Elm wood stove - unrestored

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ColoradoDrew

New Member
Aug 30, 2023
4
Colorado
Hello,

New to this forum and wood stoves in general. About 20 years ago, a neighbor gave me an old wood stove for possible use in a cabin I was building at the time. I never used it, but kept it in storage out of the weather until now. After doing some research, I learned that it is an Elm wood stove, and the barrel length is 24”. Doing some clean-up around the property, and have to decide now if I want to sell it as-is, or possible restore it for a project and possibly my own use. No idea of the value either restored or as-is, or how efficient it might be for a secondary heat source. The only thing I really know is that I think it looks cool, that is why I have hung onto it for all these years.

Any thoughts/ideas you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
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Look at this very recent post and you will learn from the "pro"

 
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Love those Elm stoves! Keeper for sure.
 
The stove bodies are made from steel pipe, which is what I was asking about, not the stove outlet/breech for the “stove pipe” connection.

That’s the beauty of owning one of these. If for some strange reason the stove body cracks or someone lets it rust out you can then have a new stove simply by getting another piece of pipe for the stove body. Of course, it will have to be prepped for legs, stove breech, etc., but you’d have a new stove.
 
It is pretty simple, go to the source, https://vermontelmstove.com/ they designed and built them the first time around and are still supporting them despite several ownership changes.

There was some confusion in the market several years ago where they were effectively building new stoves rather than rebuilding existing ones, " the george washington's ax" philosophical argument. Despite improving the designs to burn cleaner, unless things have changed, the "rebuilt" stoves do not meet current standards as they have not been tested by a certified third party firm (quite expensive) and therefore are not certified to any new standard despite some very convincing self testing they have done on their new modifications. I think its great that they have voluntarily taken on this effort. To many folks, EPA certification is probably not an issue, but to others it may if they are in an area where EPA certified stoves are required, or insurance requires it. As it is they are a very distinctive stove design sought after by a small but dedicated collector's market.
 
Since way before I became a member here I’ve tried to contact them via website, phone, whatever, to try and get answers to questions I’ve had. That’s just one reason I keep asking questions here on the forum. At least I can I get some answers here, versus no response at the source. It seems those who own stoves can get responses and that’s good, but the rest of us ask around on forums…at least that’s the vibe I’ve gotten from them.

EDIT:
From looking at your link I can tell you that I’ve been trying to get in touch with them since the website had a different look than it does now…and that wasn’t just 2-3 years ago, but several years ago. So I will now take another look at the FAQ page…again…and go from there. If I can’t get an answer I’ll try and call (Steve Slatter I guess) again and if still non satisfaction or answer then I’ll be right back here asking questions. I’ll see what we can find…
 
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I can tell everyone one thing, it is not just sections of some premade large pipe. When I order new ones (maybe 1 out of every 30 I rebuild need a new barrel, and they are only the cat models) they all have to be made to spec, and I dont personally have those exact measurements, they do. But they take 1/4” steel and roll it into a tube and weld it closed.

I wish it was as easy as there was a giant pipe that matched that size that was 1/4” cold rolled steel that I could buy a 15’ length of and just cut it. It would be substantially cheaper that way. Vs the 350 it costs to get just an 18” made.

As far as reaching out to Steve directly, I am not comfortable being a middle man directly. Steves contact info is on the old site, and Rich’s info is on the new site. Rich is the main guy dealing with parts right now.

Understand that both these guys are very busy and get hundreds of questions a year, and its just them, with Steve stepping back and Rich taking over more. So be patient and dont hold it against them, they are out here investing their time and money just keeping these dreams and Elms alive because they have a passion for them.

I still have a stove broke down about to go to blasting either tomorrow or friday. So I can give you a rough estimate if you shoot me a direct message. I wont remember to just do it and report back here.