can you help me with a French coal stove?

 
User avatar
Sunny Boy
Member
Posts: 25550
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 1:40 pm
Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Wed. May. 16, 2018 11:11 am

someboater wrote:
Wed. May. 16, 2018 7:46 am
Thanks. I thought it was meant to be as close to the stove as possible. Your comment is very handy for me :)

I had ideas about making a damper using an aluminium disc with holes drilled and tapped to take bolts one of which would be a ringbolt to provide a point to rotate it.

Not sure if the aluminium would be liable to melt. It's a lot easier to drill and tap aluminium than steel or iron.

I envisage using a 60mm flue pipe so I don't think there is an "off the shelf" option available.

Yes, aluminum has a much lower melting point than steel, but you have to be realistic about where it is in relation to the heat source.

The stove and the pipe would all have to reach cherry red, which would set the boat on fire before an aluminum damper a few feet up the stove pipe from the stove would get hot enough to melt.

Paul

 
franco b
Site Moderator
Posts: 11416
Joined: Wed. Nov. 05, 2008 5:11 pm
Location: Kent CT
Hand Fed Coal Stove: V ermont Castings 2310, Franco Belge 262
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood Modern Oak 114
Coal Size/Type: nut and pea

Post by franco b » Wed. May. 16, 2018 12:17 pm

1/8 steel or even less should be fine. Be sure to leave a good gap in size.

With a boat a major concern should be adequate shielding of inflammables.

 
someboater
New Member
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu. May. 10, 2018 9:42 am

Post by someboater » Wed. May. 16, 2018 4:07 pm

This little stove is going to be at least a foot away from anything flammable to all sides and the feet will be attached by brackets and bolts to a heavy cast iron tray which will be screwed to the plywood floor. Its not a particularly small boat (cabin size 10'x8' x6' headroom). There is currently a 4kw multifuel stove in there which provides too much heat and takes up too much space in the cabin. I am planning to remove that and install this small unit. I also have a flued diesel heater in there as well as a propane boiler.

The flue will pass through the headlining inside a stainless steel collar with lagging between collar and flue. I have safely installed several other stoves in various boats.

I guess this stove will have a higher body temperature than anything I have used before so I do need to be cautious but I hope that a foot air gap all round is going to be okay and I won't need to tile or cover any surfaces with heatproof materials. If that is necessary I would like to use copper sheet as it would be in keeping with the style of the old stove.


 
someboater
New Member
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu. May. 10, 2018 9:42 am

Post by someboater » Wed. May. 16, 2018 4:15 pm

Regarding the damper.

I suppose I could use a brass threaded rod M8 and drill several holes along its length tapped with M4 thread then simply bolt a steel disc to it. I will be able to access the inside of the flue for assembly. Then use washers and springs and nuts to mount it so that it stays tight. Then add an M8 ringnut to one end for rotating it.

So for a 60mm Inside diameter flue what size disc would it be? 45mm? Is there a standard ratio for the size of the disc versus the size of the pipe.

 
User avatar
Sunny Boy
Member
Posts: 25550
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 1:40 pm
Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Wed. May. 16, 2018 4:31 pm

Tile or brick covering doesn't heat shield as much as you think. To get a good rating you have to use thick bricks with are heavy (unless you need more ballast :D ) and take up space.

By our National Fire Codes tile and thin brick doesn't reduce the allowable clearance as much as a simple sheet metal shield with at least a one inch air gap between the sheet metal and any combustible surface, plus having an equal gap all across the bottom so that as the sheet metal heats up, natural convection draws cooler floor level air up through that gap to shield the wall. Remember that air is a poor conductor of heat.

And, If you add a layer of fireproof insulation, such as rock wool, it reduces that even more.

Rather than put a heat shield on my kitchen wall, I chose to mount it on my stove, which is also acceptable by code. I put a sheet metal box on the back of my coal range and two layers of one inch rock wool sheet inaside the box. That allows me to put the range within 12 inches of any combustible material and still meet the fire codes.

This chart will give you an idea.

Paul

Attachments

Stove cleances.gif
.GIF | 63KB | Stove cleances.gif

 
User avatar
Sunny Boy
Member
Posts: 25550
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 1:40 pm
Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Wed. May. 16, 2018 4:35 pm

If you make a damper, put several 3/4 inch holes in it so that the pipe can't accidentally be fully closed off and poison those on board be backing up the exhaust inside the cabin.

If you do an internet search for "stove pipe dampers" you'll see the proportion of holes to damper size.

Here's a link to pix of assorted standard size dampers on eBay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cast-Iron-Stove-Pipe-Dam ... 3035!US!-1

Paul


 
someboater
New Member
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu. May. 10, 2018 9:42 am

Post by someboater » Thu. May. 17, 2018 10:07 am

Thanks.

I'll use a 50mm disc.

I do have 2 digital carbon monoxide detectors on my boat as well for extra safety. They show if there are any small problems before it becomes serious because the monitor display will record small concentrations before the alarm level is reached.

Handy things to have when burning hydrocarbons !

 
someboater
New Member
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu. May. 10, 2018 9:42 am

Post by someboater » Tue. May. 22, 2018 2:11 pm

Hi. An update.

Image

I have installed the stove in the boat and got it going using some teak flooring offcuts and some pine plank offcuts. I have not yet made the manual pipe damper so it is running on a plain 2.5 inch internal flue pipe.
First thing to say is that the grate is clearly for coal burning. For wood I removed the grate and started a small fire in the cast iron ash pan, slid it in and added more wood from the top. One advantage of this is there is more space down there where the body widens out and the lower opening acts as a over-fire air feed with the grate removed. The cast ash pan helps to prop up the wood pieces to help with even burning. I made a little aluminium plate to put over the lower opening. This is very effective as the fire can be "turned off" by blocking this opening. This leaves wood remains like charcoal in the ash pan and around it. Or turn it around as in the picture above for a half draught arrangement.
The upper opening which is a 1/2 inch round hole is obviously a peep hole to see the state of the fire and a poker hole for when burning coal with the grate.
And the lower opening is big enough to get a blow torch in there to quickly get the fire going again or start from cold.

All in all its a well designed little stove. Very small but very satisfsctory and nice to look at. I am Very pleased with it.

Post Reply

Return to “Antiques, Baseburners, Kitchen Stoves, Restorations & Modern Reproductions”