Wood and coal cooking stoves

Taken from emails to my relatives

Wood and coal cooking stoves

First blush report...good.

What I like (I watched the videos on the thing) is that I can burn coal if I choose. The Hemlocks has a nice coal seam about a quarter of a mile from here, so we already have a source of fuel.

Now I think it takes a oval to circle converter for the flue, and that is another $50 to $70. Also I think it would be smart to get it with the 7 gallon warm water attachment put on at the factory.

Also, I think it requires a 7” flue, and I already have an 8” flue, so that is OK, but I do have to figure out how to connect the two together.

 

Second blush report

1) Water reservoirs (from a wood cooking stove) need someway to get the hot water out other than a dipper or lifting 7 gallons of warm or hot water. The fancier wood cook stoves have spigots to empty the hot water into some other container. I had already planned on using an enormous turkey fryer aluminum bucket we already have for heating water on the existing wood stoves, or a new wood cook stove, like for baths and cooking and washing purposes. Plus the Hemlocks has two large (like 36 cup) coffee boilers. Presently I also use this large container when I defrost the old time freezer in the pantry (three or four times a year).

2) Most wood cooking wood stoves have a good room and house warming capability due to the fire box, which is good in the winter and not so good in the summer. The Hemlocks already has two thermocouple powered fans to help in that regards.

3) The Hemlocks already has two Coleman Camp Ovens (which I have used) and one Dutch Oven (made in Tennessee by the way), which I have also used. They make bread, too.

4) A better place to locate any wood cooking stove might be in the rec room, which was the original kitchen when the caretakers moved into the cottage after their own cabin burned down in the winter of 68/69. In this case, the home school room might better be in the room Charlotte has stayed in during earlier visits. We could shift furniture to make that happen.

5) The present wood stove insert in the fireplace in the main house should remain as is. It was locally built in Muddy Pond, TN by a Mennonite fellow. The EPA has since shut it down, I hear. Otherwise I should check to see if he builds wood cooking stoves.

6) There are presently two sets of already installed wood stove floor insulation and stove pipe chimneys (8”) in the second cottage.

7) The Hemlocks also already has a Zoom Versa high tech cooking stove, which works pretty good, but should be used outside since there is a traditional carbon monoxide problem when using it. There is already a better two stove version with an exhaust being made (La Mera Mera), but that is probably 6 to 12 months away. Mexico gets first dibs, I guess, even though Putnam County is also pretty primitive, too.

8) As long as the springs run good clean water, which they have for over a century that I know of, then we have plenty of water to heat.

9) Right now the wood stove chimneys are around 18” from the wall (and new within the last five years), which is insulated, but might need more, depending on the new cooking wood stove specifications, should the Hemlocks get one. The present distance has worked pretty well for the existing primitive wood stoves, also.

10) The second cottage has fiberglass insulation in the ceiling, put in decades ago. Keep in mind that cottage has 12 foot ceilings which is the old fashioned way to keep cooler during the warm season. The main house has 10 foot ceilings, and most modern houses have 8 foot ceilings. The house in Franklin had 14 foot ceilings, by the way.

11) Morale is a big deal. Hence being able to bake some kind of bread is a good expectation for many, even if we have to use acorn flour, and lord knows , we have plenty of local acorns and all the tools to make flour from it. I even made “coffee” from the local acorns, and it was pretty good, albeit caffeine free, I think. And a warm bath is also a good expectation that most Marines are not used to.

12) If the Hemlocks pulls one of the primitive wood stoves out to be replaced by a wood cooking stove, then there are some obvious places to deploy it. It won’t go to waste.

13) Also keep in mind any new cooking wood stove should be both wood and coal capable. The Hemlocks has a nifty coal seam about a quarter mile away, and it even heated an old time still many decades ago.

Of course Plan A is still to use TVA public electric power, which is also pretty good.

 

Third blush report

I am evolving back from a wood cooking stove to just a wood stove. Both make heat with the wood we cut and split and dry.

Fortunately, I can remember how hot it was in the Hemlocks main house kitchen with a wood cooking stove in the summer. It’s use was hot and miserable during the summer. Obviously, the heat is a big deal in the winter, but most Family visits then were in the summer. John Colton may have his memories, too, and I solicit them.

So what follows is just a third blush report, and any thoughts you may have are always of interest to me; plus they may affect you and your Family.

There are already three wood stoves installed at the Hemlocks, one locally Mennonite made wood stove insert in the main house, and two primitive wood stoves in the second cottage. The present primitive stoves usually take up to two get-up and restock the fire times during the night, though with some “tuning” , we might get that down to like one night restocking.

Baked goods are a big deal, like a morale booster, to boot. Plan B is to use the heat from the existing stoves to cook food and warm things otherwise, besides heating the room in the cool and cold seasons.

The Hemlocks already has one Dutch oven, and two Coleman fold out camping ovens, with temp gauges.

I prefer dual use as an objective, like whether things turn to crap or the status quo just goes on, whatever I get should do both. Presently one can cook and heat on all three wood stoves if one has to. Obviously, someone does have to collect, cut, split, and deliver the wood for use.

The Hemlocks does have a nice coal seam within a quarter mile, so dual use (like wood or coal) is of interest to me.

Whether the Hemlocks gets a wood cooking stove or just a wood stove, a better type stove that can burn for up to 12 hours unattended is of interest to me. Said another way, it is both more convenient, and also probably better for morale.

Whatever the Hemlocks may get, I expect to replace one primitive wood stove, which will be used elsewhere, like the barn or the Cliff Field shed.

Home school considerations are important to the Hemlocks if things turn to crap. Like students should be warm, including warmly dressed. Now even we can live like people in New England, and wear long johns when need be.

The present water turbine electric plant “tuning” is going pretty good, so far (like powering my 7.2 cu ft freezer to extend shelf life of foods and seeds). Now the Hemlocks does have a 3/16” water nozzle due in for me to install in the next few days. The present nozzle is 1/8”, and an earlier 1/4” nozzle drained the pond too much in this summer drought time. Bottom line, thank goodness for TVA power for the flexibility for me to “tune” things.

The testing for solar backup to the water plant is also going OK.