Help w/ old Hearthstone - Confused

[SueBe]

I am renting a house w/ an old wood stove that can load from the front or the side. I think it's a Heartstone (see front and side pictures). When we have used the stove, burning hardwoods, the wood burns up super fast. We can't possibly keep a slow burn and we've never had embers left in the morning. The stove is cold by then. I have questions about how it is supposed to operate and about an assessment I paid for with a wood stove repairman.

1. I can't figure out where the primary air intake comes from. There is a pipe vent at the rear bottom of the stove (pictured) that opens and shuts with a wire and a lever up to the back of the stove. That pipe and lever seem to be for cleaning out the ash pan area after the ash pan has been removed. It doesn't appear to provide air to the stove. Rather, it dead ends into the ash pan chamber. This stove has the ash pan opening on the side entry side.

2. Their is an internal air control pipe that is bent and cracked. The pipe (see pictures) leads to a 1" (+/-) hole in the sidewall of the stove on the side opposite the loading side. The opening is covered with a swinging cast iron "stop" but because the pipe is bent, it pulled inward and the stopper thingie doesn't meet the end of the pipe. It is about 1/4" too far away from where the pipe should be exiting the stove (?) so air gets in all around the hole. The stove guy told me that excessive heat and age would have been responsible for bending and cracking the pipe and it would need to be replaced. I looked at tons of photos of stoves online and didn't see one stove that had this little hole and stop thing on the side to meet up with the air control pipe.

3. There are cracks in the soapstone panels - one on each side and one on the rear of the stove. Stove guy said these are probably from excessive heat. He wasn't sure if they needed to be caulked or replaced for safety's sake.

I crawled behind the stove and on the lower left rear ia an number incised into the soapstone. As best I can tell it reads "81-11139-7PB. Nothing like that number turned up on a google search. I think the stove could be 25 years old or perhaps older.

My rental lease reads that the wood stove is to be in good working order and that the landlord will maintain it as such. I don't think it's in good working order. And I want to be able to use it safely and with reasonable wood burn. Any help / thoughts?

 

[bholler]

I don't know what stove that is but it is not in good working order that looks like a burnt out secondary combustion tube and those cracks do not look good either. It definatly need some work and I would tell your landlord he needs to get a pro in to inspect it. I would not burn it like that and would tell any of my customers the same. I am also suspect of the install there should be a t not an elbow coming into the back and due to the fact that it is black pipe I would not be surprised if it was just a direct connect.

 

[SueBe]

I don't know what stove that is but it is not in good working order that looks like a burnt out secondary combustion tube and those cracks do not look good either. It definatly need some work and I would tell your landlord he needs to get a pro in to inspect it. I would not burn it like that and would tell any of my customers the same. I am also suspect of the install there should be a t not an elbow coming into the back and due to the fact that it is black pipe I would not be surprised if it was just a direct connect.

From more online research, I believe it is a Hearthstone II. Definitely has a burnt out and cracked secondary combustion tube. And you are right - it just has an elbow connection. No way to empty it or clean it out like a T connection would provide.

 

[bholler]

do you know if it has a liner hooked to that elbow? Or if it just goes into the old fireplace flue? At the very least you need that tube replaced and probably door gaskets. I would guess those cracks would need filled in some way or the panels replaced but you would need to check for leaks on them. You can do this with a match or candle while the stove is burning hold the flame near the crack and see if it is getting sucked towards the crack.

 

[begreen]

It's a hearthstone two. The primary air comes from the valve in the back. It is thermostatically controlled. There is a control lever at the top back left of the stove, right above the air intake. Not sure how well it will function in this setup as the thermostatic coil is going to be overheated by the captive heat in the fireplace. The secondary tube needs to be replaced. We did on recently with a length of capped off black pipe that we drilled to match the hole size and pattern. While you are in there look above and check out the baffle. It often will warp due to extra heat from this secondary pipe rupture.

Here's a link to the manual:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/hearthstone-hi-and-hii/

air intake with connecting wire that goes up to the air control:

 

[SueBe]

It's a hearthstone two. The primary air comes from the valve in the back. It is thermostatically controlled. There is a control lever at the top back left of the stove, right above the air intake. Not sure how well it will function in this setup as the thermostatic coil is going to be overheated by the captive heat in the fireplace. The secondary tube needs to be replaced. We did on recently with a length of capped off black pipe that we drilled to match the hole size and pattern. While you are in there look above and check out the baffle. It often will warp due to extra heat from this secondary pipe rupture.

Here's a link to the manual:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/hearthstone-hi-and-hii/

air intake with connecting wire that goes up to the air control:
View attachment 127819

Bholler - I don't know if the chimney has a liner. There is a fireplace in the same wall in the room above the room with the stove. They share a huge 2 story brick wall. Do they have 2 separate flues? I don't know....

begreen - what are the ramifications of the broken secondary air intake and the open hole in the side that feeds the tube? Is it a safety issue? Is that why it's so hard to damp down the fire and keep a slow burn?

Also, what are the ramifications if the thermostatically controlled primary intake is confused by heat build-up in the firebox behind the stove?

I'd like to make a safety "argument" to my landlord to convince him he needs to repair/replace the stove. He might not be so motivated if its just an efficiency issue. I do think the extreme heat from not being able to dampen the fire could be dangerous.

 

[begreen]

The ruptured secondary tube is introducing too much uncontrolled air into the center of the fire. In the least, close the flap over the pipe opening on the side of the stove. Left unchecked this will also destroy the baffle above this rupture. Closing it off should give you more control. The primary (thermostatic) air control will not respond to room temp as well, but this is not a safety issue. The air control still can be operated manually.