Old stove in a mining town tavern

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here

Highbeam

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Dec 28, 2006
21,151
Mt. Rainier Foothills, WA
The establishment has been open since the 1800s. This old stove still in use. Getting rare with insurance issues and lazy bartenders but check out the flue. I like the little drain from the bottom of the “doughnut hole” for condensation or plain old rainwater.

This was in Roslyn WA, an old coal town but they mined other minerals too.

[Hearth.com] Old stove in a mining town tavern
 
The establishment has been open since the 1800s. This old stove still in use. Getting rare with insurance issues and lazy bartenders but check out the flue. I like the little drain from the bottom of the “doughnut hole” for condensation or plain old rainwater.

This was in Roslyn WA, an old coal town but they mined other minerals too.

View attachment 297160
I have no idea what the purpose of that pipe setup is but I like it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: clancey
Nice!

It appears the door needs to be rehung.

For the physics folks: destructive interference to extinguish any fire in the flue. Add a magnetic field thru the loop to tune the phase. ;-)
 
  • Like
Reactions: clancey and Ashful
I wonder if it was designed that way to give off more heat by increasing the surface area of pipe/airflow around the pipe?
That would be my assumption
 
That would be my assumption
It looks like the whole donut is cast iron too. I can only imagine how hot that thing got in a mountain coal town.
 
It looks like the whole donut is cast iron too. I can only imagine how hot that thing got in a mountain coal town.
It actually looks like the interior upper exhaust from an old coal furnace like a heart of the home
 
It actually looks like the interior upper exhaust from an old coal furnace like a heart of the home
Entirely possible that this was some sort of recycle job. Especially since that donut being cast would not have been cost effective. There was no plaque stating that the stove has been in use since 1800s.
 
I was in a mining town in Montana a couple weeks ago and saw some crazy horizontal runs!

[Hearth.com] Old stove in a mining town tavern [Hearth.com] Old stove in a mining town tavern
 
There was no plaque stating that the stove has been in use since 1800s.
Based on the styling, I'd guess the stove itself is nowhere near that old. But it's very possible the donut pipe is something older than the stove, reused from another appliance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Highbeam
Effective use of vicegrips and the welded lettering is better than my nicest hand writing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Highbeam
Roslyn is a cool place to visit, on a weekday when the tourists aren't so thick. It was the filming location for The Runner Stumbles, the fun TV series - Northern Exposure, and more recently, The Man in the High Castle series.
 
I was a fan of Northern Exposure when I was in High School. The bar that Hollis and Shelley ran in that show was called “The Brick”. I’d say that is one and the same with this picture. Wonder if anyone can grab a screen shot.
 
Yes, we loved that show too. It had a great quirky cast and plots.

The saloon was called the Brick when established in 1889.

The Brick is what is welded onto the center plate of the pipe and front of the stove.
[Hearth.com] Old stove in a mining town tavern
 
Those horizontal runs do not look safe or good to me is this true what I am thinking? clancey

Yes, they mess with the draft, and if they fell,would bring a lot of drama to your evening.
 
That's cool, that could be used to clean out fly ash if it were used for coal. Perhaps even help capture it before it goes out the stack.

One of the things often suggested with coal installs is use T's instead of elbows, be the same idea.
 
  • Like
Reactions: clancey
That's a material that I thought nothing about until now so I looked it up and it brought me into a amazing amount of items that it is being used for--who would have known thanks..clancey
 
Given where its at and my own experience it makes sense that is what it was used for. If I were to guess they probably found it in an abandoned industrial building that may have had many boilers with same setup.

Splitting it like that would slow the gases and as they hit the top where they reconnect and the fly ash or soot could fallout into the cleanout. Perhaps and early form of pollution control which is something they would want to do if it were soft coal which is the coal they would have access to locally. I'm not all that familiar with soft coal burning but I do know you can produce a lot of black soot and generally speaking not recommended for residential use.
 
It is absolutely the top heat exchanger ring out of a old "octopus" style gravity fed hot air furnace. Look up Holland heart of the home furnace.
 
  • Like
Reactions: begreen and Hoytman