New to the forum and coal for that matter.

 
Cdon2948
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Post by Cdon2948 » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 10:27 am

Hi everyone ive been doing the lurk for a little bit to try and learn what I can, so here is the story. My wife and I just bought an old Italianate home on the banks of the Kennebec river here in Maine (i know ive seen a few Mainers around here!) Im a purist and we are restoring the home to around 1890ish and one thing I've learned is that my steam radiators have a varying degree of effectiveness depending on if the room as the 1890s big boys or the later smaller ones which work like absolute garbage. So my first thought as i burn through gallons and gallons of heating oil is why not see about coal!? I have two chimneys that i want to set up, one in the library (which isnt restored/being used yet so its lower priority) and one in the parlour which until i get a flue in wont be burning anything. The parlour fireplace is also some horrid 1960s-70s uninspired brick thing so i will have to be replaced anyhow. In an ideal world i would love to put in a Baltimore heater in the parlour and a coal insert fireplace in the library since it still has most of its features from an 1880s update. However I am open to period suggestions for either one. The library isnt a going to be a main source of heat like i would like the parlour to be. As an added bonus both chimneys have heatilator vents for moving air upstairs to the bedrooms as well.

Thanks in advance everyone!
Cornelius


 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 11:21 am

Some pix would really help!! Welcome C--real pretty area you're talkin. :)

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 11:44 am

Welcome C.

If your going to have a coal stove as primary heat, and room space is not a problem, a free standing stove is better than an insert, easier to find because they were more common, and very in keeping with Victorian style.

BTW, since they don't produce creosote, coal stoves don't need a lined chimney like wood stoves should have. And they don't need to have a liner to keep a lot of heat in to help prevent creosote condensation. This was the local coal dealers house, built for a coal kitchen range, coal stoves in parlors (both of which I've replaced and now cook/heat with), and a coal "octopus" furnace in the basement. All three chimneys are unlined brick and they draw very well because they were built taller, like typical of the late Victorian era, than more modern chimneys.

Paul

 
Cdon2948
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Post by Cdon2948 » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 11:50 am

The parlour and sitting room are roughly 500 square foot with 10 foot ceilings and same goes for the library and dining room on the opposite side of my center hall. Like i said the parlour fireplace setup is nothing fancy or period so when i add a flue for a stove/insert i'll be redoing it with either slate or marble for both code and aesthetic reasons. The pink room is the library fireplace and since the wooden mantle is not original im not married to it so it will probobly have the same fate, however i would like to keep my 1880s tiles which is why i was thinking a coal burning fireplace insert. It also is in need of a flue.

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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 12:18 pm

Nice old Victorian C??????????????????? Purty!! :) Nice SKULL by the way!!! LOL

 
Cdon2948
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Post by Cdon2948 » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 12:27 pm

freetown fred wrote:
Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 12:18 pm
Nice old Victorian C??????????????????? Purty!! :) Nice SKULL by the way!!! LOL
Haha! Yes the skull has been drifring around the house since Halloween my 4 year old stepdaughter loves "spooky" things and he even has all the bones properly labelled, eventually he will live in the library.
I refrained from posting the house since that isnt exactly the theme but since you asked here it is! It once belonged to the chief of board of directors for the Kennebec and Portland Rail Road. I actually have a coal dump in the basement still over by where i think the boiler used to be it shared a chimney with the kitchen stove (i found the thimble painted over as im putting the kitchen back into where the kitchen i supposed to be.)

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Cdon2948
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Post by Cdon2948 » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 12:48 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:
Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 11:44 am
Welcome C.

If your going to have a coal stove as primary heat, and room space is not a problem, a free standing stove is better than an insert, easier to find because they were more common, and very in keeping with Victorian style.

BTW, since they don't produce creosote, coal stoves don't need a lined chimney like wood stoves should have. And they don't need to have a liner to keep a lot of heat in to help prevent creosote condensation. This was the local coal dealers house, built for a coal kitchen range, coal stoves in parlors (both of which I've replaced and now cook/heat with), and a coal "octopus" furnace in the basement. All three chimneys are unlined brick and they draw very well because they were built taller, like typical of the late Victorian era, than more modern chimneys.

Paul
Paul thats wild that they dont need a liner. As you can see from the exterior shot the parlour chimney has a flue for the furnace however since it is so wide theres more than enough space for a second for a stove/insert. I assume I will probobly not want to just vent around my furnace flue though. However even with a flue and cap theres still quite the draft up that chimney, heck the whole house is one big draft lol!


 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 1:40 pm

C, I lived in Mt Vernon, Me for a few yrs & my X is Passamaquoddy so we would visit the area to see family. Yep, outstanding house & area!! :)

 
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Post by franco b » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 1:48 pm

I would consider getting rid of the fireplace in the parlor and putting in a free standing stove as Paul suggested. chimney cleaning much easier than with an insert.

 
Cdon2948
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Post by Cdon2948 » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 1:58 pm

freetown fred wrote:
Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 1:40 pm
C, I lived in Mt Vernon, Me for a few yrs & my X is Passamaquoddy so we would visit the area to see family. Yep, outstanding house & area!! :)
Oh yeah I love Mt. Vernon it's a pretty little town, i used to go through there a lot when i would stay in Readfield as a child. I moved up from Brunswick since i fell in love with Kennebec county.

 
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Post by VigIIPeaBurner » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 2:09 pm

Welcome to the forum!

I see why you want to redesign the parlor fireplace and why a Baltimore Heater would fit so well in the library. I do have a suggestion I'm partial to that I believe would look and serve well in the parlor - the model I've use for nearly 20 years as seen in my avatar. The Vigilant II is more of a Federal period design but would settle well with your arch. period as they both overlapped. It shared the arches shown in your top story and the straight lines found in Italianate. The original Vigilant stoves were wood stoves but the model II 2310 is designed as a coal stove. I've used ours as a small fire place with the two doors open or removed.

I operate ours as Vermont Castings designed. There are several members that have modified the design to overcome what they saw as shortcomings. I enjoy the heat and light coming from the windows too much to cover it with a chastity belt (IMHO) of steel plating! On member who you probably noticed with his Baltimore heater thread, nortcan, has many posts and 2 about his Vigilant II. I us a different method of servicing the stove than how he shows that preserves the original design and has less steps.

Good luck on your hunt!

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 3:42 pm

I see you have radiators. Forget the stove and get a stoker boiler!

 
Cdon2948
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Post by Cdon2948 » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 4:17 pm

coaledsweat wrote:
Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 3:42 pm
I see you have radiators. Forget the stove and get a stoker boiler!
That may be what I do when the current boiler perishes which will probably be around 10 years from now

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 5:22 pm

Cdon2948 wrote:
Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 12:48 pm
Paul thats wild that they dont need a liner. As you can see from the exterior shot the parlour chimney has a flue for the furnace however since it is so wide theres more than enough space for a second for a stove/insert. I assume I will probobly not want to just vent around my furnace flue though. However even with a flue and cap theres still quite the draft up that chimney, heck the whole house is one big draft lol!

My central chimney (1891 Queen Ann expansion of an 1966 "English cottage" style) has a basement chimney thimble for the coal octopus furnace. On that same chimney, in the "sitting room" (the Victorians didn't use the term living room) was the thimble for a parlor stove that my Glenwood #6 base heater is piped into, now. . Opposite that thimble, and a bit lower, is another thimble that would have been for a stove in the back parlor (of two parlors). So that's big furnace and two stoves on one chimney. The kitchen range is piped into the original thimble that was there, That same chimney has a thimble in the basement for a "shovel a day" coal hot water heater, which is still here, but not hooked up.

So as you can see, it was common to have more than one coal stove on a chimney. Coal stoves can put out the heat needed, but because they don't need to send so much of their heat up the chimney to prevent creosote condensation, they run with much less exhaust volume than a wood stove does. So sharing chimneys was common. And my research showed all of the previous occupants, back to 1891, died of old age not carbon monoxide.

As for if fire places were new or old looking, that my fool you.
Keep in mind that the Victorians were about "projecting" an image, so parlors (mostly toward the front of the house) tended to be more formal rooms and only used when company came to visit. The would have had the most expensive and elaborate woodwork, wall coverings, furniture, and items to show off. In bigger houses there was often "back parlors", and/or, "sitting rooms" (my house has both) that were less fancy and used for everyday business and family gathering, besides kitchens and dining rooms.

Paul

 
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Post by PJT » Mon. Jan. 20, 2020 5:33 pm

"And my research showed all of the previous occupants, back to 1891, died of old age not carbon monoxide"

Ha Ha that's a good one love it!


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