How old is your wood stove?

[Mad Professor]

I made this up about 20 years ago from some ash I milled. Mortise and tenon joinery.

Splits go on top. Holds a weeks worth of wood. Nice to have plenty of wood handy when it's - oF outside.



And some woodstove cooking, boiled carrots and potatoes, venison backstraps with garlic peppers and onions

 

[Rbohlin]

Don't know manufacturer, was installed when we bought the house back in the 80's.

View attachment 1243811

 

[Rbohlin]

Don't know manufacturer, was installed when we bought the house back in the 80's.

View attachment 1243811

That is a Quaker fireplace insert. I used to sell them in the 1980's

 

[sand sock]

i have a 1978 or 79 old mill top exit, which is a clone of the gpa fisher. i know i need to get around to replacing it, with something that burns hotter and uses less firewood. my grand mother had it originally. it sat maybe 10 years unused. i put it in my house in 2001 . i probably should pull it out and rebuild the brick and paint it and put it in a shed or something or someone else home. it still is solid.

 

[Stubby]

Why do some wood stoves have firebrick while many don't? Our Resolute doesn't.

Rich

 

[Grateful11]

Mine's about a 12 year old Century insert made in Canada. I like it. The brick work around it and behind it is massive and once the brick gets heated up it puts off the heat on both sides into the house. I get 82˚ heat off the brickwork that's about 3' thick behind it in another room.

 

[Jusgunn3]

Mine is from 1983-86 ish, still in great shape!

 

[gggGary]

Why do some wood stoves have firebrick while many don't? Our Resolute doesn't.

Rich

Short version? Cast iron stoves are tough enough to not need the fire brick protection. Steel plate will warp if it's close to the flame heat from the fire.
I tend to start fires by leaning my wood on the RH side (where the downdraft openings are, that and motor oil fire starter has eroded the top baffle lip. The arrow top left is a weight I added to the bypass damper when heat warped it a bit, the weight has straightened it and it now seats snugly again ( this was done, corrected about 10 years ago.

 

[Stubby]

Short version? Cast iron stoves are tough enough to not need the fire brick protection. Steel plate will warp if it's close to the flame heat from the fire.
I tend to start fires by leaning my wood on the RH side (where the downdraft openings are, that and motor oil fire starter has eroded the top baffle lip. The arrow top left is a weight I added to the bypass damper when heat warped it a bit, the weight has straightened it and it now seats snugly again ( this was done, corrected about 10 years ago.
View attachment 1246012View attachment 1246013

Thank you, Gary...that makes sense.

I would assume that for that damper to warp, that stove had to get roaring!

Rich

 

[firekindler]

i have a 1978 or 79 old mill top exit, which is a clone of the gpa fisher. i know i need to get around to replacing it, with something that burns hotter and uses less firewood. my grand mother had it originally. it sat maybe 10 years unused. i put it in my house in 2001 . i probably should pull it out and rebuild the brick and paint it and put it in a shed or something or someone else home. it still is solid.

Do you mean a Fisher Grandpa? That's what I have. I figured out the way to conserve firewood with it is to cut as many oversized pieces as possible. First thing in the morning, I'll run it wide open, using the inevitable smaller pieces that just seem to split themselves. When it gets to max temperature, I'll put the bigger pieces in and shut it down. Depending on the temperature that day, that could keep the house warm most if not all of the day. Then I'll probably open it up for a little bit in the early evening, before shutting it down for the night with a bigger unsplit piece. The only down side of the bigger pieces is that they take longer to season. But two summers in the blazing California sun does the trick. Just got to stay ahead of the game.

 

[Franny K]

I am calling this Woodstock fireview a 1993 model but not exactly sure I bought it back pretty close to that. They don't use this design anymore, can't gut the top plate catalyst and associated parts and have a top loader anymore. It is like the vintage one they had in the showroom back then. I think their vintage one wasn't double layer soapstone like this one. No window and it was a classic. Problem was the catalyst made a hot spot and the upper deck deformed. Other problem is it needed dry wood, maybe not a problem but more problematic was excess charcoal and reduced heat output for a long time until that went away or harvest the charcoal and get back to more heat. 

 

[Franny K]

Why do some wood stoves have firebrick while many don't? Our Resolute doesn't.

Rich

I am not up on the Vermont casting models. Some have like double walls of metal, some have air ducting behind the inner metal piece. the fire brick generally will stand up to over firing better and unless the fire brick is special shaped which the one Vermont castings one I am thinking of was, a more sensible cost of repair.