# apollo cookstove



## wvfarmgirl (Sep 1, 2011)

Hi,
  I have a old late 1800 (I think) cookstove made by buckwalter co in Royersford PA, Says Apollo on the door . The feet are shaped like horse hoofs, wich I think is really neat! the side of the firebox has mica sheets behind the ironwork.  It was in fairly decent shape when I bought it mid 1990's where an older lady was still using it to cook her oatmeal. It was a coal burner, but she had been using wood. I did get it overhauled by a professional, and he re-did the grates (which were warped badly - someone didnt clean out their ashes tisk tisk...) and sealed shut the center flue (on the stove pipe) so I could use it for wood. He had said that draft would just spew smoke too much in a woodburning situation..? but he does it for a living so I suppose he knew.  that was a few years ago- now I finally am getting around to having the time to try and hook it up in a back room to an exisiting insulated (double wall) stove pipe that had been used for metal 70's style beehive fireplace. I have checked the forum for clearances, and it sounds like 36 inches without a heat sheild. There is a heat shield of brick already there, with a air space behind, but I am not sure then what my safe clearance from that would be- the wall behind the brick is wood paneling. I do not intend to build raging fires (the firebox is not real big anyway) and do not need it as the heat source in the room- we are putting in a direct vent NG fireplace for that on another wall. I just have always wanted to be able to fiddle around with cooking on in and enjoying something that is a real fire- I grew up with a real fireplace and well, the NG ones have come along way, they just arent the same..(we have free natural gas here, so heating with that is a no brainer- but I do get nostalgic) I am gonna see if I can attach some photos of the stove, and after my camera charges tonight I will try and post a few of the intended hook up spot. And if anyone has seen this stove before, lemme know- I would love some more history, I really dont have much on it 
Thanks!


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## pen (Sep 1, 2011)

That is one awesome stove and I am oozing w/ Jealousy.  

However, no matter what the "intended" purpose of using this unit is, once it is installed you could get hit by a bolt of lightning tomorrow, your kids could get the house, come home and decide to do a lobster boil on top of the thing, crank that old girl up to a glowing pulse and burn the house down if the proper clearance to combustibles is not met.

Or, assuming a scenario where you don't die and someone else is operating the stove, you could have a moment where you get distracted and leave a door or draft open by accident and have that big chunk of iron heat up quick on accident.  

Point is, it should always be installed w/ proper clearance to combustibles and I have no idea what that stoves clearances are.  I would be looking into assembling a fireproof shield with a one inch air space behind and below the shield so air can circulate, around the stove.  Generally, w/out a modern UL tag the clearance to combustibles is 36 inches.  By putting up the shield I believe you can reduce that to 18.  

Also check out that chimney to make certain that it is insulated double wall and not air cooled triple wall or some such thing.  

You've got an awesome unit there that I would love to play with.  When you get the install setup well, I hope you share some photo's of that old monster put back into service where it belongs.

Welcome to the forum!

pen


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## begreen (Sep 1, 2011)

Hey wvfarmgirl, that is one of the prettiest old cook stoves I have seen. Hope it cooks as nicely as it looks. Install it super-safely so that you can experiment a lot. 

Is the current location not the final location? I am not seeing the brick wall with the air space.


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## pen (Sep 1, 2011)

Dang, missed that brick part and only got the wood paneling.  I'm assuming the brick is on the ground.  I wonder if that has a 1 inch air space behind it if you could still reduce clearances by half since air can't circulate under that brick and up behind it unless there were openings in the bottom?

pen


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## fossil (Sep 1, 2011)

36" CTC all the way around is the basic starting point.  A wall shield of 3Â½" of masonry (common brick) with a 1" ventilated airspace between it and the nearest combustible wall buys you a 66% reduction (down to 12") on that dimension.  That 12" is measured from the closest surface of the stove to the combustible wall, as though the masonry wall shield wasn't there, so the nearest surface of the stove can be 7Â½" from the surface of the masonry shield.  Of course, all these same requirements apply to the sides, if the stove is going to sit closer than 36" to a side wall.  Floor protection is another matter that needs to be considered...I'm not absolutely sure it's an issue, but it needs looking into.  That's a beautiful old stove.  I remember quite well my grandparents' old woodburning cookstove.  When I was a kid and I'd visit, it was my job in the morning to get a fire going in that stove.  Just thinking about it brings back memories of the amazing things my Grandma would do with that thing...from Thanksgiving turkeys to Christmas cookies to strawberry-rhubarb cobblers, and so much more.  I'm glad to see that you value that old stove and want to use it.  Rick


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## pen (Sep 1, 2011)

Thanks for the info Rick.

W/ a ventilated air space, does air need to be able to travel underneath the protection (brick) as well?  Or is being open on one side enough?

pen


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## fossil (Sep 1, 2011)

pen said:
			
		

> Dang, missed that brick part and only got the wood paneling.  I'm assuming the brick is on the ground.  I wonder if that has a 1 inch air space behind it if you could still reduce clearances by half since air can't circulate under that brick and up behind it unless there were openings in the bottom?
> 
> pen



I think the stove is to be relocated from the position shown in these pics to another place in the house.  The OP will correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure.  Rick


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## coaly (Sep 1, 2011)

I have a "Real Apollo" cook stove that was by Buckwalter and their Park Oak 15 Parlor Stove. Closed in bottom with bread warmer top, couple years newer than yours. If you watch ebay, you will find advertising mirrors for Buckwalter and other collectables from them. There were advertising "keys" like a skeleton key with their name on, and there is a neat black and white post card showing the entire factory as well. Other post cards of the Buckwalter mansion can be found too.


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## fossil (Sep 1, 2011)

pen said:
			
		

> Thanks for the info Rick.
> 
> W/ a ventilated air space, does air need to be able to travel underneath the protection (brick) as well?  Or is being open on one side enough?
> 
> pen



Depends on if you're talking about the stove sitting near a flat wall, or in a corner...but in any case one side is never enough.  If a flat wall, then it can vent from the top & bottom with the sides closed, or the top and sides with the bottom closed (or, of course, with all sides open).  If it's a corner install, then (at a minimum) all the tops and bottoms have to be open.  Rick


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## wvfarmgirl (Sep 1, 2011)

I new I came to the right place- Thanks for all the info so far! It took me so long to get my photos reized to send last night I may not have been clear that the stove is NOT going to be installed where it is currently photographed at (I would love to as it is my kitchen but I know there is NO way I could make heat clearances and still move around the kitchen (sigh) So it is going to go in a family room we are renovating.) I will try and post photos of that later. ! Gotta go to work- but thanks to all again!


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## woodsmaster (Sep 1, 2011)

Very nice looking stove ! I would love to have that in my kitchen. Good luck with the renovations.


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## wvfarmgirl (Sep 2, 2011)

Okay got the chance to take some photos of the spot the cookstove will go in once we take the fireplace that is there out.  I am not crazy about the brickwork, so we may just scrap it and go from scratch,  or put tile or stone over it-I haven't decided.  the room is under renovation, pardon the mess- and the fireplace had been 70's  BRIGHT orange- thank goodness for high temp stove paint..lol


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## fossil (Sep 2, 2011)

Why on earth would you want to just toss Darth Vader out on his ear?   %-P   Try eBay...there's gotta be somebody out there that would pay you for that thing.  The hearth and wall shield don't look too bad to me (from my remote perspective).  Ripping all that out and starting over would be a pretty big undertaking.  If you can find a way to make most or all of what's there work for you, you'll have more time and money to spend on other things.  But, then, as I said, I'm just looking at a couple of pictures...not seeing things up close as they really are.  And besides that...I'm not you.   :roll:   Rick


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## wvfarmgirl (Sep 3, 2011)

well, darth vader doesn't really serve a purpose as we heat with NG and ever since I saw him in his original day-glow orange I guess I was prejudiced against him..that and I need his windpipe for my cookstove....lol
 I was going to stow him away in case something happened to our gas well and I needed to have a wood rated heat source again for that back room (the main house furnace doesn't duct to that room, it was an addition) 
But my concern with the current hearth was the bottom part- this forum advises a air space behind the wall and the floor- the floor part confuses me- the  current "darth vader" fireplace sets inside the brick surround, but it sets inside and down in it as you can see from the photo. How do you have an airspace under the floor heatsheild? I am assuming the space beneath the stove to the floor is not what you are talking about, but a space between the hearth floor and the combustible wood floor. And does that space have to communicate with the airspace behind the wall heat shield?  Sorry I am so dense. I don't trust that what is there is correct only because other "remodels" we have re done from the previous owners were engineered so badly we had to laugh to keep from crying..


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## fossil (Sep 3, 2011)

It looks to me like you have the required airspace between the rear wall shield and the combustible wall.  That's all you need worry about.  Hearth protection beneath the stove is another matter.  There are a zillion ways to provide for it, and in some cases folks incorporate an sirspace into their hearth designs because air is a good insulator...but there's nothing that requires a hearth be built that way.  Stove manufacturers typically specify hearth requirements for each appliance by stating an "R-value", which is a measure of the thermal insulating property required between the stove and the nearest combustible material beneath it.  This R-value can be achieved in any number of ways.

Actually, since we're talking about a cookstove here which sits well up off the floor, I'm wondering if the hearth is a real concern.  Seems to me my granda's old stove just stood on the kitchen floor linoleum.  I think I'd start by researching what some of the modern cookstove manufacturers require.  In terms of clearances and hearth protection.  Rick


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## wvfarmgirl (Sep 3, 2011)

Thanks for you input!  I will do some checking too on cookstove floor clearances I don't like that the current unit sits sunken in the center of the hearth- dirt just gets corralled in and you cant sweep it out, so I was thinking of knocking off the very top row of bricks on the square base, then filling in the center of the hearth so it is level with the 2nd row of brick with more brick for a level even hearth pad. I am afraid if I fill in the pad the way it is now all the way even with the 3rd row  the hearth will look weird as it will be so far off the ground . I will definitely post photos once we get this done


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## wvfarmgirl (Nov 1, 2012)

Hi all,
Been a looog time since I posted, but my home projects move along like, well, the last ice age. Anyway, I am actually gonna get my old cook stove hooked up by the end of November .(Honest!) I want to be able to at least fire it by Thanksgiving even if I just boil a tea kettle on it (wouldn't dare trust myself with a turkey on it yet!) I decided to keep it in the kitchen, and not our back room, and have the stovepipe installed and a floor hearth pad put in- waiting on the wall shield and oval to round pipe adapter. (and yes in photo it will be further from wall than it is now) I did have a professional fireplace man do the piping through the ceiling and roof, so I knew I was okay with clearances and height of chimney pipe, etc. I did find out my Apollo was made in 1885- the historical society in Royersford had the old Buckwalter catalogs, and found my stove that way. In our back room we opted for a NG fireplace as we have no other heat source back there, and it will work off thermostat remote.I am including a photo so you can see - The mantel is an old beam from one of our barns we had to tear down. And old "Darth Vader" that was back there is in the barn in case we have need to re-purpose him..This forum was so helpful, and now I am getting so close to being able to use my stove I am hoping I can come here for advice on actually using it (Coooaallyyy ..hint hint...lol)


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## begreen (Nov 1, 2012)

How did you determine the clearances behind this stove? Not trying to be alarming, I honestly don't know what they should be. Code has them at a pretty high distance for an unlisted stove. But cook stoves typically were designed to be in closer quarters.


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## wvfarmgirl (Nov 2, 2012)

The photo does not show the wall shield which I am waiting for. I am also putting cement backer board on the wall behind the wall shield and ceramic tile on the windowsill   This is a link for recommended clearances http://216.71.68.8/need_stove_faqs.html#protection 
(from the good time stove company website.)


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## ScotO (Nov 2, 2012)

Beautiful setup, wvfarmgirl!  I love both of those hearths, and the floors in your house are fantastic too!  I can't wait to see that cookstove in action.  Make sure you follow all the guidlines for your heat shields in regards to the clearances you need. 

As for cooking a turkey, buy a smaller "extra" one for cooking in the woodstove.  That way if it don't turn out, you won't be up sh*t creek......you'll have a back-up plan.  I can't wait to someday do a turkey in a wood-fired cookstove.....


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## begreen (Nov 3, 2012)

wvfarmgirl said:


> The photo does not show the wall shield which I am waiting for. I am also putting cement backer board on the wall behind the wall shield and ceramic tile on the windowsill   This is a link for recommended clearances http://216.71.68.8/need_stove_faqs.html#protection
> (from the good time stove company website.)



Sounds like you've done your homework. That stove is going to be awesome.


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