Cookin' With Coal

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Sat. Apr. 09, 2016 6:33 am

Last week it got real cold here again so I pulled the summer plate out and lit it back up on coal I had 2 bags of Santa stove left.
2 hours later when I went to bed looked great, 7 hours later when I got up cold and all but out. Saved it with some rock maple kindling then it ran good till sometime in the after noon and started to doe again saved it again when I got home, the next day I went and bought 2 bags of reading nut.

Wow, talking about a whole different animal, before I ran out of nut I was mixing it with stove and was pleased with the performance, the only thing I can think is that the stove with more air flow must burn the "goodness" up faster..

I dunno but I'm on day 3 with no issues what so ever on the nastiest wettest fines filled reading but I've ever seen.
Dana

Tin Man · Post by **Tin Man** » Sat. Apr. 09, 2016 6:56 am

Sunny Boy wrote:As Randy said, use the heat from a 60 -100 watt light bulb. Place it in the ash pan area under the grates, with the cook top plates in place to retain the heat - will dry out the liner in a few days. Leave off the right front round cover to give a chimney affect to let the moisture out.

Only place I've seen the oval MPD's is as Paulie said - eBay. I just put a modern cast iron, 6 inch round MPD up at about 6 feet where the pipe is round, but still can be reached.

Bryants makes the tapered oval pipes. http://www.bryantstove.com/parts.html

Before I knew they had them I just used stainless steel sheet-metal to make a 7 inch oval to 6 inch oval that's about a foot tall. I drew the layout in paper first and cut it to shape to test fit. Then used it to layout the cut lines on the stainless steel sheet. I overlapped the vertical seam, then screwed and caulked it closed. From there I squashed a 6 inch single wall pipe to oval to fit up through the oval opening in the mantel shelf. Not being squashed to oval at the upper end of that first section of pipe it stayed almost round so that the next section is still round half way up it where the MPD is about 6 feet above floor level.

In hindsight, I could have put the MPD a bit lower and Melissa would be able to reach it without standing on tip-toes leaning over hot stove surfaces. However, the MPD handle can be turned easily by hooking the looped handle of the MPD using the right-angle end of the stainless steel poker I made.

Paul

Actually, I fabricate the tapered oval to round adapter pipes for Bryant's and have done so for over 25 years. I also fabricate other items such as different oval sizes, angled oval adapters, stove barrels, ash pans, copper side tanks and more. Please check out my site, thanks http://toothakersheetmetal.weebly.com/

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Sat. Apr. 09, 2016 8:25 am

D.lapan wrote:Last week it got real cold here again so I pulled the summer plate out and lit it back up on coal I had 2 bags of Santa stove left.
2 hours later when I went to bed looked great, 7 hours later when I got up cold and all but out. Saved it with some rock maple kindling then it ran good till sometime in the after noon and started to doe again saved it again when I got home, the next day I went and bought 2 bags of reading nut.

Wow, talking about a whole different animal, before I ran out of nut I was mixing it with stove and was pleased with the performance, the only thing I can think is that the stove with more air flow must burn the "goodness" up faster..

I dunno but I'm on day 3 with no issues what so ever on the nastiest wettest fines filled reading but I've ever seen.
Dana

Dana,
When I saw the size of the burned out coal in your range's firebox I wasn't surprised.

With the small fireboxes that ranges have, the size of the coal becomes more critical.

Glenwood lists stove coal as the size to use in their ranges. And for cooking purposes, it does give a lot of heat and responds better to changes in heat demand. However, while that's great for cooking it doesn't work as well for long burn times.

I tried a few bags of stove coal size in my range and found that, yes it's great from cooking. And when baking, I could get higher oven temps when needed. But it just doesn't last as long as nut coal. I had to refuel more often and at night, a full load would only burn for about 10 hours max verses 12 hours using only nut coal.

Tests I did with weighing coal in 2 and 5 gallon sized containers showed that they will hold about 10% more nut coal by weight than stove coal. Did the same with filling the firebox and weighing what it holds (averaged 20 pounds nut, or 18 pounds of stove).

In addition to that, nut coal, with it's smaller air spaces, helps slow the burn rate better than stove coal can. The end result is that a firebox load of nut coal will burn at least two hours longer than the same firebox filled with stove coal and give off the same heat when dampered down for the night.

Paul

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Sat. Apr. 09, 2016 8:30 am

Tin Man wrote:
Sunny Boy wrote:As Randy said, use the heat from a 60 -100 watt light bulb. Place it in the ash pan area under the grates, with the cook top plates in place to retain the heat - will dry out the liner in a few days. Leave off the right front round cover to give a chimney affect to let the moisture out.

Only place I've seen the oval MPD's is as Paulie said - eBay. I just put a modern cast iron, 6 inch round MPD up at about 6 feet where the pipe is round, but still can be reached.

Bryants makes the tapered oval pipes. http://www.bryantstove.com/parts.html

Before I knew they had them I just used stainless steel sheet-metal to make a 7 inch oval to 6 inch oval that's about a foot tall. I drew the layout in paper first and cut it to shape to test fit. Then used it to layout the cut lines on the stainless steel sheet. I overlapped the vertical seam, then screwed and caulked it closed. From there I squashed a 6 inch single wall pipe to oval to fit up through the oval opening in the mantel shelf. Not being squashed to oval at the upper end of that first section of pipe it stayed almost round so that the next section is still round half way up it where the MPD is about 6 feet above floor level.

In hindsight, I could have put the MPD a bit lower and Melissa would be able to reach it without standing on tip-toes leaning over hot stove surfaces. However, the MPD handle can be turned easily by hooking the looped handle of the MPD using the right-angle end of the stainless steel poker I made.

Paul
Actually, I fabricate the tapered oval to round adapter pipes for Bryant's and have done so for over 25 years. I also fabricate other items such as different oval sizes, angled oval adapters, stove barrels, ash pans, copper side tanks and more. Please check out my site, thanks http://toothakersheetmetal.weebly.com/

Thanks for posting that Tin Man. We've had the question of where to get the tapered oval pipes come up a few times. Even more so is where to get new barrels made for base heaters and oaks.

Paul

michaelanthony · Post by **michaelanthony** » Sun. Apr. 10, 2016 8:26 am

Tin Man wrote:Actually, I fabricate the tapered oval to round adapter pipes for Bryant's and have done so for over 25 years. I also fabricate other items such as different oval sizes, angled oval adapters, stove barrels, ash pans, copper side tanks and more. Please check out my site, thanks http://toothakersheetmetal.weebly.com/

Welcome "Tin Man" we spoke on the phone last summer. I'm north of you in Millinocket and purchased an antique base heater. I have posted your link in the past and it's great to see you here, bunch of good folks keeping warm the old fashion way!

Mike.

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Tue. Jun. 07, 2016 1:13 pm

Looky what I found today... Acme grand size.. 9-21 only notable damage is 1 I is warped and the hearth has a shelf that is broke but all pieces are accounted for, $200

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Tue. Jun. 07, 2016 1:32 pm

With a water reservoir, nice find, Dana.

9-21 is a big range. The 9 inch round covers are bigger than average. And 21 inch is a larger than average oven.

What kind of grates does it have ?

I see what looks like mounting brackets - is there a shelf for under the oven door ?

Too bad about the broken hearth piece. If you can take pix and measurements, I'd recommending sending them in an email to Al at Tomahawk. He can tell you what can be done to recast them.

Can you post more pix of inside and out ?

Paul

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Tue. Jun. 07, 2016 1:33 pm

That'll be a pretty one when it's all cleaned up.

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Tue. Jun. 07, 2016 1:42 pm

When I go back ill get more pics, after I posted the pics I noticed it is missing the shelf under the oven, it and the oven rack, it has the same grates as my Crawford, the flat double sided ones, it has the 4" extended fire box , as well. I met a kid in Kansas that works for a stove shop and has lots of western stoves I thought I would ask him if they had any
Dana

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Tue. Jun. 07, 2016 1:56 pm

Good. With that extension, you'll be able to get some long pieces of firewood in that firebox. Does the firebox have cast iron liners, or fire bricks ? If there's no liner you should put refractory in it. Don't burn up against the stove body and oven wall.

If you can, ask your friend what are the chances of finding a set of triangular, or claw, coal grates, frame, and shaker handle that fit it. If available they'd be better for burning coal.

Paul

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Tue. Jun. 07, 2016 2:16 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:Good. With that extension, you'll be able to get some long pieces of firewood in that firebox. Does the firebox have cast iron liners, or fire bricks ? If there's no liner you should put refractory in it. Don't burn up against the stove body and oven wall.

If you can, ask your friend what are the chances of finding a set of triangular, or claw, coal grates, frame, and shaker handle that fit it. If available they'd be better for burning coal.

Paul

The fire box had a water front in it as well and has been removed, it is set up for front loading of wood and the removable door for coal/wood is gone

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Tue. Jun. 07, 2016 4:18 pm

The plate that closes off the front of the firebox is usually a simple, flat cast iron plate that slides down between tabs, from the top. It just backs up the firebrick at that end of the firebox.

Since the firebrick blocks most of the heat, a piece of plate steel can be cut to do that.

Possibly do the same for the rear end of the firebox to block off the water front's two pipe holes ?

Paul

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Tue. Jun. 07, 2016 4:23 pm

Yes I don't see why not, just talked to skip, he didn't have any parts for it and neither did the guy out west. But skip did say Doug may have some, so ill be calling around the next few days to see what I can scratch up. He did say that they were good quality stoves

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Tue. Jun. 07, 2016 4:41 pm

And a 9-21 with a water reservoir is going to make your Fairy Crawford seem like a little toy range.

Paul

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Tue. Jun. 07, 2016 5:38 pm

I was just showing my wife how much larger it is, I don't think it will fit very good on my hearth in my kitchen, however it has so much filigree I think she will want to keep it.

Cookin' With Coal

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