# old home made stove, copied from some fisher model



## Dogbyte (Jan 17, 2016)

I have been gifted this stove by my sister in law, they used it in an old house they had, and rented after they moved out, it sat up in the fire place. I think the storm collar leaked after the last tenants, and thats where all the rust came from, its not lived outside except the last few weeks.

My question is this. Restoring old stoves that are cast iron, is that process any different than plate steel? I havent picked this thing up yet, but it looks like its heavy. Doors look to be 5/8's or better, it looks beefy. Its going to heat my 30x30 shop i recently got in the dry finally. Already had the triple wall pipe and everything i need to go through the roof. I think all i might need is some pb blaster, a wire wheel brush, couple other smaller hand brushes, clean off the bp blaster with mineral spirits or something, and then hit it up with some stove paint. Never restored a stove before. I'd also like to hear any concerns or worries from seeing the stove and its condition. Reckon it would do any good to build a fire in it to loosen everything up, then clean it up?


 

 

]


----------



## bholler (Jan 17, 2016)

Well first off that is plate steel not cast iron.  And it is in really bad shape personally i wouldn't waste my time on it.  It is a very basic stove to begin with and in that shape i don't think it is worth the time or effort.  But that is up to you.


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 17, 2016)

bholler said:


> Well first off that is plate steel not cast iron.  And it is in really bad shape personally i wouldn't waste my time on it.  It is a very basic stove to begin with and in that shape i don't think it is worth the time or effort.  But that is up to you.




i can see how the way i asked about the usual cast iron stove cleaning, might look like i was under the impression this was cast. I was  trying to ask about the differences between cleaning a steel stove as opposed to cast. lots of posts i saw talking about cleaning cast, not so much when it comes to steel. thanks for the input.


----------



## bholler (Jan 17, 2016)

Dogbyte said:


> i can see how the way i asked about the usual cast iron stove cleaning, might look like i was under the impression this was cast. I was trying to ask about the differences between cleaning a steel stove as opposed to cast. lots of posts i saw talking about cleaning cast, not so much when it comes to steel. thanks for the input.


It acts just the same wire wheel or sand blaster then high temp paint


----------



## sportbikerider78 (Jan 18, 2016)

If it was me, I'd have it blasted, then paint it right away.


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 18, 2016)

just had a guy quote me 150 bucks to sandblast it and powder coat it. That may be my best bet.


----------



## bholler (Jan 18, 2016)

Dogbyte said:


> just had a guy quote me 150 bucks to sandblast it and powder coat it. That may be my best bet.


It will get to hot for powder coat.


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 18, 2016)

bholler said:


> It will get to hot for powder coat.




he said 1200 paint. You saying a powder coat application cant withstand those temps?


----------



## bholler (Jan 18, 2016)

Dogbyte said:


> he said 1200 paint. You saying a powder coat application cant withstand those temps?


Not any i have ever seen.  There are several chimney companies powder coating things now and none of them will do connector pipe because it gets to hot.


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 18, 2016)

i asked him what the paint was rated for, he said 1200F.


----------



## bholler (Jan 18, 2016)

Dogbyte said:


> i asked him what the paint was rated for, he said 1200F.


Was that paint or powder coat?  I am sure if there was powder coat out there that could be used stove manufacturers would be using it.  It is much cheaper and easier to do than enamel.  But hey give it a try let us know how it works.  I will say that powder coat will really show all of that rust pitting I think a flat finish would look the best considering the condition of the stove.  And it would cost much less


----------



## bholler (Jan 18, 2016)

I just looked and say there are 1200 degree powder coats but a stove top can reach that.  It shouldn't but it can if you let it over fire.  I personally wouldn't spend $150 to refinish that stove but that is up to you.


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 18, 2016)

bholler said:


> Was that paint or powder coat?  I am sure if there was powder coat out there that could be used stove manufacturers would be using it.  It is much cheaper and easier to do than enamel.  But hey give it a try let us know how it works.  I will say that powder coat will really show all of that rust pitting I think a flat finish would look the best considering the condition of the stove.  And it would cost much less




Im pretty sure he meant powder coat, because i specifically asked if the powder coating would hold up to the heat, thats when he said 1200F. Unless we just misunderstood one another. I'll be sure to ask him and talk about the concerns of it peeling. It may not be until next week before i go get it and take it down there. i'll post pictures either way, at least i think i'll have him sand blast it, if i end up painting it myself. if it shows some pitting, thats ok with me considering where its going to live.


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 18, 2016)

bholler said:


> I just looked and say there are 1200 degree powder coats but a stove top can reach that.  It shouldn't but it can if you let it over fire.  I personally wouldn't spend $150 to refinish that stove but that is up to you.



i dont think ive ever let the inside stove get over 600F, and that was near the beginning when it was new, and i was still learning when to back the air down, and not wait too long. We'll just have to see.


----------



## bholler (Jan 18, 2016)

Dogbyte said:


> if it shows some pitting, thats ok with me considering where its going to live.


Where is it going?  If you don't care what it looks like really I wouldn't spend much on it just wire wheel it and paint it.



Dogbyte said:


> i dont think ive ever let the inside stove get over 600F, and that was near the beginning when it was new, and i was still learning when to back the air down, and not wait too long. We'll just have to see.


Well you should let it get hotter than 600 on the stove top.


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 18, 2016)

bholler said:


> Where is it going?  If you don't care what it looks like really I wouldn't spend much on it just wire wheel it and paint it.





Dogbyte said:


> Its going to heat my 30x30 shop i recently got in the dry finally.









bholler said:


> Well you should let it get hotter than 600 on the stove top.



If my stove top is 600F, the flue temp is creeping around that 500F mark. It seems to me that I dont lose as much heat up the flue, and get longer burns,  if i keep the flue gas temp down to around 400F or little less, which puts the stove top not much higher, and less than 600F. Thats my reason for not letting it get that hot, by the time the temps fall below where secondary burn occurs, its usually just a pile of red coals at that point, after it all gases off. This has worked for me on my house stove.   This old stove wont burn that efficient im sure, so we'll just have to wait and see how it wants to burn.


----------



## bholler (Jan 18, 2016)

Dogbyte said:


> If my stove top is 600F, the flue temp is creeping around that 500F mark. It seems to me that I dont lose as much heat up the flue, and get longer burns, if i keep the flue gas temp down to around 400F or little less, which puts the stove top not much higher, and less than 600F. Thats my reason for not letting it get that hot, by the time the temps fall below where secondary burn occurs, its usually just a pile of red coals at that point, after it all gases off. This has worked for me on my house stove. This old stove wont burn that efficient im sure, so we'll just have to wait and see how it wants to burn.


What stove do you have now?  Most newer stoves run with allot more difference between the pipe and stove top than that.  And even older ones i would use a damper and shut it back to get the pipe where you want it and the top will usually be considerably higher.   But your pipe temp sounds good if not a little high if that is surface temp on single wall.


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 18, 2016)

bholler said:


> What stove do you have now?  Most newer stoves run with allot more difference between the pipe and stove top than that.  And even older ones i would use a damper and shut it back to get the pipe where you want it and the top will usually be considerably higher.   But your pipe temp sounds good if not a little high if that is surface temp on single wall.




Its a Drolet Myriad. 

I made a video long time ago once after i had it dialed in one night. It showed the stove top a little over 500F, and the flue 18in up, at about 350F or a little less. Yes, thats single wall pipe.


----------



## bholler (Jan 18, 2016)

Dogbyte said:


> I made a video long time ago once after i had it dialed in one night. It showed the stove top a little over 500F, and the flue 18in up, at about 350F or a little less. Yes, thats single wall pipe.


I would expect more of a difference on that stove what is the rest of your setup like?


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 19, 2016)

bholler said:


> I would expect more of a difference on that stove what is the rest of your setup like?



Im not sure what all you were wanting to know.  Has about 20ft of pipe, 6-8 of it is single wall, then through the ceiling and roof as normal, through a cathedral support box. about 1800sq ft house, stove uses inside air, living room gets kinda warm at night when we are sleeping, but the bedrooms are JUST right. I turn the ceiling fan on reverse and it does a pretty good job of spreading out the heat that collects up there in the vaulted ceiling.


----------



## bholler (Jan 19, 2016)

so it is a prefab chimney straight off the stove.  Do you have a pipe damper.  It sounds like you may have a little to much draft shutting it down a little with a damper may help you get the flue temps down a bit while maintaining good stove top temps.


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 19, 2016)

bholler said:


> so it is a prefab chimney straight off the stove.  Do you have a pipe damper.  It sounds like you may have a little to much draft shutting it down a little with a damper may help you get the flue temps down a bit while maintaining good stove top temps.



nope no damper, only the bypass thats built into the stove. Its usually a little over 100F difference between flue and stove, probably ~125 < 150F.

So if i had that damper, i could feed it more oxygen but just cut down on the overall volume of it passing through the chamber? The air intake has a non managed side, and then the side that you can control. But the side that you cant control is not very much by default, because i can kill a fire pretty easy by shutting off the main air control. It said it didnt need a damper in the instructions, but i can see if you have lots of good draft, how that can be an issue. So would this increase the burn time even more if i had a damper, how far up do they install?


----------



## bholler (Jan 19, 2016)

Dogbyte said:


> It said it didnt need a damper in the instructions, but i can see if you have lots of good draft, how that can be an issue. So would this increase the burn rate even more if i had a damper, how far up do they install?


Typically they don't but at 20' straight up and an insulated chimney you may have a little to much draft.  I have 35' and i need one.  It would decrease the burn rate but increase heat output.  they usually go 18 to 24" above the stove top.  It sounds like your setup is working ok but i think it could be a little better


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 19, 2016)

bholler said:


> Typically they don't but at 20' straight up and an insulated chimney you may have a little to much draft.  I have 35' and i need one.  It would decrease the burn rate but increase heat output.  they usually go 18 to 24" above the stove top.  It sounds like your setup is working ok but i think it could be a little better



My bottom section of single wall is one of those telescoping sections, would it be any different, or harder to install one of those dampers in one of those? are all dampers pretty much the same or should i get one from the same company that makes the pipe? I think its DuraVent.


----------



## bholler (Jan 19, 2016)

Dogbyte said:


> My bottom section of single wall is one of those telescoping sections, would it be any different, or harder to install one of those dampers in one of those? are all dampers pretty much the same or should i get one from the same company that makes the pipe? I think its DuraVent.


If it is single wall any damper will work.  If it was me i would get a cheap peice of snap lock pipe and put the telescoping section up higher just to try it before drilling an expensive piece of pipe.  See if it works and if it does help then put it in the telescoping section just make sure you put it in a spot that still allows the pipe to collapse enough to get out


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 19, 2016)

bholler said:


> If it is single wall any damper will work.  If it was me i would get a cheap peice of snap lock pipe and put the telescoping section up higher just to try it before drilling an expensive piece of pipe.  See if it works and if it does help then put it in the telescoping section just make sure you put it in a spot that still allows the pipe to collapse enough to get out




ok that makes sense to me. since i use the flue temp to judge when to start backing off the air for secondary burn, i guess i need to see if its possible to install it up above the 18 inches where the thermometer sits? or just move the thermometer and readjust the way i read it, since it could be higher or lower depending on where i move it, or on which side the damper is from it.


----------



## bholler (Jan 19, 2016)

Dogbyte said:


> ok that makes sense to me. since i use the flue temp to judge when to start backing off the air for secondary burn, i guess i need to see if its possible to install it up above the 18 inches where the thermometer sits? or just move the thermometer and readjust the way i read it, since it could be higher or lower depending on where i move it, or on which side the damper is from it.


You want the thermometer a couple inches above the damper


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 19, 2016)

bholler said:


> You want the thermometer a couple inches above the damper


gotcha.


----------



## bholler (Jan 19, 2016)

I have to ask are you planning on replacing the drolet with that old beast?  If so why would you do such a thing?


----------



## Dogbyte (Jan 19, 2016)

no, remember i said that old metal stove is going out in the shop. No im pretty proud of the drolet, couldnt get any better for me, unless maybe if it had slabs of soapstone all over it.


----------



## bholler (Jan 19, 2016)

Dogbyte said:


> no, remember i said that old metal stove is going out in the shop. No im pretty proud of the drolet, couldnt get any better for me, unless maybe if it had slabs of soapstone all over it.


I missed that or forgot it or something.  But good that would be stupid


----------

