Picked up a Nice Little Stove Last Weekend but Confused

Saw an ad for a Victorian wood stove so it piqued my curiosity and I called the folks. Great people that live about 65 miles away so last Sunday I took a ride on the Triumph to see it.

This was the original posted picture I had to ask on the phone what the brass things were of course as I'd never seen them. He informed me that they were decorative rocks from an old picture. I tried many times to fix the picture to see what they were before asking. Duhhh...

It is called a Home Sparkle #12. The only other Sparkle I've been able to find any information on is here, a more elaborate stove apparently...
**Broken Link(s) Removed**
Legs aren't on in these pictures but the whole thing is pretty clean including the nickel. Nothing a little polish and buffing compound won't fix. Sorry the pics are sideways, I'm no computer genius....

Anyhow, here are some more pics from my ipod. It's all I had but I wanted some pictures to show you guys the size and to ask some questions. Here they are... The spinner door/viewing cover thingy has two parts. In essence there are two spinner exactly alike. You can not block off all of the view but most of it. I don't know why that is though, why they would put two on there.
What is the small door for above the ash door? Over fire air maybe?
The grate is a round shaker grate akin to a Chubby grate but has a center section that dumps by pulling it out. What I really want to know is whether this is a baseburner or a baseheater? In the next to last picture showing the ash door is a handle under the footrest and to the right above the ash door. I didn't think to pull it when I was there but I noticed there appears to be a damper of sorts to the right of the ashpan that leads back to the bottom of the smoke pipe. That coupled with the upper damper means something right?

I forgot measure the burn chamber but I'd guess between 8 and 10" across, probably 14" high on the refractory.

Any help or information you guys have would be much appreciated. Going to go pick it up this weekend.

Don't know what I'm going to do with it yet...my AA does a great job of keeping us warm already.

Are you sure thats a wood burner, looks like a coal burner to me but I don't know, I bet Will will chime in and tell much..

Nope I believe it's a coal burning stove but it was listed as a wood burner. The guy that owned it was from Ireland, said when he was young they burned turf. Here they call it Peat Moss. Said the bogs go for miles over there and were at least 10' deep. They just harvest the peat with a tractor, compact it, dry it in the sun and burn it. Coal was hard to come by and when it did show you didn't ask where it came from.

Yeah, I wish I had a dime for every stove listed on CL or ebay as a Potbelly, there all potbellys !

The Home Sparkle you are looking at is whats called an "indirect draft" In sort of the same family as base heaters. In the pipe in the back are two chambers to select, direct draft or indirect which causes the exhaust to travel to the base of the pipe then back up and out the flu.
The small door is used to light the stove/add draft forced air to the fire like a blowtorch..
Im sure sir william will add much more knowlage...

P.S. my sister has been looking for a piece like this for a while they seem to be hard to find up here...

Well that kind of makes sense but I think something is missing. The damper on the base of the stove that pulls out. I almost think the exhaust would have to travel up from, out of, and down around the firebox into the ash area then out the exhaust pipe.

I'm sure when I get a look at it in the daylight in my garage it'll make more sense. Hard to tell when you really don't know what you're looking at other than from reading posts on here. I'm a hands on guy, if I can touch it I can usually understand the hows and whys. At least that's what I tell my wife.

cabinover wrote:Well that kind of makes sense but I think something is missing. The damper on the base of the stove that pulls out. I almost think the exhaust would have to travel up from, out of, and down around the firebox into the ash area then out the exhaust pipe.

I'm sure when I get a look at it in the daylight in my garage it'll make more sense. Hard to tell when you really don't know what you're looking at other than from reading posts on here. I'm a hands on guy, if I can touch it I can usually understand the hows and whys. At least that's what I tell my wife.

Very nice stove you got cabinover.
About the ""hands on...."" maybe you need a Golden Bride? LOL

That is a very, very nice stove. That stove is NOT a wood burning stove. That is a pure 100% anthracite burning design. I can't tell from the pictures if it is a base heater or a stove with an indirect back pipe. You are missing the cast iron cap that goes on the top of the back pipe in the rear. So many of these get lost, I don't know why. That cap would have to be replaced for the stove to work correctly. Working correctly, this stove is highly, efficient, easy to control and will produce a lot of heat for a tiny bit of coal. By the way it dates from around 1915 give or take 5 years or so.
More questions-just ask.

Thanks for all of the information guys, much appreciated. So Will I'm missing a cap. Does that mean the center outlet that's currently covered on the exhaust pipe is really the outlet that's supposed to be used, whether in direct or base mode?

Nortcan, I love your Bride but I'm having a hard enough time trying to convince my bride that we should have this in our house, let alone a much larger one such as yours.

cabinover wrote:Thanks for all of the information guys, much appreciated. So Will I'm missing a cap. Does that mean the center outlet that's currently covered on the exhaust pipe is really the outlet that's supposed to be used, whether in direct or base mode?

Nortcan, I love your Bride but I'm having a hard enough time trying to convince my bride that we should have this in our house, let alone a much larger one such as yours.

Do you mean that I have a ""large"" bride? LOL.

cabinover wrote:Thanks for all of the information guys, much appreciated. So Will I'm missing a cap. Does that mean the center outlet that's currently covered on the exhaust pipe is really the outlet that's supposed to be used, whether in direct or base mode?

Nortcan, I love your Bride but I'm having a hard enough time trying to convince my bride that we should have this in our house, let alone a much larger one such as yours.

Your stove is very similar to my Star Herald in size and function. The fork on the grates is used to push/rotate the grates an couple inches in each direction to shake it down (and pulls to dump). The cover on the top of the back pipe is what Will is talking about that's missing. the exhaust outlet is not from the top but rather the round 5" outlet in the middle (or so) of the back of the back pipe.

I would need to see a picture of that lever to see what that is but I think you do have a base burner design based on the placement of the backpipe damper between the barrel and the backpipe of the stove. Is there a ring and slots above the firepot?

At any rate, it looks like a nice stove and in nice shape too. Disregard the prices that Good Time stove puts on their pieces. he's way out of line. These type go for $1500-$2000 in top condition.

cabinover wrote:Thanks for all of the information guys, much appreciated. So Will I'm missing a cap. Does that mean the center outlet that's currently covered on the exhaust pipe is really the outlet that's supposed to be used, whether in direct or base mode?

Nortcan, I love your Bride but I'm having a hard enough time trying to convince my bride that we should have this in our house, let alone a much larger one such as yours.

Sorry I took so long to see this. I just had to drop a mortgage payment on a new computer. Yes the outlet in the center of the back pipe is the exhaust collar. The top of the back pipe has a cast iron cap that fits on top. You are supposed to put your coffee perculator on the top of the back pipe.

That appears very similar to my Hub Heater in design and function. Grates are a bit diferent, but it has a similar back pipe. Mine has the damper your talking about in the base. It connects the ash box to the chimney. By opening this, you reduce the draft through the coal and can burn it very low. Close it and the draft picks up pretty quick. Functions kind of like a modern Barometric damper only its manually operated, cuts the draft by allowing air to bypass the coal and go straight up the chimney. But is tied to the ash box and underfire draft control so it the underfire draft is now tied to the chimney draft. It helps to even out the overall draft and reduce effects of wind and such.

That's what I thought it was too. A check damper but with a lever. Pretty cool and easy to use versus having to pull the ash pan and slide it open. Based on the location of the back damper between the the jacket and back pipe, it looks to be a base burner too.

Hi Folks. This stove has been sitting silently in my garage while part of the house gets remodeled. Now I'd like to use it for some heat in the garage so I can make some cabinets out there.

I've tried both 6" and 5" pipe on the top outlet and neither fit. I know, William, you had mentioned that there was a cast iron cap on that pipe originally. What would I even search for to find one? Or do I just cap it and high temp silicone for the time being?

The exhaust is 5" so at least that's normal.