Cracked Franco Belge Coal Stove

Hello All, I purchased a house this past May that has an old 1970's Franco Belge coal stove. I fired it up 1 week ago, and I fell in love with it. As a kid we used coal in Hazleton, but this is my first coal stove now that I have grown up I had noticed a hairline crack in the back of the stove when I was filling it, but ignored it. I have good draft and two new CO detectors. I have not had any alarms, the only thing I have noticed, was that when it was windy, I used more coal. Well, this morning, I tore apart the stove to repace a cracked and broken shaker grate, and found that this crack extends from top to bottom along the back of the stove, and goes from 1/32 to about 1/8 at the bottom. My first thought was that I should just pitch it, and look for another stove. My second thought was that I could just Patch it and look for another stove next summer. So I stopped in at the little store that sell Franco Belge, and asked for some furnace cement..........and got an earfull.

I am a fireman, and I have been on more than enough CO calls to know that you don't mess around with it, but..it seems to be burning ok, and my CO detectors have not gone off.....yet

I am looking for advice, or mabye just someone to tell me that I should know better than to use a stove that is cracked.

Thanks All.

Go to Home Depot for the cement. I just bought a few tubes of it (for caulking gun) to seal around where my pipe enters the chimney. You have to cure it slowly, or it will blister. Worked great on my setup.

My setup is illegal, according to MA state code. I have no liner in a masonary chimney, plus (to add insult to injury) it also vents a oil-fired furnace! 2 strikes on my part. But, common sense tells me that if the mortar is in good shape, and the draft is strong, there will be no danger. I've been running it this way for 2 weeks straight now, and have not had any problems whatsoever---even in extreme wind.

I can't afford to do it the right way due to the money I spent on a brand new Harman Mark 1 (and 2 tons of coal, and a tank of oil for the furnace{hot water and supplimental heat] ). I'll do it eventually, but it's going to be a while--I'm not rich by any stretch!

Hey there Mitchell,
Ed here, I read your posting about your stove..... Same here I've dealt with everything from a crack to leaking joints in these stoves.... I really like my stoves yes I have two of them, one with the tin outer shell and one with a ceramic shell.......These stove are nice in a way because there is no welds just joints filled with chimney cement, their like a big metal puzzle.......But there is a secret to sealing the joint when the stove is all apart.... spacing each of the parts with washers between each section between each bolt..... so you get the right amount of cement around each piece you seal...... This takes time but is worth it........ Most pcs. are still available from a franco belge dealer and it does take time to get the pcs....... but if the pc. that is cracked is to brittle to weld it may be a good idea to replace it.......... If the crack is pulling in air it will burn hotter and on a windy day could possibly just run away on you..... An older fella told me if it's pulling in air and I needed to find were I could use a cig. or a punk that you use to keep bug away to form smoke so the stove can pull it in were it is leaking and it worked great but you do a have to have the outer shell off for this to work and a fire going inside........ I have had my older stove face welded but only someone with experience welding cast iron should attempt this....... Some of my joints that were leaking were temperarily sealed with chimney cement pushed into the leaking area and SLOWLY dried.......But in the off season were fixed right........Oh and if you take one apart be ready to break some of the old screws off....I had my share of drilling and tapping......The best way of cleaning the old cement off is to use a air hammer yes thats what I said but use it very slowly just enough to break the stuff loose not to hammer on the metal itself it works great.......
Good Luck,
ejiv

Thanks for the input. I did find another used franco..only about 10 years old, and it is now up and running.

Hi,
I have a NORMANDIE FB stove. It's heated my house for 11 winters here in Upstate NY. I've cemented any number of cracks on the cast iron body of the stove. BUt this year on the top plate (ceramic) there was a seam, made visible because the blue paint had peeled away along it. This seam shows the connection of the top plate to the top of the firebox. No light shows through it yet, but the dealership I purchased it from said not to use it. That it was junk. Has anyone dealt with a similar problem? I cannot purchase a new FB because they have not been sold in the US for the last 8 years or so. And I cannot find a stove made here that I like nearly as well.
scoopness

Scoopness, try "Muffler Mender" to seal up that crack, I've used the stuff to fill in up to a 1/4 gap in my EFEL exhaust ports to 2 years now! I just picked up a used Normandie and I love it!

From what you say about sealing previous cracks, I would be very careful about continuing using it. It could be prone to a serious, sudden failure.

If it is cast and has been cracking regularly, I would not build a fire in it. (see avatar)

HI: I've owned a Franco Belge coal stove for 3 years now. (the one with the porcelain sides and top) Bought it used and absolutely love it. Actually I hated it at first until I read that it needed a barometric damper. Once I put in one of those the stove was a champ.

Well I also had an Alaska rice coal stove in the kitchen, and found it to be expensive to operate and noisy, so I sold it and bought a second Franco Belge to replace it. Unfortunately the owner of the stove lied to me about the condition of the cast iron. There are a number of cracks and a hole about the size of a quarter in the back.

Well I got stove patch and repaired all the cracks and the hole this summer, with loads of time for the stuff to cure. The stuff is now like a rock. The stove has been working for about a month, and absolutely no problems with the crack or hole repairs. I do check it over weekly just to be sure.

This second stove came with tools, which my first did not. I've found the long knife to be excellent for breaking up the ash as it sits on the grate. I think this is the fault of the coal which is Blaschak. I hope to try the Harmony coal next season.

One question I have is how does the Franco Belge compare with the Godin stoves?

The Franco Belge stoves are far easier to tend and cleaner and more efficient.

The best way to deal with cracks is to drill a small hole at each end of the crack to prevent it going further. Then you can take a strip of steel and drill and tap on both edges and fasten with machine screws and bed in furnace cement.

No has mentioned this yet but If you want to fix cast, you can send it to a good tig welder or brazer and he can fix it with silica bronze and even sometimes steel but it doesn't hold as well as the silica bronze. You always drill the hole at the end of the crack as was already mentioned then you grind a good groove in the crack, then fill it with silica bronze. I fix many tractor parts this way and they hold up to a lot of stress. So don't toss those old stoves, a guy like me would love to have them and fix them one mans junk is usually a metal fabricators treasure