Just Bought A Oakvale Andes 161
I am new to the base burner crowd and just found a Oakvale Andes 16" pot so I assume it is a 161. I plan to disassemble and re-seal the stove, then use as a source of heat in the house. Does anyone have a good source to replate the nickle bright work as it needs to be done. Will it be very expensive or should I just bead blast and paint. The casi iron sides seem to have been just stove polish but the base may have been painted. Any help in rebuilding this beauty would be appreciated.
- wsherrick
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All I can say is-WOW!! Welcome to the small but growing group of us Base Burner users. You have made an excellent purchase first of all. Next, please post plenty of detailed photos so we can see it. We can help you with the project along the way and point you to professionals who can help too.
If the stove is in good original condition, you have made a great find. The Oakvale Andes is a Base Heater as opposed to a Base Burner. The only yet big difference is that a Base Heater is designed as a dual fuel stove and a standard base burner is designed for Anthracite Coal only as its fuel. Anyway, I'm excited and can't wait to see some photos.
Here is the original catalog description of the Oakvale Andes.
If the stove is in good original condition, you have made a great find. The Oakvale Andes is a Base Heater as opposed to a Base Burner. The only yet big difference is that a Base Heater is designed as a dual fuel stove and a standard base burner is designed for Anthracite Coal only as its fuel. Anyway, I'm excited and can't wait to see some photos.
Here is the original catalog description of the Oakvale Andes.
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- wsherrick
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If you look at the catalog description. The No 161 has a plated base. You have one of the top notch stoves of all time, you should replate the nickel parts as is fitting. Just think of it this way. If you bought a Packard Boat Tail Roadster would you just paint the crome parts?
Wow, I am excited about the stove. I will take some photos tomorrow but have already started taking apart the stove. It was missing the crank handle for shaking down but I just found one on ebay and it fits perfect. As far as I can see there is no cracks and I plan on nickle plating the parts but there are many that were bright plated. The finale is excellent but also needs plating. Otherwise it seems perfect. I bought it from a woman that claims it was in the farm house her family bought in the 1940's and was moved out to the barn where it sat till I bought it. It was only going to be a decoration till I read that they worked well. Will look into platers after the holidays. Thanks for the support!!!
- wsherrick
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- Coal Size/Type: Chestnut, Stove Size
Your welcome. Not only is your stove beautiful, but; it is extremely efficient. Once you learn how to operate it the stove will operate around the 90% efficiency range. These stoves are not just to look at, they are serious heaters that render the maximum heat for the least amount of fuel.
Last edited by wsherrick on Thu. Dec. 30, 2010 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- fishhunter
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there is a plating company in worcester ma. independent plating company. they may be able to replate the stove parts. they do all types of plating chrome,brass,zinc,nickel and probably more. not sure how far you are from them but it may be worth the effort.
- wsherrick
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- Coal Size/Type: Chestnut, Stove Size
I know you are excited, but; don't get into too big of a hurry. Restoring a stove is more dirty and tedious than it is hard. You will probably have to cut most of the old bolts and you have to clean out all of the old cement and asbestos rope in the seams. To reseal the large pieces such as the ash pit casting to the fire pot casting, you need to get some rope or flat gasket, which ever fits best and use it with Furnace Cement to reseal.
I use stove blacking on my stoves. In my opinion it is better than paint because it is easy to touch it up as the heating season goes along.
The main thing is that all of the seams must be thoroughly redone so they are airtight.
This is very important. You need to put a lining in the firepot with Castable Refractory Cement. This will protect the firepot from wear due to direct exposure to fire. It is easy to do.
If you have any questions, feel free. I can't wait until you get this iron queen installed and have a fire in it..
I use stove blacking on my stoves. In my opinion it is better than paint because it is easy to touch it up as the heating season goes along.
The main thing is that all of the seams must be thoroughly redone so they are airtight.
This is very important. You need to put a lining in the firepot with Castable Refractory Cement. This will protect the firepot from wear due to direct exposure to fire. It is easy to do.
If you have any questions, feel free. I can't wait until you get this iron queen installed and have a fire in it..
Do I really need the ceramic lining? This has a pleated casting which I read somewhere was supposed to add surface area for additional heating. Will the lining insulate the heat from coming out the casting? If not how thick should the castable ceramic lining be made?
- dlj
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You don't really "need" to put in a ceramic lining. But it definitely protects your fire pot from slowly burning out. The problem is down the road trying to replace the fire pot if you do burn it out. I ran my Glenwood for many years without the ceramic lining and it didn't hurt it noticeably. That being said, I now have a ceramic lining. There are a lot of these stoves however where the fire pot is significantly worn out and really should have the ceramic liner.mal91152 wrote:Do I really need the ceramic lining? This has a pleated casting which I read somewhere was supposed to add surface area for additional heating. Will the lining insulate the heat from coming out the casting? If not how thick should the castable ceramic lining be made?
It depends somewhat on what shape your fire pot is in, if it's in really good shape, then you could use the stove without the liner. Bear in mind that it will slowly over time degrade. How much and how fast? Nobody can say. But that is one big piece of cast iron to have to replace.
Does it insulate the heat from coming out of the casting? I think a little bit, but not enough to make a difference. The stove will heat really well with or without the refractory lining. How thick? I don't know. Mine is about a half inch thick, I think..
dj
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Sure it will insulate the fire pot a bit, but that is what you want. The fire pot is the one place where you want to keep the heat in to aid combustion. The stove has plenty of heat exchange surface elsewhere. I would prefer 3/4 inch lining for better longevity and better insulation.
Got the stove all apart now, only had one bolt that needed to be cut with a dremmel. I guess I lucked out, or the stove has been apart before. There is a ceramic lining on the fire pot but it is only about 1/4 " thick at best. It just looked like ashes till I took apart and tried to vacuum and wire brush.
I cleaned all the pieces up with a brass wire wheel and will start stove blacking all the cast iron. The hard part will be finding a reasonable source for the Nickel plating. Boy is this stove heavy!!
There is a small lever that slides on the side where the shaker handel goes that I believe is for a bypass during base heating mode. It only opens a 1" hole to let some gases go up directly.
One more question is the shaker grate. It has 2 places to crank and they can turn a full 360. Is that the way you shake these stoves down by completely rotating the grates or just rocking?
I cleaned all the pieces up with a brass wire wheel and will start stove blacking all the cast iron. The hard part will be finding a reasonable source for the Nickel plating. Boy is this stove heavy!!
There is a small lever that slides on the side where the shaker handel goes that I believe is for a bypass during base heating mode. It only opens a 1" hole to let some gases go up directly.
One more question is the shaker grate. It has 2 places to crank and they can turn a full 360. Is that the way you shake these stoves down by completely rotating the grates or just rocking?
- dlj
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mal,mal91152 wrote:Got the stove all apart now, only had one bolt that needed to be cut with a dremmel. I guess I lucked out, or the stove has been apart before. There is a ceramic lining on the fire pot but it is only about 1/4 " thick at best. It just looked like ashes till I took apart and tried to vacuum and wire brush.
I cleaned all the pieces up with a brass wire wheel and will start stove blacking all the cast iron. The hard part will be finding a reasonable source for the Nickel plating. Boy is this stove heavy!!
There is a small lever that slides on the side where the shaker handel goes that I believe is for a bypass during base heating mode. It only opens a 1" hole to let some gases go up directly.
One more question is the shaker grate. It has 2 places to crank and they can turn a full 360. Is that the way you shake these stoves down by completely rotating the grates or just rocking?
you need to post pictures...
As far as shaking, depends on your fire and coal. Sometimes I just rock them, sometimes I turn them all the way around.
You don't have to go as ginger as brass wire wheel on cast iron. A steel wire brush won't hurt it. But if brass works, go for it.
Finding a reasonable place for the nickel - well, nickel is expensive, the EPA regs are really expensive, and there is a lot of work that goes into making the nickel plate look perfect... I debated getting my trim nickel plated because of the cost, finally decided it would likely be the last time I ever did a complete restore in my lifetime and went for it. Today, I am really glad I spent the extra bucks. I wouldn't paint them in any case, if you don't have the bucks to do the nickel this year, maybe another year down the road you might. Let me tell you, these stoves with the nickel trim done up right are spectacular show pieces! Besides doing a great job of heating the house...
dj
- wsherrick
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- Coal Size/Type: Chestnut, Stove Size
Your stove might have the gas burning option which is really neat if it does. Many base burners have this feature, The lever down by the shakers is probably what that is. When you put the stove in base burning mode, you pull out the lever which allows a good portion of the gasses to recirculate back into the fire, thus burning them if they didn't get burned the first time around. The Glenwood Base Heaters don't have this feature, but; the Glenwood No 111's do have it.
The point being that these stoves are master pieces of concept and design.
The point being that these stoves are master pieces of concept and design.
Hi Will, could you explain us how the gasses return to the fire chamber for the second combustion on the No 111? These stoves seem endless of high-tech.wsherrick wrote:Your stove might have the gas burning option which is really neat if it does. Many base burners have this feature, The lever down by the shakers is probably what that is. When you put the stove in base burning mode, you pull out the lever which allows a good portion of the gasses to recirculate back into the fire, thus burning them if they didn't get burned the first time around. The Glenwood Base Heaters don't have this feature, but; the Glenwood No 111's do have it.
The point being that these stoves are master pieces of concept and design.
thank