Bought a used Hitzer 30-95

I ended up getting a used 30-95 a few weeks ago. Had to trek up to the finger lakes region to get it ( a good excuse to stock up on some wine too) The stove ends up needing a bit more work than I had anticipated, but was about a thousand cheaper than new.

I wanted to post the list of tasks I need to do - if anyone has any experience or comments to add please feel free.

1. Need to replace about 4 firebrick. Kind of odd - the firebricks almost seem like they are glued to the firebox? The cracked top parts come right out but the bottom half is really on there - should they get gasket cement on the back when I put new ones in?

2. The hopper door was warped - was the older style which did not have a latch, just a ring. I got a new cast-iron door from Hitzer which has a latch, but need to get the new hinge and latching point welded on. Anyone done this? Also, I am surprised there is nothing to keep the hopper door propped open while loading - seems like if you are not careful the hopper door could just crash open?

3. One of the hinges on the decorative top lid was corroded; I ended up just removing this lid completely. The hinges for this lid are surprisingly light-weight; kind of cheap given the build quality of this stove. I think I just may leave it off but will probably weld some heavier hinges in place in case I want it later. I'd rather put something a bit heavier-duty than the original - any good sources?

4. For some reason I thought this stove came with a variable speed blower - this one has a constant blower so maybe it is not original?

5. It needs paint. I have been using a wire wheel on my drill to get the old paint off and get rid of rust. Seems ok but will probably take a while. What kind of paint do folks like for these hand-fireds? Should a primer be used first?

Thanks for any help!

congratulations on finding a used Hitzer hopper stove,, they rarely are found used..

Fot the brick,, I'm going to say that they are being held in place by the ash that has settled between the bricks ?? On my 'Big Bertha' boiler,, once I remove the first brick, which is a battle,, then the rest of them loosen right up and come out easily.. I can't see any reason to glue them in,, the pressure of the coal against them hold them in place.

Without seeing the new lid, the old and new hinges I can't comment on the hinge/lid replacement,, maybe you could post some photos... I will say that the only way that lid go warped was if the seal around it's perimeter got old, compressed and leaked air past the lip, and into the hopper.. If air is drawn through the coal in the hopper, the fire will travel up into the hopper... so make sure it seals well.

This stove may be an earlier model before a multi speed blower was offered,, you can get motor speed controlers at HomeDepot and Lowes.. give that a try..

Matthaus recommened Duplicolor high temperature paint to me when I rebuilt my AA boiler,, it has held up very well, so I'll pass along the recommendation. Any of the high temp paints will probably work very well, and most don't recommend a primer.. Duplicolor 1200* BBQ flat black has worked well for me on other stoves..

hope the above info helps.. Greg L

Great buy! Napa has some new high temp paint out. Good for temps up to 2200 degrees. Doesn't some of this high temp stuff actually keep the heat in? Like header paint? Scott

Congrats on the purchase!

I just bought a used Vermont castings coal stove. The firebricks were glued in with furnace cement. I think just so they don't vibrate and break during shipping. They are all "locked in" by steel so no need for the glue.

treysgt wrote:5. It needs paint. I have been using a wire wheel on my drill to get the old paint off and get rid of rust. Seems ok but will probably take a while. What kind of paint do folks like for these hand-fireds? Should a primer be used first?

VHT header paint does the job for me. I tried conventional stove black and it burned off in about a week.

I've never tried it with a stove but.... If it's really rusty or has a lot of flaking paint you might try making a dunk tank for the stove and doing electrolytic rust removal. Not only will it get all the rust off, any paint over rust will come off with it.

http://www.antique-engines.com/electrol.asp

If my recently acquired Harman wasn't going to be a basement stove it would be in a tank right now.

Thanks for the feedback, all. I will try to track down some of that header paint; we have a parts store in town here.

Congrats on your find of a used Hitzer. I just bought a new 30-95 this March. I took the front and rear fire bricks out to make the stove lighter for moving. The side bricks are between tow pieces of angle iron, and appear to have to be slid back to get them past the angle iron to get them out.

The decorative lid hinges are light, but so is the lid itself. I am considering taking mine off just because I don't realy like the looks of it as well as the hopper lid it covers. Hitzer welds an upside down "L" bracket for the hopper door latch to the stove at a slight angle, so that the leaver on the door starts to go beneeth the bracket easily then as you turn the leaver further is wedges the leaver downward to make for a tigtht seal. This may be hard to visualize. The upside down "L" bracket is welded to the stove top with the open side facing the back of the stove. The open end of the "L" is higher off the top of the stove than the front. The "L" is made from a piece of 3/16" band iron about 1" wide. The leg welded to the stove is 1" long, and the leg facing the back of the stove is 1+1/2" long, allow at least another 1/4" additional length for the bend.

My Hitzer came with a blower, and the vriable speed comes from a plug in reostat that the blower plugs into. The blower motor itself is just a plain single speed.

I hope you enjoy your stove as much as I do mine.

One thing you may want to do is ; cut the top of the front fire bricks on an angle. Coal will not set on top of fire brick. Works good.

oliver power wrote:One thing you may want to do is ; cut the top of the front fire bricks on an angle. Coal will not set on top of fire brick. Works good.

Great idea. I'll have to try to remember that if I have them out sometime. Coal does tend to lay on top of them.

You can also cut small angled pieces of firebrick, the end of the brick wide, with a 45* angle on the side, then use furnace cement to 'glue' the angled piece to the top or the vertical firebrick..

If you have a small handheld 4-4.5" angle grinder, there are masonry cut-off wheels,, usually have a green paper lable saying 'Masonry' I've found these to work very well, I can 'sculpt' a firebrick to fit into most situations.. the firebrick is surprisingly soft, with the right cutting wheel..

Greg L

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Speaking of firebrick, I finally took everything out of the inside of this stove - including the grate/firebrick frame. It is now an empty shell so I can do an easier job of restoring it (and moving it!) The firebricks on the back were tough to get out not because they were cemented as I had first thought, but because the prior owner had a fire so hot that a layer of coal fused to the face of the firebrick, and even between the firebricks! Not sure how hot it needs to be to get like that, but I could not even chisel the stuff away from the bricks without cracking them. I finally just chucked them all and got some new ones.
So, can coal 'melt' if it gets hot enough?! It seems like this stuff on the bricks was like lava - very odd.

LsFarm wrote:If you have a small handheld 4-4.5" angle grinder, there are masonry cut-off wheels,, usually have a green paper lable saying 'Masonry' I've found these to work very well, I can 'sculpt' a firebrick to fit into most situations.. the firebrick is surprisingly soft, with the right cutting wheel..

I'd suggest that for your rust removal with a wire wheel. It's great tool Be careful if you never used one before, easily the most dangerous tool I ever used but I was using professional one. Consumer grade probably not as bad. Wear heavy leather gloves and preferably a really heavy long sleeve shirt. They'll bit you faster than you can blink. trust me I know. I had one grab hold of a t-shirt i was wearing and took half the skin off my side, lucky it was just a wire wheel and not a cutting wheel.

treysgt wrote: It seems like this stuff on the bricks was like lava - very odd.

That's a clinker, just added it to the kb: http://nepacrossroads.com/kb/Clinker