Stove question

[seadog2]

Hello all, new here, from CT. I was recently given a wood/coal stove, it is called the "home heater" and says "Bennington, VT on the front. The very bottom of the stove is the ash pit, and has it's own seperate door. Middle of the stove is about 3 heavy duty grates, which suspend about 6 inches above the ash dump floor.My question is, is the top of the grates supposed to be lined with firebrick? When the stove was given to me, there were in fact firebrick there, but they all got jostled around and broken during transport. What I am confused about is, if I line the whole grate with firebrick, it seems to me that would make the ashdump non functional. {nowhere for ashes to fall through}. I guess what I am after is if someone has this model, would love to know how the firebrick are layed out on top of the grates. Maybe there is a hole in the center?Also, cannot fit full firebricks, needs to be 2 wholes and a cut on each course.

 

[Captain Hornet]

Sounds to me like you have a coal stove with shaker grates. I'll bet the fire bricks on the grates were put there by the previous owner to burn wood. Can you shake the grates in the bottom of the firebox? Sometimes a seperate tool was used to do this. Pictures would help. David

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum seadog2.

The reason for the grates is that is is a wood/coal stove. Coal stoves have the grates but a stove that burns only wood won't have the grates. Probably someone put firebrick in so it would hold some ashes and hot coals before they all fell through the grates.

I can see no reason you couldn't replace the firebrick (very low cost) to burn just wood. If you do, when cleaning out the ashes, leave at least an inch of ashes on top of the firebrick.

 

[seadog2]

ahhh, that makes sense, however I forgot to mention that there are also firebrick splits { regular firebrick but half the thickness} that stand vertically against the stove walls at the grate height. Now, if I also lay the full firebrick back down on the grates it really cuts down on the firebox size. The burning space looks very small in comparison with the overall size of the stove. I'll try and post some pics tonight..

Oh, one other question: When assembling metal woodstove pipe { going upwards}, do the crimps go in the up position, or at the bottom as you assemble sections?

 

[BrotherBart]

The crimps always go down into the pipe section or the stove below them. The idea being that any liquid creosote will drain back down into the stove instead of coming out of the seams onto the outside of the pipe.

 

[pmgnut]

Here are the pics. Can I burn wood directly on the grate or should I line it with firebrick?

By the way, yes, there is a handle on the right side that shakes the grate..

 

[pmgnut]

Sorry, here they are...

 

[Backwoods Savage]

You should be able to burn wood directly on the grates. However, until you get some ashes and coals it probably won't hold too great of a fire. Getting some ashes and coals only takes one burn though. You should be good.

 

[pmgnut]

In other words, when assembling the stovepipe, I should insert a damper control in a vertical position close to the vent on the stove?

 

[pmgnut]

Got me thinking now, what if I were to line the top of the grates with firebrick only partially, kind of like a fireplace floor with an ashdump set up in the middle.{ but without the actual door }