Bought a used stove, now I need some help.

[Bullman]

Hello, new to the forum and I have some questions about a used stove I just bought.

First off, it is a big two door stove all steel, it has a badge on it that says "Timber". It is a heavy duty stove but there are a few things wrong with it. I didn't notice it when I first looked at it but when I was loading it up in the trailer, I found a crack on the back of the stove running from where the stovepipe attaches down the back of the stove. The pipe is made for a 8 inch pipe. there is a shelf on the inside of the stove that runs even with the bottom of the flue pipe but this shelf, near where the crack is, has come loose from the back of the stove and it sags on that side of the pipe.

I know pictures probably would help but at this point I am not too worried about that. I was just planning on taking this to a welding shop and having the shelf cut out and fixed, and then having the crack welded. I assume this will work and will not really cause me any grief since it is a steel stove. I also need to add some fire brick to it and there is no way to attach the bricks on the sides to keep them from falling, is this a problem? If so I will address it at the weld shop.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

 

[coaly]

You're right, a steel stove is easily welded and very fixable. They should grind a V in the crack and fill it with weld. The picture below of paint discoloration shows the overheated areas. The crack eminating from the hole cut in the back is the most common. Notice the hot areas on that stove are where there is no firebrick.

Firebrick is 1 1/4" thick, and is stood up vertically on the sides, then placed flat on the bottom. This holds the bottom tight. The top can be held in place with 1 1/2" angle iron, welded to the stove sides, either in full length, or short pieces like clips to hold the brick against the sides.

 

[Bullman]

Okay. my next question is about the fire bricks themselves. Are they pretty standard sized? I would think I probably need to take fire bricks with me when I go to the welding shop because they will need them in place to fabricate brackets to hold them in place. Is there a better kind of brick? Brand wise, rating wise? I have never had a wood stove so I dont' really know much about it. My house has an old Warm Mornings coal stove in it, but where do you buy and how do you store a big pile of coal to burn, which is why I got the wood stove, I think it will be quite a bit easier to feed. I got my wood stove and a couple of ricks of wood for 300, so if I don't get too far into it repairing on it I should have a pretty good deal going.

 

[coaly]

Bricks are 4 1/2" X 9" X 1 1/4" thick. Available at most masonry suppliers. Cheapest I've found is Ace Hardware, by the box. They are not expensive.

Coal is much easier to store, and takes up far less room for the BTU stored than wood. (1 ton fits in a 4 X 8 trailer or pickup) I used to heat with 2 tons yearly. It is far less work than wood. ( but it doesn't grow on trees ) It is a bit cheaper picked up at the nearest dealer, than having it delivered. They load you with a loader and weigh it as loaded or your truck on the scale empty and loaded. ($200 vs. $230 / ton delivered now) It's more expensive by the 50# bag, but people that don't have a way of hauling it, buy it that way. People living near a coal belt, pick it up right at the breaker even cheaper. It does loose it's BTU by storing in direct sunlight and wind, so it should be in a covered bin. Most people use a basement window to put the coal chute from the truck through, and keep it inside in a coal bin. If the stove is in the basement, this puts the fuel very close to where you need it, with no fear of it burning in a pile (it requires air to go up through it to burn) and no insects. Depending on where you are, some areas only have soft coal available, (Bituminous) which burns with a dirty yellow flame, and smokes black compared to clean burning Antricite that burns with a smokeless blue flame. Another benefit is no chimney cleaning is required with coal. It is corrosive to stainless chimney caps and any other metal the flue gasses come in contact with. You will get a much smoother heat output filling once a day, and shaking 2 or 3 times a day than the heat output cycle of wood.

 

[Motor7]

Does it look like this?

 

[Motor7]

It's a decent stove and yes any welder can fix it up for you. When you learn how to adjust the air you will be able to get about a 4-5 hr burn on one load. I had to add a Flue Damper because it was drafting too much air. I installed one in the collar(on top of the stove) I got off fleabay for $10. It runs in my 30x36' uninsulated shop and does a good job.
I googled my fingers off when my neighbor gave it to me and never found one item of info on it.

 

[Bullman]

That looks like my stove, other than the flue opening comes out the back instead of the top. Like you I have not had an luck with google or bing trying to find out anything about it. It may be a local place, I am in SW Virginia, just about 60 miles from the TN line so I am not too far from ya most likely.

 

[Bullman]

Motor 7, does your stove have a way of securing the fire bricks at the top, or do the bricks stay secure simply by lining the walls then putting bricks in the bottom?

 

[Motor7]

I posted on it a few years ago when I got it. The answer was that it was most likely a Buck copy from the early 80's. Many small shops sprang up back then making stoves. It was in my neighbors barn for over 20 years, a wire brush and a couple cans of stove paint made it look darn good.

 

[Motor7]

No, I think they just stand up by themselves. I never took the bricks out, they were in good shape........

 

[Bullman]

I bought mine from a state trooper that changed out to a pellet stove and he said when he was moving the stove the bricks just sort of fell apart, so I guess it is time to replace, it is since it doesn't have any in there. I guess I am going to go ahead and take it to the welder tomorrow. I would just take it to my local auto shop and fix the crack but I think I will go ahead and have that interior shelf fixed too, which will most likely cutting out most or all of the old shelf, and then replacing it. The part of the shelf that came loose sagged and warped from the heat so I don't think it can just be welded back into place.

 

[Motor7]

Post up some pic's before and after!

 

[coaly]

This install shows shiney gavanized pipe for the connector pipe. Notice it turns a dull gray as it burns the zinc off. THIS IS TOXIC at temperatures the flue pipe runs, and must not be used for vent pipe. It is likely thinner than 24 ga. and for heat duct venting only. (HVAC)

 

[Motor7]

Coaly you are correct. I could not find the right adapter to mate the 8" stove opening to the 6" flue. Initial firings were done with the 12' doors to the shop open. There is no more galv on the adapter...it's all burned off.

 

[coaly]

I just bring it to the attention of anyone seeing the photo that thinks it's fine to do. The appliances in the back and insulated door make it appear to be in a home. Black pipe only indoors.

It's a good pic for my "Fisher Clone" file. Another Grandpa in disguise.

 

[Motor7]

That file must be pretty big....Fisher had a great design. There has been a time or two that I had to weld Galvnized.....talk about staying up-wind and holding your breath

 

[Bullman]

When I got up this afternoon I hooked the trailer up and took the stove down to the welder, he will get some work in on it tonight. He is going to try and fix the shelf up, probably cut off the warped parts and put a new one in. He said he would drill out the ends of the cracks and stitch it up so hopefully I will be able to keep my wood stove project under 5 bills. I will have to buy some stove pipe most likely. It is shiney pipe so that tip about galvanized pipe was good to hear, although this is what the previous owner used so anything bad is likely burned off already. I took some pics of the damage but getting them transferred to my computer here at the house can be a chore so I may download them at work tonight.

 

[Bullman]

Well, the fix is in, the stove is down stairs and just a few steps to go. Thanks to the post above about using galvanized pipe I think I am going to avoid using the previous owners flue pipe. It has that described shiney turned gray look and I think I will just play it smart and start over with black. I had some before pics, not any after pics as of yet. Had a brief sidetrack with the flu, but I am trying to get back in the business of getting the wood stove project completed. Got one more burn out of my coal stove with carefully size selected wood to help me fight off the chills while I was recuperating. Now I need to see if anyone is interested in an old Warm Morning coal stove.

 

[Bullman]

Is there a way to cut fire bricks so I can get a good tight fill in the stove?

 

[fbelec]

not meaning to highjack the thread but......... what is it that is bad with galv pipe? 30 years ago i ran 2 stoves with galvy pipe and other than the third eye i grew i seem to be semi abnormal.

 

[Bullman]

Well, from what I have learned here, specifically reply #13 from Coaly, it is evidently toxic somehow. I do enough bad things to myself, I figure I should take some precautions when I can.

 

[geoxman]

Is there a way to cut fire bricks so I can get a good tight fill in the stove?

I just use a grinder when cutting them, you get a lot of dust, but it will cut the brick in about 10 seconds. good luck

 

[Bullman]

Lot of dust sounds like an understatement. Got to get some more bricks first, wore the local hardware store out, and I even used some old cracked up bricks I got from a buddy for free. Looks like it will take about 30 bricks to make this work.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

remember when cutting firebrick they have a lot of silica in them which is a carcenogen. wear breathing protection when cutting these bricks with any kind of saw or grinder!

 

[DAKSY]

Circular saw with an abrasive blade works, but the BEST way to cut them is with a tile cutting wet saw. Really keeps the flying dust particles to a minimum...