Coalpail.com Forum

Hi everyone,

I just acquired a Wedgewood coal stove and am having a hard time finding any information on it. I was wondering if anyone on here has any experience or information on them? I have some work to do on it before its ready to burn. I got it pretty cheap, and there are a couple cracks in the top of the firebox that i am going to weld up and I think I either need to patch some of the upper barrel or replace it entirely. The grates look decent and the stove looks cool and fits in the location I am planning for it. Haven't dug into it much but this is the first place I thought of going to try and find some information. Such a wealth of knowledge in one place.

Any info/questions/suggestions would be appreciated!!

Post up a picture of the grates if you can. Looks like a nice one.

That appears to be a porcelin finish, yes?

Yes it's a porcelain finish. I've been looking at it a bit more and found that it says Jas Graham MFG called out on it also. The grates are weird looking to me. Not that I actually have any experience with old coal stoves like this haha. They actually rotate and the center pulls in and out. Actually opens up a fair bit. Confuses me as to the point of that. Wouldn't a lot of coal fall out if you pulled it too far? Attached some pics of the grates and the area that needs repair.

[quote=jibs1723 post_id=660949 time=1518919025 user_id=27431The grates are weird looking to me. Not that I actually have any experience with old coal stoves like this haha. They actually rotate and the center pulls in and out. Actually opens up a fair bit. Confuses me as to the point of that. Wouldn't a lot of coal fall out if you pulled it too far? Attached some pics of the grates and the area that needs repair.
[/quote]

Those are called “Draw Center” grates. Before shaking down the stove the center is pulled out to its mechanical stop and ash is dropped down into the pan with a poker through the “clinker door”. We need to see more pics to ensure you have one (clinker door). After the ashes drop, but before the red coals drop, the center grate is pushed back in. It takes a bit of getting used to but I prefer them to any other style grate. They are simple, easy to recast if necessary and quite durable. Can you get us a picture of the front of the stove where the center grate protrudes out?

Scalabro that's very interesting. I am attaching some pictures of the front of the stove but there is also a small door on the bottom right side that sounds like the clinker door you are talking about. You can see it on the right side the ash pan box side. It doesn't open all the way at the moment but maybe that is the clinker door you're talking about? Wasn't sure what else it would be used for.

My common sense opinion (which is a dying art it seems) would be YEP!!

That’s the clinker door jibs!

Hi all,

Long time no posting, but I finally finished up this stove and have it installed. Have a look at some of the "restoration" pics. New barrel is made out of hastelloy so it should last for a good long time. The load door was quite warped and the enamel was burned off so I cut it out and added a window. What fun is a fire if you can't see it! So far I am happy with the heat output and the stove in general, just having some difficulties getting the burntime i would like. Not sure if its due to the design of the stove or just the learning curve associated with it. Burn pot hold approx 25lbs of stove size coal. I plan to burn nut in it but I have the stove size leftover from a clayton furnace I had installed in my garage before I put a stoker in. Does anyone have any tips/tricks for keeping this burning longer? Right now if I turn it all the way down, I can't even get 8hrs idle time and the fire gets too small to be able to recover easily.

Thanks!

Nice job! I like the use of Hastelloy ( nickel-chromium-molybdenum) for the barrel.

What was the material cost for that sheet?

Have you measured chimney draft?

I see the MPD, and the addition of a baro above it on this style direct draft stove, will go a long way to extending burn times if you have a powerful chimney.

Using clean nut size coal will definitely add burn time as more coal will fit in the pot.

Check the fit of the ash door, and that shutter type of air control usually leaks badly. Shine a light from one side to check the shutter, and close a dollar bill in the door at various places to check the door.

25 pounds is not a lot of coal capacity to heat a large area, and also get long burn times. And stove sized coal only makes that tougher because of less fuel density in the same space. Plus, because of the bigger air spaces between chunks, stove size is tougher to get to burn more slowly - unless you have really good control due to tight fitting ash pan and primary air slider - as Franco pointed out.

By switching to nut coal, you'll gain about 10% more fuel within the same space. So, more fuel for heat output, or when slowed down, longer burn times. Plus, nut coal also "breathes" slower to help control and slow burn times. So the burn times are actually a bit more than the 10% difference in fuel density in the firepot. At least that's what I'm finding using both sizes of coal this winter.

My kitchen range firebox is the same size - about 25 lbs. And I've been using up a ton of bagged stove coal I got for a good price. But, I have to refuel it much more often than when I run it on just nut coal. I've had it go out a few times because I forgot to check sooner than I'm used to after 13 seasons of just using nut coal. So, I only use the stove coal during the day.

After dinner, I only load it with nut coal, so that by bed time it has very little, or no stove coal left in it. Then it has the maximum amount of fuel density and it can be dampered down for over night. Like that, it will easily go 12 hours before needing to be refueled and shake ash the next morning. But it still keeps the back half of the house comfortable.

Switching to "range coal" - a mix of nut and pea coal - will extend it even more.

Just don't expect to heat a big area for a long time with a small firepot.

Paul

Thanks for the replies!

I can't comment on the cost of the material as it was a scrap piece my dad had laying around at his work and he cut it and rolled it to size for me. I will say, Hastelloy is veryyy tough to work with. Had to resharpen drill bits quite a few times in just the 20 or so holes I had to drill. And that material is only .027 thick.

I have not measured draft yet, I will have to drill a hole in the pipe and bring the manometer in from the garage.

I hadn't thought that the stove size coal would make that much difference but I tested it last night. I have buck for my gentleman janitor stoker and i started the fire last night on stove coal and switched to buck, and was able to keep a decent fire overnight. A small portion of the fire was dead this morning, but I shook it down and loaded it up and we'll see what its like when I get home this afternoon.

As for the leaky ash pan door, I suspected the same thing, and gasketed that door with some self adhesive flat fiberglass gasket. Additionally I sealed the clinker door with high temp silicone as I felt that was a large air leak as well. I do have to tighten up the shutter air control as I noticed that was quite leaky as well. For now I have a shim I set behind the knob to tighten it up as much as possible.

What size coal would you suggest for this size stove? I'm wondering if even with nut I will not be able to get it to maintain the burn times I would like.

And I am very happy with the heat output. I had a vermont castings intrepid II in the spot before this, and the heat output is much greater and more even with this. With the convection style of the stove I get much more heat movement throughout the house and upstairs. I can see this stove cutting my fuel bill by a good amount. I am super happy, as long as I can get it to where I can tend before and after work I'll be set.

Yes, size does matter.

First you'll have to get control of air feed. Then, for coal size, since every setup is unique, your going to have to experiment to see what works best with your stove and chimney system. Someone else with the same stove could have totally different results because of their chimney system being different.

Some use a straight size, others find a blend of sizes works best.

At some point going smaller in coal size is going to be limited by the openings in the grate. Go too small and a lot of coal falls through before it can burn. Often a mix of small and medium sizes will prevent that.

You may also find a difference in using bagged verses bulk ? I've used Blaschak, Kimmels, and now Lehigh bagged nut and stove. None are as consistently sized as the bulk nut coal I get from my dealer. You might want to pour out the bags and use the larger chunks during the day. Then save the smaller chunks for when you want a longer burn at night. And sort out the really small chunks and fines that would slow the fire too much.

I do that with my coal bins. As the coal pours off the shute from the truck, it naturally sorts itself. The larger pieces tend to roll down the pile more easily, so they concentrate more at the outer edges. During the day when I want a hotter fire, I take coal from the outer edges. Getting the stove loaded for the night, I dig into the middle of the pile to get a higher concentration of smaller chunks for a longer, slower fire.

BTW, really nice job getting it back to life.

Paul

freetown fred wrote: ↑

Sun. Feb. 18, 2018 10:56 am

My common sense opinion (which is a dying art it seems) would be YEP!!

You'r so right my Friend, I talk about the dying art* not the YEP!!

Salutations

jibs1723, what does your father do that he has spare Hastelloy sheet lying around? And yes, that barrel will be around long after the cast pieces have turned to dust!!