New to coal - with a shining gem of a base burner: McClary 114 with Piggyback Oven!

mntbugy · Post by **mntbugy** » Sat. Jan. 19, 2019 5:54 pm

The cast iron monsters on Facebook's
Antique Stove Collectors site. Would love to see pictures of your heater.

DonKom · Post by **DonKom** » Sun. Jan. 20, 2019 11:40 am

Thanks - just made a post there as well.

biggerpatterson · Post by **biggerpatterson** » Sun. Jan. 20, 2019 12:25 pm

For starting a fire I find natural lump charcoal , not the briquettes,and newspaper are all you need . A few pages of balled up newspaper covered with natural charcoal in the fire pot, open the draft and light from the bottom. I usually light a ball of newspaper in the ash pan to get it going. If the manometer shows low draft I may first light a ball of newspaper on top the charcoal to warm things up. . Works every time.

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Sun. Jan. 20, 2019 8:49 pm

A very beautiful stove! What a gem.

DonKom · Post by **DonKom** » Mon. Jan. 21, 2019 11:44 am

biggerpatterson wrote: ↑
Sun. Jan. 20, 2019 12:25 pm
For starting a fire I find natural lump charcoal , not the briquettes,and newspaper are all you need . A few pages of balled up newspaper covered with natural charcoal in the fire pot, open the draft and light from the bottom. I usually light a ball of newspaper in the ash pan to get it going. If the manometer shows low draft I may first light a ball of newspaper on top the charcoal to warm things up. . Works every time.

Excellent advice - so you don't use any liquid fuel like lighter fluid or kerosene - just a ball of newspaper below it? Definitely worth trying!

CoalHeat wrote: ↑
Sun. Jan. 20, 2019 8:49 pm
A very beautiful stove! What a gem.

I'm lucky to own it... it's my hope that it stays as a family heirloom for generations to come.

Pauliewog · Post by **Pauliewog** » Mon. Jan. 21, 2019 3:07 pm

Congratulations! I've been searching for one with an oven for over 5 years now and only ran across one that was just missing too many parts.

I also agree with leaving it sidewise. It's definitely a Gem !

I wouldn't worry about leaving it in that position with the shaker toward the wall. I have the identical grates in a few of my mica stoves and actually prefer them to the triangular grates.

I find that the most efficient way to shake it down is to give the outer grate a brisk side to side shake until you have glowing coals in between the bottom fingers. Then shake the clamshells a bit until you feel resistance and get some glowing coals in the ash pan.

Then ,open the bottom doors one at a time and floss downward between the fingers with a thin rod until the bottom windows are glowing bright.

Next just top off the magazine, sit back and enjoy it. The whole procedure takes under 5 minutes twice a day.

Paulie

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Mon. Jan. 21, 2019 3:28 pm

I just realized where the Victorians got the idea for that stove design,....

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_yl ... fr=yfp-t-s

Paul

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Mon. Jan. 21, 2019 7:53 pm

Sunny Boy wrote: ↑
Mon. Jan. 21, 2019 3:28 pm
I just realized where the Victorians got the idea for that stove design,....

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_yl ... fr=yfp-t-s

Yep the feature has been called a bustle, a caboose or a piggy back realative to time and locality's

Paul

DonKom · Post by **DonKom** » Tue. Jan. 22, 2019 10:28 am

Pauliewog wrote: ↑
Mon. Jan. 21, 2019 3:07 pm
Congratulations! I've been searching for one with an oven for over 5 years now and only ran across one that was just missing too many parts.

I also agree with leaving it sidewise. It's definitely a Gem !

I wouldn't worry about leaving it in that position with the shaker toward the wall. I have the identical grates in a few of my mica stoves and actually prefer them to the triangular grates.

I find that the most efficient way to shake it down is to give the outer grate a brisk side to side shake until you have glowing coals in between the bottom fingers. Then shake the clamshells a bit until you feel resistance and get some glowing coals in the ash pan.

Then ,open the bottom doors one at a time and floss downward between the fingers with a thin rod until the bottom windows are glowing bright.

Next just top off the magazine, sit back and enjoy it. The whole procedure takes under 5 minutes twice a day.

Paulie

Thanks for the advice and technique here, Paulie! The guy I bought it off of had what looked like a McClary 414 which is the bigger brother to this one with a piggyback oven, seemed to only be missing the magazine. He also had a number of unrestored base burners with piggyback ovens in various conditions, but I didn't check them for completeness. Let me know if you want his contact information.

Sunny Boy wrote: ↑
Mon. Jan. 21, 2019 3:28 pm
I just realized where the Victorians got the idea for that stove design,....

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_yl ... fr=yfp-t-s

Paul

Hah, I totally see the connection!

Hoytman · Post by **Hoytman** » Tue. Jan. 22, 2019 8:42 pm

Pauliewog wrote: ↑
Mon. Jan. 21, 2019 3:07 pm
The whole procedure takes under 5 minutes twice a day.

Paulie

It's taking me 30 minutes of baby sitting this wood stove just to get it going, and only then with both doors open. Ugghhh!!!! I'm not even going to tell you about the re-starts. This wood stove is horrible and I can't wait to get a good coal stove.

DonKom · Post by **DonKom** » Wed. Jan. 23, 2019 9:59 am

Hoytman wrote: ↑
Tue. Jan. 22, 2019 8:42 pm
It's taking me 30 minutes of baby sitting this wood stove just to get it going, and only then with both doors open. Ugghhh!!!! I'm not even going to tell you about the re-starts. This wood stove is horrible and I can't wait to get a good coal stove.

I was never a fan of the start-up times for my wood stove. It was a more modern and efficient variety made by Pacific Energy but the ramp-up time, frequency of refueling, and then the fact that you need to do a hard restart when too much ash builds up? Glad those days are behind me.

Hoytman · Post by **Hoytman** » Wed. Jan. 23, 2019 4:43 pm

That's the same impression many forum members here have given me.

I love the smell of wood smoke to a degree, but dang this thing smokes up the house bad. Before I complain too much I need to get a manometer to check my draft though. I also need to measure this chimney. It's inside the home, masonry, but I'm going to guess it's right at the minimum height for fire code. If it's 15 or 16ft. above the thimble I'll be lucky. It's awfully close. Single story home, vent is in the middle of the peak of the roof, approximately 2 1/2 to 3 feet above the peak of the roof.

DonKom · Post by **DonKom** » Wed. Jan. 23, 2019 5:08 pm

I've just had the inspectors here today and thankfully we don't need to put sheet metal (heat shield) on the back wall, only the ceiling, and it can be painted with any paint so I'll just apply the same ceiling paint to it and we'll be up to code for uncertified appliances. Should be able to fire it up next week, so long as I have some coal to burn! That hasn't arrived yet.

DonKom · Post by **DonKom** » Wed. Jan. 30, 2019 4:00 pm

Update: Heat shield installed on the ceiling (will paint it at a later date) and stove pipe installed. Repairs inside the chimney with refractory cement were needed as well, once that dries I'll be able to fire her up... first thing tomorrow morning.

Wish me luck!

.JPG | 504.8KB | IMG_20190130_155044.jpg

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Wed. Jan. 30, 2019 5:57 pm

Be ready to open some windows at first fire I’m sure the paint will stink when it gets up to temp,
What kind of temps are you having in your area?
Dana