Antique heat exchanger (Wilmont castle new era radiator)

[q335r49]

Well, I got this super cool NEW ERA heat exchanger on eBay for about $200 shipped, manufactured by Wilmont Castle. It's almost a shame to use it as it's in really good shape and probably 100+ years old. According to the ad from 1887 it originally retailed for $6 (lol).

It has 6 pipes directly exposed to the exhaust (no inside pipe) and a damper. Without the damper the flow would be greater than the original pipe. I think the idea may be to put it on a second floor but I'm just going to set it right on the stove.

Haven't used it yet as it hasn't been cold enough here in CO. But very excited! And those pipes are just begging for forced induction.

 

[stoveliker]

Are you exhaust gases clean enough so that cooling down the flue won't result in deposits of creosote?
Are you able to keep the gases hot enough to avoid condensation?

 

[begreen]

Stack robbers have been around for a long time. There are many variations. They are now mostly history as stoves have become much more efficient and the end goal is for the stove to create the heat and not the flue. If too much heat is lost to the flue then creosote production becomes a serious issue.

 

[q335r49]

Stack robbers have been around for a long time. There are many variations. They are now mostly history as stoves have become much more efficient and the end goal is for the stove to create the heat and not the flue. If too much heat is lost to the flue then creosote production becomes a serious issue.

Right. This one is from 1887. They are stull widely available and widely used in the US and Europe, but not of this design, which is honestly fairly sophisticated and attractive considering the vast pool of what is comercially available, home made, and proposed but not marketed. Hooked onto the end of a super slow flow catalytic the damper is most likely not necessary.

Mostly posting here so Google can index this curiosity... but, having posted like once or twice here before, I am obviously prepared for and willing to stomach the absolute flood of safety tips despite their widespread prevalence all over the world for hundreds of years.

 

[bigealta]

Hooked onto the end of a super slow flow catalytic the damper is most likely not necessary.

You bring up an interesting point.
I wonder if these stack robbers could be a partial solution for those with too tall chimneys that draft much to hard and require stove modifications ( blocked air intakes, etc.)?

 

[Todd]

What kind of flue temps are you seeing with this setup? I’d monitor them closely.

 

[kborndale]

Sweep your chimney often if you insist on using this. Like monthly. They have been used for hundreds of years, but until 20 or so years ago stoves wasted a lot of heat up the flue. Modern stoves do not have that extra heat wasted up the flue so when you start robbing heat there isn't enough left to prevent creosote buildup. They are not a good idea with modern stoves. And they are not widely used in the USA. No modern stoves manufacturer will recommend you putting one on their stove.

 

[begreen]

They haven't been used for hundreds of years, more like 175 yrs or so. During this time many ideas have come up and gone as better solutions replaced them. Sometimes ideas were good and got refined. Other ideas ranged from inefficient or with negative consequences or just pure quackery. That has been the history of wood stoves. Note that for a time folks burned coal more frequently than wood. In that case the stack robber made more sense because creosote accumulation was not a concern.

I've been in remote European towns outside of the EU where old school stoves still rule and have seen stack robbers on inexpensive installs. I have also seen their mountain valley get choked with smoke overnight as soon as they start heating with wood, often barely seasoned. The local chimney sweeps stay pretty busy there in winter. The better homes in the area had more efficient mass kachelofen heaters.

This was at a local Bulgarian internet café.