Pot Belly Modification

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Thomas12980
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Post by Thomas12980 » Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 2:34 am

Can I modify a pot belly stove to accept a magazine? My grandmother had a coal burning stove that had a tube coming straight down to within four inches of the coal bed. You fill it with coal, it comes down the tube when you shake down the ashes. You then refill the tube.
I'm thinking an eight inch well casing hung on two or three tabs welded to the tube so it sits within the groove where the removable cover goes. Then, the cover goes back on to contain the combustable gases. Would save time baby sitting the stove all day.
Last edited by Thomas12980 on Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 8:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

 
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McGiever
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Post by McGiever » Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 8:20 am

What you describe is called a magazine...try searching that term here and you will read where somebody has done what you want to do. :)

 
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michaelanthony
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Post by michaelanthony » Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 8:39 am

Thomas12980 wrote:Can I modify a pot belly stove to accept a hopper? My grandmother had a coal burning stove that had a tube coming straight down to within four inches of the coal bed. You fill it with coal, it comes down the tube when you shake down the ashes. You then refill the tube.
I'm thinking an eight inch well casing hung on two or three tabs welded to the tube so it sits within the groove where the removable cover goes. Then, the cover goes back on to contain the combustable gases. Would save time baby sitting the stove all day.
Your grandmother had a stove designed to run with a magazine, (tube coming straight down), and was most likely an efficient "base burner" or "Oak" style stove, nothing like the Vogelzang pot belly. I have one and unfortunately I could not heat my home from my basement with. I had mine glowing around the belly and most of the heat radiated through my unfinished basement walls. They are really made for quick hot wood fires but they burn coal also. These stoves are not air tight and need modification in order to burn coal efficiently.
A member here, "NoSmoke" made changes to his and I recommend a search in the upper right search box to see his successful mods.
You may also want to line the lower half of the belly (below the load door) with refractory cement to protect the stove from over firing. You can make a magazine but first the 2 doors must be sealed with either gasket material or high temp silicone sealant around the doors.
Good luck and remember you must crawl before you walk or run!

Mike.

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 9:00 am

That chub should get 12 hours on a fill up anyways, shouldn't it?

No baby sitting needed...
Put a baro on it.


 
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Post by franco b » Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 9:56 am

Address your efforts to making the stove airtight. The ash door in particular.

After that you can think of adding a magazine.

 
Thomas12980
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Post by Thomas12980 » Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 3:27 pm

michaelanthony wrote:**Broken Link(s) Removed**
why 2 identical threads?
Moderation moved my original posting and I cut n pasted it originally

 
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michaelanthony
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Post by michaelanthony » Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 4:05 pm

franco b wrote:Address your efforts to making the stove airtight. The ash door in particular.

After that you can think of adding a magazine.
ditto^^^and the little access door for the shaker grate on the right side.
vogelzang pot belly.JPG
.JPG | 29.2KB | vogelzang pot belly.JPG

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 7:20 pm

If it can't shake itself, what good is a magazine?


 
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Post by McGiever » Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 7:37 pm

coaledsweat wrote:If it can't shake itself, what good is a magazine?
If it can't shake itself, what good is a ashpan, also? :P

 
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Post by Lightning » Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 9:27 pm

coaledsweat wrote:If it can't shake itself, what good is a magazine?
Yeah I'm with ya on that. I don't quite understand what all the hype is about hoppers. I mean ya gotta shake and fill it anyways.

Does a hopper really provide a longer burn time? I mean if ya don't shake it down when you would fill it, isn't it gonna smother itself with ash?

 
Thomas12980
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Post by Thomas12980 » Tue. Feb. 17, 2015 9:43 pm

Well, I've done without a magazine for the last five years but I also modified the shaker grate which works pleasently good! Vogelzang's grate, if you open it all the way, dumps the whole load into the ashpan. Even trying to be careful with it truly sucks! My modification doesn't allow the coal load to dump into the ashpan.
I wrote a pm to NoSmoke with hopes he can offer some insight as he also owns a volgelzang just like mine.

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