A friend in need

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dkuntz413

New Member
Jul 12, 2008
37
eastern Long Island
I have a friend with little money and a newborn child. He has a wood-stove in his rental house that is cracked in three places creating a smokey and I believe unsafe condition . I found this Lang stove for him that was free. Somebody gave it to me 4 years ago, and I gave it to another needy friend who never hooked it up, and is giving it back. Its the gift that hopefully keeps on giving. It has been covered outside for 4 years. It looks to be usable with no visible signs of cracks ect. I was wondering if anybody has experience with this stove, and if so what to look for inside, and I am led to believe that it is not a 6 inch pipe that it vents from, but an odd size 5 inch plus off the top of the stove. If this is the case, where does this increaser come from? Any help would be appreciated for my friend and his family. Thanks
Doug
 

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That's a great stove and a generous offer. When checking over the stove, inspect the interior burn plates to assert they are not warped.

Can you supply the size of the flue collar? I think the flue on the stove might be 120mm. If so, it's smaller than 5". There are 120mm to 6" adapters made for the Lange and available at online shops like: http://www.stovepartsplus.com
 
Hats off for stepping up for a friend in need. Be aware that the clearances for that stove will be a little larger than most. If possible, get a manual for the installation specs. I also believe that BG is correct in that stoves collar is measure in MM not inches, and yes, they are different, but can be found.

Make it a safe install. Help him with any "burning" questions and you will also get that "warm and fuzzy" feeling.
 
Jags said:
Make it a safe install. Help him with any "burning" questions and you will also get that "warm and fuzzy" feeling.
Yes, warm and fuzzy are far preferable to the smoldering ruins pictured above.
I lost a home to fire many years ago (not stove related) and it is very difficult to both recover and put something like that behind you.
 
Great looking stove. I hate to be the one to ask, but what the hell...I have built my fair share of potato guns over the years, but I gotta know just how high you can shoot that basketball with one gallon of fuel? :coolhmm:
 
BeGreen said:
...When checking over the stove, inspect the interior burn plates to assert they are not warped...
Are interior burn plates those deflectors which cause the burning gasses to take a serpentine (longer) path inside the stove, and thus combust more fully/ efficiently? If so, why would warpage be bad- and how much warpage might be tolerated?
 
No, they are interior sacrificial liners on the sides of the stove that help keep the fire hot and the sides less hot. (Like the cast iron equivalent of firebrick.) When they warp and crack, they no longer do their job well.

I believe there is also an upper baffle plate in this stove that deflects the burning gases to the front. A little warpage on this top plate is not too bad, but when it gets warped to the point where the back lifts up and allows flue gases to bypass the baffle it is worthless. Likewise if it warps upward in front so badly that it impedes the flow of flue gases.
 
BeGreen said:
No, they are interior sacrificial liners on the sides of the stove that help keep the fire hot and the sides less hot. (Like the cast iron equivalent of firebrick.) When they warp and crack, they no longer do their job well.

I believe there is also an upper baffle plate in this stove that deflects the burning gases to the front. A little warpage on this top plate is not too bad, but when it gets warped to the point where the back lifts up and allows flue gases to bypass the baffle it is worthless. Likewise if it warps upward in front so badly that it impedes the flow of flue gases.
Thanks! In my stove, all I have is an upper baffle plate. There is a little warpage in back, none at all in front. I don't think the serpentine path is compromised in any way. The baffle just looks ugly. I think the previous owner must have overfired it a few times. I'm much more careful and conservative. It is very ruggedly built from 5/16 in steel, all welded, and is actually in darned good shape. I think it has plenty more useful years in it. Oh BTW in my stove the normal path for combustion gasses is up in back, turning and then flowing forward across the top of the baffle, then turning again and going out a very heavy wall steel tube (rear exit). I just rebricked it. Very happy with this stove.

Sorry about hijacking the thread, but the comments about baffle warpage caught my eye.
 
I want to thank everyone for their input on the gas fired basketball propelled Lang stove.I've lost a little time picking the stove up since a drunk driver totaled my parked car the day before Thanksgiving. What a mess and headache. I'm going to pick up the stove tomorrow, and now know some things to look out for when inspecting it. If all goes well, I will be posting a new photo of the installed stove in the next week. My rear cleareance distance might be a number that would be helpful. Again, thanks from me and my friends who are hopefully going to be staying warm and more importantly, safe with this stove very soon. This forum has helped a lot with 4 stoves that I've dealt with in the last year. Even though I've been burning wood for 10 years, there are things that can be difficult to figure out especially when it comes to older stoves that don't have technical information
Sincerely,
Doug
 

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Amazing how little damage it takes these days to total a car. 10 years ago that would have been in the body shop for a couple weeks and you'd get it back and wish every day that the ins co had totalled it becuase its never quite right.

Good job on the stove. Make sure they're safe and sell the old one for scrap metal so nobody ever tried to use it again.
 
dkuntz413 said:
My rear cleareance distance might be a number that would be helpful. Again, thanks from me and my friends who are hopefully going to be staying warm and more importantly, safe with this stove very soon. This forum has helped a lot with 4 stoves that I've dealt with in the last year. Even though I've been burning wood for 10 years, there are things that can be difficult to figure out especially when it comes to older stoves that don't have technical information
Sincerely,
Doug
Wow- sorry about the car, Doug!

Although your nominal clearances would likely be 36 inches to combustibles in any and all directions, don't forget about the tremendous benefit of heat shields. I'm running two shields here to allow closer spacings. Shields are amazingly effective, and often let you safely cut down your spacings by up to 2/3. Maybe a shield for you, behind that nice little stove?
 
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