L.A. Althoff Headlight Stove

Hi,

I'm looking at a Headlight L.A. Althoff. Does anyone have and idea of what a good price is for one?? The one I'm looking at, the asking price is $200. The enamel is in excellent condition. I don't know what type of fuel was meant to use. Right now, someone lined the sides of the top chamber with fire brick. So when you open the top door you see the back of a brick. There are 2 small holes about and inch in diameter that are coverd by the brick also. Here are some pics to look at. Also on the front there is a triangle , what I'll call a knob, but you can't turn it. I'm thinking there is a handle that fits on it. Just a guess thou.

Any thought are much appreaciated.

Check your "new messages"--top center bar:) Welcome to the forum my friend--yes triangle hole would be for grate shaker---are grates there & seemingly not all wharped--firebrick can be fitted--ash door--ash pan -- cracks anywhere visible--of course $100.00 is always a good starting bid

After I open the white door, starting from the top down, when I open the top door it is blocked off by a brick. Going down, I don't remember if there was another door or if it was the ash box. The bottom of the ash box was rusted out and someone riveted in a new bottom. The very bottom was another pull out drawer that I assumed is used to store wood or coal or whatever. I couldn't see the sides of the cast iron for cracks but the 2 round plates on top had cracks. The middle filler between the 2 round plates I think didn't have cracks. When I removed the top plates and looked down I don't recall seeing a grate. I remember it narrowing and the sides of the narrow passage looked like little nubby fingers, then the ash box. Oh, I don't own anything at the moment. I put that on my profile, but I don't have one.

Hopefully Larry will jump in & deal with this stove you're looking at--I guess the one he gave his boy was complete & he'd have a much better idea what's what--as I'm reading it--it don't sound real promising & I'm sure there are some fair priced stoves out there for sale that would interest you.

Am I in the right forum for this stove?? Just want to make sure. I was lead here from the google search and was linked to the thread, Saved from the scrap yard.

If you're thinkin about burnin coal, you betcha you're in the right place. That stove you're lookin at just seems to be missing a whole bunch of stuff if coal burnin is what you're looking into. Primarily it's a small kitchen cook stove. Are you looking to heat your house or just to make a couple $$$ turning it over?

I'm attracted to it just because it's neat, old and cool. I wasn't looking for a stove. I like that it's old, porcelin covered and has no chips. I'm not looking to make money and flip it but I do like to know that it has more value than what I paid, it already has me sentimentaly and that is the problem. I almost paid the $200 because I liked it BUT I don't think I have any use for it. I was thinking I could try to set it up in my garage but it not big enough for my garage (about 1200 sq ft. big enough for 2 RV's). Plus trying to explain to my wife why I bought this thing..... whole other story! I alread bought a 1958 20" Schwinn Tornado from them for $65. Which the family was looking at me funny when I brought it home. I guess I'm a horder or waiting for American Pickers to come by and make crazy under valued offers.

Keep your eyes open, there's a lot nicer stoves out there that will fit your wants/needs for real reasonable $$ ---right place/right time

I agree with Fred. There are a lot better stoves out there for $200.

I had a similar but different brand stove hooked up for a short while. I didnt burn coal in it but did burn wood and I wasnt impressed with it for the heat recieved vs amount of wood used. I have heard a few people call these incinerators at auctions. But yes, they do look nice.

warminmn wrote:I agree with Fred. There are a lot better stoves out there for $200.

I had a similar but different brand stove hooked up for a short while. I didnt burn coal in it but did burn wood and I wasnt impressed with it for the heat recieved vs amount of wood used. I have heard a few people call these incinerators at auctions. But yes, they do look nice.

I have found where they have sold in the past at auctions. I think $70-75 was what one sold for and it didn't look as nice on the outside. If I could get it for that I would feel like that was a good price. The inside burner area may have been better on the auctioned one, I don't know. I think I could go up to $100 but by the time I got to $100 I wouldn't feel like it was a good deal at that point, I would be paying $100 because I wanted it so bad but not $200 bad. Never was good at poker.

The LA Althoff was a utility stove normally installed in kitchens for a quick warmup in the mornings. I got one for free and took it apart and resealed every joint, repaired the rear grate support and installed new fire brick. My son couldn't afford oil so I gave it to him. They heated their 800 square foot or so row home for one winter. They would start a small fire with some paper, throw in some twigs and when the fire was going put in a couple of shovels of coal. It didn't hold much more than 4 shovel full of pea size coal on the grates. Once they were cranking they would put out some decent heat. You can get a 6 hour run time on this stove. Maybe 8 if you kept the fire low. It's hard to control the air flow which can cause it to run flat out or go out, not much in-between.

The two holes your talking about were for water lines that went to a cast iron water chamber. There were firebrick on one side and the cast iron waffle on the other side in the upper chamber. Cold water came in one pipe and hot water exited the other pipe. You needed to have it piped to a hot water storage tank higher than the boiler so you could get thermosyphon Just below that should have been two grates that connect to the triangle post you see. Gears connected the grates together so when you put your handle on the triangle and moved it every so little you shook ash off the grates. Move them too much and you will dump your fire into the ash pan.

It appears that the cast iron waffle burned out and someone in the past replaced it with firebrick. Not a big deal there.

If the round lids are cracked which indicates it was over fired they can be replaced. They are a standard size and run less than $20 apiece. If that center plate on top is cracked your only option is to try some type of repair which is a PITA or replace the entire assembly with some plate steel.

If you take the round plates off the top and look in there you should see grates. If you don't see them let this stove go to someone else because you have about $50 buck worth of scrap if they are not there. More than likely the mounting bracket in the rear of the stove that the back of the grate post sat in cracked or broke so who ever had the stove jury rigged something to burn wood on. Without the grates you will not burn coal.

One stove like this sat on Craigs list for almost a year at $75 and it was in better shape than the one I got for free. There is one on EBay right now for $90 in Michigan. MAX price in excellent condition is in my opinion no higher than $125.

Thanks blrman. I'm going to go back today and have a closer look, if they still have it. Sounds like the only thing it has going for it is the porcelin. Thanks for the info it was a big help. Now that I have some idea what to look at, it is a lot easier to walk away!!

Okay, well I went back to take another look and snap some pics. I think what I described as nubby were the grates. The owner and I took a look at it. He had the 2 in 1 handle and showed me how the grates rotated. The one on the right looked like it was a little out of sync in that it had a small angle when the left one was flat. I looked as close as I could to the iron that was exposed in the brick lined fire box and didn't see any cracks. The center connector between the round plates was ok. Here are the pics to look at. Would there have been some pipes in the fire box for the water heater? I'm sure they aren't there now due to the placing of the bricks.

Hell my friend, if you like it for the enamel---buy it---I'd bet you can get her up & workin with not to much trouble--pipes??? I'd think not.

If the seller would take between $70 and $100, better the $70 range, I would take it. I like old Americana stuff. From what I have learned here even $100 sounds like it's too much and $200...... way too much. Thanks for the education.