I just purchased a home that included a wood stove. After digging through a box of old manuals from the previous owner and poking around online, I've determined it's a Chinook Apollo - which seems to be a pretty rare beast.
Essentially it's a pre-EPA (80s) wood stove that's a little funky. Pretty much the only references I can find to it online are the patents that were filed: http://www.google.com/patents/US4182305
It's an interesting stove. Essentially it's a sheet metal octagon that's supposed to draw input air through a hole in the floor instead of from the room. It has a two layer shell and a blower that pushes air from the room between the two layers.
That being said, it doesn't look like there's any hole in the floor through to my crawlspace and basically no attempt was made to design this thing airtight - there's big obvious gaps around the doors and even hinges that let air in from the room.
It does have a lot of charm, and it is already in my living room. I'm an engineer, so there's a big part of me that wants to seal it up and build some air injection or a catalyst into it. There's tons of space to work with.
What do people think? Is it a fool's errand to make this thing workable? Should I just find something to replace it with?
Essentially it's a pre-EPA (80s) wood stove that's a little funky. Pretty much the only references I can find to it online are the patents that were filed: http://www.google.com/patents/US4182305
It's an interesting stove. Essentially it's a sheet metal octagon that's supposed to draw input air through a hole in the floor instead of from the room. It has a two layer shell and a blower that pushes air from the room between the two layers.
That being said, it doesn't look like there's any hole in the floor through to my crawlspace and basically no attempt was made to design this thing airtight - there's big obvious gaps around the doors and even hinges that let air in from the room.
It does have a lot of charm, and it is already in my living room. I'm an engineer, so there's a big part of me that wants to seal it up and build some air injection or a catalyst into it. There's tons of space to work with.
What do people think? Is it a fool's errand to make this thing workable? Should I just find something to replace it with?
