What Happened to the Hopper Fed Coal Stoves?? Surdiac?

Ya' Gotta Luv Da' Hopper !.......Chimley,you never know what situation causes someone to sell a Stove. Be prepared to capture one in the off season.....Fred,I always knew you were a Hopper Kind Of Guy!

If you were willing to make the drive I have a 50-93 for sale. We put in an EFM520 this year and no longer have a need for the Hitzer

Hambden Bob wrote:Ya' Gotta Luv Da' Hopper !.......Chimley,you never know what situation causes someone to sell a Stove. Be prepared to capture one in the off season...

Agree..seems like I've seen more than a few posts through this winter from guys who are thinking of trading up to a newer or larger stove, or different type coal appliance like a boiler, stoker stove, etc.

I just noticed, there doesn't seem to be a "stoves for sale" board in the NEPA Free Classifieds area. Liability issue, or just impractical since board members are scattered throughout NE and Midwest?

I've caught used stoves in the trader and newspaper classifieds locally, in fact I bought my second Franco-Belge that way several years ago. In this day and age, obviously try Craigs list and eBay too.

Around my area, a lot of folks leave a coal stove behind when they sell a house, and the new owners just aren't interested in coal (yeah, crazy, I know, but it takes all kinds I guess.) Sometimes those are the best because they just want that dirty old thing out of their house.

While looking for the second F-B, I had one lady offer me a used Franco with the beautiful blue ceramic tile exterior, in pretty good shape, for $400. I'd already put a deposit on another one with a plainer exterior and with a bunch of spare parts, so I passed. But they're out there.

Saey also has a hopper on at least one of their models. My buddy has one. I'm not a fan of that quirky bi-metallic-spring-controlled intake damper though ... but it works for him. They have their windows open alot ... Their house is the opposite of mine - NEW and TIGHT.

True difference between the modern hopper stoves and the Surdiacs, Franco B's and American made Victory's is the fact they vented the fire box on the left and right just above the depth of the grates / fire bed and channeled it around the outside of the stove usually in a cast iron duct it produced a slow long burn with all of that extra heat circulating into the room. They could also be problematic with a weak draft. Any modern hopper stove I've looked at were top or upper vented less draft problems faster burning. I think the Saye mentioned may stick to the traditional European design.

lewis wrote:True difference between the modern hopper stoves and the Surdiacs, Franco B's and American made Victory's is the fact they vented the fire box on the left and right just above the depth of the grates / fire bed and channeled it around the outside of the stove usually in a cast iron duct it produced a slow long burn with all of that extra heat circulating into the room. They could also be problematic with a weak draft. Any modern hopper stove I've looked at were top or upper vented less draft problems faster burning. I think the Saye mentioned may stick to the traditional European design.

I can second this from my years of burning F-Bs. Except that I think the "extra heat circulating into the room" from the exhaust channel was negligible, in comparison to the issues caused by the exhaust port design.

The inside of the exhaust channel was about 2"w x 4" high. Two 90* turns in the channels on each side made for serious buildup of fly ash near the corners. My stoves always required a mid-season shutdown and cleanout of the exhaust ports. Even doing that in January or early February, by late March and into April enough ash had built up again to affect the draft.

In the F-Bs the bolt-together design of the channels also made it critical to check all of the seals and cementing, top and bottom, throughout the season. The tabs cast into the channel pieces for bolting the halves together, and fastening to the stove, were thin and tended to crack. New channel parts were very pricey.