I did not take the stove appart in order to cement the seams. I just added some to the seams I thought needed it from the outside and inside the stove. This is not the proper way to cement it. Most of that cement has since fallen off and it did not change the performance of the stove. I never had noticeable smoke pour into the room from the seams. The North to South design of this stove makes it draft very easily out of the collar.1. I was going to do the cement and try to make it airtight primarily in order to prevent it from smoking up the cabin. But if that’s not a big concern, I might forego that. From what you’re saying, it sounds like making it airtight is done to improve efficiency. If I don’t do the cement, will it emit smoke like crazy?
From what I understand, people used to polish their stoves a couple times per burning season. This was a common practice for people in the hay day of old non air tight cast iron stoves. They used to let their stoves cool off on Sundays and polish it in place. Then open the window nearby to let the smell out when restarting it. The polish supposedly covers up, penetrates and prevents rust. You can even apply the polish without removing minor rust and it'll look like new. So, I guess the answer is, I would just slap one or two coats of polish on it and you're ready for break-in fires. If you have a piece of stove pipe laying around I'd put it on the stove to do the break in fires outside and you can see that no smoke will leak out of the stove during light off. Just get a draft going with a piece of newspaper near the stove flue.2. I was going to do the stove polish, but after I did the once-over with WD-40 and steel wool. Is that overkill? If I can skip the WD-40 step, I’d be more than happy to.
What was really interesting to me was how the fire would die down when I closed the front door. Despite it not being an airtight stove, closing the door seemed to choke off the airflow quite a bit. So what I did was remove that middle plate in front that covers what I guess must be some sort of ash-removal compartment. That gives about an inch of clearance under the door. Once I did that I was able to close the door and keep it raging pretty hot.
It installs in your pipe connector and reclaims a ton of heat that would otherwise go up the flue. Folks around here are not big fans, but they are safe in my opinion when operated correctly with a stove like the Box. I have one that has been connected to two different stoves in the basement. It works like a charm. Here's a link, I have the Magic Heat.Stegman said:Good info, Chris. I was definitely thinking of a pipe damper. But what does a heat reclaimer do?
why do you say that? the one pictured in the post above seems the same just cleaned up betterThat stove is shot. Send it to the scrap yard.
The one you posted appears to have serious cracks. That grey stuff appears to be cement that someone tried filling the cracks with. The one one coz pictured does not have cracks in it.
yes, thought i mentioned someone used furnace cement. the cement makes the stove look bad but i can clean it away.
there's a seam right up the middle on coz's stove and my stove. looks like 3 rivets to the rear of the seam on both stoves. mine seems a little out of shape but basically the same. maybe i can disassemble the stove and realign the seams. the only crack i can find is on the top on the right side near the back.
what about the idea of putting it in the fireplace as shown? instructions on vozelgang stove states not to do it...
The stove is shot. It should be scrapped. Note that the Vogelzang box stove is a copy. They are not the easiest to control due to a sloppy air control and have a bad reputation of not standing up well due to poor castings. Regardless, if the manual says no, that is the end of discussion.
Start a new thread if you are considering a new installation. The stoves that will work will depend on the height of the fireplace lintel. We'll need that and a further back picture to see if there are other considerations. You might also consider a rear exit stove like the Buck 261, but we'll need to check that lintel height for fit. (broken link removed to http://www.buckstove.com/model-261.html#.VE0zfodnqyc)
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