Charter Oak #24 - Can This Burn Coal ?

Buck47 wrote: ...........What am I thinking? Damn - this is a slippery slope. I need to keep repeating to myself -One Stove is Enough - One Stove is Enough - One Stove is Enough.Regards: john

Sunny Boy wrote:

McGiever wrote:Polytek, for making the brick molds, I assume?

Yup. Polyurethane rubber molds. That's what I'm using to make molds for #6 fire bricks.
Got my mold rubber from here. http://www.eagerplastics.com/cat.htm

Paul

Sunny,
Got a source for the brick mix?

Mac,

The rep recommended their VytaFlex 30 for making castable concrete firebrick molds. Said it would last the longest in that type use. So, that's what I got. http://www.eagerplastics.com/ure.htm

Got a bit of detailing left to do on the masters I had to make, then I can make the molds.

Paul

Sunny, What refractory mix will go into casting the actual brick?

The Locke 120 is completed, installed and up and running with the first load of coal. The heat shield modification works well. Allows 18 inch clearance to wall. Shield temp is 200F with stove running at 350F.

Started with a slow wood fire to dry out the joint cement (Rutland Furnace Cement). Stove settled in at 350F very quickly. Easy to adjust temps.

This stove is remarkably tight and responsive. At about 8:00 PM loaded coal total of 40 pounds. Stove settled in at 325F and stayed that way until 9:00Am this morning. Still had half of the coal burning when I shook down and reloaded.

The transition from wood to coal has been made easy do to many post and videos from this site. Thanks to all who have guided me in this learning process. This is a lot of fun.

Only a few weeks until I pick up the Home Corral # 16 Base heater over Thanksgiving. Anyone Recognize a - Home Corral # 16

Regards: john

Nice job on the restoration John, not as pretty as the stove you have coming but at least you have heat! I am sure you are going to love heating with coal, I know I sure do.

Randy

Thanks photog200 AKA: Randy,

I am excited about picking up the Home Corral # 16.

However I do find a beauty in the simple lines of this Locke 120. Always likes that color of gray enamel, and the fact is this stove works well and is easy to use. I now have the stove set at 275F and the house is warm at 72 degrees while outside is 18 degrees.

Your right, I do enjoy heating with coal, no comparison to wood.

Regards: john

McGiever wrote:Sunny, What refractory mix will go into casting the actual brick?

Mac.

Wilson did some fire bricks for my range using a number of different types of castable refractory as a test. One of which gave a nice, smooth surface that I think may be better at resisting clinker scale buildup and thus reduce chances of bridging. He recommended that I also use it for this #6 fire brick project that he has been helping me with.

So, I bought some and did shrinkage tests to see how it compares and if I needed to over-size the master pattern for making the mold to compensate. Shrinkage was not measurable for the size of these bricks.

It's Rutland's castable refractory cement. https://www.rutland.com/p/13/castable-refractory-cement

Paul

The Locke turned out nice Buck. True no where near as pretty as the Home Corral, but still good in a utilitarian, R2D2 sorta way.

And, good job on the heat shield. Nice , clean install and simple, yet affective.

Paul

Sunny Boy wrote:The Locke turned out nice Buck. True no where near as pretty as the Home Corral, but still good in a utilitarian, R2D2 sorta way.

And, good job on the heat shield. Nice , clean install and simple, yet affective.

Thanks Sunny:
Ya know I sitting there thinking last night drinking coffee and watching the temp gauges after I had loaded the Locke with coal "What the hell does that shape remind me of?"
Then the Star War theme song started playing in my head. "R2D2" I said. I swear I could hear that stove making those squeaky / whistling sounds all night. Like this

Nice job on R2D2 he looks ready for duty. That Oak hutch is nice also.

Buck47 wrote:The transition from wood to coal has been made easy do to many post and videos from this site. Thanks to all who have guided me in this learning process. This is a lot of fun.

Coal is a lot of fun Call me crazy, but in September I start looking for a cold trend coming so I can fire her up.. Nice job with the stove partner, and Thank you for sharing. Love the pictures!

This thread was started on a Charter Oak #24, However, it also has many post on the Locke 120 - the stove I've used this winter to heat as the Carter Oak #24 is being rebuilt. So I'm placing this post here.

The video is documenting a morning reload after a particular cold night.

I've been very pleased with the Locke 120, It's proven to be reliable, easy to fire and tend, inexpensive to purchase and refurbish. No - it's not much to look at, but I would highly recommend it as a excellent beginner heater.

This size will easily heat 1200 sq. feet, and can be idled down all day on warm 30 to 40 degree days.

Maximum load 120 pounds nut - longest burn, 5 days with out lose of fire, and without adding additional coal.

Few things in life match the deep satisfaction that comes from setting 100 pounds of coal on fire in your front parlor.

Nice video showing the re-load. Interesting to see the flames coming up through the vents that were made for secondary combustion. Like you said, it might not be the prettiest stove out there, but they are heating beasts. Not many stoves that size can hold 100# of coal.

Thank you for posting the video!
Randy

120 # full charge of coal, that is impressive for about any hand fed.

did it ever come up what the top out put of that stove might be in BTUH ?

very good performance for heating differential on 20#'s of coal no matter what.

thanks,
steve