Glenwood 116 to Help Out Little Tiget

Wren wrote:Oh, thanks, Sunny Boy. I wonder why then, for example, they are missing in my Glenwood and other stoves? I'll be happy to keep the Tiger bricks as they are. If there is space showing between them should I fill it with cement. Ah. The answer is probably in another thread. I will look!

With the Glenwoods the brick liners were an option, not standard. So your 116 may not have had the liner when it was new, but someone added it later. A clay fire brick, or refractory cement liner does help the coal burn better by retaining more heat in the firebed. That keeps the coal up at the high temps it needs to burn more efficiently. So someone rebuilding/refurbishing it might know that and add the liner.

Or, as mentioned the liner can build up a thick layer of clinker scale over the years. That not only reduces how much coal it will hold thus heat it will put out, it also makes it tougher to shake down ashes thoroughly.

Or, it could be the bricks were replaced because as Pancho warned about - someone may have gotten too rough tending fires and damaged them.

Maybe the previous owner can fill you in on some of the stove's history ???


Paul

Pancho, good that you mention it as my first thought was to get a chisel. I'm a dangerous overcleaner. It came with some melting above the ash door inside only and I felt bad that I caused more but it seems to have disappeared on it's own other than brushing it when cold. The only thing that held me back from chiseling was fear of going through to the other side and not being really sure what it was.

It is better to sleep on what you are going to do
Than to be kept awake by what you have done.

I should definitely ask what he knows.

I chiseled a lot of the clinker scale buildup off the clay fire bricks on my range. About a 1/2 inch thickness on each face,... and it made a noticeable difference in how much coal the firebox would hold and heat output.

1. You need to use a narrow enough chisel that doesn't dig in at just the corners of the chisel edge because of the curvature of the pot.
2. And use a small hammer so that it's easy to keep the hammer blows very light. Tap-tap-tap,.. not bam-bam-bam !!!
3. Work slowly - don't be tempted to get in a hurry that will be more likely to cause damage.
4. STOP if you see the clinker chunks are pulling out chunks of liner, instead of the clinker scale being sheared off at the surface of the liner.
5. Don't try to get 100 percent of the scale off. It's often embedded down into the liner surface in spots.
6. This is very important !!!! You must firmly hold the chisel flat against and parallel with the liner surface or the ramp affect of the chisel's edge will make it want to dig into the liner.

Paul

If it were me with a chisel I would buy a cheap one and take the corners off it on a bench grinder or whatever is handy to do it as it seems that is where the digging would take place.

Okay. It can be done then. I appreciate that. It might need doing in one spot. But I'll wait a bit and mull that advice over first.

Wondering if anyone has used or seen an arbor to fit in a drill motor, shaped like a cone or drum sander, with a course enuff grit to cut through the slag on the bricks? I know a remote drill probably wouldn't be that high a speed, but it might be enuff to sand down the build-up? I think I tried something similar to my 111 bricks when I had it apart, but wasn't too successful. I went on line, hunting for something better, but haven't seen anything...yet.

joeq wrote:Wondering if anyone has used or seen an arbor to fit in a drill motor, shaped like a cone or drum sander, with a course enuff grit to cut through the slag on the bricks? I know a remote drill probably wouldn't be that high a speed, but it might be enuff to sand down the build-up? I think I tried something similar to my 111 bricks when I had it apart, but wasn't too successful. I went on line, hunting for something better, but haven't seen anything...yet.

I tried sanding drums in a drill motor. It worked on the softer parts of the scale, but there was quite a lot of iron slag in it too. The sanding discs dulled quickly and could only shine up the iron chunks.

I know my small angle grinder would work, but I decided that I'd rather not be sleeping in the shop after the mess it'd make of the kitchen.

Paul

I know what you mean Paul. When my bricks were on the floor, I tried a 4 1/2" grinder, and the bricks just broke from the bouncing of the wheel. I was as steady as I could muster, but the slag was pretty nasty. And like you said, some was tougher than iron.

Learned something off a very funny post advising people always to stay for one last drink. It helps solve the problem of air bypassing the coal. It says to hold newspaper- I used card board- in front of the grate to force the air under the coal bed. I think it helped very much loading. Also says never shake it down until loading is finished.
For a few days I watched my fire die out and I knew it was me. The order of the tasks to be performed when lighting a fire, they stress, MUST be respected. And then a link is provide to an excellent coal forum...which brings me here again!! Very weird U.K. site. I mean funny.

They seem to like open grates over there with their soft coal and peat. The older English cook stoves are built with an open grate right at the front of the stove. I'd hate to be standing there when a fresh load of our anthracite coal starts doing it's snap, crackle, and pop imitations and shooting pieces of coal around.

You won't have to worry about that with the 116. The grates are only open to the ash drawer area, so they are only sorta exposed up in the top of the ash drawer space when the ash door is open, or the smaller shaker door in the top of the ash door.

By only needing to have that small door open to shake ashes, it cuts way down on chances of ash dust getting outside the stove. And it also helps by not letting in as much colder room air while doing ash clearing as some stoves without the little shaker doors do. So no need to block the grates with cardboard.

As you may know by now, too much cold air, either through, or over the fire can cool off the hot flue gases thus reducing the draft strength needed to get fresh coal burning sooner.

Paul

Noooo!! I did not know cold room air could kill my fire! Well it's only been about three weeks. Today it lit quickly and easily and the world is a wonderful place. But it was quite warm for a while so it didn't't matter. The 116 sounds good. Emoji rolling its eyes. I wish it were here too already.

Yup, you don't want the stove open any longer than nessiassry to load and deal with ashes.

It's good practice to learn to build up a "heat bank" before you open the stove for tending.

By opening the primary air damper and the pipe MPD damper and letting the fire build up stronger for a few minutes, your adding more heat to the chimney system to help offset that cold fuel and air that will be going in during tending. Then the draft strength doesn't take such a big hit and it will recover that much sooner after tending.

Sorta like letting the stove get a running start up to leap over that point.

Paul

I'll have to do to do that. I find that coal cannot be lit in a rush and tended later like a wood stove. Funny, I didn't have the problem at first. Last night the fire died out while loading for the night. The night before the Tiger was still hot in the morning and it was only half full when I left it. I understand now why people once believed in gods that were hard to appease and threw a few people into the fire just in case it would help.

Wren wrote:I'll have to do to do that. I find that coal cannot be lit in a rush and tended later like a wood stove.

The common comparison is,...

Wood is like a sports car. Fast acceleration, but burns up fuel quickly and can't go far.

Coal is like a freight train. It starts out very slowly and takes time to get up to speed. But once it's up to speed, it can move a lot and go long distances.

Tricks like heat-banking and don't have loading doors open any longer than needed, can help get the coal train back up to running speed sooner.

Paul