# Old Mill Woodstove Questions



## S Tebo (Nov 22, 2014)

Guys,

I have run a weekend warrior Firewood business (cutting, splitting and selling about 30 cords a year) for 4-5 years now. I grew up using a Fisher Grand Papa Bear (step top stove) and after 13 years of living with 2 heat pumps and a gas fireplace, I have finally purchased a beautiful old wood stove to be able to burn and enjoy the fruits of my wood labor (not to mention the better quality of heat and cost of energy savings)! So I bought a Old Mill stainless steel wood stove with cast iron doors. It has 4" legs so it can be used free standing or in a fireplace hearth/ insert style (I will be using it free standing on a riser style Type II Heath Pad. I did some research on Google and here- I know the stove was made by the Devalt Fab-Weld & Piping Co. (Valley Forge Pa) between 1978-1984 and possibly a litter later than that. It spec & size wise, it looks similar tothe OM80, but it is a wood burning only stove (no coal option). It also has one glass front door (not two solid ones) and a larger solid side-load door. Also, it has a rear exit 6" pipe, not the typical 8" like most of the Old Mill stoves had. There is no ID or Spec plate on the stove (but I have found that most of the Old Mill stoves met UL-1482 & ANSI-UL-737 standards). I am using a professional installer who knows Co. and MD state code requirements- Type II Hearth Pads usually 16" from vertical loading door faces (glass) and 8" from non-loading sides. But he is not familiar with this manuf./ model and so my problem is that (for pre-EPA rated era stoves) and no manuf. recomended clearance specs to go by- we have to default to the 36" from combustible walls rule of thumb. Thant would put the stove way to far out into the room. I plan to set the stove on a 45 degree angle in the corner and use two corner heat shields that will be detached from the drywall by the metal spacer brackets and held up 1" on the bottom for 4- sided circulation. Does anyone have any info on which exact model stove that I have? Any MSDS, owner's manual or spec sheets that may contain recommendations for vertical wall clearances? Or if not, any advise short of the 3ft. Rule? I greatly appreciate any and all help on the subject! Thank you, Scott


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## webbie (Nov 22, 2014)

It's definitely a later model as those doors with the brass and window were only available after 1982 or so  - and, yes, it would very likely (almost surely) have been UL tested.

If I can find anything like it in my old magazines I'll post it...


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## S Tebo (Nov 24, 2014)

webbie said:


> It's definitely a later model as those doors with the brass and window were only available after 1982 or so  - and, yes, it would very likely (almost surely) have been UL tested.
> 
> If I can find anything like it in my old magazines I'll post it...



Yes- please let me know if you do. Thank you! Scott


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## Alex C (Nov 24, 2014)

i just installed an Old Mill in my house. I found a fabrication date welded on the bottom when i was sandblasting. Perhaps there is a date on yours to help the other guys in the forum who know a lot more than i do about Old Mills try to determine if it is UL listed. That is a great looking stove. Since i had no UL info, i created an airspace using 3/4" electrical conduit cut into 1" pieces. Then mounted durock, then faced with tile. My single wall pipe was the controlling clearance so my stove ended up being more than the allowed 12" from combustible wall.


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## Alex C (Nov 24, 2014)

webbie said:


> It's definitely a later model as those doors with the brass and window were only available after 1982 or so  - and, yes, it would very likely (almost surely) have been UL tested.
> 
> If I can find anything like it in my old magazines I'll post it...


Webbie - without hijacking OP, since mine was built in 1984, is there a chance that mine was also UL tested?


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## webbie (Nov 24, 2014)

Alex C said:


> Webbie - without hijacking OP, since mine was built in 1984, is there a chance that mine was also UL tested?


Definitely would have been!
Old Mill started having all their stoves tested by late 1980. The problem was that their "labels" were usually stuck on with adhesive to the ash shelf in front - so they would only last a couple months or years and then fall off or burn off (they were not etched metal at the beginning). But, yes, as you can see by the text in this 1980 or 1981 PDF:
https://www.hearth.com/images/uploads/oldmillstove80.pdf
it mentions this stove was tested - and so was every other model. This much I know since I sold a LOT of Old Mill stoves and was good friends with the main distributor.


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