The Right Stove for the Job...

LDPosse wrote:From what I've read, the Warm Morning 400 heaters make very serious amounts of heat. Are the Florence Hot Blasts on par in heat output?

Yes. Florences come in several different sizes. One with an 18 inch fire pot would produce all the heat you need and then some.

wsherrick wrote:
Yes. Florences come in several different sizes. One with an 18 inch fire pot would produce all the heat you need and then some.

Which model #s had 18" fire pots?

My garage is 30x35, 2 stories, and no insulation. It has a concrete floor, dutch lap siding, and a tin roof. I have a 140k BTU torpedo heater that can get it comfortable, but it is LOUD and it sucks down the kerosene like there's no tomorrow.

The Florence Model No 53 has an 18 inch fire pot. There are several models that have the same fire pot. Florences were made for about 40 years and the stove went through many model changes. The picture here is of a Florence N0 53 circa mid-1890's.

William - Thanks for the pic. That is entirely too nice for my garage, though. I just found a warm morning 400 on craigslist for $100, it's en-route to my place as I type this...

How do the florence hot blasts compare in efficiency to the glenwoods? I would assume maybe on par with the oak series, but not the base burners?

Also does anyone know if its possible to determine the age of the warm mornings by their serial number?
Thanks!

The warm morning will do a fine job for you. A florence doesn't deserve to go in a garage. You are right about that.

That 400 will do a fine job for you on bit coal. They hold a pretty good charge. Something like 100lb capacity! Excellent score for $100 if it's all there and working.

carlherrnstein wrote:I hate to sound too simplistic but, all stoves are a metal box some are cast some are fabed out of sheet, its up to the operator to figure out how to, and to, control it.

I also would have a raging fire if I filled my stove up with a lot of coal. What I did to correct this was to look at the air inlet to see how open it is. If it is open a lot I only add a small amount of coal till the stove heats up till the air shutter closes down then I fill it up.

If its open wide when you add coal it will start giving off its gases and they will burn hot, the more coal you add, the more coal gas burns and the hotter it gets till the bimetalic shutter starts fluttering and slowing the fire.

I burn a wide mix of coal about egg to 8" peices.

Merry Christmas

I disagree totally with this (but I still love you Carl ) , all stoves are NOT the same, the design, the grate, the drafting, the secondary drafting, the shape all play a huge roll in how it preforms with different fuel. Im not going to get into to much of the technicality of best Bit designs but will say that Larger Cylindrical with slight funnel shaped firebox is more ideal for the Bit burner!

The problem with bit coal is the volitiles, you have to burn them off somehow. with ANY batch fed stove, there will be a period of time when the fire needs a lot of extra air to burn off the volitiles or eles there will be a lot of soot and wasted BTUs.

The only way to get around the problem is to feed a hand fed in small batches, and burn off the smaller amount of volitiles in easier to burn quantities..

OR use a stoker fed furnace or boiler to continually feed a small amount of fresh coal and have plenty of fresh air to burn off the volitiles..

ONe way or the other, you hAVE to contend with the volitiles...

The warm morning has a very well designed firebrick that provides heated fresh air to above the fire, which burns off the soot..
If the firebrick are in good shape, you will really like the WM stove.

Greg L