German heater 317. Lots of questions

Years ago I picked up this old gem city stove out of a cabin in Sierra Nevada's. I have many questions prior to hooking her up.

1 pipe size, do I drop from the 8 oval to a 6 inch or does she need 8 inches . Run single wall until thimble through the roof?

2 it's a down draft, I saw on an earlier post that one was missing a fire box. What does such an item look like and my intentions are only to burn wood. We can't do anything fun in California.

3 small crack has an older repair. Should I worry she is just going to be a barn warmer.

Thanks to all,

Bigjoe wrote: ↑

Sat. Oct. 07, 2017 5:26 pm

1 pipe size, do I drop from the 8 oval to a 6 inch or does she need 8 inches . Run single wall until thimble through the roof?

Stretch a piece of string around the oval and measure it. 6 inch pipe has a circumference of 18.84 inches. If that is close to the string measurement you can squeeze the 6 inch pipe to fit.

Yes, single wall pipe up to the insulated pipe support in the roof. Be sure to have some sort of slip joint in order to put up and take down for cleaning. Selkirk has a transition piece from the pipe support that fits inside the 6 inch single wall, if that is the make you are using. With steady use with wood it should be cleaned several times during the season.

Fire pot looks to be there. For wood it should also have an over fire air inlet, usually found in the loading door.

Picture of the back of the stove would make the "downdraft" statement clearer.

So I ran a string sitting at 22". I did see some 8 inch oval to 6 inch round pipe adaptor. I didn't want to go to small. But 6 inch is Common and a bit cheaper. Here are some more pics. Thanks again.

Yes, it does appear to be a base heater stove. I believe member wsherrick has had high praise for them in the past.

6 inch pipe can easily handle the output.

7 inch pipe is almost exactly 22 inches (21.99) around if you can find or have made an adapter. You could cut the folded seams from a two foot length of 8 inch, close one end to 7 inch and the other end to 6 inch and then rivet, or even sheet metal screw in place to form an adapter..

Thanks. Super excited of her history and to get her up and running. Seems it sat for a while in the old cabin.