# Older Tirolia stove



## dryville (Dec 8, 2010)

Is anyone familiar with Tirolia cookstoves that were imported from Austria in the 1980's?

I'm considering buying one, but it needs a few parts, and my queries to former local dealers, and stove parts dealers in the UK have turned up nothing.  

These are boiler stoves, with a full cast iron jacket/firebox combination. The one I'm considering has never been fired, but is missing it's water temp control, which is an immersion-bulb thing that controls the air flap, similar to a Sampson draft control, but different.

I'd be grateful if anyone out there knows more about these, and specifically, some details about the missing control device, and whether it can found, made, or adapted from another part.


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## nosaudioil (Dec 9, 2010)

Contact Albie Barden of Maine Wood Heat Co. ( www.mainewoodheat.com ) The Guru of masonary stoves. 
He sold the Tirolia stoves in the late 1970's to early 80's.
Bought one from Albie and used as it as hydronic heat/hot water & cooking in an old farmhouse. It worked great! Wood in the fall and coal in the colder parts of winter. Later in 1990 bought another used one (not from Barden), but that's another tale. 
Talk to Albie regarding the Tirolia, he knows everything.


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## dryville (Dec 9, 2010)

Thank you very much!


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## dryville (Dec 15, 2010)

I did talk to Mr. Barden - he was very helpful but does not have a source for the temperature controls.

So, if anyone out there knows about these, I'd still appreciate a tip. 

Albie described it as an immersion-bulb device with a rod that moves in and out based on the boiler temp. The end of the rod controls the position of the draft door. He said it looks kind of like a CO2 cartridge.

It seems there must be similar if not identical devices on the many self-regulating European boiler stoves available in the UK and Europe, but I haven't had any luck in my communications with a few UK stove dealers.


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## Maninthewild (Dec 23, 2010)

I ran a Tirolia Casanova model for about 8 years from 94 to 02 and it was a wonderful beast - bought it of a mate who had it in store for years for Â£150 and it saved a fortune.  Could never understand why they were not more popular, or why they stopped producing them.  Kicked out 55,000 btu - enough to run central heating for a three bedroom house easily, full width cooking top and temperature controlled oven.  Fire box had a wind-up / down grate to allow it increase / decrease capacity for winter / summer use.

The oven thermostat control was a simple copper thermostatic vial sitting in a recess in the side of the oven chamber, with a pressure pipe leading to a flap on the firebox air vent via the temperature control dial.  Principle was simple - when the oven reached the required temperature the flap closed damping down the firebox.  However, it was never very accurate and there was understandably a lag in the fire (and subsequent temperature change) reaction.  We quickly learnt to leave the temperature control fully open and instead controlled the oven temperature by varying the pull-knob on the right hand side which diverts hot air either direct to the chimney over the top of the oven, or down and round the oven box.  If you take the hot plates off the top you can see the very simple layout and control system.  Big plus of this was that when the thermostat vial pipe eventually broke (which is almost inevitable with these stoves due to the exposed position of the pipe near the firebox door) it made no difference to us.  
Like an Aga, you have to learn to cook at lower temperatures and for longer periods, but thats no hardship.  Even back in 98 when our thermostat went I was unable to source a replacement

Some other points and tips.
Full width cooking surface is great for capacity (we could get 4 saucepans and a big griddle on the top) BUT it loses heat quickly if both covers are open - you have to compensate for this by stoking the fire well at start.  Hot plates vary in temperature - immediately over the firebox (right hand side on ours) is hottest, with far left near side corner coolest. 
Oven capacity is reasonable but not huge.  The door is easily detached for cleaning and access
Clean the interior of soot FREQUENTLY - its amazing how the soot builds up and affects the cooking temperature.  I did ours every 6 weeks in the winter when it was getting daily heavy use.  Great thing about the stove is that cleaning is easy - just lift off the hot plates for full access to the top, and unscrew the two knobs and take off the bottom cleaning hatch - shove the long rigid pipe of a vacuum cleaner into every corner and 5 minutes later all done !
Burns both wood and coal - fire box is not huge so needs regular checking if you are cooking in the autumn winter and have it on summer firebox setting.
I burnt only wood and used to be able to load the firebox last thing at night, leave the vent juct slightly open and the fire would stay in all night ticking over (with good quality wood) - come down in the morning, toss two dry logs on, open the vent and away it would go.
I plumbed it in to the house myself - ran the water heating pipes vertically straight from the back of the stove up to bedroom above  and then to immersion tank in second bedroom, with the central heating system pump at ground level diverting off .  Advantage of this was that the immersion was alway hot as it acts as the main heat-sink (it was an open sytem with big header tank so plenty of expansion capacity - you need this as the stove can get hot enough to boil the water in the pipes if the pump is not running) PLUS by good fortune the upstairs radiator circuit would run at a low level purely by convection.  This meant that we hardly ever had to run the pump as the kitchen and all the upstairs radiators would self circulate.

If the one you are looking at is a Casanova model you can get a copy of the installation and operation manual on-line now at http://www.oilstoves.co.uk/webdocs/...tion_&_user_instructions_Tirolia_Casanova.pdf

Any other queeries then I'd be happy to help out if I can.

Maninthewild


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## niceday (Mar 19, 2014)

Hi
Has been a while since this forum was used but we have just purchased a 2nd hand good condition Tirolia Cassanova ZH. We want to use it for heating hot water and as a stove. It also has provision for heating radiators. We are not connecting the radiators closing the valves question is do we need special parts from Tirolia for the hot water as we have just got the stove?
Many thanks for any help.
Have a nice day!


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## begreen (Mar 19, 2014)

Can't help much, this is a 4 yr old thread. Have you read this one too?

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/older-tirolia-stove.59123/


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## Tonejack0 (Nov 5, 2014)

Hi We still have our Tirolia boiler which has heated our four bedroom house for the last 33 years, it has been brilliant and still is.


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## begreen (Nov 5, 2014)

Welcome, pictures please and tell us more about your Tirolia. It sounds like a great stove. What work has been done to it over the past 33 years?


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## Tonejack0 (Nov 5, 2014)

Hello begreen  It’s not had any work carried out on it, just the ash around the water jacket cleaned about once a year, it’s still working tonight in our kitchen as I speak, the only trouble is the air stat is not working as good as it did 30 years ago, but still works, I would change the stat if I could find a new one, it’s mostly burnt wood over the years and our house has been very well heated.

I ran the flu up through the center of the existing chimney which heats the brickwork up and helps to keep the house warm during the night.

Two years ago I have fitted an oil boiler in parallel with it as we are getting older now, which we have on for the first couple of hours in the morning just to warm the house up first thing when it’s really cold.

I still have the Installation Instructions that came with it, this one is the Tirolia KS-L25

Tony


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## begreen (Nov 5, 2014)

Wow, thanks for the picture. With a cover on top I would have mistaken it for a refrigerator.


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## 802ken (Dec 6, 2014)

Tonejack0 said:


> Hello begreen  It’s not had any work carried out on it, just the ash around the water jacket cleaned about once a year, it’s still working tonight in our kitchen as I speak, the only trouble is the air stat is not working as good as it did 30 years ago, but still works, I would change the stat if I could find a new one, it’s mostly burnt wood over the years and our house has been very well heated.
> 
> I ran the flu up through the center of the existing chimney which heats the brickwork up and helps to keep the house warm during the night.
> 
> ...


We installed a vintage tirolia a few years ago. It is like having an outdoor boiler inside the house. It has been set up to heat all of our hot water and also heats 8 cast iron radiators throughout our home. It provides a steady and very warm temperature throughout our large 200 year old home.We cook on it and use the oven all fall and winter. It is the most remarkable stove i have ever seen. We are in love with this stove.we cannot figure out why they were not more popular. The only drawback is that it cannot be run without the water pumping through it or it will overheat?  someone should really reissue this incredible stove.


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## Sicity (Jan 10, 2018)

This thread ran for 7 years now and I hope that this info can still help others who has questions about Tirolia products. Elektra Bregenz company here in Austria bought Tirolia. Their contact number is +43 01 61539000. You can contact them and ask if they have any parts of your Tirolia product that you need.


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