Question About Downdrafters

Short Bus wrote:Yes the Warm Moring is not available new.
Stokers would be a real chalange where you are, due to no stoker sized coal available, within 150 miles.

I've been doing a little reading on Warm Mornings. The model I was reading about, it seems, isn't gasketed and tends to be leaky. I'd be a little concerned about burning our stuff in a very leaky stove - no way to control it.

Is there a specific model of Warm Morning I should look for?

A stoker does seem like it would be a problem with our stuff. You have a stoker, but you have a custom fabricated setup, correct?

The two Warm Morning stoves I have had, had nice tight ash door seals on machined surfaces. No gaskets needed. The feed door need not be tight.

franco b wrote:The two Warm Morning stoves I have had, had nice tight ash door seals on machined surfaces. No gaskets needed. The feed door need not be tight.

Thanks. I'll do some more research on this. I've got an email into Emery at the Stove Hospital with my needs to see what he thinks vs. what he has available.

I would look to spend as little money as possible because whatever you get will do a lousy job of burning the fuel you have available. So why spend a lot of money?

Having said that I would try to get the least bad stove I could. First choice would be whatever antique William recommends, probably a Florence. There were also a lot of other antiques that had a hot blast feature of hot air above the fire. A Warm Morning for a lot less money would be second choice. You might also need a stove with a very aggressive shaker system such as the Glenwood and others have.

I have never seen a warm morning stove, in fact finding a real traditional coal stove in Alaska is darn near imposible, just searched coal on craigslist Fairbanks, Anchorage and Alaskalist only one "traditional wood coal cook stove" between the three. I have typed coal into those web sites for almost three years now and never seen a stoker for sale, mine was found in a wrecking yard twenty years ago. Just a side note, coal cook stoves are not the best for heating. Some new box like stoves that are welded up and lined with brick are available new, but I'll bet some more traditional design has serious advantages. Most pot belly stoves don't look to have good grates or room for our ash volumes, but I could be wrong.

When you are heating eight or more months a year you can afford to spend some money on a stove.

I woke up to -30 this morning at 5:30, sun all day 15 above now, predicting low 40s this weekend, ya hoo!!!

Get a good stove that will work with the stuff you can buy, insulate, insulate, and seal.

Some people on this site enjoy saving money for a few months in the winter, extend that hobby to seven months hand fired, and you won't even look at the price tag on the stove.

Short Bus wrote:I have never seen a warm morning stove, in fact finding a real traditional coal stove in Alaska is darn near imposible, just searched coal on craigslist Fairbanks, Anchorage and Alaskalist only one "traditional wood coal cook stove" between the three. I have typed coal into those web sites for almost three years now and never seen a stoker for sale, mine was found in a wrecking yard twenty years ago. Just a side note, coal cook stoves are not the best for heating. Some new box like stoves that are welded up and lined with brick are available new, but I'll bet some more traditional design has serious advantages. Most pot belly stoves don't look to have good grates or room for our ash volumes, but I could be wrong.

When you are heating eight or more months a year you can afford to spend some money on a stove.

I woke up to -30 this morning at 5:30, sun all day 15 above now, predicting low 40s this weekend, ya hoo!!!

Get a good stove that will work with the stuff you can buy, insulate, insulate, and seal.

Some people on this site enjoy saving money for a few months in the winter, extend that hobby to seven months hand fired, and you won't even look at the price tag on the stove.

Yep, we've been heating 365, and we don't even see your kind of weather - I don't know how you guys do it up there. We can get away with one load in the morning during the summer to kill the chill if the weather's nice. But when we get a rainy streak, even in July, we're burning all day & night. There's just no way I'll do fuel oil at this point, the cost savings are just so tremendous.

The thing that's blowing me away about the DS Machine - it's about the same dimension as our Harman, it has a 33% larger firebox, more sophistcated burn technology with their airwash & dampering systems, is twice as heavy, and costs 25% less. I do feel, that just with the ash management problems I've had the past two seasons, the stoves we have now were overpriced.

I'm still investigating the base burners however, something that was made for bit. I won't say price is no object, although, a restored base burner for us will probably run at least twice as much as the DS, probably more.

It may be worth it I'm sure, but it's hard spending that money when you can't get to a place to actually see them, and experience what they're about.

I'm with you, it would be nice to lay hands on a hot stove before you buy, or at least talk to somone that has fired the selected stove with our coal.

Price is important, but it's like a vehical you are going to drive 20K miles a year, it better be comfortable, and get decent milage.

Summers almost here, weatherman predicting highs in the 40s and lows in the high teens next seven days.

Whenever somone tells me this is a coal stove I always look at the ash area volume, and I'm almost always disapointed. In my opinion the ash area needs to be at least as big as the coal combustion area.

Kielanders wrote:The thing that's blowing me away about the DS Machine - it's about the same dimension as our Harman, it has a 33% larger firebox, more sophistcated burn technology with their airwash & dampering systems, is twice as heavy, and costs 25% less. I do feel, that just with the ash management problems I've had the past two seasons, the stoves we have now were overpriced.

Call DSM again, and ask if they could build the stove with a larger ash pan and base needed for your conditions.It may cost a little more,but as you said 24/7/365 days a year you don't want to spend all day tending to a stove.

Just curious, how much does it cost to ship something like a stove . I know at least six people that drive to ak. every summer. You might post on CL for someone to haul it up there for you ,might be cheaper

Waldo

waldo lemieux wrote:Just curious, how much does it cost to ship something like a stove . I know at least six people that drive to ak. every summer. You might post on CL for someone to haul it up there for you ,might be cheaper
Waldo

Thanks for the idea about Craigslist. I would have a little concern about a new 680lb stove in the back of someone's truck for 5000 miles through all sorts of weather, and I think it would be spendy on gas.

The stove would need to get to Seattle to be loaded on a barge. I'm guessing a cross country trip for such a compact package, including its weight, would be around $500. The barge trip from Seattle to Seward will probably be another $500.

It's the fuel surcharges that get tacked on these bills that run the price up. We haven't done any major shipping of materals from down south in a few years, so it's a guess right now what it will be. We'd be happy if we could get it here for $800.

Short Bus wrote:I'm with you, it would be nice to lay hands on a hot stove before you buy, or at least talk to somone that has fired the selected stove with our coal.

Price is important, but it's like a vehical you are going to drive 20K miles a year, it better be comfortable, and get decent milage.

Summers almost here, weatherman predicting highs in the 40s and lows in the high teens next seven days.

I told my 73 year old father-in-law yesterday, who lives in Virginia, that we were going to mail him a suitcase of our coal. I asked him if he and my mother-in-law would like to take a couples get-away weekend in Amish Country - specifically to Gordonville, PA. They could stop by the DS factory and do a test burn on the stove we're interested in. I also asked him to do a video call on his I-Phone so we could watch the 6 hour burn live.

...so far, he's not biting.

When I send coal south for testing I send it in the large flat rate box at the post office, 22lb per box about, for I think about 15$, straight to anyone in the country.