Cookin' With Coal

Interestingly they state in one of the books that anthracite was approaching $10 a ton in 1912, which is about $235 today...

PJT wrote:Interestingly they state in one of the books that anthracite was approaching $10 a ton in 1912, which is about $235 today...

I paid $240.00 a ton this past August. The dealer usually sells it for $250.00 a ton but when bought off season they discount it a little. So if you correct for today's pricing, we are at about the same price as 1912.

See coal has held its value just like gold

Seeing Wilson's cat under his Glenwood range reminded me that we are not the only ones to enjoy the warmth of a coal stove.

One of the nice things about a kitchen range is that there is lots of room under them, . . for pets to keep warm and out from under foot in the kitchen. And with the floor temps averaging in the 90's under the range, the pets seem to love it there.

Larger pets benefit too. My girl friend's family kept a box behind their kitchen range and that's where their dog slept in winter.

These were my two guys and where they would spend most of their winter days.

Paul

Sunny Boy wrote:Seeing Wilson's cat under his Glenwood range reminded me that we are not the only ones to enjoy the warmth of a coal stove.

One of the nice things about a kitchen range is that there is lots of room under them, . . for pets to keep warm and out from under foot in the kitchen. And with the floor temps averaging in the 90's under the range, the pets seem to love it there.

Larger pets benefit too. My girl friend's family kept a box behind their kitchen range and that's where their dog slept in winter.

These were my two guys and where they would spend most of their winter days.

Paul

I am so jealous. I love your setup. I have always wanted a range like that in my kitchen.

ahhh the good life for man or beast....

vfw3439 wrote:

Sunny Boy wrote:Seeing Wilson's cat under his Glenwood range reminded me that we are not the only ones to enjoy the warmth of a coal stove.

One of the nice things about a kitchen range is that there is lots of room under them, . . for pets to keep warm and out from under foot in the kitchen. And with the floor temps averaging in the 90's under the range, the pets seem to love it there.

Larger pets benefit too. My girl friend's family kept a box behind their kitchen range and that's where their dog slept in winter.

These were my two guys and where they would spend most of their winter days.

Paul

I am so jealous. I love your setup. I have always wanted a range like that in my kitchen.

I am with vfw3439, I have a nice range but don't have the room to get it into the house yet. BUT YOU CAN BET I WILL!

Randy

What now she asks !!!
Step one - Locate a really nice informative stove dealer who 'knows their stuff' and buy a black cast iron 'real' cook range or stove instead of a tiny 'toy' stove, (to me I was VERY disappointed when I actually saw a Heartland Sweetheart stove up close.
(Bought one from stovehospital in R.I. - Check!)

Step two - Have it delivered to us here in PA (Hopefully we will complete this today!!!(Fingers crossed and a stove prayer offered!!) SOOOOOO EXCITED!!! (Almost check two!)

So what now??? (Sorry, this is probably elsewhere in either this blog - or someplace yet unheard of by me ... as of yet -
The stove is going in my kitchen in our log home. The logs are full logs, not just siding, so going out through them won't work. The house has an open area, great room, design with a 'catwalk' upstairs over the kitchen, (this catwalk is over the area where the stove will be going). The upstairs floor is the downstairs ceiling. 2" tongue and groove pine. The south side of our home is glass upstairs and the roof has a 2 ft overhang, (summer sunscreen). Barn style roof, inside cathedral ceiling is tongue and groove pine, outside metal. The kitchen has Plywood floors, (hey it's only been about 20+ years since we built the house!), (plywood so far but would LOVE to find wide wooden boards for flooring that didn't cost an arm and a leg some day!!). The stove pipe would be coming out of the roof about 9 feet away from the peak of the house.
The place I picked for our new stove will be in an area with a full log wall behind it and a small, but 8 ft tall, tongue and groove pine wall to the right of the stove which is perpendicular to the log wall and is about 2 1/2 ft out into the room. (The end of the kitchen sink counter).
To the left of the stove, (firebox end), is open, but just past the stove area, (to the left), (in that straight log wall behind the stove), is a door to the outside, (not right behind the stove!).
I would show pictures of the area but I STILL can't seem to upload any pictures to the site. (Guess I need real detailed ..step one ..step two ...etc. details on how to do that! )
No chimney there... Need stove pipe, but what kind? I really DON'T want to be at the mercy of a stove pipe salesman that either doesn't know what he is talking about, or is just pushing something Wrong. So what do I need and how do I use it? Do I buy a bunch of black pipe or buy silver and paint it so it looks nice downstairs? Upstairs the kids may be playing on the catwalk so we were thinking of boxing it in with wood for safety and looks.
The stove clearances are another mystery. The dealers are all telling me ... "Read your stove manual" ... YEA RIGHT! Emory and Brandon seem to have forgotten to include one with our 1927 - 1928 vintage Fairmount, (Royal 8-20), cooking range!!! The dealers also say ask your township or state. Our area really doesn't have a township person in charge of overseeing of my installation. (I see this as a GOOD thing!!) The state? Humm ...
Check with your insurance company ...... "Install as per manual, or have it professionally installed"..... Do I really need to have a professional installer? Having designed and built a 3500 sq ft log home ourselves it seems odd to us!! Can't find anyone to tell me clearances. I really don't want my stove sitting out in the middle of my house when I have seen a lot of wood burning kitchen stoves closer to the walls.
I have been told by some to use cement board as a surround behind the stove and under the stove... others say that in PA that is a No-No. Who is right? I would really like something that looks nice in a 'primitive' type log cabin ...(with dirt floors!!! ) I'm not real fond of diamond plated steel on the walls and floor!! With a base with legs do you need something to protect the floor?
Another thought .. being as how we are both 62 ..going on 22! ... we would like to stay off the metal roof as much as possible. Since the stove pipe will be a straight shot with no elbows, can we clean the stove pipe from inside the house up to the roof ourselves, (about 21 ft from roof to kitchen), and just have it checked every few years? Sorry this is so long, but THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! MY STOVE HAS ARRIVED!!

Is it safely sitting in its reserved spot?? We will all be anxiously waiting for you to join the cookin with coal chef club, I have enjoyed following this thread,as it brings back childhood memories & we hope to purchase a coal range too,not sure yet as to the when.Standing by,waiting for update .......... that would be you !

The 1927 manual probably wouldn't be up to modern standards anyway.

Think of it like a wood stove that can burn coal (yours can be both). There's a ton of set-up info on the internet and just about every wood stove maker has on their websites, for wood stoves. Here's a link that can get you started.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/article ... _woodstove

My range is near the back door and also in a walkway to the pantry. To get it closer to the wall and not out where we need to walk I went with the, "reduce the clearance by using a heat shield" method. However, I hate the look of a big piece of sheet metal attached to the wall behind an antique stove, . . in an antique -ish house.

I made a heat shield for the back of the stove, which is allowable under most fire codes. It's hardly noticeable and has the added benefit of helping to keep heat in the oven. Some 22 gauge, mild, cold rolled sheet metal, a pair of tin snips, a hand drill and within an hour I had a heat shield box that is sandwiched under and hangs from the screws that hold the back splash on. The shield covers the back of the firebox and the oven and flues. That allowed me to get the stove within 14 inches of the wall ("combustible material").

For the hearth, I rarely see anyone putting anything under the firebox end of their range, just floor protectors of some type under the cast iron feet, but I doubt that meets code. I was concerned that if the floor of the ash drawer ever cracked (they are thin) hot coals could drop through onto the floor.

I put 1/2 inch slates on a bed of sand right on the floor. As luck would have it, my kitchen has two linoleum floors put on over the years. Cutting down through the layers of linoleum and backer sheets of masonite, I came to the original hard-rock maple floors. That let me recess the sand and slate on top of the original floor so they are level with the top layer of linoleum and we don't trip over a raised edge.

You can get thinner hearth board at stove shops and home Depot, Lowes, etc., to put under the firebox end of the range. Less chance to trip over it.

There'll be others along to help with chimney choices. One is Berlin, he does chimney work for a living.

Meantime, here's a few pix of the heat shield I bent up for the back of the range.

Sixkids wrote: IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! MY STOVE HAS ARRIVED!!

Can I uncross my fingers yet ? One finger typing is tough enough for me without having to concentrate on keeping other fingers crossed !

Paul

One other thing. Just incase you need one.

Many ranges have an oval pipe collar at the back of the stove top. Not a problem if it's 6, or 8 inch oval, as you can bend single wall stove pipe to fit, those. But, some are a 7 inch oval (mine) and it doesn't work with 6 inch pipe.

If you need a 7 inch oval, tapering to 6 inch round, Bryant Stove in Maine sells them.

http://www.bryantstove.com/parts.html

Paul

Yes! Please feel free to uncross your fingers!! THANK YOU! Although still keep a good thought yet please, as we haven't uncrated it as of yet! (son-in-law said he will bring it home to us "if the shipping ladies don't swipe it first" !!
I'm VERY greatful for the 'heat shield' pictures. This looks SO much better than a wall full of metal over a log wall! I'll have to go show it to Roger. I'm THRILLED, (for today), just to sit and look at the stove ...or at least I will be onvce we manage to get it uncrated.
Now to try to figure out the posting of pictures!!
Thanks!
Carole

Do you have a spacer between the cast iron stove and the added on metal?