Country Flame Model CMD, new owner, new burner...just plain new

[jamendjr]

Ok, so door gaskets replaced....


Doors off...and gaskets were pretty bad.

 

[jamendjr]

Also got my first burn in...dog was loving it.

Glass gaskets could probably use a replacement as well but the screws are a mess so I think I will hold off until after this season. Stove got up to temperature, we ran the blower off and on, worked great and heated the whole house. Thanks for everyones help so far!

 

[dmmoss51]

Careful... this will turn into a restoration project if you get the bug

 

[jamendjr]

Funny you say that.

I have been telling the boss ( wife ), that we should get something newer next year or maybe the following....but after I had it going that night I kept thinking, we need to keep this thing forever! Its amazing hw big the difference is between heating with a wood stove and heating with electric or natural gas. 1 ) Theres a real appreciation for the heat...it may be close to free in dollars...but theres real work involved getting it in 2 ) The heat itself is different, I think better 3 ) You actually get to "know" your appliance/heater...weird.

I think I will attempt to get the glass out in the Spring, the screws are a mess though so I am not sure how it will go. next on the list, as in the next day or two, is trying to get that glass cleaned up.

 

[dmmoss51]

I am burning a late 80's era Federal Airtight CAT stove that also came with the house. Leg up though was their were two owners before me, the most recent owners only thought of it as a decorative piece and never used it. By condition I think the owners before that used it only sparingly. I replaced gaskets this year and what a difference that made in being able to control the fire. At first I thought I had a draft problem when I ended up snuffing out the fire closing down all the air.

 

[jamendjr]

I never ran this one with the old door gaskets so I am not sure if it made much difference. I do know that there is a slight gap between the doors, at the top corners where they meet. Its tiny, and you can only see it when the stove is running, but its there.

 

[mellow]

That is why I stick with stoves with a single door.

After dealing with this I am sure you will have the same thought when you look for a new stove.

 

[jamendjr]

Yeah, that makes sense, it also seems that it would be easier to load with a single door.

 

[dmmoss51]

I'm assuming one door slightly overlaps the other?

That's how mine is. Although I never open the front double doors I do everything through the side loading door. Mine had the doors as weill as one on the front of the left door where they overlap. If yours has the same thing did you replace that as well?

 

[jamendjr]

They do overlap, but no side loading door so no luck there. So far so good though. I ran it again last night, go it a little hotter than we like, it was 75 in the hall by our bedrooms, 70 in the morning about 6-7 hours later, low mid 30's temperature outside. Seems to be working.

 

[BJ1958]

So........this will be my first post here at hearth.com.

For the last few years I have stopped in here as I dreamt of burning wood for heat. Unfortunately I lived in the big city and burning wood was not an option in our old brick row home. However, I recently moved to the ex-urbs, just past the suburbs, and have the chance to burn some wood!

The house we purchased came with a Country Flame model CMD, freestanding wood stove. We had the chimney cleaned during the house inspection. At which time I believe the sweep told me that a fire brick was cracked. Many months later, and a few months post inspection, including months where the stove was in use, I get around to cleaning the flue. I just finished building the wood shed so I was pretty excited to move on to phase two...getting the flue and wood stove ready to burn.


On the roof, do the chimney sweep thing, all looks good. I come down, get ready to clean out the stove itself and the flue inside the house, and I see that there are no fire bricks, and there is a grate...in the stove.

My neighbor was puzzled, I am puzzled.

My questions are:

1) Does anyone know anything about this model of stove?

2) Could it be that no fire brick was ever in this stove, and I could be imagining what the sweep told me?

3) Can I use this stove with the grate, and no fire bricks?

4) Can I add a layer of fire bricks to the floor of the stove only? There are no metal clips of any kind to hold bricks vertically on the side walls.

Any help would be appreciated. I have attached pics, thanks!



View attachment 116066 View attachment 116067 View attachment 116068 View attachment 116069

Hi , I just recently bought a stove just like the one in your picture. A log grate didn't come with it. Do you know if I'll need one? also, there are two air vents under the two doors. I've only used the stove one week and the vests have already clogged up with ash and had to be removed for clean out. Is this normal? These vents are very hard to put back on once one removes them. Any help you can give will be great. thank you.

 

[jamendjr]

My understanding is that you should not use a grate with the stove. I have not used the one shown in the pictures above.

In fact, not sure if I mentioned this or not, the grate itself had melted through in one spot. Seeing that made me initially question its use.

The air vents on mine have never been clogged. Air only flows in through the vents, it seems to keep them clear. In addition to the movement of air flow, there are also metal covers on the inside that shield the vent, they are open on each side but directly behind the vent is mostly shielded.

Also, I tend to try and keep the fire towards the rear of the box, for safety and ease of loading. I had a fire or two collapse as I was getting the hang of this and opening the doors with a burning or smoldering piece of wood against the door is not a good idea!

There are some very knowledgeable folks on here that could point you in the right direction. I am not sure if its the vents, the covers, the type of material you are burning, the placement of material, etc.

I can say for certain that I know the grate is not neccessary or even recommended, hope that helps.

 

[rwhite]

Does that stove have an outer jacket? Just looks like there may be a space between the inner wall and the outside of the stove, maybe for the air channels. If that's the case it may bee the reason there is no bricks in it.

 

[jamendjr]

Does that stove have an outer jacket? Just looks like there may be a space between the inner wall and the outside of the stove, maybe for the air channels. If that's the case it may bee the reason there is no bricks in it.

I dont believe it does, I see where the picture could give the impression that it does but there does not appear to be any outer jacket. There are two large bricks on the floor of the stove.

I have been burning now for a few months and so far so good. Other than the POLAR VORTEX timeframe here on the east coast it heats the whole house with ease with two fire's a day.

 

[BJ1958]

My understanding is that you should not use a grate with the stove. I have not used the one shown in the pictures above.

In fact, not sure if I mentioned this or not, the grate itself had melted through in one spot. Seeing that made me initially question its use.

The air vents on mine have never been clogged. Air only flows in through the vents, it seems to keep them clear. In addition to the movement of air flow, there are also metal covers on the inside that shield the vent, they are open on each side but directly behind the vent is mostly shielded.

Also, I tend to try and keep the fire towards the rear of the box, for safety and ease of loading. I had a fire or two collapse as I was getting the hang of this and opening the doors with a burning or smoldering piece of wood against the door is not a good idea!

There are some very knowledgeable folks on here that could point you in the right direction. I am not sure if its the vents, the covers, the type of material you are burning, the placement of material, etc.

I can say for certain that I know the grate is not neccessary or even recommended, hope that helps.

Thank you for the very fast reply. You've been very helpful. My problem may have been not keeping the fire more toward the back wall of the stove. I'll try that. Do you know why a grate isn't recommended? It might make ash clean up a little easier. thank you.

 

[jamendjr]

Thank you for the very fast reply. You've been very helpful. My problem may have been not keeping the fire more toward the back wall of the stove. I'll try that. Do you know why a grate isn't recommended? It might make ash clean up a little easier. thank you.

I am no expert, as you can see above, however I would go grate-less. After heating exclusively with wood for the first time this year, I feel like having a grate in there would actually make clean up more of a pain.

 

[gundy]

I was excited to see your pictures - we have a similar stove. It is apparently a CMD31-BL. We've used it 3 winters now. It is enough to heat our house - it sure saves $$$

!

My masonry chimney is outside the house. It doesn't warm up too much and so it builds up with creosote fairly fast.

We lined our stove with fire bricks - laid flat across the bottom and on edge at the sides.

We do not use a grate - more wood can fit in that way

Did you ever find a manual? We are looking for one, too.

Gundy

 

[jamendjr]

I was excited to see your pictures - we have a similar stove. It is apparently a CMD31-BL. We've used it 3 winters now. It is enough to heat our house - it sure saves $$$View attachment 127892 View attachment 127892 !

My masonry chimney is outside the house. It doesn't warm up too much and so it builds up with creosote fairly fast.

We lined our stove with fire bricks - laid flat across the bottom and on edge at the sides.

We do not use a grate - more wood can fit in that way

Did you ever find a manual? We are looking for one, too.

Gundy

I did receive some info from Magnum Products. I think Country Flame went out of business and these guys bought up the name, not sure. Anyway, someone from there tech center emailed me some scanned pages of a manual. Its to large to upload here but didn't give a whole lot mor einfo than you can find out on the internet already. I was pleased that they at least got back to me though.

 

[Waywest]

I was excited to see your pictures - we have a similar stove. It is apparently a CMD31-BL. We've used it 3 winters now. It is enough to heat our house - it sure saves $$$View attachment 127892 View attachment 127892 !

My masonry chimney is outside the house. It doesn't warm up too much and so it builds up with creosote fairly fast.

We lined our stove with fire bricks - laid flat across the bottom and on edge at the sides.

We do not use a grate - more wood can fit in that way

Did you ever find a manual? We are looking for one, too.

Gundy

Was wondering if you have a photo of the blower on the back of the stove? Or any information on where to get one to fit the stove. Also do you have a cat for the stove? If so where can you get one.

 

[snojean]

We have a stove that looks just like your pic. We have used it for 20 yrs, was in our house when we bought it. Our blower box is on the back and seems to be trying to go out. Comes on and off. Where do I look for a new fan/blower/switch? Also, what make and model is the stove in this pic?

 

[Waywest]

I have a stove like the one in your photos. Do you have a catalyst in the back of yours near the pipe opening?

If you have one do you know where to purchase them?

If you don't have one in it doesn't it burn fine without it?

Yeah, that makes sense, it also seems that it would be easier to load with a single door.

 

[Waywest]

So........this will be my first post here at hearth.com.

For the last few years I have stopped in here as I dreamt of burning wood for heat. Unfortunately I lived in the big city and burning wood was not an option in our old brick row home. However, I recently moved to the ex-urbs, just past the suburbs, and have the chance to burn some wood!

The house we purchased came with a Country Flame model CMD, freestanding wood stove. We had the chimney cleaned during the house inspection. At which time I believe the sweep told me that a fire brick was cracked. Many months later, and a few months post inspection, including months where the stove was in use, I get around to cleaning the flue. I just finished building the wood shed so I was pretty excited to move on to phase two...getting the flue and wood stove ready to burn.


On the roof, do the chimney sweep thing, all looks good. I come down, get ready to clean out the stove itself and the flue inside the house, and I see that there are no fire bricks, and there is a grate...in the stove.

My neighbor was puzzled, I am puzzled.

My questions are:

1) Does anyone know anything about this model of stove?

2) Could it be that no fire brick was ever in this stove, and I could be imagining what the sweep told me?

3) Can I use this stove with the grate, and no fire bricks?

4) Can I add a layer of fire bricks to the floor of the stove only? There are no metal clips of any kind to hold bricks vertically on the side walls.

Any help would be appreciated. I have attached pics, thanks!



View attachment 116066 View attachment 116067 View attachment 116068 View attachment 116069

 

[Waywest]

We just purchased a stove like the pictures in your post.

Do you use a catalyst with yours or just use it without it?

 

[F4jock]

Funny you say that.

I have been telling the boss ( wife ), that we should get something newer next year or maybe the following....but after I had it going that night I kept thinking, we need to keep this thing forever! Its amazing hw big the difference is between heating with a wood stove and heating with electric or natural gas. 1 ) Theres a real appreciation for the heat...it may be close to free in dollars...but theres real work involved getting it in 2 ) The heat itself is different, I think better 3 ) You actually get to "know" your appliance/heater...weird.

I think I will attempt to get the glass out in the Spring, the screws are a mess though so I am not sure how it will go. next on the list, as in the next day or two, is trying to get that glass cleaned up.

The best thing I've used on corroded screws and bolts is something called Kroil. Beats any other product I've ever tried.