Glenwood Modern Oak 116 Stove

Howdy Folks, I'm a new member and this my first topic post. I live downeast Maine on the coast in a big old 200+ year old Sea Captains house. I have a Glenwood 208C cookstove in my kithen as you can see in the avatar.
Found that in my barn here about 20 years ago and Bryant stoves in Mid Maine redid it for me to wood grates (from gas or oil?)

Anyways, I'm looking for grates to convert this cookstove to coal (sick of having to light it every morning) and am also going to install a Glenwood modern oak 116 that I have. I have been buying tree length truckloads for years now and sawing splitting and stacking for my needs which were about 5 cords a year. Going to try coal for the cost savings which is about the same as wood for me except that doesn't count my labor! I can't imagine a fire going for 12 hrs at a time! That's just heaven for me since the cookstove requires a load every 2 hours or so and finally is out when the furnace (oil) kicks in at 2am till I get up at 6am.

Ok, enough of my rambling. My question is about the Glenwood Modern oak 116. How does this stack up as a coal stove compared to a modern stove like a Harmon, Hizer or Leasure line etc...hand fired? I know that some of the Glenwood modern oaks had the recirculation lever that made them a bit like a baseburner, but I don't think mine has this feature. I guess that would make it a direct vent coal stove? Anyone have experiance with these and how does it work for you? I would expect a baseburner to be more effective for sure but I have this one so, it is what it is. I could sell this and go after a baseburner if they are that much better? What are the pros and cons? Thanks for the help. Steve

The Glenwood 116 will do fine. It has a 16 inch firepot which is the same size that is in the Glenwood No 6 Base Heater I have, so it has the capacity to produce plenty of heat. If you are going with coal a Base Heater can not be beaten as far as ease of use and efficiency, however; if the No 116 is in good shape and all the seams are tight and the doors fit tight, it will perform just fine. Since you already have it and if it is in good order, use it. But to answer your question a Glenwood with the indirect back pipe feature or a base heater would be more efficient than a direct draft stove. I wouldn't trade my Base Heater for any modern stove made today. Period.

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to go through the heater this summer and make sure it's good to go. Also thanks for sharing and making those videos. You make it look easy! That's a beauty of a base heater you bought!

SteveZee wrote:Thanks for the reply. I'm going to go through the heater this summer and make sure it's good to go. Also thanks for sharing and making those videos. You make it look easy! That's a beauty of a base heater you bought!

Thanks for watching the videos. I'm really pleased that you liked them. You should put up some pictures of your Glenwood Modern Oak. Everyone here would like to see it, I'm sure. We have a growing Glenwood family here. There are four of us who have Glenwood Base Heaters now, one person who has a Glenwood Oak No 30 and another who just got a City Glenwood Stove, and one who has a Glenwood No 111 Baseburner. So, jump right in, the water's fine.

Oh, I meant to tell you. Call Emery at Antique Stove Hospital. He will fix you up with the proper coal grates for your kitchen range.

wsherrick wrote:Oh, I meant to tell you. Call Emery at Antique Stove Hospital. He will fix you up with the proper coal grates for your kitchen range.

I did e-mail Emery and he said he could probably dig some up. He's a bit hard to get a response out of though at times? Guess he's pretty busy. A guy named Mark from Antiquecookstove.com replied and had a set for $125. I'll probably grab those. Not sure as far as installation goes? I'll have to remove the wood grates and iron liners, install the coal grates and then add the refractory bricks where my iron liners were. I guess I should mortar the bricks with refractory cement to keep everything in place. It's going to cut the size of the firebox a bit but should be ok for a coal box. I'd like to see a coal firebox in a cookstove so that I have something to "emulate".

Hi Stevezee. I was supposed to buy a Glenwood Modern Oak 116 but the price was not meeting what I had in cash for it. The stove was at about 2 Hrs far from here and I really liked that stove...
So I bought a Golden Bride from Bryant Stove, about 5.5 Hrs far from here. I realised that the small Golden Bride was better for me cause opposite to the majority of others ant burner peoples, I didn't want a lot of heat. The smaller (12") stove was correct for my small living room.
Hope you get the grates...and fun with your stoves.
nortcan

Thanks Nortcan, I'm going to disassemble the stove completely over the summer. I'll put it back with fresh gasquets or sealer and should be good to go by fall. I'm familiar with Bryants. They rebuilt the Glenwood cookstove in my avatar pix about 18 years ago. Did a good job too. I'm also going to convert that one to a coal range as it's a big piece of cast iron and heats half the house! I need the firebox clays and grates for it. I've seen a couple pictures and it looks like the refractory material was molded for at least the front and rear pieces. I've put out feelers for those and have found a set of grates. I hope it burns well as a coal range since they don't have allot of space above the firebox like true coal stove but allot of them were set up for coal so we'll see. There is plenty of room horizontally when you engage the oven,(fumes circulate around it and out the bottom) so maybe that's the trick.

Instead of looking a fire bricks for the kitchen range, you should get some castable refractory cement and cast a liner in the firebox. It's easy to do and you can make a mold out of cardboard into the shape you want inside the firebox and pour the cement right in there. I would recommend that you also do the same for the No 116 as well. The cement makes a great liner and it will last for many years if you don't bang it with a poker or a large chunk of wood.

wsherrick wrote:Instead of looking a fire bricks for the kitchen range, you should get some castable refractory cement and cast a liner in the firebox. It's easy to do and you can make a mold out of cardboard into the shape you want inside the firebox and pour the cement right in there. I would recommend that you also do the same for the No 116 as well. The cement makes a great liner and it will last for many years if you don't bang it with a poker or a large chunk of wood.

Really? I never thought of that beyond using it to cement the bricks. I'll have to check that option out. Can you walk me through the steps/process William? For instance is it two layers of cardboard with a bottom to keep the cement from running down, how thick should the liner be etc... Thanks for your help.

You mix up the Castable Refractory Cement like ordinary mortar, but; it is not runny if you mix correctly. You have to get the correct stuff. Castable Refractory Cement is expressly for the purpose of making a durable lining in fire pots and fire boxes. You place the Cement right next to the metal of the fire pot. You make the mold, fit it in the fire box and pour or spoon it in there. You make it around 1/2 inch thick to 1 inch. You just need to measure accurately so you don't foul the grates. After you are done you just leave the cardboard mold in place and it simply burns away when the first fire is lighted. It's very easy to do.