Info Sought on Crane 404 Coal Wood Stove
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frostybob123
- New Member
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Thu. Oct. 30, 2008 9:35 am
Any one know much about the positives or negatives of a Crane model 404 made a while back in Braintree Mass. 20 or so yrs ago I am considering purchasing one looks like a sturdy unit..... thanks in advance
About a month and a half ago I bought a Crane 404 in pretty sad looking condition. The fire pot was so severely warped from being over heated I had to break it to get it out. I found that I could get a new fire pot but, it cost $450.00.
So I took some steel angle and made a frame and cut some fire brick and made a new pot. All told it cost me about $50 to get the stove working. Once I sanded off the rust (it had been sitting in an open barn for about 10 years) and repainted it it's a nice looking stove.
The stove put out a good amount of heat but I wouldn't try to heat a whole house with it. I've been using nut size coal.
The only real drawbacks that I see with this stove is the shaker mechanism is not very effective; I find I need to use a poker from the bottom to get the ashes to start falling before using the shaker handle.
The stove is well built, but you may want to check the fire pot for warping and the condition of the baffle.
So I took some steel angle and made a frame and cut some fire brick and made a new pot. All told it cost me about $50 to get the stove working. Once I sanded off the rust (it had been sitting in an open barn for about 10 years) and repainted it it's a nice looking stove.
The stove put out a good amount of heat but I wouldn't try to heat a whole house with it. I've been using nut size coal.
The only real drawbacks that I see with this stove is the shaker mechanism is not very effective; I find I need to use a poker from the bottom to get the ashes to start falling before using the shaker handle.
The stove is well built, but you may want to check the fire pot for warping and the condition of the baffle.