Nashua NFP-1 Restoration

I found an early 1980's Nashua NFP-1 at a garage sale for $50.

After doing some research and seeing how well built this stove was I decided it was worthy of a second life.
The stove had been sitting in a barn for years, the owner had planned on hooking it up in the barn but never got around to it.

The restoration included:
- sandblasting off the old paint, treating the rust and repainting the stove with several coats of Rustoleum Premium High Temp paint
- scraped the lower and upper baffle surfaces
- replaced all the fire brick
- replaced the original mica glass with new Robax glass
- rebuilt and painted the blower unit

The first test burn was done outside and I was very impresses with the results...this stove can really put out the heat and burns very efficiently for a pre-EPA stove. I've owned a Waterford Trinity (EPA), ArrowWood 1500 by Heatilator, and several older stoves but this one outperforms them all.

I've now started my second heating season with this stove and have added an Air-wash system which has reduced the smoke on the glass and improved the secondary burn near the fire side of the baffel. (This stove has long slanted baffle which really improves efficiency and the 5/16" thickness creates quite a heat sink for the air chamber it surrounds that the blower circulates air through). I get long burn times (overnight) and it produced enough heat to keep a 2,000 sq. ft ranch warm through our long northern Indiana winter.

This is a great stove that's recieved a new life.

Here's some info about the airwash modification I did, plus a picture.

I looked at several new stoves to see how their air-wash systems worked first and determined that I could create a similar effect with my Nashua by bringing in fresh air over the top of the glass and directing it downward over the glass. First, I replaced the original glass with a new (and safer) piece of high temp glass. Next, I removed the top glass bracket and the gasket material at the top edge of the glass. This created an 1/8″gap at the top edge of the glass that the outside air can enter the stove. From the front of the stove this is conceled (and protected) by the outside upper arch of the stove. Then I attached a 1 1/2″ x 12″ piece of sheet metal on the inside where the top bracket was that is bent at an angle (longwise) to direct the air on to the glass through about a 3/8″gap (this seemed to be the amount of gap the new stoves are using).

Once the fire is burning well I close down the lower air intakes most of the way and use the air-wash gap for combustion air. The results are very good.. the glass stays clean much longer and it’s improved the burn time and the combustion in the firebox significantly…I now get lots of secondary burning at the top of the firebox along the baffle. Also, I’ve had NO smoke escape through the airwash system.