Wood
Stove 103
What follows is an FAQ for one
particular wood stove.
Frequently Asked Questions and
Repair Instructions for ELM wood stoves made by Vermont Iron Stove. If you
would like to see videos of the Elm stove refurbishing process, baffle
installation and glass installation, we will soon have the whole process in
video form. For now there is a promo to see:
http://vermontironstove.com/video/elm_rebuild_promo.mov
How efficient is an Elm stove? How
efficient is any wood stove? Those are the questions people are asking more
than anything else these days. And they are the hardest to answer. Testing
today is done to determine how much smoke the stove is emitting. You can have a
stove that in theory is the most efficient on the market, but if you operate it
incorrectly, it can be bad as some of the old stoves.
Two things people do wrong are to
burn wet wood and wood contaminated with other materials, and depriving the
stove of adequate air for combustion. In either case the stove will smoke more.
Smoke is unburned fuel that is wasted heat going right up your chimney.
The best way to operate a stove is
to load it with dry wood, and give it enough air to burn hot. If you are
concerned that will produce too much heat for your needs, limit how many pieces
of wood you load. Experiment with how fine the wood is split. You can get a
clean burn for a longer period of time if you use dry logs that are larger in
size. Finely split wood will give you a raging fire for a shorter period of
time.
Using plenty of firebricks to line
the firebox will help keep the fire hot. Catalytic stoves burn clean if you
operate them according to the proper procedure. Stoves made with stainless
steel secondary combustion tubes help stoves burn clean by supplying additional
air to the upper part of the firebox, just below the baffle. More heat is
released from the smoke before it goes up the chimney.
If you are having trouble starting a
fire here are some tips that should help. Common situations that make it hard
to start a fire are having an outside chimney with less draft than an interior
chimney. Starting a fire on a day that is overcast, with low barometric
pressure, or temperatures about freezing.
In all cases it is easiest to start
with several sheets of crumpled dry newspaper. Add on top several pieces of
finely split dry kindling, and a couple of small split logs. All of these
should be right in front of the draft intake. Light a match and ingnite the
newspaper in several places right in front of the draft, then close the door
and have the draft all the way open. This is good practice in all difficult
situations and any time you are starting a fire when there are not enough coals
to restart the fire. Allow the fire to start burning and leave the draft fully
open until you are sure the logs are ignited as well as the paper and kindling.
When you have very active flames filling the firebox you can start to close the
draft to control the fire.
If you should see smoke coming from
the draft, open a door or window in the room. Opening it should help establish
a draft. Within a minute or so you should be able to close it and the chimney
should draw by itself.
Elm stove parts
the most frequently asked questions
involve whether I have various parts to sell. baffles, flat window glass,
gaskets and gasket cement, pie plates, tie rods, wood knobs, stove paint, stove
back castings, catalytic combustors and the casting that holds them, legs, and
thermometers. In short, any Elm stove parts you are looking for are available
from me. They are listed and pictured on the parts pages.
The most frequently replaced part is
the cast iron baffle in the firebox. For the 18" and 24" or 36"
non cat Elm and the cat Elms this is fairly easy. Step one is to remove the old
one. It is quite likely that the nut is rusted on the bolt, and using a screw
driver and wrench will break off the bolt with a little force. Step two is to
position the new one just as the old one was using a piece of 2x4 or a small
car jack. If the firebricks are removed a 14 and 1/2" piece of wood is
about the right length. For the non cat Elms, make sure the rounded droopy end
with the little hole goes toward the rear, right up against the back casting.
When you have it stable in there you can drill a new 1/4" hole through the
tabs on it from outside the stove, and bolt it in place, with the nut on the
inside of the stove. The longer baffle has 2 tabs in the front, and 2 more in
the back. The cat Elm baffles also have 4 tabs for bolts. The U shaped cutout
goes toward the back of the stove. Drill one of the tabs with a 1/4" hole,
and put it in place with the first bolt and nut to hold it. Make sure it is
positioned so that all 4 of the tabs are covering the holes in the steel
barrel. Drill and bolt one on the opposite side, then drill and bolt the
remaining 2. For the past two years I have been making and selling stainless
steel baffles. While I am impressed with how well they work, they are difficult
to make, and the addition of chromium to the old style baffles has made them an
easier alternative. The chromium makes them resistant to burning through as the
old ones did.
How do I install replacement glass
in my Elm? Start by taking the door off the hinges and placing it on a table or
work bench. If the hinge pins are stuck you may gently tap on the bottom of the
hinge pins to loosen them. Caution! hitting any cast iron too hard can cause it
to break. Another alternative is to use penetrating oil on the hinge, and it
will loosen by itself. Remove the 4 bolts that hold the Elm tree casting in
place. Remove the glass and gasket material. Vacuum or clean out any dust,
broken glass or any other foreign materials. Wrap the flat fibreglass tape gasket
material around the edge of the Pyroceram stove glass. It is adhesive backed so
it will stick to the glass long enough to get it in place in the door. If your
Elm takes a full circle piece of glass, you will need to get the "Window
Widger" cast iron adapter, and place it in the top of the opening before
installing the new piece of flat glass. On top of that goes the #209 Pyrex Pie
plate, and a piece of 1/4" fibreglass rope gasket around the edge of the
glass, followed by the Elm tree casting secured by the 4 bolts. Make sure that
the glass is not loose and does not rattle when you are finished. replace the
door on it's hinges. The interior flat glass is called Pyroceram or Neoceram.
it is a high temp ceramic material made to take the heat of wood stoves. We
sell the Neoceram which is 3/16" thick. Cleaning the inner glass can be
done using a razor blade, rubbing it with crumpled news paper, or burning a hot
fire once a day with good dry wood. Avoid using abrasive cleansers as they will
scratch it. You can use ordinary window cleaner if the glass is at room temp.
How do I replace the gaskets between
the steel barrel and the cast ends? This requires taking the stove apart. Basically
both ends of the stove will have to be removed, and the old gasket material
scraped out of the grooves, cement is then applied, and new 5' pieces of
3/8" fiberglass gasket is then installed. You can do this by raising the
stove off the hearth slightly, removing the tie rods, and then removing both
the front of the stove and the back of the stove. You can do it one end at a
time, so that you have at least two of the legs on the hearth. This is best
done with a helper, as it is a very tippy situation with the barrel supported
for this and being a round cylinder. it is important to get the stove oriented
properly when you put it back together, so that all 4 legs touch the hearth. I
advise marking the front and back castings with a marker where they meet the
welded seam on the barrel. Then you can tighten the tie rods to their proper
tension. You can commonly find gasket material in hardware stores, stove shops,
and online. We carry complete kits with all the proper sizes and lengths. The
stove door and front ring have a gasket that needs periodic replacement. Again,
scrape all the old gasket and cement out of that groove. Apply the clear gasket
cement and a piece of 1/4" rope gasket about 48" long, trimmed so
that it meets end to end. Close the door, and lock the handle and leave it for
several hours so that the cement hardens before you fire the stove again.
another FAQ involved whether it was safe
to operate the stove without parts like baffles, glass or gaskets. The stove
operates okay without a baffle, but will lose efficiency with some of the heat
just going straight up the chimney. In some cases the baffles burned through
and eventually just fall down if neglected. People sometimes remove the broken
glass or broken pie plate and run the stove with air leaking in, which reduces
the stove's air-tightness. You need to keep the stove airtight in order to
control the rate of combustion, and shut it down in case of a chimney fire. It
is often difficult to know if the stove is leaking at the gaskets because you
can not see the gaskets to know if they really are sealed. Taking the stove
apart is the only way to know for sure that the gaskets are in good repair. I have
gasket replacement kits available to fit all Elm stoves.
Does the paint effect the efficiency
of the stove? Studies show that black paint is the most effective in transferring
the stove's heat to the room. People often prefer some of the other colors
available from stove paint manufacturers. A fresh coat of stove paint that is
rated to take 1200 degrees F is a good way to protect the stove from rust. We
have always used the Thurmalox brand, and stock it in 12 oz. spray cans. 2 cans
will give you plenty to do a thorough job on your stove. We stock the usual
satin black as well as the popular midnight green by Thurmalox.
As you may have guessed, cleaning
the stove surface will help the new paint adhere better. Vacuum with a brush
attachment. I sand blast stoves to give the new paint the bare metal to adhere
to, but it is not possible or necessary in your home. You can paint a stove in
place, but you will need to protect everything around it from over-spray, and
protect people and animals from the fumes. That means plenty of fresh air, both
during the repainting process, and during the first firing, as the stove will
give off fumes and smell a bit for the first fire. Back to preparing the stove.
You will need to cover the glass, knobs, shiny parts that are nickel plated,
the floor or hearth area, and any other things you do not want to have paint on
them. Painters masking tape can be used to cover the 4 long rods, and the nuts
on each end, as well as the knobs. It may be easiest to remove the glass for
painting. If there is rust anywhere, either sand it or use steel wool or
scotchbrite to scrub off all the rust, them vacuum it. Carefully spray the
entire surface, making sure to keep the spray area moving and not allow any
dripping to occur. It is better to spray a light coat all over and go back and
apply a second coat to avoid too much being applied to the surface. Take your
time. You probably won't get around to doing this very often. Allow the paint
to dry completely before lighting the first fire. Preferably 24 hours.
Does the stove need firebricks, and
what do they do? The bricks protect the steel barrel, as well as providing
extra thermal mass to keep the fire hot. A hot fire is the most efficient fire.
If the bricks are broken is it okay to continue to use them? yes, if they are
only broken in half it is okay to continue to use them. If they become crumbled
it is best to go to a stove shop or masonry supply company and ask for
"splits" which are 4.5" by 9" and half the thickness of the
usual firebricks. These are 1.25" thick.
My stove has a broken leg. What can
I do? Broken or missing legs will require that you order a new one. Be prepared
to tell me if it is 8" or 14" long. If you want to replace the whole
set of legs, we can help you with that too. Many people prefer the 14"
longer legs because it raised the stove up to a height that is easier for
loading and cleaning out the stove.
is
available in PDF. it contains all sorts of information on the
different Elm models, how they are operated, and how they should be installed.
In the back there are exploded drawings showing all the parts of the stoves,
and the names and numbers of the various parts.
Repairs to the stove
Should
the owner make repairs to the stove? or should they call a more qualified
expert. that is a good question. I have many people who insist on making
repairs themselves. I provide all the information I can to make it possible for
people to do this. There are also people who do not feel comfortable with these
tasks, and prefer to call a stove repair person. I sell parts direct to owners.
I also sell parts to businesses that specialize in selling and installing wood
stove parts. Our goal is to keep as many Elm stoves in good repair as possible.
For those of you who have Catalytic
Elms, there are replacement catalytic combustors available. Typically the old
ceramic ones crumble and loose their effectiveness within 5 or 6 years of being
installed. Some people report that theirs are still in good condition, but the
chemistry that causes the stove to burn more efficiently has long since worn
off. You just can't see that. So periodic replacement is a fact of life. I sell
replacement ceramic combustors made by Condar. The cast iron basket that holds
the combustor in many stoves has burned out. It is by far the hottest part of
the firebox, and the original iron alloy just can not withstand the heat
without burning out. Our solution to this problem is to make new ones which
appear just like the old ones, except that they are different chemically. The
iron foundry adds chromium to the iron to make it resistant to burning out from
that intense heat. If yours has burned out, we now have replacement pieces with
the new chemistry. What is the benefit of a catalytic stove? The catalytic
provides up to 20% more heat, and reduces creosote by 90%. It results in a 75%
reduction in air pollution. I have been working on installing stainless steel
tubes which supply preheated secondary air for more complete combustion.
Basically this air is added just under the baffle so the smoke has the
additional oxygen it needs. This system can be used to replace the catalytic
parts, but the work has to happen here in my workshop. Replacing the combustor
can is sometimes a big job. If you can lift out the old one you can replace it
with a new one. But first you should remove the probe thermometer. If there is
not enough clearance to remove the can casting, you will have to remove the
combustor housing. The four bolts that secure it may be rusted and you may have
to cut them off with a grinder. Replacing the housing will require installing a
new gasket on the bottom where it meets the barrel.
If I find a crack in the back of my
stove, how did it happen, and can I use the stove, and how do I get a new part?
The crack quite likely happened from a log being tossed too hard against the
back casting. The crack might have been very small at first, growing from the
intense heat. The new replacement parts have chromium added to keep those parts
from being effected by the heat of the firebox. I have heard of people with
very small cracks, and medium sized ones as well as cracks as long as 11".
I have never heard of cracks that traveled to the edge of the part. In cases of
longer cracks, I advise people to purchase a new back. Solutions such as filling
the crack with furnace cement, welding or brazing, all are short term solutions
at best. I will need to know if your stove is a catalytic or non cat. They take
different back casting. The very earliest Elms had a back that exited the smoke
straight back. In the late 70's we changed to backs that had a rotating 45
degree elbow attached, so the pipe could be attached either straight up or
straight back or odd angles in between. The Catalytic Elms have a back with no
opening, and the 45 degree elbow is attached to the catalytic combustor housing
on top of the stove.
There are 4 steel tie rods that hold
the stove together. Together with the gaskets between the steel barrel and the
cast ends, they keep the stove together and airtight at all operating
temperatures. Proper torque is 20 to 25 foot- pounds when the stove is cold.
Is the steel barrel prone to any problems?
The beauty of the steel cylinder is that it is a very stable shape. It expands
and contracts uniformly and I have never heard of anything more than surface
rust effecting the steel barrel. Steel rusts less than cast iron, and does not
crack or crumble. I have seen stoves so hot that part of the barrel glows
cherry red, and when it cools down, it is not damaged in the least. I advise
against this because the tie rods and gaskets undergo a tremendous strain from
that heat and expansion. Recently I heard from someone who had a nut on a tie
rod shoot across the room. It turned out the stove had no gaskets, and the rods
were too tight. This is a bad combination. He had purchased the stove second
hand, and did not know the correct operating procedure.
My wood knob has worn out or is so
charred that it falls off. What should I do? The best thing to do is to replace
it. There are people who make their own replacements, and some of them turn out
quite nice. Some people try glues and fillers, most of which fail due to the
heat in that area. We have always liked wood knobs and handles since they stay
fairly cool to the touch. They don't last forever, though. New ones are
available here.
How do I take care of the nickel
plated parts? The nickel plating is a very thin layer of nickel, electrically
applied to the stove parts. If you want to shine it up, we advise using a very
fine buffing compound or cream that jewelers use to shine jewelry. Grocery
stores carry several products that will work. What you want to avoid is using
something that will scratch it off, like steel wool, sand paper or similar
products. Once it is gone, it is gone for good.
Yes, I have been buying and
refurbishing stoves with as many new parts as possible to assure the new owner
that the stove is in the best condition possible. Prices depend on the model
and the options that are installed on each stove.
Can I burn soft wood in my Elm? I
lived in Colorado for a while, and soft wood was all that was available. As
many of you know, it burns hot and fast and won't hold a fire very well through
the night. I advise you to clean and check your chimney more often as softwood
can cause more creosote. Whenever possible it is best to burn good dry
hardwood. As always we advise you to check your chimney and keep it clean each
year. We advise you to have a stove pipe damper to close down the flow of gases
in case of chimney fires. Burning the stove hot at least once a day for 20 to
30 minutes is a good way to keep the stove free of creosote. An Elm is not
designed to burn coal. A coal stove has a shaker grate system, an Elm does not.
An Elm is also not designed to burn wood pellets, corn, compressed grass or any
other manufactured solid fuels. Never use liquid fire starters or solvents in
your stove. Only crumpled newspaper and finely split kinding should be used to
start fires in addition to your normal dry hard or soft wood. No painted wood
should be used, particularly in catalytic stoves. No trash should be burned in
the stove either. Foreign compounds and plastics can damage your catalytic
combustor, and cling to the inside of your stove pipe or chimney.
Why do people like stoves that
provide radiant heat as opposed to convection heat? There is no stove that
warms you right to the bone like an Elm on a cold Winter day. Actually an Elm
provides a combination of radiant heat and heat that moves the warm air around
the house. But the area right around it is particularly popular both for people
as well as dogs and cats.
I am sure many of you have tried
calling Vermont Iron's former phone number, and have found that someone else
has that number now.
Are Vermont Iron and Vermont
Castings related? no, they never have been. Actually there was a stove design
competition in the mid 70's in Warren, Vermont. Three stoves were designed by
three different people. The Elm stove became Vermont Iron Stove Works, and the
Defiant became Vermont Castings, and the Maple was never put in production.
Some manufacturers say with pride
that their stoves are made by hand in Vermont. If you go to see their
production you will find that their are assembled by local people, but the
parts are made elsewhere in big factories. The beauty of cast iron stoves is
that since they are manufactured by foundries, their quality is strictly
controlled. The metal is the same for every part, and the shape and size of
parts is strictly controlled.
Are Elms purchased in the 1980's
still covered by a warranty? Unfortunately the owners of the business at that
time just closed down the store and left without honoring the warranty on
stoves they manufactured. so the answer is, no, they are not covered by any
warranty.
If the question you have is not
covered here, please feel free to email me for a complete explanation of your
concern. I was president of Vermont Iron Stove Works from 1976 through 1981. In
addition to my own experience, I have consulted with former employees and
dealers to put together the information you need to keep your Elm stove healthy
for many years to come.
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