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

[Bird]

We, too, had just a plain old black "pot bellied" stove in the front room (hadn't learned to call it a "living room" back then). Of course it was made for burning wood, but we didn't use wood, and never even heard of anyone who had coal in southern Oklahoma. But we had a plain 2 x 4 stand in the corner behind that stove that held a small barrel (25 gallons I think) of kerosene with a copper tube (quarter inch I think) running into the top of the stove, with a valve near the tank. Dad would light a piece of paper in the stove, then open that valve so the kerosene just dripped into the stove onto that piece of paper. I was 7 years old and happened to be visiting my grandparents when sparks from that stove when up the stove pipe, fell on the roof, and burned down through the middle of the house. We were very fortunate that damage was minimal, but that was when that old stove went. We were already cooking with butane and got a butane heater for the front room after the damage was repaired.

 

[oldballs]

Hey Bird, I too used to wonder what the difference between a "front room" and a "living room" was. We only had "one room".

 

[ncnurseryman]

That thing is a beast. Beautiful but a beast nonetheless. Listening to all the stories sounds like an age long past but very interesting. I have never lived in a house that heated or cooked with wood or coal, sounds like a lot of planning was required.