The house we live in is a rock house built by my father in law in the 1950's. At that time it had two fireplaces one upstairs and one down. Both were built using a metal heatalator system encased in stone. The one upstairs was inspected last season by a sweep and still functions fine even though I'm sure it's not very efficient due to the 4' firebox. However, over the years a water leak went unchecked in the lower fireplace flue and the metal heatalator box has rusted out. I found an antique Montgomery Ward Franklin stove/insert and was hoping to make it useful. If I'm not able to make it work, I still love it and I plan to still use it as decoration so nothing lost. Today I am trying to find out what is needed to make it safe. When we had a local sweep come out they told me that they couldn't work on it and could only sell me a zero clearance insert. However, aesthetics vs heating is my primary concern. What I want to know is if I install an insulated flue liner, is there some way to line the firebox either with metal or fire brick to make a stove of this type safe to use. When fully inserted there is about 1" clearance vertical, 6-8" clearance right to left and about the same front to back. Thank you all for any ideas or suggestions you can offer.
The stove guys here are gonna need pics to be able to help much, I'll bet. More pics the better. Welcome to the FHC forum.
Vicki, You did a great job at describing what you intend to do but as Stinny said pics will ultimately be useful in getting some answers for you. I believe some of the old MW franklin's were able to burn coal or hardwood, what are your plans if you do find a solution? The exit flue from the top of the stove in pics I have seen may be a problem if you do not have enough room. Lots of questions just don't know any details, the pic will help along with specifics on the franklin you picked up. Welcome to FHC
The franklin stoves are neat. The one's I'm thinking of are 3/4 of an airtight stove, so they likely would throw more heat into a room than would a fireplace.
Vicki, pic's would be super helpful.... Welcome to the show! We'll do the best we can for you but, I'n my honest opinion,, I wouldn't use your Franklin for heating, Keep it as a decoration. I don't mean to sound negative but they were "not" very efficient and not very safe. By the time you put in the time and $$$, you could buy a very pretty soapstone stove or something as such and have it installed. I once saw a franklin stove opened up and had a aquarium in it!.... Just a thought. Anyway, I won't try to sell you on a Fisher because they are heating "MONSTERS" and not as estetic as you may want. The gang here I'm sure will throw their ideas at you, I'm only knowledgeable on one type of stove for the most part but I hope this helps! Good luck and keep coming back.
There was a Franklin Stove in my previous home. Attractive, but I think more heat was drawn out of the house from wind than it produced. We had a damper too. We replaced it with an old Schrader which almost cooked us out of the house
