Earth Stove

I will be posting my collection of photos of the old Earth Stoves here. They are crossover stoves, in that there are pre- and post-EPA models out there, but most are Pre-EPA (though many burn just as clean). Many Earth Stoves had a variety of cleaner burning technology, long before the EPA had any requirements. Many had cats and they bought another local stove company that was the original secondary air injector burners that are common in most non-cat stoves today. Even the old Earth Stoves like my 704 have fresh air injected into the flue with a 1 inch galvanized pipe. Most of the older models have wrought ironwork patterns on the doors, sides and tops and they have a fired ceramic disk in the door someplace to add a distinctive character. They were located just south of Portland, OR in the city of Tualatin. For that reason there are many still used around here as they are built like tanks and they last forever. There are a million and one styles, and I am still finding new models that I do not have photos of.

The demise of Earth Stove came when Lennox bought them out. Seems that they just bought them for the name and basically dropped the Earth Stove lineup. That was the end of another steel smithworks company in the Willamette Valley. The other big name being Traeger, the inventor of the pellet grill/smoker, originally located south of Tualatin in Mt Angel, OR. I will have posts on the Traeger history and models as well over on the smokers forum.

 

Here is the door of my ES 704, typical of most Earthies which has a door that folds down and can be removed to put in a screen door to make it an 'open' fireplace/stove. Note the metalwork and ceramic disk that is typical on these stoves.

 

I see quite a few earth stoves on cl around here. Some appear to be in great shape.

BTW its good to see your old avatar.

 

My son had one and replaced it this year with a Lopi Republic 1250. The Earth Stove had been in his Florida room when he bought the house. That thing would burn you out of there. What a huge firebox too. The air adjuster in the back was a cool feature. I think the people who owned the house before tried heating the whole house with it because you could see the over firing had warped the insides, and the steel box was cracked. The medallion was missing from the door. Probably burnt it off. That was one heck of a stove.

 

I knew a guy who swore by them. He grew up with them in the 70s.

 

What is a Florida room? A man cave with a Tiki bar, pictures of palm trees, and a heat source? I really have never heard of one before. Maybe just what they call a sun room here.

As for overfiring these Earth Stoves, that is very easy to do. If I leave the damper open too far for too long, the stove will overfire and get hot fast, and it starts to clank and ping. I immediately rotate the damper to the lowest position (oops). The inner steel liner of the door is actually warped and bent from overheating. Was that way when I bought the house. I replaced the door rope and that was it. It has to be scrapped if I sell this place under the new Oregon DEQ smoke dragon laws, unless I remove it before I list the house

 

For the lack of a better word, a Florida room is one that has been added on the the outside of the house, usually where the patio would have been. It was done after the house was built. Somewhere around 1958.

The inside of the door was warped on his too. He put it outside when we had bulk pickup and it was glommed before an hour had passed by one of the guys who cruise around for scrap. The bulk pickup wouldn't have picked it up anyway as it was too heavy, and was considered construction material.

 

OK, a Florida room = sun room.

 

OK, so here are the two more common types wood burning Earth Stoves.

Here is the larger 10 scallop type, a 101 which is similar to the one I have. The screen on the top is for using it as an open fireplace (see next photo):

 

Here is a similar 101 with the door open and the screen in place:

 

Here is the smaller model 8 scallop wood burning Earth Stove, I am not sure of the model number:

 

Great pics, StihlHead. The 101 looks like what my son had. So that's what the inside of the door looks like when it isn't warped to chit...

 

What is the cubic footage of these stoves?

 

Wow, nice hearth!

 

You could take a nap in those fire boxes.

 

4 cubic feet?

 

Those ES 1000C's (CAT model) are DEQ approved here in Oregon and fetch a premium. That is a later model ES 1000C with a glass window. That one is also HUD approved with the pedestal and it was OAK capable. It has all the bells and whistles, and I would love to have one to replace my 704 here (would be legal to sell the house with it).

 

Here is an earlier ES 1000C model based on the earlier ES design w/o the glass door