Glenwood Oak 116 - Huge Crack in Fire Box - Is It Fixable?

I am a proud new owner of a Glenwood Oak #116 (it came with the house I am newly occupying). It has definitely seen better days. I did get it "inspected" and got the all clear to fire it up. After reading the ins and outs of getting a hand stoked coal stove burning...I had the little blue flames and a pot full of burning coal in no time. To my disbelief I noticed light coming from the side of the fire box and saw this huge crack. Can this be fixed? Hoping a combination of refractory cement in the fire box and a welding job?
I live in southern Vermont.
Thank you in advanced!

Seen a LOT worse be brought back to life. Anything can be fixed with the right tools & some basic knowledge. I'm sure refactory would work for a while. Weldin?? Ya any good?

I wouldnt be surprised if Wilson or Emery had recasts in stock. I just cant find their info. Anybody???

Member, screen name "wilsons woodstoves".
Wilson Mull 508-763-8941.

He's restored many Glenwood 116 in his more than 30+ years of professionally restoring stoves. And he has some 116 parts.

If he doesn't have a good used, or a recast firepot, he's a professional welder, too.

Paul

Congrats and welcome.

The 116 are a good stove that do well with wood or coal.

When it's running, I'd suggest moving that round cover lifting handle from the bonnet to a cooler place such as the lower skirt. Gonna get a bit too ouch-hot up where it is now.

Paul

Thank you all for the quick responses! I will be contacting Wilson ASAP. Is it dangerous to run this stove if there are no combustibles within a 5' radius and we don't leave it unattended. Will it get bigger the longer the stove is running? I only had it running from startup until noticing the crack for about 2 hours. Was cranking out some beautiful heat! I saw that crack, grabbed every fire extinguisher I could find, closed all dampers and let it die down...granted it burned for about 8 more hours!?!
Were there harmful gases getting into my house? I do have carbon monoxide detector in this room and it didn't go off so I am assuming it wasn't harmful levels.
Thanks again. So glad to have found this forum!

Very unlikely that exhaust will come out if you have a decent drafting chimney. The air is greater pressure outside the stove than inside. But that can cause a fire control problem, because the air will be drawn in at the crack making the fire very hot near the crack.

The best safe answer is to shut it down and don't use it until it is repaired.

The second best answer is shut it down and let it cool. Then wire brush around the crack inside and out and fill it with refractory cement. Let dry overnight then put a fire back in it.

Paul.

Get a serviceable pot from Skip.
You'd be mad to do otherwise.

Who is Skip??? Can someone share his information?
I will have hubby work on the crack with refractory cement just so we can get through this winter and also call Skip and/or Wildon
An unrelated question - I read on here about shaker grates. This stove doesn't have that feature correct? I cannot shake the Glenwood only poke from underneath to get the ash down? Thanks again.

I would try to braze it up while it is running. A solid fix until warm weather and should be better than cement.

specialtg wrote:Who is Skip??? Can someone share his information?
I will have hubby work on the crack with refractory cement just so we can get through this winter and also call Skip and/or Wildon
An unrelated question - I read on here about shaker grates. This stove doesn't have that feature correct? I cannot shake the Glenwood only poke from underneath to get the ash down? Thanks again.

"Skip" = Member, screen name "wilsons woodstoves".
Wilson Mull 508-763-8941.

That stove should have triangular grates which are moved via a handle that gets attached by opening a small door on the top section of the ash door. If you don't have the handle you're at somewhat of a disadvantage

A big +1--burnin coal don't have to be complicated--just safe! Ya need to post some inside pix while tending. fire pot & ash area.

coaledsweat wrote:I would try to braze it up while it is running. A solid fix until warm weather and should be better than cement.

Welcome to the forum. You came to the right place, with that classic antique stove that you so fortunately acquired with your new house. Congratulations. I would agree with the brazing too. If you know some-one, or could hire some-one to fill the crack, (temporarily), you wouldn't even need to shut the stove down.
Or for a quick fix, you could purchase a tube of high temp furnace cement in a caulking tube, depending how wide the gap is.

Call me red neck ingenuity but I'd just stuff that crack with some fiberglass insulation and fix it later this summer.....

Lightning wrote:Call me red neck ingenuity but I'd just stuff that crack with some fiberglass insulation and fix it later this summer.....