Which Handfired Coal to Get With My Inheritance?

 
elleninpa
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Posts: 47
Joined: Sat. Nov. 15, 2008 4:52 pm
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vermont Castings Vigilant, circa 1980

Post by elleninpa » Wed. Dec. 11, 2013 8:47 am

now we know who really wears the pants in the family! (and I don't think it's me unless it has to do with food, cooking, gardening, cleaning, and bringing home the bacon now that he is retired....

 
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BPatrick
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Joined: Wed. Jan. 25, 2012 5:29 pm
Location: Cassopolis, MI
Baseburners & Antiques: 2 Crawford 40 Baseheaters
Coal Size/Type: Stove Coal
Other Heating: Herald Oak No. 18

Post by BPatrick » Wed. Dec. 11, 2013 4:40 pm

Sorry about your luck. The box stove will work great for ya...the antiques just do it with flare.

 
elleninpa
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Posts: 47
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vermont Castings Vigilant, circa 1980

Post by elleninpa » Sat. Dec. 03, 2022 7:45 pm

Well it's post-pandemic and we are not looking for a Glenwood 6 or 8 anymore. We are running a Lopi woodburner and a Vermont Castings Vigilant with coal conversion kit that my brother donated. We have since sold the Surdiac. But the real reason I am posting is that hubs and I made a second visit in 20 years to the East Broadtop Railroad near Orbisonia, PA. We took a ride out and back on their train (diesel right now but hopefully in late spring they may have the coal-fired engine in service). Any whoooo --- I saw in the caboose a tiny little two burner stove on legs and thought, how charming! A few weeks later I was on Craig's List and saw the same....purchased it...but wow ---- it needs some help! But first, can you all help identify it? Nothing found so far on the internet, tried a catalog on a university website, but it was from 1930 and we think this little fellow was from between 1900 and 1920. The only identifying information is on the ash pan door "WEHRLE Newark, Ohio No 58 PET Model 228.


 
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Sunny Boy
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Posts: 25517
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 1:40 pm
Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Sat. Dec. 03, 2022 8:06 pm

Welcome back, E.

Pictures of the stove would help - including inside shots of the firepot to see what type of grates it has, and if the firepot is lined for coal.

Paul

 
elleninpa
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vermont Castings Vigilant, circa 1980

Post by elleninpa » Sat. Dec. 03, 2022 8:43 pm

HI Paul, yep, we are in process of taking pics, probably in daytime would be better, we just brought the little stove home this afternoon and are eager to find out about it...we have a few we took tonight and are uploading shortly.

The firepot is 10 inches at the bottom and 12 at the top (round), oval flue collar, looks like it might be a (two 'burner' laundry stove? The closest we can find on the internet is an Acme Jack PET laundry stove in a 1904 (?) Sears catalog. And a picture of one similar that said Model 226.

There are no bricks inside. The grates are circular with slotted rectangular centerpiece that moves, swing out door to access ashes but no pan was provided.

Dimensions are:
23.5 in tall as it stands with the four legs.
19.5 in side to side width.
13 in front to back of the cooktop surface (does not include flue portion nor "apron" (coal feed port?) on the front.

 
elleninpa
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vermont Castings Vigilant, circa 1980

Post by elleninpa » Sat. Dec. 03, 2022 8:57 pm

new old stove pics!

Attachments

wehrle full view.jpg
.JPG | 63.8KB | wehrle full view.jpg
wehrle mfrg info.jpg
.JPG | 93.7KB | wehrle mfrg info.jpg
wehrle top view.jpg
.JPG | 87.6KB | wehrle top view.jpg
wehrle front view.jpg
.JPG | 63.2KB | wehrle front view.jpg
wehrle grates.jpg
.JPG | 69.8KB | wehrle grates.jpg


 
elleninpa
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Posts: 47
Joined: Sat. Nov. 15, 2008 4:52 pm
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vermont Castings Vigilant, circa 1980

Post by elleninpa » Sat. Dec. 03, 2022 9:24 pm

oh btw the Vigilant will go at least 32 hours for us! We can take overnight trips in the winter with this new stove! when it's not freezing out...just low 30s and mild to brisk winds.

 
hank2
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Posts: 845
Joined: Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 4:07 pm
Location: Berks County
Hand Fed Coal Stove: DS Machine 1400 WH ciculator; 1880's small cannon in reserve
Coal Size/Type: Nut
Other Heating: small New Yorker oil fired boiler; mostly used for domestic HW

Post by hank2 » Sat. Dec. 03, 2022 10:02 pm

Others can provide more on the manufacturer, etc., but your new stove appears to be a coalburner. The grates look to be ash grinders. I've always known that type of stove to be called a laundry stove. I'm sure that the style was copied by many. The train caboose stove was likely there for effect. There was a similar style wood burner stove usually called "fatso's". The caboose stoves that I have seen were all tall cannon or potbelly types. At least in our local large rail museum and yard. Some are quite big.

Great find and hopefully you can try it out. I'm amazed at burn time you get with the Vigilant!

 
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Sunny Boy
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Posts: 25517
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 1:40 pm
Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Sat. Dec. 03, 2022 11:30 pm

Yup, it's a laundry/canning stove - not really a railroad caboose stove.

Only two "burners" - round covers on top just enough to heat the size of a common oval "water boiler" water tank.

Small size so it could be carried outdoors to get the mess of doing laundry out in the yard on "laundry day" usually once a week, weather permitting.

Large loading door on the front so you didn't have to lift off a heavy water tank to refuel it with coal or wood. Not big enough to hold enough fuel to run long enough as a heating stove, and too small to use as a cookstove for a family. Just meant to have a fire for a few hours to do laundry or canning.

And the short height is so a lady can reach over the top of a water boiler which tends to be taller than most kitchen pots. The kitchen cookstoves and ranges of that era were about 30 -31 inches high at the cooktop.

You can still find water boilers on eBay that will fit nicely on that stove top.

Paul

 
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Sylvesterd101
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Joined: Tue. Sep. 11, 2018 10:46 pm
Location: Lehighton PA
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Harman SF260
Coal Size/Type: nut, anthracite

Post by Sylvesterd101 » Sun. Dec. 04, 2022 6:58 pm

love that stove!

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