How Did You Get Your Coal Stove Into Your House???

I bought a US Stove 1537 supplemental furnace. Pallet supposedly weighed close to 600 lbs. I built a platform and put it on my little red pneumatic-tire wagon (made in china, 900 lb cap, $70) so that the level was about equal to the back of the trailer I used to haul it home upon. I took the firebrick and other easily removable stuff out of the stove to lessen the weight somewhat. It was not hard to slide the palletized furnace on to the platform on the wagon.

The little red wagon was such that it was pretty easy to "drive" up the several (deep, which made it easier) stairs leading to my front door. I had help from a local kid, who once he understood he had to push once the furnace/wagon was teetering on its back wheels, did a fine job of getting it up the stairs, through the house and to the top of my cellar stairs (13).

Last year, in another house, I installed a soapstone woodstove that weighed about 650 lbs, using a ramp made of 4x4's from the back of my pick up right into the (on grade) living room floor, through the sliding glass doors. The friction between the ramp and the stove pallet was such that I had to "help" gravity to get the stove to come down to floor level.

Which is what I expected from the US Stove pallet and the ramp fixture I built that mounted on the cellar stairs. The ramp fixture extended up from the main floor level just to the level of the pallet bottom on the red wagon with the platform. So far, so good, and a triumph of good planning and six years of college, I told myself.

So, I got below the stove, and slid it off the wagon onto the ramp. Can some of you guess where this is going?

Just a few more degrees of angle resulted in the stove trying to run me over - there was no static friction between the pallet and the ramp. I got banged around pretty good - it was one of those time slows down things. At first, my brain wanted me to get out of the way, but there really wasn't anywhere to go, and I realized I would not be able to outrun the stove sliding (falling? careening?) down the ramp. Just before I doomed myself to being splattered all over the concrete floor, and found by my wife when she returned home (yes, I was alone), I realized that running was not going to work, and just got all superhuman (yeah right) and forced the falling stove to cock and wedge in the cellar stair well about 1/3 of the way down. I was then able to get my hips under the stove, and once I had the weight stablized, I could walk it down to the bottom.

Sheesh. But fun, too.

Installation is almost finished, First fire was really nice. I haven't yet decided whether I'll wire both blowers (the supplemental furnace and the main LP furnace) to run at the same time. The 1537 blowers (twin) seem to blow pretty well, and I'll probably start with just those and try to control my house temp by damper setting.

Anyway, that story is typical for me. I think I have a guardian angel.

Glad you're ok. It just goes to show you what 6 years of college will do!

I am glad too!

Yeah, the two engineering degrees I got in those six years just made me over confident!

Which makes me want to tell another funny story. While in college, this would be in the late '70s or earyl '80's, I got a job on a dairy farm. All I could find.

I bs'd the farmer that I knew my way around a dairy farm (I'd grown up in the CITY of Buffalo, NY). I can remember the first time I got down under a cow to wash her udders (maybe I will get my second censored word?). I remember being atavisticly scared, and thinking "man, they don't look this big from a car".

Anyway, besides milking there was plenty of shoveling of you know what involved in that job. I remember having an over-filled wheel barrow, and repeatedly running it into a curb in the barn, trying to get it up and out. I was failing repeatedly, and unbeknownst to me the farmer was watching from not too far away.

He came up, and not able to hide his disgust, pushed me aside, and turned the wheel barrow around, setting the legs on the top of the curb, and elegantly turning it 180 degrees. When he was finished, he said "I didn't need a master's degree to do that". (I must have shared my plans for grad school with him).

That experience was important for me. It taught me not to be too overconfident because of a couple of pieces of paper.

I backed my truck as close to the door as possible then worked the Jotul 507 onto the tail gate. I took off the top and opened the top door. Then came the hard part. I lifted it off of the tail gate and then up three stairs and quickly walked into the house and then through three rooms and gently placed it on the hearth. For the old buck wood stove I used a hand cart with rubber wheels as not to scratch the hardwood floors and moved it outside. If I had removed the door and fire brick the buck would have been lighter, however, I just wanted to get the piece of junk out of my house. I had no help but if I had help I would have opted to have two of us carry the Jotul and still use the hand cart to move out the buck.

wayne.

Well I backed the truck up to the basement doors. Then I removed everything I possibly could from the stove. I laid a piece of wood up to the steps to make a ramp. Then I used a hand dolly and backed it up to the truck bed. I placed a piece of wood on the dolly and carefully slide the stove onto the dolly. A friend of mine helped me man handle the stove on the dolly gingerly down the steps. Then I just re-assembled the stove without any extra pieces left over!

My wife and I rented a fridge dolly and moved into the house. We have moved several wood stoves so we had plenty of experience doing this. My wife is 120 pounds of muscle!!

I paid 150.00 to get the dealer to plop my stove in place. This kept me from a hernia, a possible broken back or sore ribs.

I have a Keystoker KA-6. It has a 925# weldment. I used my Massey Ferguson 202 tractor which has an MF200 loader to lift it off the trailer and then used furniture dollies and ramps to get it in the basement. Fortunately for me I have a walk in basement. I used an automotive jack to lift it up off the dollies and placed it on bricks. I was most worried about it falling on someone while moving it.

It was surely an adventure!!!

I knew my old, narrow cellar stair would never handle the weight of the KA-6. Glad I didn't try it .... somebody would have died.

I had my buddy come down with his tractor and dig out some dirt to expose my full foundation height.

Borrowed a K12 gas powered saw from the fire department & put a diamond blade on it and cut a doorway into my foundation.

Framed it in with wood and vinyl sided it to match my house.

Borrowed an appliance dolly and recruited 5 of the firemen to help me put it through the hole in the wall.

The KA-6 is one heavy built boiler.

I will be widening the earthwork and addding decorative blocks in the spring.

Is that going to be a problem if it rains and floods?

traderfjp wrote:Is that going to be a problem if it rains and floods?

Shouldn't ever be a problem, you will see the 12" step I left at the bottom if you look close. I didn't cut the concrete all the way down to the floor. I also have a floor drain inside and plan on doing some drianage work in the spring when I put up the decorative block. It is slightly uphill from the parking lot beside me also, so the water should run away.

DJWfire, Cool move! That may come under the "Desperate people do desperate things" act. One thing, you might consider putting a 2" by 24" plank of pink or blue foam insulation on (just under) the ground in front of the new door. By digging down you have exposed that section to frost. Maybe you don't get much in your area, but arouund here it would start working on the foundation.

I once worked for a mover who bought a small 12v automotive winch(like on the front of a jeep),used the winch and a battery and straps to move larger heavier objects up and down stairs of all types,with the object strapped to a piano board so it straddles numerous steps,less manpower and you can stop and take a rest halfway there.RichB

Why not just tooth out the wall and reblock it? That boiler should last forever.

I vote for that and you could always use a sledge to easily remove the blocks if need be.