Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,243,006 times
Reputation: 57825
No one can tell if it's safe/working from a picture, but check your local building codes. Those old pot-belly stoves
are not allowed anymore in many places because they are inefficient and leak gases into the house.
From what can be seen in the pictures, the unit is not cracked. Can't tell for sure if there should be a grate in the main firebox or if it's there, but that's an important part. Can't tell from the pictures if the parts are not warped or worn so that they will seal properly. So it's tough to tell how useable this stove is for your purposes from the pix.
These old woodstoves were designed to be used under reasonably close supervision. You must have a properly sized and drawing chimney system for these to work properly. They are not airtight, so when you have a fire burning you must modulate the airflow into the unit as needed to support the size fire and rate that works best for your requirements and the fuels that you are burning.
Note that it's important to have an adequate fresh air supply into the area where this type of woodburner stove is located. You must have adequate combustion air available to assure a proper draft. If you're thinking about a workshop heater, be sure that you don't have flammables in the area around the stove, and don't forget that solvents have vapors which can travel over to a woodstove and be ignited. FWIW, a local furniture refinisher uses a similar stove in his shop, but he uses only water base refinishing materials now.
This may be a useable stove for occasional use in your garage, if you're thinking about heating a workshop area. They'll burn just about anything, which is handy if you have a woodworking shop and are burning scraps and offcuts or have a supply of them.
OTOH, more modern air-tight woodburning stoves are more fuel efficient and reliable. They will give you more heat for the fuel consumed, burn cleaner, and be easier to regulate. I suggest you head over to a store that carries them and check out the modern woodburning stoves.
PS: I use a similar design stove (real pot-belly, not striaght sided) in one of my greenhouses. It's handy to dispose of the leftover plants after harvest and provide supplemental heat for the remainder of the gardening season. But it's in an area that's not airtight, safe to use ... and I don't care if it burns a bit hotter or cooler, so I don't regulate it very closely.
Just make sure to keep any combustion in the garage 18 to 24" off the floor for any possible gas vapors that may escape from a gas can, or vented gas tank from a classic car. These vapors are heavier than air and will drop to the floor, so keeping the combustion elevated will keep you safe!
Thanks for all your replies everyone. I really appreciate it!
Maybe I should just find something more modern.
I might pick it up anyway and refinish it, just to have around. I still think its a neat little bugger.
That's what I would do. I like old things, antiques, and such.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
j!~~48_20.JPG)
