New Member Needing Help Buying My First Antique Stove!

Hi everyone! I have been lurking this forum for a very long time and finally decided its time to make the switch from wood to coal! At the county fair over the summer, I happened upon a vendor selling coal stoves. As we got to talking I learned that his company is located only 3 miles from my house! I gave burning coal some thought for a bit and decided to go online and do some research. My research brought me here to NEPA where I have been lurking for quite sometime. I have seen a ton of antique stove rebuilds on here and have made the decision to find a stove and rebuild it myself ( with the help of my father). Being only 27 I find myself obsessed with antiques of any kind, but especially with antique stoves. There is something about them that envokes thoughts of yesteryear and how things were back then. The craftsmanship, the stately presence, the timelessness, the technology ect.......

This brings us to my current situation. I have been searching CL feverishly for a couple of weeks, constantly checking a few times a day. The stoves in my area are either grossly over priced, or just not what im looking for. I have found a stove that I think will work for our needs. Im just confused because Im not sure exactly how this stove works. From my research I have figured out that its a "double cased stove". So there is an enclosed burn chamber on the interior of the stove. Also there appears to be a double heater vent on the back/top of the stove. So im assuming this stove is some sort of "ventilator". Somehow drawing air in from the bottom and radiating it out of the holes and sides of the stove exterior. If someone could help me better understand the design and function of this stove it would be greatly appreciated. Also seller has informed me the stove has no cracks and the fire pot is in great condition. The only thing that sucks is the stove does not have a finial.

Welcome to the forum.
That's a nice looking stove there. Will look great once it's all cleaned up. The oval piece on top, is the 'double heater' function. The ornate piece should come off, and a pipe can be added to heat an upstairs room. Or it can be left as is.

Do you by any chance have pictures of the inside and the grates? I'm fairly certain that stove was designed for burning Bituminous coal. Have you decided whether you want to use Bit coal or Anthracite? Others will chime in soon, I'm sure.

Hey thanks for the reply! I plan on burning anthracite. I was wondering about all of the holes on the sides of the castings. Are those there for ventilation or does mica go behind them? I know mica goes in the window on the door but im still curious about the holes in the side walls.

Only the door gets the mica. The other holes are for heat transfrer.

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Maybe a direct question but I think it's important: how much is asked for that stove?
If you want to get the stove as when new, the finial must be on the stove. I don't know if it's a rare to find finial but it can be or not and if available it can cost some $$$ ? And consider the nickel plating as an important cost when restoring an antique stove, but if you can afford it ....
Be sure that all the other parts come with the stove and work correctly like the grates shaking device, doors and other parts and are not warped, if fire pot is in good condition and of what is size of the fire pot because the fire pot size gives you important infos on the stove....
I hope you can understand my English.

You need the swingaway bonnet that the finial sits on as well.

Circulating stoves came in, in the late teens and early twenties. In general clearance to combustibles can be less than with a radiant stove.

franco b wrote:You need the swingaway bonnet that the finial sits on as well.

Circulating stoves came in, in the late teens and early twenties. In general clearance to combustibles can be less than with a radiant stove.

Yes franco b, I forgot to mention the finial bonnet a very important part for a good restoration job.
Thanks... for him

Ok so the guy sent me pics of the fire pot and grates and they look to be in good condition. He is asking 500$ for the stove. I like the stove but im still worried that its not going to be enough to heat the house. We have a 2100 sqft victorian home. We currently heat with wood and have a small wood burner that does a great job. Over the summer we had the house insulated with foam in the walls and blown in insulation in the attic. Our walls r R-40 and the attic spaces are at r-60. This will be our first winter since having the insulation done.

I have a question regarding heating capabilities and it may have been answered here already. With our wood burner it would keep us warm running the stove at about 500-600, but the stove was only at that temp range for maybe 1 hour untill it started its temp decline. With coal it sounds like you guys are running slightly lower temps but at much longer intervals. So my question is do you think running a stove at a slightly lower temp but at a much longer time would heat better than running a wood stove at a higher temp for a short period of time? If that makes any sense. I really love the idea of coal not only because thats how the house was originaly heated with but also the tending times are alot better. With wood I would have to touch the stove every 4-6 hours. It sounds like with coal I could greatly improve that number. The pics of the stove and fire pot seem really good. It looks as if the fire pot is of decent sixe. Any guesses? He didnt measure it for me but it looks like it could hold some coal. Any feed back would be greatly appreciated.

I think you will find that, that stove would do a very good job of heating your house. But that is also going to depend on the quality of the Bituminous coal you have in your area.

I've never had good luck with 'long' burns, that still create a lot of heat, with any of the different Bituminous coals I've used in my furnace, except for the coal I'm using now. Most of the Bituminous coal I've used will fuse together, creating a crust over the top that seems to keep the heat from radiating outwards. I would need to poke through the layer of coal after the first hour to get the heat to escape. But then again, it may be the way this Clayton furnace is designed. I've never gotten more than a 6 hour burn, that still creates enough heat to keep the furnace blower operating.

This is going to depend on the house also. Mine is an old 'plank' style house, with no insulation in the walls. It has 1 inch foam board under the aluminum siding, but it does have 12 inches of insulation in the attic. Most of my windows are original, single pane wood frame with the pulleys and weights to hold them open. My basement has air leaks everywhere also.

And to answer your other question, I do think that if you can keep the coal stove at a constant 450 to 500, that you will like it better than the heat up/cool down of the woodburner.

But again, it will all depend on the quality of the Bituminous coal you purchase.

Here are some pictures of the house and some other pictures of the room that will have the stove in it. I know how much you guys love pictures The room that I will be putting a stove in has some large windows (every window in the house is pretty large). The room is almost built for the stove! It will be the center piece of the house. You will be able to see it from both the kitchen and also from the "living room". I can only imagine what kinda of stoves were in this house at some point. This house was owned and built by the town doctor in 1888. The doctor also owned the drug store/general store in town. Our house was also a funeral home at one point in time. One thing cool about our county is that they have a very large database of old newspapers online so you can look up keywords and phrases and it will bring up newspapers from as old as the 1860's. I love getting online and reading some of the stories that involved the doctor. He actually passed away at the bedside of one of his patients and the newspaper talked of how the viewing was held in our house (casket was in our dining room) and then after the viewing they walked the casket from our house, through the center of town, to the cemetery just down the road.

I feel as if I owe it to the history of the house to keep the house as close to original as possible. So hopefully I can find a stove that will help compliment the house. If you guys have any other questions please feel free to ask. Thanks to everyone who has helped so far!

SWPaDon wrote:I think you will find that, that stove would do a very good job of heating your house. But that is also going to depend on the quality of the Bituminous coal you have in your area.

I've never had good luck with 'long' burns, that still create a lot of heat, with any of the different Bituminous coals I've used in my furnace, except for the coal I'm using now. Most of the Bituminous coal I've used will fuse together, creating a crust over the top that seems to keep the heat from radiating outwards. I would need to poke through the layer of coal after the first hour to get the heat to escape. But then again, it may be the way this Clayton furnace is designed. I've never gotten more than a 6 hour burn, that still creates enough heat to keep the furnace blower operating.

This is going to depend on the house also. Mine is an old 'plank' style house, with no insulation in the walls. It has 1 inch foam board under the aluminum siding, but it does have 12 inches of insulation in the attic. Most of my windows are original, single pane wood frame with the pulleys and weights to hold them open. My basement has air leaks everywhere also.

And to answer your other question, I do think that if you can keep the coal stove at a constant 450 to 500, that you will like it better than the heat up/cool down of the woodburner.

But again, it will all depend on the quality of the Bituminous coal you purchase.

I will be using anthracite coal in the stove. My only worry is that since the stove is kinda like a "stove withing a stove" wouldn't the outter shell of the stove absorb a lot of the radiant heat from the combustion chamber of the stove? Most of the stoves I have seen just have a metal jacket between the coal bed and the room. This stove has an interior fire chamber that is surrounded by the outter sheel of the stove.if that makes any sense. I also have a lead on a guy that basically hoarded old stoves. So if this stove does not fit the bill, I always have the other guy to fall back on. I just have to go root around his out buildings.

If you are going to use anthracite, you should get a stove designed for it, I think you would be much happier all the way around.

In looking at the photo of the firepot it looks like it was designed to burn bit coal. The slots in the fire pot are to allow gases to travel from inside the pot to the top and burned along with the coal. If you plan on burning anthracite I do recommend that you fill the slots with furnace cement or a castable refractory. Otherwise your coal usage is going to be higher than you would expect and the burn time will suffer.

I have some experience with this type of fire pot so I know to which I am speaking. It will burn anthracite GREAT but it will burn fast.

My recommendation is to keep looking for a stove designed to burn anthracite. I understand your goal of period correctness but your not living in a museum.

Get something that will burn anthracite and still looks good.

Trying to de-ash that grate when burning anthracite would certainly turn the op away from coal.

Ok ill keep looking. Im going to go see a guy today that has and large collection of stoves. Im willing to bet he has what im looking for.