1970's Franklin by Atlanta Stove Works

 
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jdode
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Post by jdode » Sat. Dec. 22, 2018 11:34 pm

Last week, I found a (vintage?) 1970's Franklin stove by the Atlanta Stove Works. It's 36" wide and 26" deep. I want to buy it, for the fireplace effect, but I'm wondering if it might be too big for the living room. On one end of the room, my chair would be very close to it and it would vent out through the exterior wall. If I move it to the other end of the room, that would be better, but I'd have to hire someone to expose and prep the chimney that has been walled over for many years. Also, hundreds of Chimney Sweeps inhabit the chimney during the spring and summer. I would hate to displace them. Any advice on the Franklin stove? Btw, the Franklin has swing out arms, on each side, on which can be held a Dutch oven or grill over the fire/coals. Also, it has glass panels in the doors.
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jdode
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Location: SE MO
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vintage laundry tank heater
Coal Size/Type: Nut Anthracite
Other Heating: Natural gas

Post by jdode » Sat. Dec. 22, 2018 11:35 pm

I'm looking for a coal grate for the Franklin. However, if any of you think this stove is too big to sit close to, then, speak up. ;)

 
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StokerDon
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Post by StokerDon » Sun. Dec. 23, 2018 8:32 am

I don't think you will be able to burn Anthracite in this stove. The lack of a sealed grate system and the air leaks from the multi-hinged doors make it all but impossible for the fire to breath up from the bottom. These are meant for burning wood and maybe Bit coal?

-Don

 
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jdode
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vintage laundry tank heater
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Post by jdode » Sun. Dec. 23, 2018 9:38 am

StokerDon wrote:
Sun. Dec. 23, 2018 8:32 am
I don't think you will be able to burn Anthracite in this stove......

-Don
That's exactly the kind of information I was wanting to hear from the experienced people, here. I haven't made the purchase, yet, and I have a week to decide. Truly, sounds as though I better keep looking.

 
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StokerDon
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Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. Dec. 23, 2018 9:59 am

If you intend to burn Anthracite, I'm glad you didn't buy it. Keep looking for something that was intended to burn Anthracite. That might be a little bit of a problem down in MO though. Most Anthracite stoves will be for sale in the northeast part of the country.

Keep us posted though, there are some forum members that travel around the country and might be able to haul a stove out your way.

-Don

 
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jdode
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Other Heating: Natural gas

Post by jdode » Sun. Dec. 23, 2018 10:05 am

Thanks, Don! I'll keep looking and I plan to sell my laundry water tank heater, too. There are plenty of coal burners to choose from, here. (Now, I have to go back to ones that I declined.) ;)

 
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warminmn
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Coal Size/Type: nut and stove anthracite, lignite
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Post by warminmn » Sun. Dec. 23, 2018 10:37 am

Your in about the same boat as me because of your location, lack of coal stoves. You could order one from the east if you want too. I did that once and it worked fine. You might get lucky and find a Warm Morning brand locally though, or once in a while an antique will show up for sale. craigslist, facebook are the main 2 places to watch.


 
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jdode
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vintage laundry tank heater
Coal Size/Type: Nut Anthracite
Other Heating: Natural gas

Post by jdode » Sun. Dec. 23, 2018 9:15 pm

warminmn wrote:
Sun. Dec. 23, 2018 10:37 am
Your in about the same boat as me because of your location, lack of coal stoves.....
There are a dozen for me to choose, within 150 miles. I think I should take my time and plan for the acquisition to take a year, so there's no rush. That way I can wait for something that will look nice with my mid century modern decor. However, it may or may not be an ornately vintage stove. The modern day black boxes will work fine, if I can't find a 1940's Art Deco model.

Something like this would work, it's not as ornate as some. With fire brick and a coal grate, I think it could work. (Yes, I know it's a wood stove.)
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Sun. Dec. 23, 2018 9:26 pm

That's another wood stove.

Trying to convert a wood stove by adding a fire brick and some type of grate will not work well like a stove designed for coal. Wood can use just about any type of grate. Coal needs a special grate that matches the size coal the stove is sized best to use.

And the primary air must be fed in under the grate and firebed, not over the firebed like a wood stove. Then you need room for an ash pan under the grate so your not making a mess shoveling the ashes into a bucket. Coal has far more ash than the same volume of wood. You'll need to easily clear and dump ash at least once a day or you'll be VERY frustrated with the stove.

Paul

 
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warminmn
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Other Heating: Wood and wear a wool shirt

Post by warminmn » Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 12:23 am

What Sunnyboy said.

Most stoves advertised as wood/coal wont work with anthracite and some will barely work with bit coal.

 
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jdode
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Post by jdode » Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 12:34 am

Good to know. So, a custom made coal grate, with a flange all around it to make it fit snug against the walls, wouldn't work?

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 6:49 am

jdode wrote:
Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 12:34 am
Good to know. So, a custom made coal grate, with a flange all around it to make it fit snug against the walls, wouldn't work?
Your still thinking like a wood burner. There's more to a "good" coal stove than just a fixed grate with a "flange". Likely it would work, but not well. Then the frustration sets in because it can't really operate like a coal stove.

If you look at the best coal stove designs, they have a movable grate system that can grind, break up the coal ash and clinkers and dump it into a properly sized pan to be easily removed without making a dusty mess of the room. Often that involves grate bars with teeth that are geared together and can be rotated, not just shaken. If you can't clear ash and clinkers properly, every day the fire dies out. About the best type of grate design have triangular teeth. That was used in many top of the line coal stoves, furnaces, and boilers up until about WWII.

At the minimum, as clinkers (fused coal ash and iron oxides) grow in size, they displace room in the firebed for burning coal. So over the course of a week or two the heat output drops as the lower part of the firebed becomes clinkers that grow larger as more ask fuses to them. Been there, cursed that. That build up of fused coal ash also starts to block shaking un-fused ash out of the firebed. It becomes a nasty, frustrating downward spiral to having to let the stove go out and then hand clear that mess out and start over...... only to repeat the cycle.

Don't waste your time trying to make a wood stove into a coal stove until you know coal stoves. You wouldn't show up at Indy Speedway with the family economy car, just throw some high octane gas in it, and then expect to win, right ? :D

Better to put your time and money into something that will do the job correctly so you won't be frustrated trying make a wood stove do something it can't.

I strongly suggest you watch the late William Sherrick's series of six You Tube videos on how to use a coal stove, especially the parts about when and how to shake ash and clinkers. You don't have to buy an antique like William's, but it will explain a lot about what makes a good coal stove work. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChc7M4ruPx1yzqkV5lBMDyg

Paul

 
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jdode
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vintage laundry tank heater
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Other Heating: Natural gas

Post by jdode » Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 11:12 am

Sunny Boy wrote:
Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 6:49 am
Your still thinking like a wood burner. There's more to a "good" coal stove than just a fixed grate with a "flange". Likely it would work, but not well. Then the frustration sets in because it can't really operate like a coal stove....
Thanks for the video link. I watched this particular series of William's a couple of months ago. It's mostly about how to light and maintain a coal fire. His use of kerosene reminded of the small coffee can that my parents kept in the furnace room, with sticks of kindling standing in the can of 2" deep kerosene, that they used as 'starters', if the fire ever went out.

The video I like better is this one, which explains in detail how the coal stove actually works and the benefits of the Glenwood base heater. Part 2 shows and explains the grate system.

 
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StokerDon
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Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 11:19 am

Take your time, do a little research. Do like Sunny Boy says. If you do it right, you will be amazed how little work it is to tend one of these stoves. Do it wrong, and it will just be a pain in the butt.

-Don

 
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jdode
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Post by jdode » Mon. Dec. 24, 2018 11:50 am

Thanks for all the suggestions. They are greatly appreciated! Part of my desire to use wood and coal in the same stove is due to the year or two supply of wood on the cottage property, that I'd like to burn until it's gone. Plus, my plan is to move from there in two years and I could leave the wood burner with the house, as no one here burns coal, because they don't know how great a fuel is anthracite coal. Most have heard stories about the messy, stinky (bit) coal that the great grandparents used at the turn of the century.

Right now, i'm living in my 118 year old, 2.5 story brick Victorian. It has a coal fireplace in the living room, and I suspect it had lots of parlor stoves throughout it in it's heyday, due to the number of covered flues I've found throughout the house. The plan is to sell this BIG house in the spring and complete the move to the cottage. At the cottage, I want to burn off the excess small timber in a wood stove that could, also, use coal at night. Then, 2 years later, sell the cottage, leaving behind the wood stove.

It sounds as though I won't be able to alternate wood and coal use in one unit, so I should focus on the wood stove first and buy a coal burner after I sell the cottage, two years from now.

Yesterday, I started a new thread, strictly about my search for a coal stove. I might be able to have a wood burner in the living room and a coal burner in the side porch, or vice versa. So sorry for all the confusion. ;)


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