Bucket a Day Coal Stove Info

Hello, Thank you for letting me join this group! This my first post here. I came across this coal stove while buying some lumber from a guy who was cleaning out a very old storage barn. He didn't know what it was nor did I. I bought it, brought it home and started doing some research online. The only thing I've been able to come up with is that it burns coal and heats water. I'm hoping that someone here can help me in determining what year it was made and what its worth. I don't believe it has ever been used. The fire bricks don't look like they've ever seen fire. I'm planning on putting it for sale on the local craigslist here (Cincinnati, Oh). I have no need for it. I bought it because I figured I could make a couple of bucks on it. I'd really like to know what the value of this stove is before I post it.

I would greatly appreciate any info you could share.

Thank you,
Steve

I grew up with a stove like this. It was tied by pipes into the coal boiler and a chain went from the lower door to a motor on the ceiling. When we needed hot water(I mean very hot) the motor would start and open the lower door. That started the draft and the stove made enough hot water for the neighborhood. The problem was that you had to plan ahead because the water would sometimes get very close to boiling. The init was controlled by a thermostat on the side of the boiler and was great in the winter. In summer I forget what we did.
Do not use this without water in it as it will crack. Never plug the water pipe holes as it will explode. Sounds silly but a man lost a foot in my area many years ago. If you want to hook it up you should look for some old books on how to do it. You will need to do it right with blow off valves venting outdoors etc. Some of the early 1900's text books can be found that tell the right way to do it.

Thank you for the info. I'm not going to use it. I'm just trying to find out approx when it was made and what would be a decent asking price would be. You mentioned that early 1900's books can be found that tells the right way to hook it up. So it was made in the early 1900's right? Now I just need to find out how much to ask for it. I don't want to rip anyone off but I don't want to give it away either. I've seen a simular stove like mine on ebay but its made by a different Co. I have yet to find one like mine for sale online.

thanks again,

Steve

I have the exact same model in my basement right now. The company is out of business and has been since the 80's or so. They were bought up by Marks Supply in Shenandoah Pa. who sells them ready to hook up and fire up on Ebay for 599.00.

I have mine connected to a 30 gallon water tank and it thermo-siphons the cool water from the bottom of the 30 gallon tank to the tap on the rear of the water heater. The hot water comes out of the top of the water heater into the top of the 30 gallon tank.

You do have to plan it out otherwise you'll boil the water and the temp relief valve will lift.

Decent shape should get around $150 to $250. Fully restored with no cracked fire brick, new high temp paint job and pressure tested get the 550 to 600 range.

seb1963 wrote:Thank you for the info. I'm not going to use it. I'm just trying to find out approx when it was made and what would be a decent asking price would be. You mentioned that early 1900's books can be found that tells the right way to hook it up. So it was made in the early 1900's right? Now I just need to find out how much to ask for it. I don't want to rip anyone off but I don't want to give it away either. I've seen a simular stove like mine on ebay but its made by a different Co. I have yet to find one like mine for sale online.

thanks again,

Steve

This one looks like it was probably made in the 1960's or 1970's. You haven't shown any of the interior, so what kind of grates it has, condition and such would make a difference. You could always watch ebay for awhile and see if any come up there and what they go for... depends on how fast you want to get rid of it. You also haven't told us how big it is. Pretty hard to give you much info if you don't give us much...

dj

Mine is a carbon copy of that - made by Sears - and much older.

And boy does it get hot. I didn't have water in it - hope I didnt crack anything.
It's not setup - wish I had a nice place for it as I enjoy plumbing projects.

I heard of a larger size model that someone used to heat their swimming pool.

thats the hottest lil think I ever saw open it up and take some pics, grates, water jacket, etc.

I don't like the sound of loosing a foot when it becomes a bomb but this thing looks fun as hell!

I have mine set up in the basement piped to an old 30 gallon nat gas water heater that I pulled the burner out of so I am only using it as a storage tank. Tank was free and all the copper pipe was recycled from other projects. I also recycled 5 inch flue pipe from other projects. I did have to buy some increaser's to connect to the 7" flue pipe that the oil boiler had used. The entire thing installed cost me around $275.

I fire the little R2 (as I call it because it looks like a 1/2 size R2D2 from star wars) every other day with 1/2 charge of coal. Any more than that and if we aren't using hot water, the temp will go up to 210 F and the relief valve on the tank it's connected to will start to dribble.

Dimensions are about 14 inches wide by 21 inches tall. I had to set the baro to max pull, close the MPD, and keep the air inlet closed to limit the amount of draft pulling through the little puppy. It has enough air leaks on the ash door that it gets enough air to burn very nicely. So far I have about a 12 hour burn if it's fully charged with about 10 pounds of coal. A 1/2 charge of pea coal maybe six to 8 inches deep will burn for about 6-8 hours giving us pretty much unlimited hot water that ranges from 180-200 F.

Nope no tempering valve installed. It's just my wife and I at home and I figured out that's what the cold water faucet was for. We also have enough intelligence to realize the water is HOT and regulate the temps with the cold water faucet.

I installed it right next to the oil boiler, disconnected the flue pipe from the oil boiler, spun a 90 degree elbow and I am using the same flue pipe and chimney the oil boiler used. I'm heating the house with my little LL Econo1 and heating the water with my bucket a day. The oil boiler was taking about $50 a month in oil for DHW. I bought 4 buckets of pea coal for $12.90. I estimate that I'll get about a month out of the four buckets. My 5th grade math tells me it should pay for itself in about 8 months and then I start saving.

How nice to know I'm not sending a single penny to the middle east sheikdoms.

Rev. Larry

Hey, I'm looking to buy a used one in the $100 to $150 dollar range if anybody knows who might have one in NEPA.

Thanks

Neal

These were commonly placed beside a hot water or steam house boiler and used during the times of the year when heat was not required in the house.

Most steam and hot water house boilers had "domestic hot water coils" installed that provided hot water during the times when house heat was required. In the Summer, or other times when house heat was not required, you fired up the "Bucket a day" stove to provide hot water for the house.

I believe that their may have been a soft coal version also but hard coal, anthracite, was the common fuel.