Does Anyone Have Any Information About This Fuller & Warren?

I was recently told that the stove in my family room was a coal stove. I thought it was a wood burning stove and have always had trouble getting fires going without smoking out the house (the mica glass needs to be replaced and may be partly to blame along with my inept ability). I realized there are too many vents and doors for me to understand how to properly use this stove. I searched the internet a few years ago trying to find information on the stove but never found anything. I just assumed it was made around 1950 when the house was built. Well I finally decided it was time to get rid of this stove and put in something smaller and modern that I could operate. When I did a search for Fuller and Warren Coal Stoves, I came across this forum where there seems to be a ridiculous number of people with a great amount of knowledge about these old stoves. I literally got lost reading for hours. I never knew so many people had an interest in these stoves. Heck, it wasn't until today that I realized the stove could be from a time well before the 1950's. The model is a Fuller & Warren Art Splendid No. 5. The mica glass needs to be replaced for sure and it could use a good cleaning but everything looks to be in order. I have posted the pictures I took today online at

**Broken Link(s) Removed**

I would love to hear if anyone knows anything about this particular stove before I try to get rid of it.

Thanks,

Steve

Please wait before trying to get rid of it. That is a magnificent stove from the late 1880s if I am not mistaken. Our resident expert on these stoves Wsherrick will have a lot more information for you. It's meant to burn coal.

Lol, I will be waiting. Mainly because this thing is big and heavy and won't easily be moved. You said it is meant to burn coal, does that mean you should not burn wood in it?

What an absolutely gorgeous stove!!!!!!!

Before you get rid of it, give everyone an opportunity to chime in.

Where are you located? Fill out your location so if you decide to sell it folks on this forum will get the first shot!!!

Yes that is a coal stove and will perform much better on anthracite coal than on wood. It's the same design as Nortcan and Smithy's radiant base heaters. The require maintainance and cae but are a terrific heater when up to snuff.

If you want to get rid of that, there are MANY people here who would kill to have that stove. Put all those folks in one room and you could have one heck of an auction (you know, competitive shopping for men) Does that tell you something about what you are sitting on?

Here are two links to other sites who refurbish and sell antique stoves like you have. I hope you are sitting down when you see the prices those rehabbed units sell for, and there is a long waiting list for the most popular ones.

http://www.barnstablestove.com/html/baseburners.htm

http://stovehospital.com/

The stove hospital is in Rhode Island and may turn out to be a great source of info and parts if needed. He can tell you if the mica actually needs replaced or not (likely not). Some stoves had small holes drilled in the mica to allow over the fire air in. The holes were engineered to allow just the right amount in. Your stove there comes from around the peak of coal heating technology. A modern stove will not do what that one will.

Put the effort into learning to properly burn that unit and it will reward you many times over. Learn the principle of burning coal and the basics apply to all hand fired coal appliances. What ever you know about burning wood DOES NOT APPLY to coal. Basically coal likes tended and loaded and left alone to burn for 12-24 hours with out being touched. You controll the amount of heat out of a coal stove by controlling the air flow not the amount of coal in it. You always load a coal stove to the max amount it was intended to hold. Learn these rules and you will have a good start.

You said you may have a draft problem or concern, what is your chimney set up? What type? How tall? How much pipe from the stove to the chimney and what size. Your stove comes from well before the days of barometric dampers, so your unit was intended to have a manual flue damper in the stove pipe. You may have seem them before, the little handle that sticks out and turns a flap inside the pipe to close down the size of the pipe. The dampers have holes in them, and are not quite as big as the pipe so they still allow flow, but slow it down to help keep heat in the unit to be radiated into the house.

I changed my location. I am in Buffalo, NY. I can't believe the prices of those stoves. Of course they are fully restored and mine is dirty. I am definitely up for selling it, but I have no idea what a fair price is. I've been reading up on this forum. I can't believe how much of a following this all has. If this was the house I was going to settle in to, I think I would consider using coal. All of this is very fascinating.

@bear038: I am just not knowledgeable enough to know if it is a draft concern or not. It seemed that if the fire wasn't hot very quickly, that I would get smoke coming back in to the house, and if I opened one of the doors on the stove to tend to the fire, it would allow all that smoke to come in to the house. Other times it seemed fine if I got it burning well in a short period of time. That of course is just my feeling, I am very inexperienced even with wood fires, which apparently this stove wasn't meant for.

Your stove is a high end Base Burner from around 1890.
This stove is NOT a wood stove. In fact burning wood in it WILL DESTROY IT. It is made for only one fuel and that is Anthracite Coal. This is a fairly rare model and this stove is far superior to anything, "modern or smaller," as you put it. In perfect condition these stoves operate around 90 percent efficiency. It is very sophisticated, advanced scientifically and engineered to produce efficient heat for a minimum of coal consumption.
The stove needs to be overhauled and restored by a professional in order to return it to its original operating specs.
You would be making a huge mistake to sell out of hand. You have a treasure and aren't even aware of it.
You should take the stove to Emery at the Antique Stove Hospital and have it restored. We will be more than happy to teach you how operate it and maintain it.
Fuller and Warren was one of the top stove makers in the Northeast and they were in business for many decades.

I see the finial is broken and missing all of its fillagree and can see the stove needs to be overhauled. I would like to see some detailed photos of the inside, bottom, ash pit area and views of the back. I can tell a lot more about its condition if I can see these areas.

If you still want to sell it, you can't expect to get the same price that a restored one gets. In its current shape its worth about 500-600 bucks. That would be a fair price.

Welcome to the forum sdaily.
Very nice stove you have and be shure to understand correctly what William said about that stove before selling it. A nice and rare one.
It can make you the best heating stove you ever can get. But as W. said may needs some pro. rebuilding work on it and I can tell you this : if you decide to have it rebuilt go with a REAL PRO!
If possible I would like to see some photos from the grates and from the right and left sides. I don't see the base clean out door on the photos???????? Thanks

If you decide to sell this stove. Make sure you sell it to someone who understands and appreciates this master piece for what it is.

And curiously, I saw on other places lots of peoples having these stoves ( and some selling these stoves) just for decoration and never heat with them.
They make nice deco but can make much more than that, like most Antique Stoves!

I can probably get some more pictures to post tomorrow. There is a little door on the bottom in the back. Not sure if that is the base cleanout or not. I assume you looked at the pictures using the link which show the front door on the bottom, opened and that it must not be the base cleanout door. I understand that it really needs to be restored but I don't know that I'm ready for that kind of investment. I really appreciate hearing from everyone. It's all very interesting stuff.

sdailey of Buffalo,

As everyone has said, you have a beautiful stove.

If you have any interest in your stove at all I would like to suggest you spend a coupe days readings Nortcan's thread - I Have My Base Burner (BB)

I read this entire thread and have gained a wealth of understanding of these stoves. You have the advantage over me though because you have a stove you can apply everything you learn to.

Just out of curiosity, what would you use for heat if you were to sell this stove ?

Keith

This is what you should do. You should call up Emery at Antique Stove Hospital or Doug at Barnstable and sell the stove to one of them. You will get a fair price for it and they will probably come and get it. Sell, it so it can be restored and preserved for future generations.

I wouldn't sell for $600 after hearing everyone chime in about how nice it is, so I think I will hold on to it and try to get an idea on what a restoration would cost. I still feel like this stove doesn't fit well with this house. It's a starter house and this stove just seems out of place here. I will keep reading through the board to learn about how to use this stove properly until the day I can actually use it. I understand that this stove is more efficient than any modern stove I can purchase, but how would a stove like this warm up more than the room it was in if it wasn't centrally located within the house? I was mainly looking for something to keep the family room warm in the winter. It's an addition to the house with just an un-insulated crawl space and is always colder than the rest of the house.

@echos67: I was just looking to heat the family room during the winter. My gas furnace does the job, but the family room is always a bit colder.

Thanks for the input from everyone. I will check out stovehospital.com and look in to restoration. I am a long way off from using a coal stove regardless of how much better they are. I am curious to know what avid coal burners would say the cons are to using coal.