8 wood stove to supplement a propane floor heater and heat 1200 ft2 for around $1100/yr plus 1.5 cords of wood that I scrounge for free. The house is 100 yrs old and has only modest insulation. Cooking and hot water are also propane, so our total energy bill is not too bad. I kept hearing great stories about coal heat, propane prices were climbing, and I could see the firewood game getting old after awhile, so I decided it was worth a small investment to try coal. I have 2 daughters in college, so money is a bit tight, and I don't mind fixing old stuff that interests me, so I searched for an older stove.

By the way here is a great free tool for searching multiple craigslist areas at once (I love it):

http://download.cnet.com/Free-CraigsList-Reader-Pro/3000-2379_4-10791326.html

While looking for a VC Resolute, I kept seeing the Citation at very good prices and decided to buy the one pictured for $150. It has the exhaust on the back, at 30 in height with 6 in feet can be made short enough for my fireplace, and has a blower to push air through a heat exchanger area and out the front. You can see from the pictures that the grates look ideal for coal. It is not as good looking as the Resolute, but with fresh paint, and at such a low price, it will do. Salvo was based in Fall River MA but has gone out of business, so replacement parts are limited.

The work I need to do is:

Cut the legs short so it will fit in my fireplace.
Drill out the rivets holding the homemade heat shield on top.
Repaint.
Extend the front plate from 6 in to 8 in height for a deeper fire bed.
Replace broken firebrick.
Install with barometric damper.

Rewinder suggested a a variable speed control for the blower, a great suggestion, and coal berner provided the link to an affordable rheostat:

http://www.northlineexpress.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=5SA-4008

I was a couple of towns over recently getting my driver's license renewed and remembered that there was a stove shop in the area. Tracked it down and found that they carried the Stove Bright paint. So I got 2 cans of the Metallic Black. That should give a nicer finish than the Rustoleum I was considering using.

So yesterday I started the refurb. I borrowed a friend's grinder and cut down the legs by 3 inches, so that the height is now 27 in. That leaves 2+ in clearance over the top for heat to pass below the brick fireplace opening. I plan to set the stove about 3 in into the fireplace to save room in my small house and not have to extend the hearth outward. This setup has worked well with my Jotul. Since the stove is surrounded by brick, I can get away with tight clearances. One image shows the stove moved into my garage for cleaning and painting, another the house I live in.

I started the cleaning and removed the heat shield. I found that one weld had broken, where the heat exchanger jacket meets the back of the stove. I took a picture, although I had it on a non-flash setting that ended up being somewhat blurry. I filled the crack with stove cement and am letting it dry while I have lunch. I hope it will cure well when I fire the stove and hold up to the bumps of moving the stove into the house. Coal berner sent me a link about prepping the stove bright paint:

http://www.woodmanspartsplus.com/f20874/a2917/Hi--Heat-Paint/Tip-on-Painting-a-Stove.html

I will probably fire the stove in my driveway to cure the paint before moving it into the house, so that the fumes are outside.

The garage has a heater, but the stove is still cold, so I put a space heater inside the stove. That is getting the chill off it.

Scraping and sanding are next.

The first coat of paint is on the stove. I used a whole can and have not touched the doors yet. It does not seem to cover the blemishes very well, at least not after 1 coat. This old stove, like a middle-aged person, has its blemishes. Of course, no-one will look as closely as I do. I also posted a pic of my present Jotul stove.

Found this link with EPA figures for the the Citation as a wood stove:

http://thelograck.com/wood-stove-manufacturers-page-twelve.html

Salvo Machinery Inc
220 Shove Street
Fall River MA 02724

model efficiency heat output
Citation 63% 11,800 - 32,200

I picked up 3 new firebrick from my local UBS, the half thickness, I forget what they are called. They will replace the badly broken ones along the back of the firebox. Prepped the 2 doors for paint. They are cast iron and I debated not painting them, but everything else is painted, so I think they will blend in better with paint rather than stove polish.

I ran out of energy to do the next round of painting, so I'll try to squeeze that in before we go out for the evening tomorrow. Since this will be the final coat, I did not want to rush it when tired.

I am almost out of split wood for this year. I have more dry wood ready to split, but I would rather put the energy into getting the coal stove going. I am having some friends over next Sat evening and it would be great to show off the coal stove at work.

The front of the grates has an airspace where air can bypass the grates and I plan to plug that with gasket rope. I figure the air space helps keep the glass clean when burning wood, which I plan to do in spring and fall, so I do no t want to seal it permanently. There may be other gaps around the grates, if so, they are not obvious.

Are there any other users of the Citation out there that can teach me the tricks of this model?

The ash pan is three sided, the back side never existed. This seems odd, in that it would not hold the ashes as well. Is there a reason for this design?

The missing end is to scoop the ash out...
If it had that back wall it would just pack up...
Eventually you would have to shovel it out...
Hitzer uses this design, very nice...
Harman has the 4 walled design, lots of scooping packed ashes...

spiker wrote:I picked up 3 new firebrick from my local UBS, the half thickness, I forget what they are called.

Splits.

That is the same explanation for the ash pan as the seller told me. He liked it as well. I guess I'm being stubborn thinking it is a weakness. Of course I have not used it yet. I 'm thinking I will try to make a lid for the ash tray so that I can walk it outside and control the fly ash. My initial thought is to bend an aluminum pan into a lid. Any suggestions?

I got the final coat on the stove and doors. Looks good unless you look closely and see where the old paint job is not feathered in nicely.

I posted an image of the gaps between the ash area and the firebox area. One is small enough to close with furnace cement. the other is 1/4 to 1/2 in in width and I plan to fill it with a rope gasket. Other ideas are welcome. They are just in front of the grates. You may have to download the image and zoom in to see the gaps clearly.

I'll try to fire it up in the driveway to cure the paint Thursday eve.

Hice looking stove!
I have (believe to be older) Salvo Citation similar in design, two doors, two flat cast iron grates that slide side to side and not as good looking as yours.
I have been heating my house (approx. 1000sf) exclusively for four years now with this stove. I fabricated a jacket around the stove and installed it in the basement piped into my existing hot air furnace using a blower and fan limit switch to circulate the heat through out the house. Temps in the house rarely fall below 72 even when out side temps are below 0.
I am burning pea coal although I believe previous owner probably burned nut coal.
Personally I would not raise the front grate 2", as when I fill mine with coal I bank it from that point to the top of the rear fire bricks. I usually tend the fire twice a day with no problems burning 12-14 hrs with temps around 0 degrees. I have a MHD and in my application once I get the gases burned off the stove does not seem to need a lot of draft to get good heat.
Personally I really like this stove, I hope you have as good luck with yours.

Thanks for the feedback. I have not found much info from users of this stove. The following post seems to confirm most users opinion that coal needs a deep bed, usually 8-10 inches:

http://nepacrossroads.com/about9703.html?hilit=salvo%20citation#p101167

Then this user had problems with the shaker link breaking. Have you had this experience?

http://nepacrossroads.com/about1488.html?hilit=salvo#p7962

Tonight I looked closer at the parts that separate the firebox above from the ash tray area below and found that the 4 corners are not sealed off, there are roughly 1 in square openings for air to move up and bypass the grates. I understand that coal burns best and a coal stove is most responsive when all the air has no other path except through the grates and coal bed. I am pondering the easiest way to close those openings off. Fiberglass insulation would be easy, but I am not sure that is wise, if it can handle the serious heat of coal. My other idea is to cut scrap firebrick to fit the openings and seal them in with high temp sealant, but that would take some effort. What is your experience, have you notices the openings I describe in your stove?

How many # a day do you average, depending on the season?

Thanks for posting, I really appreciate hearing from someone who has used virtually the same stove, and glad to hear that you like it.

My grates are much different as they are flat and only slide but do cover the firebox area. I find this setup to not work as well as I would like, allthough I have compensated by using my poker from underneath which would not be possible with your style grates. My fire box is not rectangular so the corners are not square, if I remember correctly the firebrick was cut at an angle in the corners to make a tight fit and I reused them. Could this be the case?
Yes I have had trouble with the shaking mechanism even though its different than your model.
I burn about 40# coal per day, 0 gals oil 4-5 tons per year, temp in house 74avg.
Before coal stove 850-900 gals per yr.temp. in house 68.

spiker wrote:I got the final coat on the stove and doors. Looks good unless you look closely and see where the old paint job is not feathered in nicely.

I posted an image of the gaps between the ash area and the firebox area. One is small enough to close with furnace cement. the other is 1/4 to 1/2 in in width and I plan to fill it with a rope gasket. Other ideas are welcome. They are just in front of the grates. You may have to download the image and zoom in to see the gaps clearly.

I'll try to fire it up in the driveway to cure the paint Thursday eve.

The gap is there for two reasons one it helps to burn & wash the the coal gases off it leaves the fresh air in from your air vents in the ash door to come up and burn the coal gas off and to push the gases away from the front of stove to the back and up the flue two that same air will help keep your glass clean fresh air wash do not seal it off it is the way it was designed for that stove

Interesting suggestion. The stove is marketed as both a coal stove and wood stove. So I'm guessing the glass wash effect is more important for wood operation than coal.

Also there are enough leaks from the ash tray area to provide gas burn-off I think.

I will try with and w/o the gasket, ans see if I can tell a difference. Thanks for the feedback.

spiker wrote:Interesting suggestion. The stove is marketed as both a coal stove and wood stove. So I'm guessing the glass wash effect is more important for wood operation than coal.

Also there are enough leaks from the ash tray area to provide gas burn-off I think.

I will try with and w/o the gasket, ans see if I can tell a difference. Thanks for the feedback.

Yes wood will turn the glass black coal will turn it white to gray from the flyash I would not fill the gaps in leave in alone
you will see it work like it was made to work also the heat from the coal fire will put a glaze on the glass from the heat
the air will help keep the heat off the glass