I recently bought this Monarch wood stove off of my 96 year old uncle. I have a couple of questions that I wonder if anyone can answer. This wood burner has 3 drafts on the stove and a flapper on the first piece of stove pipe. Scotty said that the flapper was a barometric damper. I just put the damper in because that's how my uncle had it. Should I remove the flapper? Here are the pictures. The flapper. A damper on the back of the stove pipe that is a part of the stove itself. A damper on the top of the stove. And of course the one at the bottom of the stove I know what that's for, but the other 3 have me confused? Here are a couple of pictures of the old girl in action. My uncle told me that it can burn wood or any kind of coal. I know the fire brick needs replaced inside. He did tell me that he had it inspected and the inspector said that it was ok to burn wood in it but not coal until the fire brick is renewed.
Don't know much about the barometric damper. I'm pretty sure that at least one maybe both at the top are to use when you have a nice hot fire going to roll the flue gas to slow it going up the chimney. My very first stove was a warm morning stove and it had a single top draft besides the lower draft that fed the fire.
Quite the set of pics, thanks. I'm thinking all the extra dampers would have to do with the coal burning option? (Your Uncle at 96 reminds me a bit of my Uncle at 100.....I hope if I'm that age, I wouldn't charge my nephews anything!)
Scotty is right about that "flapper", it is a barometric damper. Looks like a Fields brand. It would need to be there to burn coal, high draft with a belly full of hot coal = meltdown! The "baro" needs to be plumb/level in all directions and then adjusted with a manometer (loosen the "knob" (weight) and then slide it forward or back to get the setting you need) this is done with the stove hot. Often times those old coal burners called for -0.03" WC draft. Looks like unc knew what was up...having both types of pipe dampers...I do the same thing. Using the baro for burning wood causes creosote buildup due to the cooling of the flue gasses, so I cover it up with HD tinfoil while burning wood, then just use key damper to set the draft. When you want to burn coal (or oil in my case) open the key damper up and pull the foil cover off to let the baro work. As for the dampers on the stove itself...I dunno anything 'bout that...
In that case I'll keep the barometric damper because I will also be burning coal. Thanks for the info! One down and two to go. Now if someone could just tell me about the draft on top of the stove and the one on the back of the stove pipe itself in picture #2?
Like I said in my first post that I need to replace the fire brick before I burn any coal in it. Which is what I plan on doing this summer. Does anyone know where I can get fire brick for this stove? It's not the usual fire brick that you can buy at the brick yard. I've searched the Internet and found nothing. I can find all kinds of metal parts for the stove but no fire brick! The inside of the fire box has radius cornersand I can't locate any bricks like that. I am wondering if I am going to have to get regular bricks and just make it work? What's your opinion?
My uncle was actually going to take it to the scrap yard! He was asking $25 but I gave him $30. The stove I think looks almost new except for the fire brick which I need to find new ones of! This stove heated his house and water since 1944!
I thought after I posted that reply that I may have offended you; that was not my intention. I have no idea where you can find curved fire brick but don't give up the search.
No you didn't offend me by any means at all. That's just how some people of my uncles generation are. He was a farmer and had a 100 acer dairy farm that he farmed himself until he was 88 years old. Heck he even farmed with horses until 1947! I understand being that he grew up in the thick of the depression. I had no problem giving him the money because hey where am I going to find a wood/coal stove in this good of shape for $30.
Make your own fire bricks out of castable refractory cement. Rutland Castable Refractory Cement, 12.5-Pound, Contact Cement - Amazon Canada This just an example of what to use, it is not cheap! Clean the burn chamber and cast it right in the stove. You want to mix it so you can toss a ball of it between your hands without the ball falling apart just a little slump . Next comes the curing stage. Pay attention to the section on curing the refractory in the thread below, and you will end up with a good product. I also add stainless steel needles to the mix to give the refractory more strength . Over the years I have used castable refractory to repair the Jetstream base and make tunnels for it . Jetstreams - Out With The Old And In With The New.
These are the refractory stainless steel needles. They are mixed at a ratio 1 1/2 to 3% of the mix. Sort of like rebar for the refractory. If you decide to make your own bricks I will send you some.
Thank you I appreciate it. I'll be sure to let you know when I do it. Iam planning to bring the old girl back to life in the spring!
Last time I was in Menards they had that refractory cement for firebricks. It wasn't nearly that expensive. It might be worth checking some big box home improvement stores in your area.
I think I may try some of the large 1 1/2" thick 8" x 12" fire bricks. I think that is the dimensions I am not sure. I know that we have some very large fire bricks for the blacksmiths forge at work. I am sure they got them locally here in my area. The fire bricks in my stove now are held on with bolts and tabs. I was going to get a diamond wheel for my grinder and cut the angles that I need before I mess with a fire mortar mix. My only question is the original bricks are ribbed. I hope that won't make a difference in the efficiency of the burn or heat transfer. Does anyone else know if that matters?
I did just a little but of reading on the ribbing. It wasn't super specific but you could figure out which direction the ribbing was, it may have been a way to channel or focus the heat in parallel lines. Rather than the waves we know but this is also the heat being refracted inside so the science of efficiency is here. There is probably a difference in ribbed vs smooth brick. Maybe your blacksmith council might have something to say about that? If you find an application to which making your own brick here, try to study the ribbing and practice on plaster. Might be easier to try on that then on the brick for practice. Then your stove could really have some heating capabilties.
Getting there. Called the local brick yard and they have large firebrick in stock (3"x12"x18") $23 a piece. And I need 8 of them. This will allow me to have very few joints. I should just have the joints in the 4 corners and one joint the whole way around halfway up the firebox. Been very busy with cutting tree's and stuff around the house. I am hoping that I can squeeze this re-bricking in before I start redoing my kitchen in July!
