Wanting to learn about my new stove

[wcherrsr]

We just bought a new house and is has a rather unusual wood stove in it.

I have reason to believe that this was built by a man from Winston Salem who worked on the Moravian stoves in Old Salem. That man has since passed away. I do not know how old the stove is. It does need some re-mortaring in a few places and even though a professional sweep has said the chimney is clear and the stove "should" be safe to use, but he has never seen anything like this so he cannot make any guarantees of its actual condition.

When we lit a small fire, smoke poured out (leading to me finding the mortar issues).

Can anyone tell me what this is, how it works and how to properly care for it? I have researched kachelofens, Scandinavian stoves,Moravian stoves, and have found very little information in English out there. Even YouTube and Google has provided next to no usable information, especially in terms of use and care.

The stove is beautiful and we really want to restore it to a usable condition, but I am a complete amateur. I have never even lived in a home that was heated by wood. Now I live in a very cool climate where the fall and winters beg for a stove like this. Any help or advice (in English) would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Alpine1]

I agree, the stove is beautiful. It’s a mass stove, very common where I live. Take a look, if possible because most have small loading doors, inside the stove. If it’s a proper mass stove, you should see a “ceiling” 20 inches or so above door. If it’s a lookalike mass stove, it is empty (i.e. looks like a big empty concrete box).
It should have neither an ash grate nor any drawer to pull out ashes.
Assuming it’s a proper mass stove, this kind of stove needs to be operated very differently than a cast iron or steel stove.
First, you need to heat it in steps: build a small fire with thin kindling (say 8 to 10 pieces of dry wood as big as your thumb), and let it burn with the door ajar. NEVER close the door of this kind of stoves if there is still flame, or it will crack... close the door and leave it as is.
After an hour or so, build a similar small fire and burn it down the same way.
At this point, by touching the sides of the stove, you should begin to feel the tiles warming up in some spots: it’s time for the proper, first load of the season: load the stove again wit 20 lbs or so of dry wood, 3”x3” in size more or less, light it up and burn down the whole load with the door ajar. Once you see no flames but red hot coals only, close the door and enjoy the heat.
All this procedure is needed every time the stove isn’t already warm from a previous fire: you want to gently warm it up to prevent cracks.
When you notice the stove is cooling, open the door an inch, let the remaining coals establish a little draft (5 minutes will suffice) load again, burn all the wood and close the door when flames are out.
All the above may seem complicated (but it’s not) and tedious (and it is) but the good news is that you do all this every 12 hours or so in cold weather, and once a day in mid season.
You’ll need a full season before “learning “ the stove (how much wood per load, how long it takes to burn it down etc)
Feel free to ask, I’ll do my best to help.

 

[weatherguy]

Looks like a masonry heater, can you give us some pictures at a different angle?

 

[bholler]

Looks like a masonry heater, can you give us some pictures at a different angle?

Well no it is just a stove. But a similar concept on a smaller scale

 

[weatherguy]

Well no it is just a stove. But a similar concept on a smaller scale

First time I've seen a stove like that, have you run into something similar in your work?

 

[peakbagger]

The clearances to combstibles (the floor) looks pretty tight. I seriously doubt it has a rating plate. Make sure your insurance will cover running a non rated stove.

 

[bholler]

First time I've seen a stove like that, have you run into something similar in your work?

Yeah a few. They are not common but we do see them

 

[wcherrsr]

Here are a few more pics...

 

[begreen]

Looks like a miniature kachelofen, a German tile stove.

 

[Alpine1]

Ah, tile stove is the correct term. It is very common not only in Germany, but in all so-called Mitteleurope (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia etc). Yes, it’s the kind of mass stove I was referring to in my previous post. If you look closely, there should be some tiles (usually on the sides) that are not permanently “glued” with concrete, but simply with plaster of Paris so that they can be removed in order to access the smoke “labyrinth” and clean it.
The small access in the door must remain open until the flames go out, or it will crack (as it did already) or even literally explode projecting the door in the room.

 

[wcherrsr]

That would appear to confirm that is was built by a man who serviced the stoves in Old Salem. That was originally a Moravian community. Many of the Moravians that would have come to America would have left from he Saxony region of Germany after they left the old Moravia and Bohemia areas of what is today the Czechia.

Does anyone know of any online resources beyond what has been discussed here? So far everybody local that has seen it knows nothing about it.

 

[wcherrsr]

If you look closely, there should be some tiles (usually on the sides) that are not permanently “glued” with concrete, but simply with plaster of Paris so that they can be removed in order to access the smoke “labyrinth” and clean it.

So is there anything I should be aware of in terms of identifying these tiles and removing them. I am assuming that placing the tiles back into their original positions is accomplished the same is if using mortar or concrete but just with plaster of paris?

 

[Alpine1]

IF it was built by a master tile stove builder, the plastered tiles should be either on the sides or the top of the stove. You should be able to identify the removable tiles by looking closely at the borders: while concrete is light grey, plaster is yellowish white. Work patiently around the tile with a knife in order to remove it, and after cleaning is done put it in place with same plaster.
I’ll look on the net, if I find something useful, I’ll post a link.

 

[byQ]

Looks like a miniature kachelofen, a German tile stove.

Ya, you can see mortared in firebrick in that one picture. You put your wood in that little side door, the exhaust goes to the other side and up and either goes side-to-side, and/or up and down.

The outlet pipe is on this same side so the channel must come back to that side somehow. I bet there are little hidden ash cleanout doors somewhere on that heater. I would definitely keep that thing. As stated, there are removable tiles to get into the channels - makes sense.

I may have to try to build something like this.

 

[Alpine1]

I resurrect this old thread, as I’ve been able to take a couple of pics of my FIL tile stove.

Now don’t ask me why in the world the pic has been rotated 90 deg counterclockwise... but the difference between the “normal” tiles and the removable tile is quite evident anyway. In order to clean the stove, you have to remove the plaster of Paris from around the ornamentation of the tile, brush/vacuum the smoke labirinth, and plaster it again.
There are no less than 3 of these on the whole stove.
Another pic: