Jamesway .. Rebuilt and Keeping Sheep Warm.

A friend of mine found this little coal stove. It's a Jameways, made to heat chicken coops of all things. I rebuilt it and this last week we put it in his house and fired it up. It was going to live there the rest of the winter until....ohhhh, the things we do to keep our dishwashers working.... my wife's sheep started having babies. We've never heated the barn, but the babies have never come during extreme cold weather. She asked if somehow we could warm the place, so, I called my friend and talked him out of the Jamesway. Yesterday we installed it in the barn. I filled it last night at 6PM, checked it a couple of times before bedtime and left it til this morning. It went 12 hours, kept the barn about 45* warmer than outside. Of course being 20 below zero this morning it was still cool in the barn. The wife said the water buckets had a small amount of ice in them, but usually at these cold temps they would be frozen totally solid.
So, exactly 12 hours and there was still 2 or 3" of unburned coal on top. It could have easily gone another 2 or 3 hours I'm sure. I shook it down till the bottom glowed, used a bent wire poker to clean a few dark spots, filled 'er up and we'll see how it is at 6 O'clock tonight. I did turn up the air supply a tiny bit.
Try getting a wood stove to do that! Especially a small one. HA! No way would one make it 12 hours, much less still be putting out the heat asked for. Coal: It's what's for winter!

Well done, my friend! Well done.

Freddy, you are quite the shepherd

So thats how you get colored wool!

Sweaters for sheep?

Now I have seen it all! I Hope.....

Bk

Very good job Freddy!!

I'm sure your sheep don't realize how nice they have it lol. Nice sheep coats or pajamas.

Honest officer he was just helping that sheep over the fence!

*smile* 6 PM report. I just refilled it for the second time. I'll weigh it tomorrow as I fill it, but I'm sure it used less than 15 pounds of coal for 12 hours. That's crazy stuff! This is the first hand fired I've ever used. It sure is different than burning wood. I'm sure I could turn it up and have more heat, but it's doing exactly what we want as it is.

The sheep and the stove are very cute. I just hope that heating sheep with a chicken heater won't damage thier psyches

That is awesome!

Two more babies born last night. Outside temp: Minus 21.6, in side the barn: Above freezing. Mind you, we had no plans on heating the place. It has wafer board walls and ceiling, but no insulation whatsoever. We just built the barn this last summer. We also haven't had much below zero weather the last several years. One or two nights per year below zero usually, not night after night at 10 - 20 below. This year is proving to be a good ol' fashioned Maine winter. Must be that global warming thing!

That is so cool, Freddy. Please keep us posted on the stove and the sheep.

Freddy wrote:Must be that global warming thing!

Al Gore...............Al Gore..................Al Gore, paging Mr. Al Gore. Please come to Maine to see the new polar ice caps that have formed within the last 20 days!!!!!!!

Just goes to show ya, there's more than one way to skin a cat... aaaaahhh skin a chicken... eeeeerrrr skin a Sheep, what eva. Nice job Freddy. The sheep look cute in their little sunday-go-to-meeting outfits.