Installation and Tuning, Morso 1BO stove

[tinker]

Hello all-


I just found this place by way of searching for information on our (new to us) Morso 1BO stove.
We got it used, it's in beautiful shape, and I want to get it set up and running properly.
Our home sits in the middle of our 40-acre ranch, I'm not worrying about emissions restrictions or EPA regs, but I do want to maximize the efficiency and clean-burning possibility of this stove anyway.

From what I can tell so far (from what I've read here and elsewhere), some thought and time put into the setup and tuning of this model of stove will pay off in respect to efficiency and function.

There are steel plate baffles inside the burn box.
Two side panels and two top plates.
The top plates have 'V' shaped cuts and semicircular cuts in them, the 'V' cuts appear to fit on to wedge-shaped protrusions at the top of the burn box, the semicircular cuts facing the door and the wall opposite the door.
The side baffle plates have square notches cut into them, which would appear to want to face down.

The flue diameter -- looks like it wants 5" pipe.
The heat exchanger cover (ornamental casting, enameled) flange has a 5.1" bore, the heat exchanger top casting has a slightly conical 5"o.d. flange.
There's a short section of 4-1/2" pipe set into the top of the heat exchanger casting, but my guess is that the right way to go will be with 5" pipe setting over the conical flange.
From there it looks like a simple 5"-6" adapter and go to the ceiling.
My setup would require an 8'-2" straight vertical pipe run to an 8" Dura-Vent (existing) ceiling flange (just bought this house, someone removed the previous stove out of there before we bought it)...

Should we run a section of 5" (if so, how many feet?) and then adapt to 6" close to the ceiling - then go with a conical 6"-8" adapter or is it better to go directly to 6" from the heat exchanger?
My sense says go 5" for a good length (two to three feet..?) first for good flue heat and gas velocity -- any comments here?



Hopefully someone here has the right advice for us.
I'd like to get this up and running well before winter comes.
Last winter we got a week or so of -10F during the belly of winter.







Cheers
Tinker

 

[tinker]

While fiddling with google image searches I found this little diagram.

Right click the image for the source.

Cheers
Tinker

 

[thechimneysweep]

my guess is that the right way to go will be with 5” pipe setting over the conical flange.

The flue collar opening is metric, and measures approximately 4.7". You'll want an inside fit here (crimped end down), so you'll need to find a 4.7 - 5 increaser (with the 4.7 end crimped), or have one made at your local sheet metal shop. We always seemed to have the best luck staying with 5" pipe until we got to the chimney connection, where we'd use a 5-6 increaser.

 

[tinker]

Tom, thanks for the note-

(paraphrased)
The flue collar is metric, approx 4.7"
You'll need to find a 4.7 - 5 increaser
Stay with 5" pipe until the chimney connection

5" to the ceiling sounds good to me.

Do you have any advice on sourcing the 4.7" - 5" increaser?
If I can't simply ring someone up and creditCard my way to FedEx joy, I'll just fabricate the part myself.
I have a great deal of experience in fabrication shops and can do the work, but there can be good economy in over-the-counter commerce.

Do you have any advice on setting/tuning the plates inside the firebox?




Cheers
Tinker

 

[tinker]

Also --



Is it typical (with adequate clearance, which I have) to run single-wall pipe to the ceiling, or do you step to double/triple wall above the casting flange?

and

Is it typical or practical to run a damper in the flue pipe for this kind of stove?
If so, what's the typical distance from the flange on the exchanger?







Cheers
Tinker

 

[thechimneysweep]

Do you have any advice on sourcing the 4.7” - 5” increaser?

We used to get the 4.7 - 5 increasers from the importer, but that was 25 years ago. I did a quick Google search, and found a 120mm - 6" adapter at http://www.woodmanspartsplus.com/4940/16305/Stove-Pipe-Black/Stove-Pipe-Black-Reducer.html. There should be no problem using that part and running 6" stovepipe.

Is it typical (with adequate clearance, which I have) to run single-wall pipe to the ceiling, or do you step to double/triple wall above the casting flange?

If you have clearance, it's your call. The double-wall connector pipe costs more, but is stainless on the inside so it lasts far longer.

Is it typical or practical to run a damper in the flue pipe for this kind of stove?

The 1BO is of a vintage when stoves could be shut down virtually all the way. You shouldn't need a damper unless your chimney creates EXTREME overdrafting.

 

[tinker]

Tom-

Thanks for the link, also thanks for the comment on the damper.
Where we live, 60-70mph winds are not at all uncommon.
We had a couple days with 100mph winds here during early spring.
I'll start off without a damper and see how it goes.


On adjusting the stove-
There's a little iron flap just inside the firebox door.
Is that supposed to just hang there or is it supposed to be able to take an angle adjustment setting?

Also, without a firebox door window, what's the typical method of feeling out the condition while making tune adjustments?
Are we looking for flue gas temp or velocity?
What difference will the 6" instead of 5" pipe make on condition?






Cheers
Tinker

 

[thechimneysweep]

There’s a little iron flap just inside the firebox door.
Is that supposed to just hang there or is it supposed to be able to take an angle adjustment setting?

It's a smoke deflector plate to help stop smoke rollout when the door is open. It's hinged so it will pivot out of the way when you add wood to the fire.

Also, without a firebox door window, what’s the typical method of feeling out the condition while making tune adjustments?

Get a flue gas thermometer and put it on the pipe at about eye level (you'll need a probe-type if you go with double wall connector pipe). You'll see that the thermometer is divided into three zones; low (creosote), high (overfire) and medium (Yeah Baby).

What difference will the 6” instead of 5” pipe make on condition?

You're going from a flue collar with a 17 sq.in. cross-sectional area into a chimney with a 50 sq.in. CSA, which is just 1 sq.in. under the code upsizing limit: if you're going to have draft problems, the most likely cause will be the oversize chimney. The size of the connector pipe probably won't have much of an impact on stove performance, but I suspect that the 6" connector pipe (28 sq.in.) might make for a smoother transition than 5" pipe (20 sq.in.).

 

[tinker]

I got the stove up on the pad and piped to the 8" ceiling box and external pipe.
I used 5" double wall, went 5"-6" and 6"-8" just before the ceiling box.
It's a seven plus foot run from the firebox flange to the first increaser.

Fired the stove this morning, got a great draft from the start of the kindling fire, got it burning very well in minutes.
There have been no issues with draft at all.


Now to start working on fiddling with box adjustments...







Cheers
Tinker

 

[begreen]

Good news tinker. Hope you will posts some nice pictures of that beauty and keep us appraised of your progress with that stove. I always wanted to try one for a season or two.

 

[tinker]

You bet!

With so little discussion on archived public forum, I think there mightbe value to someone else in the future looking for similar information on these stoves.
For instance, that image above doesn't accurately illustrate the guts of my stove.
More on that later, when I generate questions on baffles and draft.

On photos, I hope to have some images of slow-cooked cottontail stew as the season comes!






Cheers
Tinker

 

[tinker]

Our weather turned from 95f days to steady rain and thunder storms with days in the 40's *over night* the other day.

We've been running the Morso - it's brilliant.
If I'm not careful, it will get the (1960sqFt) house up into the 80's
What a sweet rig.
I have not yet installed a flue thermometer, but will likely do so before winter comes.





Cheers
Tinker

 

[krangdon]

Hi, I just got this stove to heat my 700sqft house. It will be my first ever wood stove. I was wondering what the interior should look like? mine doesn't have any firebrick or anything else for that matter except the cast iron outer walls. The guy I got it off had been using it with a 2" layer of sand in the bottom, is this correct?

 

[tinker]

krangdon-

Hi, I just got this stove to heat my 700sqft house. It will be my first ever wood stove. I was wondering what the interior should look like? mine doesn't have any firebrick or anything else for that matter except the cast iron outer walls. The guy I got it off had been using it with a 2" layer of sand in the bottom, is this correct?

Do you have a horizontal plate of steel above the firebox, below the inverted-Y-shaped collector?

On the feature of a bed of sand, that's not how I run my stove. Cleaning ash might get tricky!




Cheers
Tinker

 

[Thumpr]

Tinker: I just read your thread with interest, but did not see the end solution noted. What did you end up finding or doing for the 4.7-in (120mm) flue to 5-in stove pipe? Just curious as I would like to do the same; run 5-in stove pipe for the initial rise off of my 1bo. I hope you revisit this thread, as I know it has been awhile since the last (previous) post.

 

[tinker]

Thumpr-

Tinker: I just read your thread with interest, but did not see the end solution noted. What did you end up finding or doing for the 4.7-in (120mm) flue to 5-in stove pipe? Just curious as I would like to do the same; run 5-in stove pipe for the initial rise off of my 1bo. I hope you revisit this thread, as I know it has been awhile since the last (previous) post.

I got crafty.
Essentially I have a 5" run from the flange to the 8" box in the ceiling.
The run is about 12'
Where the 5" goes to 8" I just ran a 5"-6" and a 6"-8" fabbed 'reducers'

At the stove flange, I took crimp pliers and (skillfully, been working sheet metal for years but you can handle it...) reduced the 5" to fit the flange.
I then took some very high temp (over 1Kf) caulking and sealed the joint.
I then took sheet metal and produced a sleeve that overlaps the crimped section and captures the top lip of the stove flange.
With the caulking I filled any void between the pipe and the sleeve, and with stainless wire I stitched and lashed the sleeve.

I'd recommend just taking the problem to a sheet metal shop and having them produce a proper reducer for the flange.
It shouldn't cost much.
As yet (burned a cord and a half through the stove so far...) I've had no troubles with my solution to this problem, but I wouldn't sell this solution to anyone either.






Cheers
Tinker

 

[tinker]

Although I did relatively extensive searching before without success, I found a PDF of the factory installation and operation manual for the Morso 1B0 stove last night while looking for something else...

Here's a section view I took from that file and converted to an image file.

I'll be transposing the text from that file, and creating a fresh document.
The text is grainy but readable, but I found it on the 'Discontinued Stoves' page of the Morso website.
I'm thinking it's as good as I'll get.


Link To Morso Download







Cheers
Tinker