Rebuilding the Smoke Dragon

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Rebuilding the Smoke Dragon

Postby 4seasons » Sun Nov 16, 2014 2:48 am

I had planned on building my RMH this year, BUT.....I got busy at work and started a chicken coop, and basically ran out of time.
So I rebuild the old stove instead. First off here is the back story.
I bought my house in 2003. This stove was here when I bought it. The house was built in 1985. So this stove is somewhere between 11 and 29 years old. It is a Wondercoal Model 2827 by US Stove Co. I know that it is not much too look at and a basic entry level stove at best. It is plumbed thru a 6 inch thimble to an exterior masonry chimney. My house is a 1000 sqft rancher with excellent insulation. The stove is sitting on brick with a brick wall behind the stove:
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The struggles with this old stove started last winter. First the shaker grate broke in half. No big deal, I just raked the coals and ashes with my poker. Then the back of the firebox warped around the stove pipe flange. It made gaps that caused the fire to burn too hot when I had good draft and leaked smoke into the house when I lost draft. I fixed that by drilling extra holes in the flange adding some bolts and filling the gaps with furnace cement. Then the grate broke again and this time I could not even get the ash pan out. This also happened on the coldest night of the winter. Luckily, I do have a heat pump and electric coils so I was able to stay warm long enough to patch things up. I first let the fire go out. Then I fished the broken grate out. Not only was the grate in several pieces and swelled, but the support for the grate was also missing several supports:
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And the grate:
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So I pieced the grate back together and put it on the few remaining supports:
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Then I covered the grate with firebrick both to add some stability and to protect the grate from the extreme heat:
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I was able to make it thru last winter with these patches.
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Re: Rebuilding the Smoke Dragon

Postby 4seasons » Sun Nov 16, 2014 3:02 am

This summer I uninstalled my stove and took it to my dad. He has better tools and workshop than I do and also had a welder. I was planning on a simple re-weld of the grates, or maybe build some new grates and support. I looked up new grates and support but I was not going to pay $350 to repair a stove that only sold for $700. Dad had a couple of old stoves that were not in useable condition, but had some good parts, so with a bit of custom work we got this:
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I have been using it for a couple of weeks now and I am well pleased.

I still want to do a RMH, but for now this old stove is keeping me, and more importantly the wife and kids, plenty warm.
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Re: Rebuilding the Smoke Dragon

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Sun Nov 16, 2014 4:33 am

I have seen several stoves with this exact same design. The one that was commonly sold around here was made by Ashly . It put out a nice even heat and I knew several people who heated their homes with a unit very similar to the one you have. Your Dad did a great job on your grates, that is a huge improvement. The Bi-metal thermostat on those units seems to work well and keeps a steady supply of heat coming into the room. As you said they were not an expensive stove to start with, but you seem to have solved the stoves problems very cheaply and I must say quite well. Good Job, 8-)
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Re: Rebuilding the Smoke Dragon

Postby matt walker » Sun Nov 16, 2014 5:50 pm

That's a big improvement 4, it's gotta be way better than it was. I'm not familiar with stoves like that, is it a convection heater? Does the thermostat run a fan that pushes air around a shroud? I can't really tell from the pictures.
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Re: Rebuilding the Smoke Dragon

Postby 4seasons » Sun Nov 16, 2014 10:41 pm

No fan or anything electric on this stove. While it can be more finicky to control without fans and electronics, it works great when the power goes out. The thermostat controls a spring that connects to the air inlet damper. When the spring gets hot it sags to close the damper, and when the stove cools the damper opens back up to let more air in. It works pretty well as long as ashes don't block the air flow. Of course my only thermal mass is the brick surrounding the stove and a few firebrick in the stove. The stove probably only weighs 100-150 lbs. I have to clean the chimney several times thru the winter and take ashes out every other day. I do set an oscillating fan in the doorway to the living room to blow cool air from the back of the house into the room with the stove. It can keep us warm in temps down to -10 and with the one fan in the doorway I can keep the back rooms within 10-15 degrees of the living room.
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Re: Rebuilding the Smoke Dragon

Postby mannytheseacow » Mon Nov 17, 2014 12:24 am

Oh man, 4, does that ever bring back some memories. That was my first wood burning stove ever.

Mine had thermostat controlled fan under it and a magic-heat in the exhaust. I burned so much wet wood in that thing. The magic-heat got so creosoted up it caught on fire. The chimney go so creosoted up that caught on fire, too. We had a total of three wood stoves in that old stone farm house. It had a huge stone chimney that all the stoves piped into and the chimney has caught fire several times over the years. Luckily, it just burns like a rocket and the stone takes it.

That stove got me through some cold nights. I remember many nights getting sweated out and finding a toilet bowl in the bathroom frozen solid in the morning. Learned a lot of lessons at that place.
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