Hi All,
New to the forum, relatively new to woodburning, and not new to the obsession we call "making firewood".
I just bought my first house in June, and it has a Vulcan Orion freestanding woodstove in the living room. I guess I shouldn't say I "KNOW" its a Vulcan brand, but the cast brass door says VFC Orion, and I actually live about 1/4mi down the road from the empty building that was formerly Vulcan Furnace corp which has been closed up since the late 1980's. Based on this, I'm surmising that its a Vulcan stove and I would guess it was built sometime in the 1980's. I haven't yet looked for a tag on the back of the stove.
I haven't found much info or literature out there about Vulcan furnace corp or their product lineup, so I'm posting to mainly see if I can get any literature on this stove, or at least some feedback from somebody who used to have one or knows more about it. Also to get some more feedback on how to better operate the stove. I presume this thing is pre-catalytic if somebody could confirm that.
I have been burning in this as supplemental heat since around October and while the stove is not necessarily 'broken', there are a few things I'm in the process of attending to and learning more about.
Heres a list...to get the conversation rolling...
1. the blower fan needs to be manually turned on via the button on the Honeywell limit/fan switch. Figured out this wasn't just an on-off switch, but rather, a non-functioning temperature switch. I have a new one ordered and should have it by this weekend. Youll see in the pictures some wool rope wrapped around it, which I think is merely a ghetto-rigged way make it stop buzzing from vibration more-so than insulating anything. Anyhow if somebody can confirm that I dont need the wool rope here when I install the new switch I'd appreciate it.
2. the door gasket is beginning to look a bit frayed/worn, probably causing some air leak as I can't 'shut down' the burning as well as I could when I first started burning.
3. the ash tray has the same wool rope gasket wrapped around it, not sure if that was the original stuff but seems hokey enough that there is probably a better way to seal the tray it that I'm not aware of.
4. curious about the firebricks up in the top of the firebox, one of them isn't fully seated into the frame. Is this bad? Before buying the house I had a chimney service inspect/clean and I am guessing it was that way after they did their work.
5. I've been burning dead elm and other standing dead trees I cut this fall. (you can see it in my avatar)
My door glass does get light smoke haze after burning for a night, and pretty much black after a few nights of burning. Its not a big deal to clean, but I've seen other threads here mentioning the glass should be crystal clear and not a regular item needing cleaning. Comments?
6. When i open the door, there is a 'port' facing upwards towards the door, is this a vent to keep the door glass clean? Should I be doing anything special to clean this? I haven't been, thus far.
7. I've read about 'secondary' air source in other threads. Can somebody explain what this is about or point me to more info on this topic?
8. There is a rotary potentiometer (knob) on the blower motor, it has a click position and it turns the fan off. Otherwise the fan runs full speed, either on or off, the adjustment does nothing. I presume this is a non-functioning speed control? What is the advantage of being able to slow down the blower motor? I plan to open up/inspect this while swapping out the fan limit/control this weekend and see whats going on in there. I see these on Amazon pretty cheap...probably will order a new one to replace it. Anything I should watch out for here? Typically, what kind of amp draw do these 110V blowers create?
Finally, here are some pictures of the stove and related items for discussion.
top view:
pictures of the blower/controls... (yeah I need to clean this area up!)
here is the firebrick I mentioned...
another firebox picture, the 'port' I mentinoed is in the immediate foreground (you can see a lip in the middle/lower of this picture at the bottom of the firebox opening)
Comments appreciated!
New to the forum, relatively new to woodburning, and not new to the obsession we call "making firewood".
I just bought my first house in June, and it has a Vulcan Orion freestanding woodstove in the living room. I guess I shouldn't say I "KNOW" its a Vulcan brand, but the cast brass door says VFC Orion, and I actually live about 1/4mi down the road from the empty building that was formerly Vulcan Furnace corp which has been closed up since the late 1980's. Based on this, I'm surmising that its a Vulcan stove and I would guess it was built sometime in the 1980's. I haven't yet looked for a tag on the back of the stove.
I haven't found much info or literature out there about Vulcan furnace corp or their product lineup, so I'm posting to mainly see if I can get any literature on this stove, or at least some feedback from somebody who used to have one or knows more about it. Also to get some more feedback on how to better operate the stove. I presume this thing is pre-catalytic if somebody could confirm that.
I have been burning in this as supplemental heat since around October and while the stove is not necessarily 'broken', there are a few things I'm in the process of attending to and learning more about.
Heres a list...to get the conversation rolling...
1. the blower fan needs to be manually turned on via the button on the Honeywell limit/fan switch. Figured out this wasn't just an on-off switch, but rather, a non-functioning temperature switch. I have a new one ordered and should have it by this weekend. Youll see in the pictures some wool rope wrapped around it, which I think is merely a ghetto-rigged way make it stop buzzing from vibration more-so than insulating anything. Anyhow if somebody can confirm that I dont need the wool rope here when I install the new switch I'd appreciate it.
2. the door gasket is beginning to look a bit frayed/worn, probably causing some air leak as I can't 'shut down' the burning as well as I could when I first started burning.
3. the ash tray has the same wool rope gasket wrapped around it, not sure if that was the original stuff but seems hokey enough that there is probably a better way to seal the tray it that I'm not aware of.
4. curious about the firebricks up in the top of the firebox, one of them isn't fully seated into the frame. Is this bad? Before buying the house I had a chimney service inspect/clean and I am guessing it was that way after they did their work.
5. I've been burning dead elm and other standing dead trees I cut this fall. (you can see it in my avatar)
My door glass does get light smoke haze after burning for a night, and pretty much black after a few nights of burning. Its not a big deal to clean, but I've seen other threads here mentioning the glass should be crystal clear and not a regular item needing cleaning. Comments?
6. When i open the door, there is a 'port' facing upwards towards the door, is this a vent to keep the door glass clean? Should I be doing anything special to clean this? I haven't been, thus far.
7. I've read about 'secondary' air source in other threads. Can somebody explain what this is about or point me to more info on this topic?
8. There is a rotary potentiometer (knob) on the blower motor, it has a click position and it turns the fan off. Otherwise the fan runs full speed, either on or off, the adjustment does nothing. I presume this is a non-functioning speed control? What is the advantage of being able to slow down the blower motor? I plan to open up/inspect this while swapping out the fan limit/control this weekend and see whats going on in there. I see these on Amazon pretty cheap...probably will order a new one to replace it. Anything I should watch out for here? Typically, what kind of amp draw do these 110V blowers create?
Finally, here are some pictures of the stove and related items for discussion.
top view:
pictures of the blower/controls... (yeah I need to clean this area up!)
here is the firebrick I mentioned...
another firebox picture, the 'port' I mentinoed is in the immediate foreground (you can see a lip in the middle/lower of this picture at the bottom of the firebox opening)
Comments appreciated!
