Are you old enough to have used one of these Parlor Stoves to heat (not by choice)?

[PineRidge]

I grew up in the HVAC industry and years ago my dad had one of his heating companies located in Toledo, Ohio. He installed a new furnace for a guy that had this old Favorite Parlor Stove actually heating his home. Told my dad he could have it if he took it away. Brother and I inherited it when we purchased the business from dad some years back before his death.

The stove is heavy, probably 500 pounds or so of cast iron and nickel plated steel. The only way we have ever been able to move it is to dis-assemble it and then re-assemble on the new location. It sat in our office window for some 45 years before it was moved to my pole barn for storage where it now resides. Kids used to come in with their parents to talk about new equipment and poke their fingers through the mica windows for fun.

Years ago one of the local McDonald's owners came to us and offered to place the stove in a McDonald's restaurant that they were getting ready to build. He wanted us to donate the stove. We told him when McDonald's starts giving away free food he could have it for free.

My plans one day are to restore it if I can locate a good source for the isinglass mica windows. It should make a great focal point for our country home.

[Ken]

Approxmitely 1945 my father bought a stove that was simular it took a wheel barrow of wood a day to heat the house or about same if used coal. Then had the clinkers to get out.
every morning had to shake down the ashes and haul. out of the house.
Used until he passed .then stayed in the shop for several years. there is no way of figuring the cords of split wood it burned until the grates and metal back burned out.
Grest invention is the heat pump.
ken

[PineRidge]

Approxmitely 1945 my father bought a stove that was simular it took a wheel barrow of wood a day to heat the house or about same if used coal. Then had the clinkers to get out.
every morning had to shake down the ashes and haul. out of the house.
Used until he passed .then stayed in the shop for several years. there is no way of figuring the cords of split wood it burned until the grates and metal back burned out.
Grest invention is the heat pump.

ken

These old babies do have a way of bringing back memories Ken.

[studor]

When I was a kid, lots of farmhouses had those stoves ranging from really fancy like that one to very simple. Most of the heating was done by cookstoves or a wood fired "octopus" in the basement -- the parlour stove only got fired up when you had company or it was really cold -- too much of a PITA to cut small wood for and clean. I saw one on Saturday at an auction that went cheap -- still in good condition too but far less fancy than yours.
If you google "mica stove windows" you will find replacements for the flat ones easily --the curved ones take a bit of work.

[2LaneCruzer]

The banker may have had one like that in his home, but ours was a lot less ostentatious. I lost a patch of skin on my stomach about the size of a quarter; I managed to get a bit too close after my bath (in the galvanized wash tub) one cold Saturday night in December.

[MNBobcat]

Not a parlor stove but my wife grew up cooking on a wood cook stove and her family still cooks on it today.

[PineRidge]

These antique stoves, properly restored are currently going for just under 10K, Saw one a few years ago sell for 12K Example stove

[creekbend]

We had a stove similar to that one. It was a Warm Morning brand and was made entirely of cast iron - no nickel plating. One of my jobs was shoveling the ashes in the coal bucket and taking them outside to the pile. I did this before walking to the bus stop. It was situated in the main room of the house and we burned both wood ans coal.

[2LaneCruzer]

We had a stove similar to that one. It was a Warm Morning brand and was made entirely of cast iron - no nickel plating. One of my jobs was shoveling the ashes in the coal bucket and taking them outside to the pile. I did this before walking to the bus stop. It was situated in the main room of the house and we burned both wood ans coal.

We had a kerosene heater in the living room. I'll never forget the string of profanity that came from my reserved and mild mannered Mother, when the darn thing flashed back and singed her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes early one morning.