I should make a checklist. I'm also hoping to hold the coals overnight. Now that it's back to normal shoulder season the cooker is carrying the heat load.
Wood Cook-stove Arrives
- Thread starter SpaceBus
- Start date
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K-Mac
New Member
really cool stove! look forward to reading about your adventures with it! my grandparents have an OLD wood burning cook stove/oven in their sunroom that they use as a conversation piece but they once used it in my great grandparents cabin. im sure this one is a lot more efficient than that old stove 
i think if they ever got rid of it id take it off their hands.
i think if they ever got rid of it id take it off their hands.
I really love the antiques, there is nothing currently that comes close to the level of art. Some day I'd like to have an antique in a summer kitchen.
K-Mac
New Member
i had my grandma send over a couple of pictures. she has their stereo on top of it but put the handle in one of the plates on top. i didnt ask her to open it up as i know they store cd's, tapes and records inside. she says as far as she knows it goes back to the 30s. its in really great shape. the top plates are for adding wood. the big square door in front is the oven and the skinny narrow door in front is where ash is collected. there a shaker lever to get the ash to drop. shes says theirs didnt but her aunts big wood burning cook stove/oven had a place to put cold water into it. she remembers it always needing to have water but cant remember why.
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That's a really neat stove. I think the side over the firebox has the "dog bone" so you can put a large basin right over the fire to wash dishes or laundry. That's what folks needed hot water for, aside from cooking anyway. I would have liked a hot water water reservoir on the stove but we couldn't find one that also had a coil for a plumbing system and also fit our kitchen space. I'm trying to figure out how to put a tap right off the range boiler that doesn't have a thermostatic valve for filling pots for soup, pasta, etc. I have mentioned it in passing to my wife and she gives me a crazy look...
jetsam
Minister of Fire
Allow me to use my many years of experience as a married person to interpret for you.
That look translates to, "We just got that and it was expensive so don't take it apart and modify it", which translates to, "Wait until she is out of town to take it apart and modify it".
Glad to be of service!
Allow me to use my many years of experience as a married person to interpret for you.
That look translates to, "We just got that and it was expensive so don't take it apart and modify it", which translates to, "Wait until she is out of town to take it apart and modify it".
Glad to be of service!
Indeed. I think there is an unspoken moratorium on modifications on anything currently.
Good news is I have gotten much better at cold lights. Cracking a window at start up is a necessity to establish draft. Once the draft is established I have no issues. I can feel air being pulled in through every opening in the house. It is much tighter now and with two stoves going I think a gravity vent of some kind will be a necessity once we finish the renovations.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
I have been mulling it over for a couple years and an still not sure. So right now our stoves are pulling makeup air from every crack in the house,
many of which are on the cooler far side of the house.
So imagine yourself in the furthest room from the stove, the coldest room in the house. Will that room be warmer if:
1) You allow the current air intake to continue, bearing in mind that it is probably causing some convection as the cool air is pulled out towards the stove. On the other hand, zero degree outside air is entering thr room.
2) You punch a hole in the wall next to the stove, thus raising the pressure in that back room so less cold air comes in there. This costs you air movement that was pulling in warm air, though!
I'm really not sure which one makes that hypothetical back room warmer! (And I don't personally care that much because my back rooms are all upstairs on an open staircase and that keeps them within ~5 degrees of the stove room anyway.)
That is a really compact cook stove. I wonder if it was designed for a small space like a train kitchen or caboose.
So my make up air comes through the weep holes in my patio sliders and the old dryer hook up (no dryer currently). The patio sliders open up to our kitchen/living room/great room (like a farm house salt box) on the south wall of the house. The rest comes in through the dryer vent on the north wall into the old plumbing room (now above) and then through the outlet cutouts into the kitchen. Air has to come in one way or another. I suppose currently this creates a convective loop. We've discussed putting a cold air return down low and a register up high on the wall in our bathroom adjacent to where the range boiler is located. That tank will eventually sit above 150df which makes it a giant radiator.
K-Mac
New Member
i asked her. the cabin up in michigan was on the small side. single bedroom, living room with fireplace and kitchen. did have a small bathroom but wasnt plumbed. had an outhouse to do your business in! sat on 80 acres! the cabin was used like a summer home. "indoor camping" is what my grandma calls it. built in early 1900s and this was the second stove. had a nicer home elsewhere. so that must be why its a smaller stove. when my grandparents brought it to their house they had a blacksmith bring it back to new condition because they thought theyd use it to heat their sunroom but ended up deciding on a gas stove instead. apparently my mom has dibs on it
i asked her. the cabin up in michigan was on the small side. single bedroom, living room with fireplace and kitchen. did have a small bathroom but wasnt plumbed. had an outhouse to do your business in! sat on 80 acres! the cabin was used like a summer home. "indoor camping" is what my grandma calls it. built in early 1900s and this was the second stove. had a nicer home elsewhere. so that must be why its a smaller stove. when my grandparents brought it to their house they had a blacksmith bring it back to new condition because they thought theyd use it to heat their sunroom but ended up deciding on a gas stove instead. apparently my mom has dibs on it
It's a really nice piece either way. Looks like a good size oven.
Managed a smokeless start this morning on the cooker. I splurged and used some maple I had stashed away for cold nights. Both stoves had coals in the morning. The Morso is always extremely easy to operate, so it's never an issue anyway. It was awesome to not have to preheat the flue on the cooker. Just put some wood shavings on the tiny little coals left and it was pretty easy after that.
Today was quite smokey and has me considering other ways to get the flue hot. It takes quite a while with a tiny butane torch and even then I am not perfect. Yesterday had no smoke, but the stove still had a bit of warmth from the last fire Sunday night. If I load it full of maple, of which I have a limited supply, there are coals in the morning and there is no problem lighting. Today was 100% cold stove and draft had reversed.
Perhaps a propane torch will work better for preheating the flue rather than the tiny butane torch. The biggest issue is the distance from firebox to outlet, as I'm sure most of you already surmised. Would some kind of electric collar around the top of the chimney or even the flue outlet work? Perhaps something I just turn on for 10-15 minutes before lighting the stove.
Perhaps it's my technique that can be improved as well. I think today I tried to light too much kindling at once. Before loading the stove with a few spruce splits and cedar shingle scrap I lit a scrap of paper to watch the embers and smoke path. At first it seemed like all was well and with just a few wisps of smoke escaping from the door when lighting. Then the firebox got overwhelmed with smoke and if poured from every opening. Yesterday I tried just a few slivers of cedar and had much more success.
Any thoughts from the experienced wood burners?
Perhaps a propane torch will work better for preheating the flue rather than the tiny butane torch. The biggest issue is the distance from firebox to outlet, as I'm sure most of you already surmised. Would some kind of electric collar around the top of the chimney or even the flue outlet work? Perhaps something I just turn on for 10-15 minutes before lighting the stove.
Perhaps it's my technique that can be improved as well. I think today I tried to light too much kindling at once. Before loading the stove with a few spruce splits and cedar shingle scrap I lit a scrap of paper to watch the embers and smoke path. At first it seemed like all was well and with just a few wisps of smoke escaping from the door when lighting. Then the firebox got overwhelmed with smoke and if poured from every opening. Yesterday I tried just a few slivers of cedar and had much more success.
Any thoughts from the experienced wood burners?
Bad LP
Minister of Fire
SB,
I remember it well when my father would roll up some newspaper, light the end and hold it up into the flue to establish a draft.
Yes an LP or MAPP gas torch would be a lot better than a tiny butane one.
I remember it well when my father would roll up some newspaper, light the end and hold it up into the flue to establish a draft.
Yes an LP or MAPP gas torch would be a lot better than a tiny butane one.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Hey SpaceBus, I think the primary problem with the portable torches is that you have to stand there and hold them for a few minutes, in a probably less than completely comfortable position to get it back under the exhaust. Have you considered a portable Bunsen burner with a self-contained bottle and stand, to keep it up out of the ashes? I’m thinking something like this could be just set in the stove for five minutes before lighting.
Sound like you are getting to the point where you need a draft inducer on the stack to get things going https://www.northlineexpress.com/tjernlund-automatic-draft-inducer-ad-1-8803.html. Ideally it would have a backdraft damper with a temperature switch so it turn off once the stack is warm. I don't know how well it would work by just turning the fan off whe the stack is hot as it may be kept cool by air flow.
I think the preferred alternative to any flame source is a fan forced device that moves a lot of warm air. I envision a jumbo hair dryer.
I have know folks who have seasonal stoves run on weekends that put a incandescent light bulb in the cleanout on the chimney. The light bulb gives off enough heat to keep the air flowing up the stack.
I think the preferred alternative to any flame source is a fan forced device that moves a lot of warm air. I envision a jumbo hair dryer.
I have know folks who have seasonal stoves run on weekends that put a incandescent light bulb in the cleanout on the chimney. The light bulb gives off enough heat to keep the air flowing up the stack.
We are headed to "The City" today, and even stopping by Home Depot, so I'll see what other kinds of torches I can find. I have a Mapp torch, but it has a bit of black smoke and it's not something that can stand up by itself. My Mapp torch is actually an oxy Mapp combo for cutting sheet metal or plumbing stuff, perhaps that's why it has a bit of smoke. The butane torch can sit on top of the ashes, but I nearly empty the tiny reservoir when using it.
I'll continue to refine my technique.
I'll continue to refine my technique.
I tried a hair dryer, but it just blew ashes everywhere. Part of my issues is the lids on the stove top seal poorly. A ceramic top should be here in a week or so. I actually ordered it with the stove, but it was delayed for some reason.
I have not heard a lot of success stories about the fans. Perhaps I should look into it further.
Perhaps also the tightness of the house is working against us. We recently discovered air coming in from the drain leading to our septic tank in the slab... Neither of us expected the house to be this tight since it's from the 70' and we did all the renovation work ourselves. The house is wrapped, several windows are new and the old windows were fairly nice in the day. This makes me think the interior chimney pulls air through the exterior into the house when the cooker cools down. My other stove is not a BK so I can't close it entirely, so I think it will always do this. This is what lead me to the draft induction collars, which I've read about here. I'd rather achieve the same effect with a torch or similar rather than another electric appliance, which is the antithesis of the cooker.
The water coil probably isn't helping either. An oak would also be nice, but this stove, along with most other cookers, don't have that option.
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Another idea along the lines of a bulb on the clean out cap would be maybe an automotive block heater. It would be easy to set it up with a switch that could be turned on before lighting the stove. Thankfully the home builders left some romex in the wall labeled "range hood" that goes to the breaker. Most are already designed for 120v 15amp applications as well as relatively high temperatures.
It might be worth investigating an HRV as a solution, or at least a valved air intake that is located near the firebox.
A air to air heat exchanger (HRV will help if you have an overtight house. This will bring fresh air into the house and reduce the negative pressure in the house. If you are pulling gases from a septic tank there is something really strange with the piping. The septic system should be vented to the roof with all fixtures vented to the stack and protected by a water sealed trap. If its raised bed system that needs a sewerage pump in the basement, the collection pot is vented to the roof and then the distribution box is vented with a "candy cane" vent outdoors . Pulling in sewer gases into an interior space is real bad.
Well, it's just an open drain into the slab. The previous owners ran the drain for the water heater into it. I've stuffed steel wool down to keep critters out. I do also have a vent that goes through the roof.
Either way, it wants to let air into the house. When the stoves are going its easy to find the holes in the house.
I attached some photos. Pay no mind to the rolling cart sitting over it, they have nothing to do with each other. This drain is in the plumbing/electrical closet.
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