Got My Coal Furnace! 1920 Holland Vaporaire
This is my holland coal furnace. This furnace is amazing. I live in central pa and use roughly 5 ton of nut coal. I hand fill mine and I can let it go for around 8 hours. My wife can use it with ease. We have had our 1800 sf house up to 90f on accident by leaving ash door open. But everything works great. I do have an air handle, but I don't really use cause it stays warm enough. There are electrical controls on side to open ash door but they don't work, but I manual use it ( set damper, ash door) to control draft.
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We purchased our 1905 home in Salt Lake City Utah Historic Avenues district in 2003. Upon inspection we found a huge cast iron “Thing” in our basement.
We were told it was a heat exchanger. I still don’t know how it works, but at the time I appreciated its design. I remember thinking it would make a nice water feature.
With help from 3 of my employees we hauled it out of the basement and placed it in the yard. There it sat for several years.
One day while at our local steel yard picking up flat-bar for landscape edging I noticed some large bowls that had been cut from the ends of large propane tanks. Finally I found the receiving bowl for the water feature.
Long story short, I built the feature and placed it in our front yard.
I was asked by a client some years back if we could build them a feature like the one in our yard. I looked on line, and and at local antique scrap yards but could not find anything.
I am a landscaper and have been asked again by a client if we would build them a feature.
I found your link and am hopeful that I am on the right path to locating one or more of these heat exchangers.
Any information you can give me would be very much appreciated.
Thanks, Jon
We were told it was a heat exchanger. I still don’t know how it works, but at the time I appreciated its design. I remember thinking it would make a nice water feature.
With help from 3 of my employees we hauled it out of the basement and placed it in the yard. There it sat for several years.
One day while at our local steel yard picking up flat-bar for landscape edging I noticed some large bowls that had been cut from the ends of large propane tanks. Finally I found the receiving bowl for the water feature.
Long story short, I built the feature and placed it in our front yard.
I was asked by a client some years back if we could build them a feature like the one in our yard. I looked on line, and and at local antique scrap yards but could not find anything.
I am a landscaper and have been asked again by a client if we would build them a feature.
I found your link and am hopeful that I am on the right path to locating one or more of these heat exchangers.
Any information you can give me would be very much appreciated.
Thanks, Jon
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- Member
- Posts: 8601
- Joined: Sat. May. 24, 2008 4:26 pm
- Location: Chester, NY
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: LL AnthraKing 180K, Pocono110K,KStokr 90K, DVC
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Invader 2
- Baseburners & Antiques: Wings Best, Glenwood #8(x2) Herald 116x
- Coal Size/Type: Rice,
- Other Heating: Heating Oil CH, Toyotomi OM 22
I think you have the wrong board. A lot of members turn themselves inside out to restore old coal stoves just for the hell of it. You find more of these interesting old stoves and ship them to the East coast I will locate the mental defective who will devote hundreds of house of his time and lots of money rebuilding them.
- wsherrick
- Member
- Posts: 3744
- Joined: Wed. Jun. 18, 2008 6:04 am
- Location: High In The Poconos
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Glenwood Base Heater, Crawford Base Heater
- Baseburners & Antiques: Crawford Base Heater, Glenwood, Stanley Argand
- Coal Size/Type: Chestnut, Stove Size
What a crime. I know people who don't know any better use stove finals and parts as, "garden decorations." Here these parts are put back into their original and best use which is to heat someone's house. The quaint old part you are using as a decoration is probably being searched for by someone who has that stove or furnace model and is desperate to put it back into use. I know it's hard for a lot of people to understand, but; heating with coal is where smart people separate themselves from trendies. No insult intended, I just want to be informative.simmslandscape.com wrote:We purchased our 1905 home in Salt Lake City Utah Historic Avenues district in 2003. Upon inspection we found a huge cast iron “Thing” in our basement.
We were told it was a heat exchanger. I still don’t know how it works, but at the time I appreciated its design. I remember thinking it would make a nice water feature.
With help from 3 of my employees we hauled it out of the basement and placed it in the yard. There it sat for several years.
One day while at our local steel yard picking up flat-bar for landscape edging I noticed some large bowls that had been cut from the ends of large propane tanks. Finally I found the receiving bowl for the water feature.
Long story short, I built the feature and placed it in our front yard.
I was asked by a client some years back if we could build them a feature like the one in our yard. I looked on line, and and at local antique scrap yards but could not find anything.
I am a landscaper and have been asked again by a client if we would build them a feature.
I found your link and am hopeful that I am on the right path to locating one or more of these heat exchangers.
Any information you can give me would be very much appreciated.
Thanks, Jon
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- Joined: Fri. May. 23, 2014 10:40 am
Coalnewbe,
Can you provide any information as to were I can find these old stoves. I have a client that is willing to spend hundreds of dollars on an old stove to create another use for it.
If they are for sale somewhere I am willing to pay asking price.
Thanks Jon
Can you provide any information as to were I can find these old stoves. I have a client that is willing to spend hundreds of dollars on an old stove to create another use for it.
If they are for sale somewhere I am willing to pay asking price.
Thanks Jon
- McGiever
- Member
- Posts: 10130
- Joined: Sun. May. 02, 2010 11:26 pm
- Location: Junction of PA-OH-WV
- Stoker Coal Boiler: AXEMAN-ANDERSON 130 "1959"
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: BUCKET A DAY water heater
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Warm Morning 414A
- Coal Size/Type: PEA,NUT,STOVE /ANTHRACITE
- Other Heating: Ground Source Heat Pump and some Solar
Contact me by Private Message...We can work something out.
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- Member
- Posts: 8601
- Joined: Sat. May. 24, 2008 4:26 pm
- Location: Chester, NY
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: LL AnthraKing 180K, Pocono110K,KStokr 90K, DVC
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Invader 2
- Baseburners & Antiques: Wings Best, Glenwood #8(x2) Herald 116x
- Coal Size/Type: Rice,
- Other Heating: Heating Oil CH, Toyotomi OM 22
Et tu, BruteContact me by Private Message...We can work something out.
AHHAAHAHAHAHAHA.“Do not be deceived: bad company corrupts good morals.”
― Anonymous, Holy Bible: King James Version
- windyhill4.2
- Member
- Posts: 6072
- Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
- Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
- Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both
Looks like maybe someone found a place to unload their DVC unit,should make a wonderful water display !! Making landscaping decoration/display out of quality unbroken home heating units makes as much sense as the car clunker program did... brainless society mentality
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- Member
- Posts: 8601
- Joined: Sat. May. 24, 2008 4:26 pm
- Location: Chester, NY
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: LL AnthraKing 180K, Pocono110K,KStokr 90K, DVC
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Invader 2
- Baseburners & Antiques: Wings Best, Glenwood #8(x2) Herald 116x
- Coal Size/Type: Rice,
- Other Heating: Heating Oil CH, Toyotomi OM 22
In my haste I forgot there are coal stoves that are better suited to being fountains. Before drinking at the fountain make sure the DVC is plugged in and switched on. Hi Jon, I have a very pretty DVC that would make a great fountain only $3000 to you. WH, most GM cars serve well is garden ornaments they only fail once you put them on the road.Looks like maybe someone found a place to unload their DVC unit,should make a wonderful water display !!
- rockwood
- Member
- Posts: 1381
- Joined: Sun. Sep. 21, 2008 7:37 pm
- Location: Utah
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Stokermatic
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Rockwood Stoveworks Circulator
- Baseburners & Antiques: Malleable/Monarch Range
- Coal Size/Type: Lump and stoker + Blaschak-stove size
Hey Jon,simmslandscape.com wrote:We purchased our 1905 home in Salt Lake City Utah Historic Avenues district in 2003. Upon inspection we found a huge cast iron “Thing” in our basement.
We were told it was a heat exchanger. I still don’t know how it works, but at the time I appreciated its design. I remember thinking it would make a nice water feature.
With help from 3 of my employees we hauled it out of the basement and placed it in the yard. There it sat for several years.
One day while at our local steel yard picking up flat-bar for landscape edging I noticed some large bowls that had been cut from the ends of large propane tanks. Finally I found the receiving bowl for the water feature.
Long story short, I built the feature and placed it in our front yard.
I was asked by a client some years back if we could build them a feature like the one in our yard. I looked on line, and and at local antique scrap yards but could not find anything.
I am a landscaper and have been asked again by a client if we would build them a feature.
I found your link and am hopeful that I am on the right path to locating one or more of these heat exchangers.
Any information you can give me would be very much appreciated.
Thanks, Jon
That is part of a furnace known as a "gravity warm/hot air furnace". Most of the older homes in old neighborhoods like the one where you live, would have been heated with one of these furnaces. In Utah, there are still homes heated with these furnaces, but instead of burning coal, most have been retrofitted to use natural gas. These furnaces are not efficient using natural gas but are very efficient with coal, which is the fuel they were designed to burn.
You can't buy a furnace today that would outlast one of these furnaces...they were heavy duty and built to last.
Occasionally I see these furnaces advertised on craigslist or other local ads (KSL).
Here's a video showing how one of these furnaces was assembled.
It's sad to think that something so heavy duty and long lasting can end up being a fountain, but I guess that's better than ending up in the scrap yard.
Keep in mind that the outer tin shell of these furnaces often had an asbestos coating on them.
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- Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: vaporaire
have old holland vaporaire coal furnace . found in basement of our garage that used to be an old gas station. If interested contact me at [email protected]
2022 and I am finally assembling the Holland 250A coal furnace I salvaged about the time Kev found his. I have cleaned all the components via cup brush and it's a real bute of a brute. I have all the parts to the shaker but they haven't made sense yet. If you're still out there Kev, I would love a link to that picture/diagram you mentioned. Meantime I'll keep head-scratching it.
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- Member
- Posts: 3747
- Joined: Fri. Aug. 16, 2019 3:02 pm
- Location: Oneida, N.Y.
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Harmon Mark II
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Looking
- Baseburners & Antiques: Looking
- Coal Size/Type: Nut
- Other Heating: newmac wood/coal combo furnace