How to build the perfect Bituminous Stove

Not shure for bit burning but I would suggest to use a ""fool proff"" shaking grates system. On the 3 models of stoves I had, the one in the G.B. seems to be the best. Having the outside round rotating grate makes the coal bed moving just what it needs to clear the outside ash down , then the centered triangular grates send ash down. NEVER bridges, never at all.Takes just second to clear ash as much as you want/need to. In the sunnyside, there is just the round grate for the entire grate surface and once in a while poking needs to be done to avoid bridging. Not a big problem but very far from the Vigll and the Sunny shaking chore.
Make the fire pot's wall/s completly vertical to avoid ash build up.
Make shure there is no horizontal part at the fire pot's bottom to pile the ash. I mean no moving horizontal part.
Make shure all the ash falling down go in the ash pan. Some deflectors can be easily placed under the outside of the grate so the ash falls at the right place.
Make a sort of sliding out ash pan and sliding lid like Vermont Castings stoves have.
Top and front loading doors.
Long gases path like in the base burner with damper to direct the flue in direct or long path mode.
Build in MPD.
And make a beautiful stove...so you can admire the stove 12 months of the year
Most of the items mentioned here can be found in many antique stoves.
Good luck

nortcan wrote:Not shure for bit burning but I would suggest to use a ""fool proff"" shaking grates system. On the 3 models of stoves I had, the one in the G.B. seems to be the best. Having the outside round rotating grate makes the coal bed moving just what it needs to clear the outside ash down , then the centered triangular grates send ash down. NEVER bridges, never at all.Takes just second to clear ash as much as you want/need to. In the sunnyside, there is just the round grate for the entire grate surface and once in a while poking needs to be done to avoid bridging. Not a big problem but very far from the Vigll and the Sunny shaking chore.
Make the fire pot's wall/s completly vertical to avoid ash build up.
Make shure there is no horizontal part at the fire pot's bottom to pile the ash. I mean no moving horizontal part.
Make shure all the ash falling down go in the ash pan. Some deflectors can be easily placed under the outside of the grate so the ash falls at the right place.
Make a sort of sliding out ash pan and sliding lid like Vermont Castings stoves have.
Top and front loading doors.
Long gases path like in the base burner with damper to direct the flue in direct or long path mode.
Build in MPD.
And make a beautiful stove...so you can admire the stove 12 months of the year
Most of the items mentioned here can be found in many antique stoves.
Good luck

Seriously... do you like that sliding ashpan cover? Ive always thought it a useless peice of *censored* that was a marketing gimic for the newbie stove buyers (but i have not used one, so i cant really say). The cover cant be closed until your removing the ashpan and you have to open it to dump it, how viable a product is that sliding cover anyways?

Sorry but I only wanted to give you my ideas. You did ask for ideas...
If you never tried yourself the sliding out ash pan and sliding lid from a V.C., you miss something about making the perfect stove Just look at the vid I made about my Vigll and you will see if it's enough perfect for you.
P/S I made sliding lids on both of my base burner's ash pan. Maybe I like gimics and is a newbie, but for those having a stove in a living room, it's a plus.

nortcan wrote:Sorry but I only wanted to give you my ideas. You did ask for ideas...
If you never tried yourself the sliding out ash pan and sliding lid from a V.C., you miss something about making the perfect stove Just look at the vid I made about my Vigll and you will see if it's enough perfect for you.
P/S I made sliding lids on both of my base burner's ash pan. Maybe I like gimics and is a newbie, but for those having a stove in a living room, it's a plus.

i did not mean at all for you to think i was saying your opinion is not welcomed (it always is!), im sorry if it came out wrong...maybe ill try to rig up one of these roll top ash pans and give it a whirl (i just did not really see a use for it because i dump my ashpan as soon as i pull it out and never really had a problem holding it steady, slow and carefully as went outside to my barrel to dump it).

Here is another excellent stove designed for the burning of Bituminous. It is a double heater, so it provides both radiant and convective heat simultaneousl, has a heated secondary air ring over the fire pot. You can control the amount of secondary air provided. A brick lined fire pot is included as well. It was made by the Acorn Stove Foundry and it is called an Illinoy Heater.
A darn good design for the purpose.