Restoring a "not-so-old" stove

[StoveGuy]

Hello


We moved into our place in the fall of 2003 and had a cast iron stove in the basement, all ready to go. Silly me, I dismantled the chimney connector pipes, discarded them, and then moved the stove out to the backyard, unprotected from the elements.

Well 10 years later, I realize how idiotic that was, so I'm now interested in pulling 'er back inside and hooking it back up. I'll need to replace the chimney connection pipes, but I think that's about it. I realize how much this could help with heating costs this upcoming winter. Oh how foolish I was as a younger man...

The stove has a lot of surface rust after 10 years, but nothing too serious - I'm pretty sure I can grind it off with a wire brush or something similar (is that even necessary - can't I just paint it, or could that cause health hazards inside the house when the stove heats up?) The bigger problem is that the handle is seized - I tried smacking it with a rubber mallot in a counter-clockwise direction to loosen it and low and behold, it budged, so it looks like it'll need some greasing or wd40 or something, but it will come loose.

Edit: I have photos of the stove:

(broken link removed)

After my long rant, my question is, is it possible to reconnect this and get it working again? What do I need to watch out for (rusting, re-painting, and especially health hazards if there might be any). There could very well be rust inside the stove since it was outside for a decade and the hole at the top was wide open all that time). I really want to get this bugger going again so I can have some warm, toasty Saturday night hockey games on the flatscreen in the winter

Thanks for all help!!

 

[StoveGuy]

I managed to upload some photos of the stove. Apologies for the poor quality, but I hope they will help. Thanks again guys.

Here's the album:

(broken link removed)

 

[Bret Chase]

while it's outside, get a cup brush and a grinder and remove all the surface rust. then start hitting the hinge pivots and handle pivot with a penetrating oil like CLP Break-free, AeroKroil, PB'laster, Liquid wrench, etc (wd-40 is NOT a penetrating oil!) let it sit a day, then tap on the handle, spray it again, let it set, tap on handle until it comes free.

once you get the door open, take it off and vacuum out the inside.

replace any cracked firebricks.

then wire brush it again, wipe it off with a clean rag and apply stove polish.

let sit for a couple of days,

bring inside

hook it back up

fire it up with the windows open with a small fire.

the smoke is normal until the polish sets.

 

[Bret Chase]

oh yeah, while you've got the door off, replace the door gaskets.

 

[homebrewz]

If there are any non-welded seams (seams sealed with furnace cement), they are likely to be compromised. If there are a lot of moving parts on the inside, it might not be worth it to get it working again.

 

[bens_igloo]

Hey StoveGuy,

My opinion is that if you're serious about wood heating, you're much better off buying a new, high efficiency EPA stove than trying to restore that old beast. If you're on a tight budget, Drolet makes affordable product and most people seem very satisfied. We installed a Regency last fall and the results are excellent.

Here in Toronto (....I'm in Mississauga....) wood is expensive and you're going to make up the cost of a new stove pretty quickly. You're looking at 100$ a face cord minimum. If you can find wood for free you're in better shape. That's what I do almost exclusively.

 

[BrotherBart]

Good luck getting the WETT inspection on the install of that junk yard dog.

 

[StoveGuy]

agh, i knew I should have just kept it the way it was. My thought was to bring it back in and re-connect it; using it only on occasion during the winter, not as a primary source of heat. Problem is I don't even know how well it would heat the basement, I've never used it. It's really heavy duty though, takes up to 4 guys to move it back in. I was thinking to start a few fires in it while it's still in the backyard, just to see if everything's still good. If I was to run a few fires through it while it's still outside, is there anything I could look for to determine if it's still in good shape or not?

 

[coaly]

StoveGuy; Most of these recommendations are for a cast iron stove. Your pictures show a steel plate fabricated stove. They do not require furnace cement between many cast parts and are a one piece welded body needing nothing more than a wire wheel to remove rust and repaint high temp stove paint. Stove black is only for cast iron which is rough in texture and not for smooth surfaces. You do have a cast iron door that can be wire brushed clean and painted the same as the stove. Reconditioning is straight forward and quick. Best to wire wheel outside, paint and fire outside to give paint final cure and smoke off outside with a few pieces of stove pipe.
Try keeping it on 4 wheels like a furniture dolly or use a hand cart. One person can move these easily on wheels.

 

[StoveGuy]

my apologies, I thought this was a cast iron stove. So it sounds even easier to get this thing going again. Thanks for the positives here!! Another question - any idea how well these sorts of stoves can heat a room/house? Are these (steel plate fabricated) stoves known to produce good heat or the opposite? Or maybe it depends on the model, which I have no idea what this one is lol.

 

[bholler]

get everything working well before you work on any cosmetics. That looks like an air intake lever on the door does it work? If not try to get it working if you cant the stove is worthless. After you get everything moving yeah just a wire wheel and some paint. Also all the fire brick will need replaced for sure but that is not a big deal.

 

[StoveGuy]

The air intake lever still slides sideways nicely, and when you slide it, it reveals 4 or 5 circular holes. (geez say that 3 times fast lol)

The one thing I'm concerned about is that the other night, I took a rubber mallet and banged it on the main door handle in a counter-clockwise direction to try and loosen it. I managed to move it about an inch but then gave up on it because I didn't want to damage anything.

Anyhow, today as I inspected the door, I can see that its seal is a kind of rope-material. On the left side of the door (where the handle is), that seal looks kind of loose, and I can see daylight in behind it, meaning that it isn't sealed shut when the door is closed. It looks like it's only one that one side of the door right now. Did I loosen that by banging on the handle, or is that more likely due to the weather exposure over the years?

 

[bholler]

Hard to tell it might just be a bad gasket which would need replaced anyway or it could be a warped door. Have to get it open and working to see for sure

 

[coaly]

Rope gasket crushes and hardens with age. It normally goes into a notch or slot in the door and is held in place with gasket cement. It's sold by the foot from a roll in most hardware stores and not difficult to replace. Match up the size you have since it comes in different thicknesses.
Soaking the door handle where it goes through the door with PB Blaster is the best way to loosen it. You may be able to reach inside and soak it on inner side of door as well through the outlet vent. (providing there is no baffle plate in the way) Work it back and forth making sure it's rotating and NOT bending.
Cast Iron moves heat more readily than steel plate and pouring the molten metal in molds was the way small pieces were formed and put together with bolts and gasket material. The steel plate idea was started by Bob Fisher welding the first plate stove together, the base iron material being the same cast in molds or rolled into plates. The welded plate stoves are much more forgiving as far as cracking and radiate heat fine. They can warp from overheating or bulge, but it is rare that the damage makes them unusable.
Firebrick inside prevents intense heat from the sides and bottom. The first fire after storing and being wet will have to boil off the moisture in the brick. This goes for new firebrick as well. This moisture turns to steam and cools the exhaust and stove to a noticeable extent and you will think it may not produce much heat. After a couple fires, there is a marked difference in heat output.
Most of the info in the Fisher section can be applied to your stove since most of the plate stoves of that era were copied from the idea of the inventor. (Fisher did not use gasket material for door gaskets making theirs as maintenance free as possible)

When done, you can check the door seal by closing on a dollar bill and pulling the bill out to make sure it has an even drag pulling out all the way around.

 

[coaly]

Measuring the stove width, depth, and height will give an idea of square foot heating capacity. Here are the sizes of Fisher stoves built similar to yours to give you an idea; Taken from this thread, https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/fisher-grandma-and-grandpa-bear-details-fireplace-series.69448/

Grandma UL Unlisted pre 1980 with 2 square doors;

Width ; 24 1/2" across top plate.
Depth ; 28 1/4" overall with ash fender (shelf)
Height ; 30 1/2" rear, 24 1/2" front
Approx. weight 406 pounds
Logs to 20" across stove
Heats approx. 1500 s.f.
Requires 5 bricks across back, 4 sides
Flue size 8 inch top or rear
Door opening ; 17" wide X 10 1/2" high

Measurements from original 1977 prints, weight from ad; Dec. 1979

Grandpa UL Unlisted pre 1980 with 2 square doors;

Width ; 29 1/2" across top plate.
Depth ; 30 1/2" overall with ash fender (shelf)
Approx. weight 454 pounds
Logs to 24" across stove
Heats approx. 2000 s.f.
Requires 6 bricks across back, 4 sides
Flue size 8 inch top or rear
Door opening ; 22" wide X 11" high

Measurements from original 1977 prints, weight from ads; 1978

 

[Bret Chase]

StoveGuy; Most of these recommendations are for a cast iron stove. Your pictures show a steel plate fabricated stove. They do not require furnace cement between many cast parts and are a one piece welded body needing nothing more than a wire wheel to remove rust and repaint high temp stove paint. Stove black is only for cast iron which is rough in texture and not for smooth surfaces.

I am well aware of what he had when I suggested stove black. I am and have been an ironworker since 1989.... Stove black works just fine on steel... in fact on my stove, I stove blacked the steel body, and hi temp painted the cast iron doors. stove black on steel looks a hell of alot better than rust.

 

[coaly]

The stoves I've restored that have had stove black baked in did not absorb it evenly and had swirl marks on the smooth surface. Removing it to paint over is almost impossible. If you black an antique stove cast parts, then try to black the machine polished top surface, you'll see that the polish works well on the rough surface and does not treat the smooth top the same. It wipes right off when polished dry (hand buffed) before heating. When heated it goes right back to shiny metal. That's why the top was never blacked and oiled to season like a cast iron pan.

Antique cast stove parts I have that I display are easier to paint once and be done, but the paint doesn't give it the depth of polishing with stove black. The surface the rag touches shines and the base color shows through compared to the deep pores that fill with polish and stay blacker giving it depth. Close to a metallic paint look. When a smooth surface is polished when dry, it wipes right off leaving very little to none to bake on. Perhaps you don't buff it when dry?

Polish does have it's place for allowing detail to show through.

Here's cast bear legs that were painted originally. As a collector piece, paint fills the details of the hair and covers the claws.



Here's the texture and detail polish gives. No comparison to the look of a finished stove.

 

[begreen]

In this case I would paint the stove with Stove Brite metallic black. The paint will better hide details like rust pock marks.

 

[BKVP]

Take your stove and have it sand blasted. It will remove all the rust and give it a great shot peened appearance. The as said earlier, paint with StoveBright paint. Remember to cover the glass in the door before sandblasting! I've done a fair amount of sandblasting and I can tell you it about 30 minutes that baby will look like new (well, the metal will).

 

[JA600L]

Before you do anything check with your home owner insurance. How is your wood supply and flue?