Picked up Today...Crawford #2 Baseheater

Hooray! There will be still enough cold weather to test it out. Remember to make a small fire in it at first to cure everything. Don't forget to open all the windows in the house until the paint and everything cures. You will be glad you did.

Photos, photos, photos

ONEDOLLAR wrote:

ashburnham55 wrote:Could you post some pictures of the top of the fire pot and check damper? Also the back of the ash pan area? --> It is so similar to my Magee, I was wondering if Crawford and Magee could have possible shared casting molds or worked together manufacturing stoves.
Both companies plants were within 10 miles of each other

Ash

I will endeavor to get those pics for you.

It would not surprise me one bit if the Crawford is exaclty or nearly exact to your Magee. Crawford, Magee and Glenwood were all made right here in Taxachusetts and from what I understand each company ripped each other off with wanton disregard. Now who stole what from who and when I don't know. Perhaps "Obi-Wan" does?

Yes, they stole from each other without compunction. I don't know who came out with the internal suspended fire pot first. I have the first run of Glenwoods that have it. My No 9 came out around 1899. This Crawford here is ten to fifteen years later it is in direct competition with the Modern Glenwood Series.
I talked at length to Emery about them and the oldest one he had was a Magee Oval Base Heater from the late 1880's. He had another prior one from the mid 1890's called a "Spicer." It is a magnificent base heater with all the refinements of the later ones made after the Turn Of The Century. So I guess it is sort of a mystery who thought of this design first. By the Turn Of The Century these cylinder base heaters with the internally suspended fire pots were widely produced in the Northeast and the little small, square mica base burners that preceded them had largely fallen out of production by then.

Ash

Better late then never here are the pics you asked for.

Today was FIRE UP the CRAWFORD day and I am happy to report she is purrrrrrring along just fine. Right now "Joan" as I have taken to calling her, is sitting at 400f on diet of "stove" and "Nut" size coal. Flu temps are right around 150f and it was very nice feeling the base of the stove warm up when "Joan" went into "baseburner mode".

The firepot is over 15inch deep and I was surprised at how much coal it took to fill Joan up. Joan doesn't like a lot of air either to reach the 400f temp. I suspect that this will change a bit depending on the temps outside as well. With the very deep firepot a 24 hour burn should not be a problem. Joan also seems to react pretty well with adjustments to the air flow. Of course the learning curve will continue for the next 4 to 6 weeks as I plan to pretty much just use Joan for heat. The Chubby Jr will get its long promised visit to the "Larry Trainer Chubby Stove Company Rehab Facility" for its long overdue facelift.

All in all I am very happy!

ONEDOLLAR wrote:Today was FIRE UP the CRAWFORD day and I am happy to report she is purrrrrrring along just fine. Right now "Joan" as I have taken to calling her, is sitting at 400f on diet of "stove" and "Nut" size coal. Flu temps are right around 150f and it was very nice feeling the base of the stove warm up when "Joan" went into "baseburner mode".

The firepot is over 15inch deep and I was surprised at how much coal it took to fill Joan up. Joan doesn't like a lot of air either to reach the 400f temp. I suspect that this will change a bit depending on the temps outside as well. With the very deep firepot a 24 hour burn should not be a problem. Joan also seems to react pretty well with adjustments to the air flow. Of course the learning curve will continue for the next 4 to 6 weeks as I plan to pretty much just use Joan for heat. The Chubby Jr will get its long promised visit to the "Larry Trainer Chubby Stove Company Rehab Facility" for its long overdue facelift.

All in all I am very happy!

Glad to hear you got "Joan" up and going today. It was also nice to see you chose the name I picked for her!

Super Onedollar! You will certainly love that stove, oops Joan. Love will just get better and better as the time will go by. The best is ahead of you
Bravo et encore plus de photos

Some observations after a few days of burning Joan......

I gave the Crawford (ie Joan) her second shakedown this morning at around 6:30 am. Friday afternoon at 2:00 pm was the last time I loaded her up and shook her down. Over 16 hours and all was well. She responded well to the shake down and reload was back up to temp in less than 30 mins. I don't plan on touching her till tomorrow morning at 6 am. Looking for a 24 hour burn.....

The grate system while good does allow for some decent size pieces of coal to slip through. Not alot but some. Most of the ash seems to be powder and I haven't seen a clinker yet. However the HUGE ash pan more than makes up for this "issue" of losing some coal. The ash pan should only need to be dumped no more than twice a week which is fine by me.

What I haven't done yet and will soon is let Joan get up to 600f or so. 450 is about as hot as I have had her.

All in all I am very pleased.

Super.
What kind of grate system is in your stove?

ONEDOLLAR: you are a bit 'stingy' with the photos !! How about some photos of that beauty installed, front, side and back??

We never did see a back or side view, or the grates.. Like I said, you are holding out on all the 'required' photos of a 'new' stove..

Sure glad you got her burning well, why the desire to turn her up to 600*? just curious? or do you think you will need that much heat in the
really cold months?

Greg L

Pierre

I am not sure what you call these grates. They are round and flat with a center dump feature. Simple but effective. I am sure someone with more brains than I can explain them better.

Greg

I will get some more pics up I promise. At some point we might need the 600 f. The amount of BTU's put out at 600f is massive compared to 400f. It does get pretty darn cold around here at times. The real issue is we are always going in and out of the house and everytime the door opens you can feel the effect. Most of the time the Crawford should be able to heat the house just fine at 400 to 450f.