Just bought a house that has a "Finnish stove"/large masonry stove. Need any info and tips you can give a beginner - pic included.

[obsessedwithgoats]

Hey y'all! Despite being a Vermonter where wood stoves are obviously a way of life, I've never seen one of these things before. It's approximately 36 years old and the house was built around it. Apparently up until about two years ago, it was used as the sole source of heat in the house. The listing called it a "Finnish stove," and I've done some reading and learning about masonry stoves in the last couple of days since our offer was accepted. I'm super excited to learn how to use it and to make the move from our current farm where we have the outdoor boiler style thingy.

I've read quite a bit so far, but don't know anyone in person who has got one of these and so I just wanted to show our new stove to some knowledgeable people and ask some particular questions!

Is this a "tulakivi" style? Does anyone own a similar one, and what do you burn in it? What do I need to do to make sure it's in order before using it, and what should I be looking forward to in terms of a daily operational schedule?

 

[clancey]

That looks like a bear of a fireplace--beautiful but I would have it check out real good with a stove expert just to make it safe for you and yours--they actually can look down it and take pictures and stuff to see what the creosote build up is as well as many other safety issues..But its look strong and and might be a real good heater but do not know I am inexperienced with these things..I did try to look up your stove on the net and came across a old thread from this forum that I will share with you..old mrs clancey

Finnish Fireplace

Has anybody ever had a Finnish Fireplace? This is the best wood stove in the world. It is a massive masonry wood stove, invented in Finland following WW2. The Finns did a great deal of research at their Technical Institute and learned that the hottest wood fire is gained from a high firebox, I...

www.hearth.com

 

[Woody Stover]

Looks like a beautiful home..congrats!
My BIL has a "Russian fireplace," another type of masonry heater. He can put some pretty long wood in the firebox. He burns a hot fire for a few hours to heat up the masonry, then lets the fire go out and the thermal mass heats the house for many hours (as I'm sure you are learning in your research.)
Burning a hot fire (with dry wood,) creosote condensation isn't a problem since flue temps remain high all the way to the top of the chimney.
They live on an island off Seattle, so outside temp swings aren't as pronounced or rapid as you'll encounter in VT. With masonry heaters, you can't adjust output on the fly as quickly as you can with a conventional wood stove, so I guess you have to keep an eye on the forecast and stay a number of hours ahead of upcoming changes with your fires.
Keep us updated as you familiarize yourself with the unit and its operation. There are several members that have or are interested in the masonry heaters, and many more of us who are curious. As always, many detailed pics will be much appreciated.

 

[clancey]

yea I am curious about these masonry burners too sure do look strong...I bet your friend( woody stover) lives on Vashon Island (sp might be wrong just guessing here)...Lots of humidity there..Hope the poster gets back and takes pictures of his fires when he starts them after a check up of the masonry fireplace for they are beautiful...clancey

 

[begreen]

Looks a bit more like across the border as a Russian fireplace. Were there Wesleyans in the neighborhood or as the builder of the house? They make some superb Russian fireplaces. There are several in our area.

 

[qwee]

I built one. It is a Finnish type like yours. The Finns borrowed the idea from the Swedish. All masonry heaters have chambers (called bells) where the hot gasses go and swirl around and burn further (just like a catalytic combustor in wood stoves). The Finish type like yours has channels that mostly run vertically. Things get very hot inside one of these things (1500-2000 F) because there is no quick heat escape, so heat skyrockets quickly, and warms up the mass. All the gasses meet under the firebox in this Finnish type before going out the last part leading to the chimney (right behind the clock on yours).

The Russian types have channels that mostly run horizontally. The Russian types draw air easier (than the Finish types) so are better in warmer areas (like Puget Sound). Finnish types should work well in your colder region. The Masonry Heater Association mostly teaches and builds the Finnish types. The Germans build another type called a Kachelofen. Basically, they use a metal inner firebox part and metal channels and surround these metal parts with mass. They are hooking up their Kachelofens with electronics, too.

Your heater will have some little side doors that you can open and vacuum or scoop out ash. Does your heater have an oven on the other side - this is common (I didn't add one on mine)? The oven can either be a black type or a white type. The black ones have flames going through the oven's center. The white ones are closed in so no flames go through but go around the oven.

 

[qwee]

I wonder if this guy, Stephen Bushway, built it. Maybe one of his students. It looks like his other heaters and I think he is in the upper Northeast area.

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[Woody Stover]

bet your friend( woody stover) lives on Vashon Island (sp might be wrong just guessing here)...Lots of humidity there.

He's my wife's brother, on Whidbey. He said they mostly burn Doug Fir and I'm guessing that even with the humidity, people out there can get split and stacked wood dry in a couple years. He shoves long pieces in there, maybe 4', so maybe that stuff would take longer to dry.

 

[Woody Stover]

OWG, what is the plate-steel thing to the left of the fireplace? Almost looks like a conventional wood stove..?

 

[Woody Stover]

Your heater will have some little side doors that you can open and vacuum or scoop out ash.

Is that an ash door below the two bigger doors, which I assume are the load doors?

 

[begreen]

I'm guessing that even with the humidity, people out there can get split and stacked wood dry in a couple years

Green doug fir will be at 17-19% in 8 months here if split and stacked. We have way less humidity than the east coast in the summer.

 

[qwee]

Is this a "tulakivi" style? Does anyone own a similar one, and what do you burn in it? What do I need to do to make sure it's in order before using it, and what should I be looking forward to in terms of a daily operational schedule?

This isn't a Tulikivi. This one was site built from scratch by a mason or the homeowner 35 years ago. You burn firewood that is dry - just like you would in a woodstove. Your burning style will be different though. Whereas a wood stove burner wants their stove to burn most of the time (in winter), like already said, you want to burn a load of firewood at full burn once or twice a day.

Your firewood would probably be best if the same size and not too big. Whereas a wood stove burner wants some big pieces for overnight burns. You don't want your fire to have one piece that keeps burning when the rest are already burned.

You will open the damper at the start of building your fire, burn your fire (a couple of hours), and than close the damper (else you will be losing heat up the chimney).

To make sure it is in order, check the firebricks in the firebox. After 35 years some might be damaged. Check the grate, too. It might be toast after that long. You will need to clean the ash out of the side channels (hopefully there are little doors so you can stick a vacuum head in, but I can't see any in the pictures but their there somewhere). You need to have the chimney inspected/cleaned just like a wood stove. And you need dry firewood. And you can stick your wood vertically in the firebox if you want to get more in there (there is space).

Daily operation - this will depend on your families schedule. You will need a 2 to 3 hour block of time to do your daily burn. If you work an 8 am to 5 pm job probably best to do your burn after work. If retired or someone is home, maybe better in the morning. I would get a timer. Once you get a feel for how long your typical fires burn you could start setting your timer. It is easy to forget and leave the damper open.

Woody Stover, Ya in the picture that is an ash door and air door in one. It is opened when the fire is started. Air has to get into the burning fire somehow. There is a gap between the door and the firebox floor for air to go up and into the burning fire. Sometimes there are air louvers built into the doors but it doesn't look like it here. There is probably a grate in the firebox. The ashes usually fall into a pan unless there is a basement support structure below the mass heater.

Lastly, you could update your heater with a glass door if you wanted to. Nice thing about masonry heaters is that after 35 years they should still be in the prime of their useful burning lives.

 

[Dave_in_ABQ]

Nice. 🙂 You're lucky to have gotten that. Let us know how it works a couple months from now when it cold.

 

[peakbagger]

These style heaters were big 35 years ago. Well built ones were great but some were built by folks that did not understand the required internal details. These tended to plug up and not get used as fixing them after the fact is major project if possible. Removing one is majpor project. As someone pointed out there appears to be plate steel stove in the background that in many cases would be hooked up to flue to provide heat when the poorly designed or built masonry stove proved too difficult to run. The mass still soaks up heat from the stove. The other issue with these masonry units is that they take forever to warm up a cold space. They are intended to keep a space continuously warm, head out on vacation with the house on backup heat and it can be 24 to 48 hours to get it caught up with load.

 

[kennyp2339]

To me, that stove is beautiful, I'm a sucker for interior brick work, I hope the stove works and the other wood burning is used for "shoulder seasons" when you dont need consistent heat.
My ideal setup is something exactly like that, big masonry heater in a vaulted family room, on the other side of the heater in a separate flue hook up a wood burning kitchen stove.

 

[Dave_in_ABQ]

I hope the stove works

There is a way to find out.

 

[Poindexter]

One piece of minituae I overlooked in my original research was having a damper on both the cold air in and hot air out. The Cold Climate Housing Research (CCHR) thingamabob at UAF (Uni Alaska at Fairbanks) has two dampers on it as above. In shoulder season they run one burn daily, in cold weather they run two burns daily, and close both dampers between burns regardless of season.

It is beautiful technology that an be executed anywhere between half a butt and outstanding/ fabulous. Hope you bought a good one. If it was used for 36 years as sole source of heat it is either a good one or the owner didn't like seeing his wife in Mrs. Poindexter type outfits. Get some pine, get it dry, and let it rip. You will know before Christmas.