I hope someone can help me, because I have NO idea what I'm doing...
I just moved into a rental house with a wood stove in the living room, something I've never had before. I know nothing - nothing at all - about wood stoves, but I have been blessed with some small amount of common sense.
When I first moved into the house the wood stove present was quite old - according to the label on the back, it was a Heat King H1000 dating back to the 70s, and it was in pretty rough shape. The grate at the bottom was largely burnt through, and when I touched the damper mechanism for the first time the cracked and damaged damper fell into the body of the stove.
Called the landlord, whose solution was to come over and remove the entire damper mechanism with the explanation that it wasn't really necessary. Huh. Seems to be burning an awful lot of wood and running really, really hot, and I certainly wasn't born yesterday. I eventually tired of the email exchange and filed the paperwork to force him to fix it.
Today this monstrosity appeared in the living room, which I'm calling Darth Vader:
![[Hearth.com] Landlord has installed... something.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/p1110302-webp.181247/ "[Hearth.com] Landlord has installed... something.")
I'm wondering if anyone recognizes this as a commercial product or a copy of one, because it certainly has the look of a home-brew stove constructed by a skilled-ish welder. It appears to have once had an ash catch-pan attached underneath it, now the opening in the bottom of the stove has been welded shut and an elevated grate placed inside. As you can see by the drip marks it appears to have had a recent rattle-can paint job. More on that later.
Full of optimism, I fired it up for the first time tonight. No thermometer of any kind so I'll have to guess, and the two knobs on the front are the only way to regulate airflow - they pretty much either block the holes behind them or they don't. I get it up to what feels like a half decent temperature, cut back on the airflow, and leave the room for a few minutes.
When I come back, the room is full of smoke. Some of it seems to be backdraft coming out of the vents, but most of it is the acrid chemical smell of burning paint from the recent paint job. Shut down airflow, open all doors/windows, air out room... and let the paint burn off.
Now that all that ol' excess paint is gone, it seems to work... acceptably, though not terribly well, and I still have the feeling I'm poisoning myself.
So I guess my questions are... does anyone recognize this thing? Is it a commercial product, a homebrew, a copy?
Is it legal to install just any ol' woodburning chunk of steel in a house, despite how bad it may be?
And finally, is it even worth messing with? My other option is to heat with electricity, which would make it a cold winter - but better than burning the house down or poisoning myself and my dogs.
Any advice, laughter, or sympathy appreciated.
I just moved into a rental house with a wood stove in the living room, something I've never had before. I know nothing - nothing at all - about wood stoves, but I have been blessed with some small amount of common sense.
When I first moved into the house the wood stove present was quite old - according to the label on the back, it was a Heat King H1000 dating back to the 70s, and it was in pretty rough shape. The grate at the bottom was largely burnt through, and when I touched the damper mechanism for the first time the cracked and damaged damper fell into the body of the stove.
Called the landlord, whose solution was to come over and remove the entire damper mechanism with the explanation that it wasn't really necessary. Huh. Seems to be burning an awful lot of wood and running really, really hot, and I certainly wasn't born yesterday. I eventually tired of the email exchange and filed the paperwork to force him to fix it.
Today this monstrosity appeared in the living room, which I'm calling Darth Vader:
I'm wondering if anyone recognizes this as a commercial product or a copy of one, because it certainly has the look of a home-brew stove constructed by a skilled-ish welder. It appears to have once had an ash catch-pan attached underneath it, now the opening in the bottom of the stove has been welded shut and an elevated grate placed inside. As you can see by the drip marks it appears to have had a recent rattle-can paint job. More on that later.
Full of optimism, I fired it up for the first time tonight. No thermometer of any kind so I'll have to guess, and the two knobs on the front are the only way to regulate airflow - they pretty much either block the holes behind them or they don't. I get it up to what feels like a half decent temperature, cut back on the airflow, and leave the room for a few minutes.
When I come back, the room is full of smoke. Some of it seems to be backdraft coming out of the vents, but most of it is the acrid chemical smell of burning paint from the recent paint job. Shut down airflow, open all doors/windows, air out room... and let the paint burn off.
Now that all that ol' excess paint is gone, it seems to work... acceptably, though not terribly well, and I still have the feeling I'm poisoning myself.
So I guess my questions are... does anyone recognize this thing? Is it a commercial product, a homebrew, a copy?
Is it legal to install just any ol' woodburning chunk of steel in a house, despite how bad it may be?
And finally, is it even worth messing with? My other option is to heat with electricity, which would make it a cold winter - but better than burning the house down or poisoning myself and my dogs.
Any advice, laughter, or sympathy appreciated.
!
