# going to be buying an old ben franklin stove



## ad356 (Oct 7, 2013)

my friend at work as an old cast iron ben franklin stove, its probably an antique. i am buying it to heat my 7-800 sq foot garage. how well do this really old stoves work for an open floor plan like a garage. what's the history of these stoves. he told me that it is a pot belly type of stove and that it has 2 cooking surfaces. im hopping that little stove will roast. i do kind of like that vintage look anyways, and it goes well with the 1948 farmall cub that i also own and use regularly.


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## begreen (Oct 7, 2013)

First, it is against code to put a woodstove in a garage. Second, the old stove is in unknown condition and could crack or fail when least expected.


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## ad356 (Oct 7, 2013)

stove is actually a US stove company small log stove, its not in too bad of condition, i paid $70 for the stove. its a very simple cast iron box basically not a whole lot to go wrong with it. its not excessively rusted either. i just spent $750 on a class A triple wall chimney and black pipe for the inside. i am doing this right and not cobbling it together. the people that lived here before me had a wood stove in that same garage except they had a major fire hazard, the used black pipe straight through the wall and had a cheap piece of tin that held the pipe away from the wall, they are lucky they didnt burn the place down. i am going to do this the right way and im not going to be stupid and keep combustibles near the stove. people use torpedo heaters in garages all of the time which i felt was allot more unsafe then a stove that is set up properly. that torpedo heater has an open flame often times with flames shootiing out of the heat producing end. how are those things safe. they stink (produce carbon monoxide), they are expensive to operate, and the are loud. sure they produce heat but i really loath them, i have one. at $5 per gallon of kerosene that will burn for less then 2 hours, they are not cheap to run either.

the stove is also allot newer then he said it was, probably 20 years old or less


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## begreen (Oct 7, 2013)

Does the stove look like this?


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## ad356 (Oct 7, 2013)

that's the exact stove. im not sure what the law says about the stove being in a barn, but trust me its quite common around here including my nieghbor who heats his garage with a stove, that's why i didnt think anything of it. its not uncommon around here. i am also not being stupid about it, i spent $750 on a proper chimney. what should i go through on the stove to make sure its ready for the first fire?

i bought the class A chimney from a stove shop and he sold me exactly what i needed, i told him it was being installed in a barn and he said nothing about it


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## begreen (Oct 7, 2013)

Watch for cracks in the stove and be sure to have an pipe damper installed. These stoves are not the easiest to control. It will need 36" clearance to combustibles in all directions.


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## fossil (Oct 7, 2013)

Requires 36" Clearance To Combustibles (CTC) in all directions, and I don't know about the requirement for insulative property beneath it (hearth).  These stoves are cheaply made, EPA exempt (they spew pollutants into the air we breathe), they are not efficient burners (in terms of how much of the potential heat energy in the wood fuel is actually realized in the heated space).  You're going to give up a non-trivial amount of your available floor space to accommodate this thing.  I'd look for another heating solution if it were me.  Rick


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## ad356 (Oct 7, 2013)

how well do these stoves heat? is it better then the POS cheap pellet stove i had in there, i had a king 5510 pellet stove in there and it wouldn't even get the room up to 40 degrees on a cold day, you would barely feel it. i already have a pipe damper installed was one of the first things we did. this stove isnt not hooked up or running yet, i have all of the chimney parts except the thimble. thimble had to be ordered as they were sold out and i will pick that up Friday morning. i will thoroughly vacuum the stove and inspect for cracks before i use it.

im going to install fireboard behind the stove as well.

does 36" clearance to combustibles mean that the stove has to be 36" away from the wall?


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## begreen (Oct 7, 2013)

I think you will find this stove wanting but it's great that you have put in a proper chimney. That should allow an easy upgrade if it proves to be unsatisfactory.


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## ad356 (Oct 7, 2013)

insulative  heath underneath?? insulate from concrete, i think the floor pretty non-combustible, concrete does not burn


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## fossil (Oct 7, 2013)

ad356 said:


> does 36" clearance to combustibles mean that the stove has to be 36" away from the wall?


Depends on what the wall is made of.  If the wall is completely non-combustible (like solid masonry or adobe or something), then no, you don't have to stay 36" away.  If the wall is at all combustible (like drywall over wood studs, or other typical construction), then yes, you need to stay 36" away from that.  There are things you can do to reduce that required clearance...that's a whole other conversation.


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## fossil (Oct 7, 2013)

ad356 said:


> insulative  heath underneath?? insulate from concrete, i think the floor pretty non-combustible, concrete does not burn



First I've heard that you're installing on a slab.  Can't read minds here.


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## begreen (Oct 7, 2013)

I should note that the stove I posted the picture of has a current list price of $269, often discounted. Hopefully you are not paying more than $50 for this stove if it is old and used.


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## ad356 (Oct 7, 2013)

i paid $140, that includes labor installing the chimney and hooking up the stove. my friend does general contracting work on the side, he has done a number of chimneys. the stove place said that the stove has to be at least 6" from the wall. with what i have into this stove i could resell it if it does not serve my needs and not loose much on the stove, the chimney will already be in place so i could buy a different stove if i felt necessary. im not going to be living in this building so i didnt want to spend allot of money on a stove. it will probably be used 4-5 hours at a time not burning 24/7


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## ad356 (Oct 7, 2013)

it might also be a good idea to store my 1 gas can outside while using the stove. i have 1 gas can that i store the garage no more. what about parking my tractor in the garage that's heated with a stove. is the biggest fear with a gas can and a stove is the possibility of tipping the can over and spilling raw gas on the floor? why is a torpedo heater that spits flames out considered safer, even though its more of an open fire then a stove that contains the fire in a firebox?


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## ad356 (Oct 7, 2013)

also the stove is missing its damper that's why we bought a damper to install in the black pipe, should i order the damper that belongs in the flue collar from US stove company, they are $5. do i require two dampers.. one in the flue collar, one in the black pipe or is only having the damper in the black pipe adequate. for some reason the damper we bought would not fit in the flue collar but it fit in the black pipe. the inside diameter of the flue collar isnt big enough to take the standard damper commonly available at stove stores and that you need to  buy one directly from us stove company that will fit it.


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## begreen (Oct 8, 2013)

ad356 said:


> i paid $140, that includes labor installing the chimney and hooking up the stove. my friend does general contracting work on the side, he has done a number of chimneys. the stove place said that the stove has to be at least 6" from the wall. with what i have into this stove i could resell it if it does not serve my needs and not loose much on the stove, the chimney will already be in place so i could buy a different stove if i felt necessary. im not going to be living in this building so i didnt want to spend allot of money on a stove. it will probably be used 4-5 hours at a time not burning 24/7


. 
Your friend is wrong. The stove needs to be 36" from the wall. The only exception is if there is an approved wall shield installed behind the stove. That can reduce the clearance to 12".


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