All Things Pot Belly

freetown fred · Post by **freetown fred** » Wed. Dec. 11, 2013 9:27 am

Still waitin for PIX--

wsherrick · Post by **wsherrick** » Wed. Dec. 11, 2013 1:06 pm

The proper term for a, "pot belly," stove is "Cannon Heater." Cannon Heaters were not generally designed for residential use. They were for shops, big stores and places that were not occupied on a 24 hour basis really. The concept behind this design is to burn a large, fire quickly to warm up a large space in a hurry. The stove could be maintained during the work day and then it was allowed to go out overnight when the business was closed.
If you want a Cannon Heater, get a good one. The best made Cannon Heaters were branded, Station Agents. They came in several sizes from big to gigantic. They are well made and the doors fit well.
The unique thing about Station Agents is that the top of the barrel narrows down to a much smaller diameter than the main body of the stove and the top of the stove has a spiral shaped heat exchanger in the top to extract heat as the exhaust finds its way to the exit.
This must be borne in mind, however; again these stoves have a large capacity for producing heat. They don't have the many refined nuances of design that a base heater or a good quality Oak Stove has.

wsherrick · Post by **wsherrick** » Wed. Dec. 11, 2013 1:12 pm

There is a picture of a Station Agent Cannon Heater on the Antique Stove Hospital web page. Scroll down to about the middle of the page and you'll see it.

http://stovehospital.com/

BPatrick · Post by **BPatrick** » Wed. Dec. 11, 2013 4:32 pm

Welcome to the forum...very interesting stove.

Post by **dcrane** » Wed. Dec. 11, 2013 9:40 pm

wsherrick wrote:There is a picture of a Station Agent Cannon Heater on the Antique Stove Hospital web page. Scroll down to about the middle of the page and you'll see it.

http://stovehospital.com/

thats exactly the one I saw in a Pembroke barn (just twice as big!).... beast of a stove it was!