Help Mt. Penn kitchen coal/wood stove

Hi everyone,

Need a little bit of help. I just purchased the subject stove. One of the pieces was just laying in bottom storage compartment when I picked up. Can anyone tell me where this piece might go on stove? Any assistance would be appreciated.

By God, she's pretty enough!! A baffle of some sort, seems those notches would fit somewhere.

freetown fred wrote: ↑

Sat. Aug. 29, 2020 12:06 pm

By God, she's pretty enough!! A baffle of some sort, seems those notches would fit somewhere.

Agree on both counts.

Look inside the stove and see if there are any parts that have the same spacing as those two notches in the lower corners.

BTW, nice store lamp. They go nicely with an antique range.

Paul

Yep, goes nicely with the dishwasher also--- LOL

freetown fred wrote: ↑

Sat. Aug. 29, 2020 2:04 pm

Yep, goes nicely with the dishwasher also--- LOL

Are you talking about the wall lamp ?

He has the same ceiling lamp at the top pf his picture that I do.

Paul

No, I was talkin about the dishwasher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL Beautiful store lamp by the way!!!

Stevie, I sense a theme in your kitchen and I like it. The dishwasher may be period incorrect, but I would not choose to live without one when there is space for it.

I do not have anything to contribute to answer the threads question, but I have a question of my own.
On antique ranges, I have noticed in photos when there is a back shelf, particularly when there are no high ovens, the builtin flue goes up the back of the shelving assembly. Some have the flue on the front facing and a few the flue is exposed on both sides. My question is when the flue is behind the shelving assembly did the manufacturers ever make a heat reflector or baffle for the builtin flue that would hang off the shelving assembly in the situations when the stove was backed up to a wall that was not masonry? I would think this might have been more common for enameled stoves that did not need to be blackened like Stevie's. Futhermore, I wonder if Stevie's mystery part is a baffle of sorts.

You make a very interesting point. I grew up using coal stoves. My memory goes to back to when I was very young lad and being sent to the basement to feed the Johhnny stove that heated our hot water. The Johnny stove was the size and shape of the R2D2 in Star Wars with a flap on the front to feed coal. The back had copper or cast coils for the water to heat up before reaching the main tank. The stove only stood about 3 to 4 feet high.

Anyway, I have not seen a reflector or baffle behind the stove that hung off the shelving assembly to provide added protection for the walls from the flue as you discussed. The cast neck of the flue on a stove such as this sticks out about 6 inches from behind the stove and creates the need for additional distance from the wall to avoid a fire hazard. The Prizer stoves typically had flue connections behind the warming cabinet. SInce Mt. Penn was a precursor to the Prizer/Painter manufacturer I am not surprised it has the flue connection designed to be in the rear of the stove.

I have seen portable reflectors that you can put behind the stove that reflects the radiant heat back out into the room. You can buy them online from a few different stove shops.

gardener wrote: ↑

Mon. Aug. 31, 2020 8:09 am

Stevie, I sense a theme in your kitchen and I like it. The dishwasher may be period incorrect, but I would not choose to live without one when there is space for it.

I do not have anything to contribute to answer the threads question, but I have a question of my own.
On antique ranges, I have noticed in photos when there is a back shelf, particularly when there are no high ovens, the builtin flue goes up the back of the shelving assembly. Some have the flue on the front facing and a few the flue is exposed on both sides. My question is when the flue is behind the shelving assembly did the manufacturers ever make a heat reflector or baffle for the builtin flue that would hang off the shelving assembly in the situations when the stove was backed up to a wall that was not masonry? I would think this might have been more common for enameled stoves that did not need to be blackened like Stevie's. Futhermore, I wonder if Stevie's mystery part is a baffle of sorts.

No pipe heat shield that I've ever seen.

The ranges that I have seen with the flue behind the mantel were either spaced out from the wall more, or had some type of fire proofing on the wall. Those like mine, with the flue in front of the mantel can be placed closer, but the heat problem then becomes the rear side of the firebox, not the flue.

I added an insulated, sheet metal box heat shield to the back of my range's firebox and oven so that I could reduce the clearance even more according to the National Fire Codes. But that made cleaning behind it tougher, so I moved it back out some. Plus, I don't need it heating an outside wall as much as when it was closer.

Steve's part definitely looks like some type of a baffle (including the mystery type baffle ). Without more pictures of the back and the insides of the range we can't tell. Those slots in each lower corner are the clue to where it goes.

And there's nothing says it's for that range, just because it was in the range's base storage. It may be from a coal furnace that was in the same house ?????

Paul

The piece is notched in such a way that the two notches almost fit over the coal grate extensions at the end of the firebox. But not quite. The alignment is just off and would need to be forced. I agree that the piece may be from another coal stove and just got placed in the cabinet for storage.

How close is almost fits ? If it seems to be too small to fit the grates,....

The grate frame may be swollen or warped from years of use. Firebox cast iron often "grows" in size from repeatedly getting heated to yellow/red range.

Or, it may be a recast baffle, which because of the shrinkage of 1/8 inch to the foot of cast iron, it was never used ?

It may be a summer time block-off plate for the front of the firebox when using wood and not wanting a lot of heat being thrown off by the firebox door to the cook's thighs.

Lots of questions that more pictures might answer. BTW, we like pictures of stoves, so please post more- inside the stove and out.

I think I would be in agreement that it is a summer time block off plate. I have seen these in use. However, just a bit big for this stove.

Will try to send along some more photos later.