# Anybody using Shenandoah wood stoves?



## SilverKing (Dec 1, 2013)

recently bought a big one with fire jacket ,cant find a model number,these stoves any good?


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## husky455rancher (Dec 1, 2013)

i had one in my cellar its a good stove. i just replaced it with a blaze king king classic. so its outta commission now.


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## dave_376 (Dec 1, 2013)

My uncle runs one in his basement and it has heated his house for as long as I can remember. He likes it because it has an automatic air control, I believe a bimetal spring that opens and closes the air depending on the temp of the stove.


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## ole yukon (Dec 1, 2013)

My dad has one in his basement that we took out of my grandfathers house almost 30 years ago. It has been a good stove. I had forgotten about it until this thread. He quit using it and put a smaller stove in the living room. Too much of a pain to carry wood down in the basement, especially since us kids are gone lol. He still has it there in case he wants to heat the basement.


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## Marshy (Jan 20, 2014)

I use one currently and heat my whole house with it. I have 1800 sq ft ranch on a full basement. The stove is in the basement and I can have the convenience of a walkout basement with a garage door. Bring my wood through the garage door near the stove, makes for an ideal situation. I grew up with a Shenandoah in the house my entire life and have seen 3 basic models. They dont make them anymore but you can still buy parts through various web sites if you start looking. As far as I can tell, Sierra bought the name and now provides some support for them. http://sierraproductsinc.net/shenandoah.htm

The R-65 is a round barrel stove but uses the same door as the square R-77 stoves. They did offer 2 different size rounds but I dont know if the model numbers changed. All of their stoves use the same size cast iron shaker grate and can be changed to a coal shaker to be able to burn lump coal, all are brick lined. My father would throw in a few shovels of lump coal regardless right on the grate and use some aluminum foil on the face of the firebox to block air flow from coming up between the door and the front of the fire box, force it to come up through the bottom grate... The third model I have seen was similar to the R-77 model but it was made of 1/8" plate steel and was seam welded unlike the thinner gauge R-65 and R-77. I still kick myself for not buying it because it was a nice heavy stove and had a separate door for the firebox and for the ashes. It still maintained the bi-metalic thermostat on the ash door and the typical grate inside.

Oh yeah, if you cant tell already I like them. They are a very good cheap stove and the thermostat control makes the stove what it is. Nice even heat that can hold coals for days if operated correctly.


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## Vibes (Jan 22, 2014)

I have an R-65 and it has been a good little heater for over 10 years. I'm on my second shaker grate though. I burn wood and coal in mine. If you are doing that it takes a little getting used too. You have to feather the dial on the thermostat to burn off excessive ash piles. If the coal pile gets to big, it takes the better part of a day to burn it off, unless you want to shovel out hot ashes. Mine does go through a lot of wood though. But I'm heating a drafty old depression house so it does good. The only time my furnace kicks on is when I know I have to go down and fill er up.

I would say the manufactures claims of it burning 50 lbs of coal is a little bit of a stretch. and being its round, its best to have a variety of log lengths for doing the final fill up before going to bed. It calls for 18 inch logs. 16 inch logs work best. And I always have a separate pile of butt ends and chunks and I do make a point to cut some small pieces to fill in around the larger pieces for my final fill-up before bedtime. I get a good hot 4 hour burn out of mine and if I don't go down in the middle of the nite to refill, I just have to give it a little shake and stir and add a couple logs and its up to 400 degrees pretty quick. I'll still have some coals in it after 11 hrs, but there not throwing much heat. When I top it off I put logs on the bottom, then a shovel of coal then logs then coal. That's how I've found it burns most evenly.


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## Marshy (Jan 22, 2014)

Hey Vibes, my dad always stacked his wood on end when he wasn't burning coal in it. You might get more wood in it if you try that method..?


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## Vibes (Jan 22, 2014)

I do that too. Only problem with that is its usually blazing when I'm loading. Even whereing a welding glove, after I stir the coals it gets pretty hot.


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## davidbradley360 (Jan 22, 2014)

SilverKing said:


> recently bought a big one with fire jacket ,cant find a model number,these stoves any good?



there's a cabinet type Shenandoah for sale locally, and looking at the pics of it, that model is the same as the old Atlanta Homesteader that was in my house when I bought the place back in 1994. It had the sheetmetal outer shell with welded box contruction inside. That stove threw a LOT of heat, but was a little too big for my house actually, had it in the living room. Anything above 40 degrees we were opening windows. I burned coal in it. Got a new Harman and the old Altanta sold in one day for $250 to some old guy, for his garage. It was starting to leak some around the corner seams, the sheetmetal sides were not really thick. Overall a good stove. Thermostat damper worked well. 

Sears Roebuck also rebadged those and sold them, and TRACTOR SUPPLY sells them brand new today, for $750. Same stove but a little thinner construction on the outside shell. I was looking at one at TS store last week. Did yours look similar to this box shape ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atlanta-Sto...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557







or this







they are good stoves, heat well, just a little on the thin side. the one I had was HEAVY. The side outlet will heat a little better than the top outlet, it slows the smoke down some, and radiates better


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## Vibes (Jan 22, 2014)

I've seen those heaters for sale locally as well. I didn't know Shenendoah made those. No mine is a little kettle stove. Google them and you'll see what they look like.


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## Marshy (Jan 22, 2014)

I've seen then with the sheet metal over them like that. Think they rebadged then under a different name even though they are Shenandoah on the inside.

I couldn't imagine them made from anything thinner than they already are, that would not be a good thing. As is, they tend to warp the sides over time and stacking wood above the brick will warp them even faster (but I do it anyways). I'd be interested in seeing the one at Tractor Supply, I was under the impression they didn't make the brand anymore.


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## davidbradley360 (Jan 22, 2014)

Marshy said:


> I've seen then with the sheet metal over them like that. Think they rebadged then under a different name even though they are Shenandoah on the inside.
> 
> I couldn't imagine them made from anything thinner than they already are, that would not be a good thing. As is, they tend to warp the sides over time and stacking wood above the brick will warp them even faster (but I do it anyways). I'd be interested in seeing the one at Tractor Supply, I was under the impression they didn't make the brand anymore.


 


here's the ones at Tractor Supply. Same stove. These have been around a LONG time. At least since 1960's. Yes the one I had, was starting to warp too, above the firebricks. Same as the Riteways that warp above firebrick.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/searchterm/wood stove

correction, now they're only $674. My old Homesteader had that same lid that opened up like that, to cook on the top if need be.


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## Marshy (Jan 22, 2014)

That doesn't look like a Shenandoah, I don't see the draft control..?


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## davidbradley360 (Jan 23, 2014)

same basic box design with sheet metal cabinet, they move the draft control around depending on what brand or badge it was. but they are all the same basic stove, firebox, door layout.


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## Marshy (Jan 23, 2014)

davidbradley360 said:


> same basic box design with sheet metal cabinet, they move the draft control around depending on what brand or badge it was. but they are all the same basic stove, firebox, door layout.



They appear to be very comparable to Shenandoah. I'd be interested in what gauge metal they make them out of...


Anyone have a good resource for Shenandoah parts? I'm going to need a new shaker grate. It broke last year, I think because I started a fire and didn't let the stove heat up it just ran full out. Might have been too fast for it and it cracked. Was trying to limp through this year with it but looks like the center dropped out about the size of a small apple...


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## Marshy (Jan 23, 2014)

By the way, if you ever come across a Shenandoah like this one buy it! It's 1/8" plate and all seam welded and has a separate ash door. I still kick myself for not buying it but it was a little over priced and I couldn't talk him down. This is the second one I've ever seen like this and I'm not sure the model but the seller was calling it a R84E,not sure if that is correct or not. I was very surprised when I found it because I thought all Shenandoahs were the thinner sheet metal...


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## Vibes (Jan 23, 2014)

I think there was one of those just for sale on Pittsburghs craigslist.


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## Marshy (Jan 23, 2014)

View attachment 329504


I found my old email sting I was looking for on this stove. This is a model 84... They also made a 85. The two versions of the round stove were R-60 and R-65, the 65 being the larger of the two. 
This site lists all the models Shenandoah made.

http://www.woodmanspartsplus.com/68/catalogs/Wood-and-Coal-Stove-Manufacturers-Cross-Reference.html


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