If you had a home for your old stove

[restorer]

If there was a place to send your old stove where it would do some good, would you send it? If you knew inspite of the fact it was not epa certified, state of the art, nor as pretty as it was when you bought it it could do some good. If you knew that it worked, and even did a great job, didn't need more than a gasket or two, could use a little help getting hot in the morning? What would you do with it.

If there was a place in America where a stove would be better than an open fire to help a family survive and the issue was getting it in their home, what would you do?

I have some fingers out to some folks who could use our help. Give me some reasons to open this up to a full fledge conversation and action committee.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I gave mine to a neighbor.

He's a GC that has also worked at a Hearth shop.

I'd hope he puts it in safely. I've offered to help if he wants it.

Matt

 

[restorer]

I brought mine to the junk yard . At $.10 per Lb I got $40. Plus it helps the Chinese

We are auguring with BI, it is hard to add a smoke dragon, when everbody is trying to eliminate them.

The intent and kindness is there, but in light of all the emphasis towards reduced emissions, this is a tough issue to support

OK, so think of our own continental third world. Think that their current burning is uncontrolled open vent. Their only source of heat is wood, and it is terrible right now.

So, personally screw the green and BI, what are we willing to do to improve the lives of our own people? I will not send them vogelzangers and call it my Christian gift. Trust me their smoke won't get to the next highway let alone the Starbucks.

 

[Gooserider]

It's a tough call. From a pollution standpoint the old "airtight" smoke dragons were probably the worst polluters, though they improved the wood consumption picture considerably by putting more heat in the room, their smoldering burn made lots of particulate laden dirty smoke compared to an open fireplace that got lots of air.

So I'd wonder what am I replacing??? Assume the replacement is a pre-EPA, "air-tight" smoke dragon, in good working order, structurally sound, etc. IOW "safe to burn" in the sense of not likely to set the house on fire even if it makes a lot of pollution. (If the replacement is an EPAII stove it's not a problem...)

1. An open fire in the room, going to a vent in the ceiling - eventually... The existing situation is a definite health threat, the smoke dragon will probably help if only by getting the pollutants outside faster - replace

2. An unsafe stove, any vintage (rusted out / cracked / made by Vogelzang, etc) - Replace - the increased safety is worth it, and you probably won't make the pollution situation worse...

3. An open conventional fireplace, in reasonably good working order - probably better to make minor repairs, it's clean burning even if not terribly efficient... Possibly look at "Rumfordizing" it to increase efficiency.

4. A "Rumford" fireplace - repair it, don't replace it! This is a potential clean burner with fairly high efficiency

5. No heat - well what were they doing before? Might be better than nothing, but more investigation is needed.

6. Some other non-wood heat source - again more investigation needed, what are comparative costs, pollution levels, etc.

Gooserider