OLD RUSSO....anyone here use one of these?

[WOODBUTCHER]

Found this picture from my archives........This is the steel stove that came with the house ....Its a RUSSO coal/wood stove. This picture is after I tore it apart/new seals /cleaned it/painted it. Dont get me wrong the stove severed its purpose for 2 winters but I was used to running an old VC cat at my parents old house for 15 years........but the Russo stove was small (max log size was only 1 large 15 inch log)...the baffle was poorly designed and actually fell down a few times no secondary burn......had to maintain it all the time (keeping air spaces in the firebricks with poker).....lots of flake and slag falling down chimney pipe into Tee connector because of the POS draft control in the back (poor draft and no good secondary burn)........it actually burned the same amount of wood as my much bigger F500 OSLO......anybody else use one of these?....

P.S Oh yeah the blower sounded great if you trying to watch a good movie

 

[Eric Johnson]

I had one of those back in the early '80s. I had good luck with it, but I was heating a pretty small house. Traded it in for a wood furnace when we moved.

Craig says they're still made, though only coal-burning models.

I think it cost me $400 or $500 new, though I may be wrong on that.

Nice restoration job, Butch.

 

[webbie]

Great stove for coal.....
Made bt Richard Russo right here in Ma.....I guess they call the area south shore (Randolph)

 

[Mikesrusso]

Hello,
I'm new here. I have a Russo stove that looks exactly like the picture in this thread. It was in my house when I bought it a year ago and provieds a good supplement for the high cost of electric heat in my house. I use it quite frequently and recently I noticed that the brick lining is deteriorating. I emailed Russo and they told me I needed a model number. The only thing the tag on the back says is: Model- number 1 coal and wood. Does this make sense?
Thanks
Mike

 

[webbie]

yes, you have a #1-CW

 

[Eric Johnson]

Should be standard firebrick, no?

 

[Mikesrusso]

The sides are standard but the front brick is shaped for the grill in the behind the glass. Unless that is standard?

 

[Eric Johnson]

Sorry, my memory's not that good. I doubt that anyone would manufacture a special brick, but you never know. Kind of hard to tell if it's all crumbled up.

The thing I really liked about that stove was that you could open the ash door and give it a shot of fresh air under the grate. Of course, that's also a good way to overfire the stove and maybe cause a chimney fire, but it was a nice feature that you don't see on stoves lacking a grate and ash pan.

 

[Mikesrusso]

Yeah, I open that ash door until I get the fire going. It works great also for unseasoned wood.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

Mike,
I have the original manual here in front of me......... let me look it over.....

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

Mike,
I took some pictures of the manual (the drawings from the manual dont represent my stove very well ).....my tag says number 1 coal/wood. My Russo has 4 fire bricks lining the back.....the bottom has 3 (with air spaces).....the sides and front (teeth) are custom formed to fit stove. I have the heavy duty bottom grate that the bricks sit on (not the steel plate which the manual states that the 1# is supposed to have)
Mine also has the pickets for the glass. Hope this helps.............



WOODBUTCHER

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

This place might answer some questions for you......

(broken link removed to http://www.fireplaceseast.com/06_wood_coal_stoves.htm)

 

[Mikesrusso]

Thanks for information. I contaced Russo, (www.russostoves.com) and they told me it's $65 each for the side brick, $65 each for the two front ans along the back is standard. The brick isn't to the point where it's crumbling onto the grate yet so I think I'll leave it alone for the time being. Now, how hard is it to burn coal in one of these stoves? He he, maybe I should start my own thread.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I'd wait, too. That's pretty steep for firebrick. I bet you could find something else that would work, or cobble something together that would work just as well.

 

[BrotherBart]

Be sure and get the measurements and a tracing of those bricks before they do crumble. You can probably make a wooden mold and cast replacements from refractory cement for cheap.

 

[Mikesrusso]

A mold is not a bad idea. I can make some wood forms at least to get the right size.

 

[rrob311]

I just bought a #2 Russo C/W combination. Does anyone have a manual for this? Like how much and what kind of coal it is supposed to take?

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

I just bought a #2 Russo C/W combination. Does anyone have a manual for this? Like how much and what kind of coal it is supposed to take?

Rob,
I can email you the manual, but I'll need your email address.

WoodButcher