Godin 3726

does anyone own a godin model 3726? im looking for my first coal stove just wondering if anyone had any expirence with them?

If you put Godin in the search you will find many posts.

I do not own one but I have examined them when they were still available new, and have a friend with one.

From reading the posts and from the experience of others and my own examinations I can say the follwing:

The Godin stoves are among the handsomest ever designed.

It is surprising the amount of heat they throw. Claimed efficiency is about 70 percent.

Because it is cylindrical in shape there is not much room for the ash pan, and it is undersize, and may require emptying more than once a day at higher firing rates.

Shaking down is a problem; awkward to poke from the top if the coal does not settle to the grate. Many have resorted to removing the guard in front and use a trowel to remove ash with the danger of the hot coals spilling out. Also this makes it very difficult to avoid fly ash from flying about the room when emptying the trowel into a container. The oval model is even worse. The grate does not cover the entire bottom on the ones I have examined.

They lack a thermostat and are strictly manual in operation.

They do a good job with wood.

A large outside chimney will probably not draft well enough when a low fire is desired.

It is not a stove I would recommend as a first stove, but if I see one at a good price I will buy one just because it is so pretty.

Richard

but if I see one at a good price I will buy one just because it is so pretty.

What is a good price? I am looking at a Godin Petite with exterior ash tray & legs, asking price $450. Is that fair? I saw a larger Godin on this site for $475 so maybe I will offer a bit lower. This isn't our first stove, but it is our first coal stove. It is so pretty I can't pass it up. lol

It is a small stove and as a result many have over fired them leading to deterioration of fire brick and or the steel shell which is only 22 gauge steel.

For $450 the stove should be mint condition. I would not pay over $250 and that only because it is so good looking.

Be prepared for disappointment in its operation especially under low draft conditions as when exhausting into a large chimney.

Richard

What should I look for to see if it has been overfired? Cracks in the firebrick inside? Any giveaway signs in the metal?

The brick should be smooth and not have any spots that look eaten away. Look at the grates to see if they are warped or cracked or do not work smoothly.

Examine exhaust outlet for cracks.

Over firing will cause the steel toward the top to change color and probably rust.

Enamel parts should look like new. Look for cracks.

Any replacements will be expensive and hard to find.

Richard

I realize this thread ended nearly two years ago, but hope you're still out there, Richard.

I've got a line on a Godin 3726 petit oval for a very good price. In the photos I've seen the stove shows the sign of overfiring that Richard mentioned - there are patches of rusted steel on the top front sides of the stove. Is this fatal to the shell's integrity, or is it immaterial provided the firebrick is replaced (or is miraculously still in good contition)?

Also, this stove doesn't have an external enameled ash tray. Is that by design for this model?

Thanks.

Rod

Deeply pitted rust is one thing and surface rust is another. If it is not rusted deeply then I think OK.

Many models were not painted but just had heat treated steel, so if not protected in the summer humidity with a wipe down of silicon or WD40 they rust, more so if they were overheated. I would be more concerned with the firebrick. Expensive and hard to find and not easy to replace. I think the brick could be patched if not too bad.

All the stoves that I have seen or read literature on had numbers like 3732 for the small oval and not 3726. The 26 designation might be a European number and when exported went to the new number.

All I have seen have an ash lip. It comes off very easily so that might have happened to yours, or somebody stepped on it and broke it.

franco b wrote:Deeply pitted rust is one thing and surface rust is another. If it is not rusted deeply then I think OK.

Many models were not painted but just had heat treated steel, so if not protected in the summer humidity with a wipe down of silicon or WD40 they rust, more so if they were overheated. I would be more concerned with the firebrick. Expensive and hard to find and not easy to replace. I think the brick could be patched if not too bad.

All the stoves that I have seen or read literature on had numbers like 3732 for the small oval and not 3726. The 26 designation might be a European number and when exported went to the new number.

All I have seen have an ash lip. It comes off very easily so that might have happened to yours, or somebody stepped on it and broke it.

I think that is a quite attractive stove!

Thanks for your swift and helpful reply.

I now realize I have to step back and solve the problem of finding a suitable location for a stove and chimney in our circa 1880's house. It has no fireplaces and its floor plan seems designed to defy placement of a freestanding heater. Time for some deeper drawerin' and ponderin'.

I think the best stove for your 1880 house would be one of the better antiques like those advocated by wsherrick. All the Godin stoves would likely be too small. Chimneys work best if installed through the house rather than on outside wall.

help. I just moved into a house with a godin petit. researched and found where to buy coal. now in the process of learning how to get this thing going. several questions:

1- does coal size really matter? what bearing does coal size have on the overall operation? (the only coal I could find was anthracitic, large-ish coal an hour and a half away. I've been breaking with a hammer.)

2- I've gotten it to burn twice without smoking out the house. I have filled the house with smoke several times. yesterday I successfully got it to burn where I could open the top and look down into the chamber. today I started it and it just smoked the whole time- what am I doing wrong? is the fire not hot enough when I add coal? REALLY NEED HELP WITH THIS ONE- tired of the smoke. makes me want to give up.

3- do you add your full load while the base layer is burning? or do you wait for it to burn down to glowing coal?
i am guessing the reason I get so much smoke sometimes is that the fire isn't hot enough when I add the coal.

4- should there be a gasket around the top lid of the stove? its just metal on metal and when its smoking it leaks out the top.

5- how does the draft knob and damper come into play within the whole system? do they work together? why would you ever close the flue damper?

6- my impression of a properly functioning coal stove is that it burns without smoke. when I get mine to work properly, the coal is added, the coal starts to catch fire, the smoke out the chimney turns from yellow to black, the coal catches fire, the smoke goes smokeless (and I can open the top of the stove without releasing a thick black plume of coal smoke into the room). tonight is the first night I got it to burn all through the night and it just now stopped smoking. I am afraid to add more coal and have it smoke all day-its driving me nuts!! should I start over with a new fire?

HELP!

coal newbie wrote:
HELP!

I have no experience with a Godin - someone will be along soon who does - but speaking in generalities it would seem that you have a problem with your draft. There is no way smoke should be coming into your house. Do you have a CO detector? If smoke is coming in, CO may be, too. You should have one on every level the house. I don't believe the Godwin was designed to be air tight so the lack of gaskets isn't a problem. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Do you have a manometer so you can tell just how much draft you have? You'll need one in order to maximize the stove's burn but now it could show you if you have a draft problem. Was the chimney inspected before you fired up? Can you send pictures of your set up? The guys really like pictures and they can tell a lot from them. Good luck, Lisa

we did have the chimney/flue cleaned. there are a couple shifted tiles in the chimney but I can't imagine that would cause stove to smoke. I still have to get a chimney guard.

there's no way to tell if there's a draft problem. this morning I fired it up and once the coal caught it smoked for 15 minutes out of the top. then I looked in the chamber to see no smoke and burning coals. next I added a few more pieces and now its not smoking out the top. ???? I have no idea whats going on.
last night I added appx 2 quarts of coal to glowing coal and it smoked for its entire cycle. sometimes it smokes so badly I have to open the doors, other times its just a tinsy bit- enough to see and smell but not enough to open the doors....????

i know a cold flue can cause a back draft; would weather change the way a stove should be handled?

i will post pictures as soon as I figure out how....thx.