Quaker Moravian stove help sought

[chillywillie]

Hello , well .. i must say i never fail to be amazed by the internet. A group for fireplace enthusiasts and information,this internet truly does have every base covered. Thank you for accepting me as a member here , now that ive found you i imagine i'll have a few questions in future and i'd be grateful for any assistance.
Here's my deal , the old fireplace hasn't been lit in many many years , 15 say , so i got the chimney swept proffesionally and two cords of wood delivered.
My problem is the door hinge bracket or one of them is entirely gone , id not noticed that as ive only been here for 5 years and this is the first time i went to use it. I can see it would be an easy fix if i had the part , its the piece the pin goes through to hold the door.
Can anyone point me in the right direction to find a replacement please ? I know they were made locally in Pa and went out of business a long time ago but this was a very popular model and such a simple little piece , i am trying a couple of places but thought it worth asking here. Thanks for any help you can be , and again , thanks for having me as a member. : )

 

[Oldhippie]

Is this the clean out door on the chimney you are talking about?

 

[chillywillie]

Please forgive my not knowing what they are called , this fireplace sits set into the wall and the chimney isnt visable , the doors are two doors with glass panels at the front which open to feed the fire and yes , also clean the remnents/ash out. Theres a lever in the middle of the two doors which locks them , when released both doors open on two hinges each that are no more than brackets and pins hinges , very simple affair but ive one entirely missing. In fairness i can see how one could be broken as the doors are or would be used so much and im hoping there are replacements somewhere although i know its an old fire. Thanks : )

 

[chillywillie]

Its that little piece with the hole in it in the top photo im looking for , in that picture the door is removed to show the part. It has a bolt that attaches it inside via a nut. In the lower pic the door is on and we can see the lower piece is gone,this causes difficulty using the door and i cant imagine trying to use it when its hot in that condition. Thanks again for any help you can be : )

 

[begreen]

You are correct, the stove is unsafe to use without that hinge. I think the odds of finding that piece are slim. Unless you can have a proper one fabricated and securely attached to the stove, it may be time to retire the old fellow or sell it to another Moravian owner for parts?

 

[harryfatcat]

Is it possible to remove the remaining one and take it to a machine shop to be duplicated?

 

[chillywillie]

Neccesity being the mother of invention i spent a day down at the hardware store and came away with an eye bolt and 2 nuts/2 washers which has fixed the problem and the door is secure and works perfect now. Its very secure and i feel confident i can light this for the first time in many many years. Im not far from Quakertown so who knows , the part may find me someday but in the meantime ive a working fire. Thanks for the advice guys , i do believe i'll stick around and learn how to operate this safely. : )

 

[chillywillie]

Good evening Gentlemen and Ladies , i thought rather than create a new thread id post my latest problem here so anyone with a mind to help or with advice can get an idea of my wood burning background and fireplace stove.What is going on is this , i got two cords of split logs in december and we burned the fire pretty much 24/7 right to the end of january. The stove was always dangerously hot , so much so that i was terrified somebody would touch it and get scorched , it was dangerously hot , the metal i mean. So thats fine and i bought elbow length welders gloves so i could open the doors and add wood. It was like a furnace in there , i could not have went near it or add wood without the gloves.I say all this to give an impression of how hot that thing was , it heated the room beautifully.
So we bought another 2 cords of split logs from the same people , this is where the problem seems to begin , i didnt pay enough attention to my last lot of logs so i cant compare with the new ones but lets assume logs are logs for the moment.
No matter how many logs are in there i cant get the fire to actually heat up , i can build a huge fire and still open the doors with my bare hands and add wood with my bare hands even though theres a nice fire in there , not a furnace like before but burning all the same , theres no heat though. The only difference is the logs , could this be possible ? I mean ..is it possible to get a load of wood that dont burn hot ? Its a waste of time really not to mention money and thats our whole febuary supply out there , its dry enough , nice looking logs but the stove isnt giving off heat no matter how big a fire is stoked. I appreciate any thoughts. : )

 

[Oldhippie]

Prolly freshly cut wood with a high moisture content.

You really can't tell much without a moisture meter. Did you buy "seasoned" wood? Many wood dealers have nothing but freshly cut wood this time of year and what you describe is all about trying to burn poorly seasoned wood.

 

[chillywillie]

Thank you , that was my fear.Naturally the wood seller advertises seasoned wood and that's what we paid for , evidently it's not what we got. That's a problem as we have 2 cords of it out there and its snowing tonight and expected to until wednesday. I appreciate your reply , thanks again , we'll call the seller or email and see what is what but i dont expect we'll get much of a response as its a complaint , maybe we misunderstood what he was selling but i don't think we did,we'll clear it up though and see if it's said this is seasoned wood. Can i ask you what you mean about the moisture meter ? I have something that reads humidity but it wouldnt last long near a fire so im wondering where this meter would be used ?

 

[Oldhippie]

They have two prongs, stick it in the side of s freshly cut split and it reads the amount of moisture in the wood as a percentage.

http://www.amazon.com/DUSIEC-Handhe...359923213&sr=8-1&keywords=wood+moisture+meter

 

[Oldhippie]

It's not unusual for a wood seller to sell wood downed for 90 days or less to call it "seasoned".

it really takes wood at least a year and sometimes 2 to season depending on the type of wood, how it's stacked, how it's cut and kept dry etc.

Some guys add some kind of firebricks or something like that, I'm not really sure what they are, or how well they work.

Good luck.

 

[chillywillie]

Thank you , that's very helpful , now i know exactly what i need. Im guessing it's pretty obvious your summary of whats happening here is correct , i can throw wood on there all day and its not getting anywhere near as hot.I'll get a meter and read the paperwork with it etc ..but in your estimate what are the ranges im looking for if you dont mind my asking ? What's my ballpark is what im wondering , at what point or percentage can i say oh wow or this is not bad kinda thing.I really appreciate your help , from one old hippy to another , thank you : )

 

[Oldhippie]

If/when you get one of those moisture meters you are looking for something in the under 25% range.. 20% is much better. Over 25% you are going to have trouble and a lof of the wood's energy is lost just burning off the moisture.

You need to make sure you test by splitting a log, and testing on a fresh face of the split, not the end, or a face that has been exposed previously.

Prior to the new EPA stoves, you could get away with the "split it in the spring, burn it in the fall" practice, but not so much anymore.