New House, New Stove, need advice about maintaining and using it.

[Thyandar]

Hi all,
We're moving into a new house and there's an old Stove in one of the rooms. It's an old house (1840ish) but the stove could be from any era since:
A little googling has identified it as an Arctic Cast Iron Stove. Never had stove/hearth heat in the house but I'm keen to learn.
I know the bottom is probably an ash pan, is the whole cylindrical shape just a chamber for wood burning?
Looks like you can heat a pot on top but is the top also where you feed fuel?
Thanks in advance!

 

[stoveliker]

More likely a coal stove. Not likely to be a good heater per pound of wood consumption .

Yes, you feed from the top.

Before burning make sure the flue is safe. And have carbon monoxide detectors that work.

 

[Thyandar]

More likely a coal stove. Not likely to be a good heater per pound of wood consumption .

Yes, you feed from the top.

Before burning make sure the flue is safe. And have carbon monoxide detectors that work.

Thanks for the info!
Aye, we've got a fireplace downstairs and probably going to get a chimney sweep in to see to the flues before we start burning.
Might have to keep a little cache of coal in that case, are there any alternative fuels which would work well in a stove like this and a fireplace?

 

[stoveliker]

I mean you can burn wood in it, but other than what I think is a small window that will likely be opaque and only emit an orange glow it won't be a cozy thing. It will give some heat with wood but it won't give a lot for how much wood it'll eat.

So, if you want it for heat, it's not great with wood. If you want it for ambiance, it's not great.
If you burn coal it's decent. If you just like old stoves as a display piece it's great.

We had a similar one in our workshop when I was a kid across the pond from you. We did feed it wood scraps (and melted beeswax in big pots on it).