Tempwood down draft stove

[The-Breeze]

Tempwood

May 4, 2013

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Tempwood

• Note: this is an older stove from the late 1970's - went out of production approx. 1983
  
  The company also produced a coal model for a short time- named Tempcoal.
  
  For a number of years, the top-loading downdraft Tempwood 11 and V models have carved their own special niche as efficient, heavy-duty plate steel wood stoves, available at affordable prices. The main feature is the downdraft, which allows secondary air to be induced naturally. Gases rise off the fire and are forced downward by a thrust of air between two downdraft vents and are then recirculated. Tempwoods are especially noted for their ease in starting heat radiates within seconds after lighting the fire. Tempwoods also hold their fire, thus requiring very little attention or going back and forth to the woodpile. Many Tempwood owners swear by these models because of the neatness and safety features. Since Tempwoods topload, sparks and hot ashes wont spill out onto the hearth. When the lid is lifted, sparks and hot coals die down due to increased velocity and negative pressure. As a result, smoke and flyash cant escape to do their dirty work. All Mohawk stoves are tested by IJL or tested by independent laboratories in accordance with UL standard 1482. The Tempwood V is approximately 4 inches smaller than the Tempwood II in all directions; it weighs 127 pounds and is rated at 35,000 BTU/ hour.
  
  Manufacturer (note - these are OLD addreses, most companies no longer exist)
  Mohawk Industries, Inc.
  P.O. Box 71A
  Adams, Massachusetts 01220

The information above was found just recently…these stoves are no longer available but I have to tell you that before this Company started making these back in the seventies…I happened to find a wood stove book at the library and this drawing was in it along with a brief description about how it worked etc.
As my (now ex) husband had just gotten out of welding school I talked him into making us one. With nothing but the drawing he put one together. It was huge about 3ft wide & 2 ft deep and stood about 3 or so feet high. The downdraft tubes in the picture we had showed the tubes much longer and he built ours to about 6 inches from the bottom.
We would fill this bad boy up about once a day. The opening was about a 1 ft opening and we threw in logs almost as big around. We actually bought and burned a ton of coal one winter and this stove worked just as well. (That was a story in itself, filling up a ½ ton Chevy pickup and driving 50 miles home ). We stayed toasty warm (living in Massachusetts). We bragged about it and word got around and we sold around a dozen or so @ $150.00 to $200.00.
Many people expressed an interest but felt the size was too big so Bob made a much smaller version, I’d say 2X1 ½ by 2 &1/2. This size worked as well but we found we had to fill it twice a day some days. We had thought of going into a real business with these but once we checked into all involved with getting a UL approval we just gave up the whole thing.
When Clint & I bought this bus, I seriously thought of seeing if my ex could build (or even remembered how) a much smaller version. It is a very efficient stove and the temperature was very manageable, depending on how much you opened the dampers. I asked, but he no longer had any welding equipment nor the space to build one for me. I managed to hunt up more today but cannot paste it here.
What do y'all think of this in a bus?

[c_hasbeen]

Wow that looks like a great setup to me! I am guessing the reason these stove makers went out of business is the epa requirements to certify them as what ever and so forth was cost prohibitive for the small companies.

I have a personal fondness for good quality wood stoves, that is all we heated with all my childhood in Nebraska.

I wonder how many of these are out there on craigslist.
I think I saw a top load stove at tractor supply or orschelin farm and home last few winters.

[The-Breeze]

I did a search on these a couple of years back and found three at decent prices. As the Company at the time of our building of stove hadn't yet formed, it took hours to locate these as I had no name to hunt under. I just knew what it looked like. I was surprised to see that someone else had the same idea as us. The problem is, if you don't live in the New England area and/or can't drive to pick up, the cost to ship would be astronomical.

Even the smaller version that Bob made would have been way too big for a bus. They are easy to build. I always loved the fact that they are top loaders. It was an inconvenience having to clean out from the top though, but one you could easily live with for the safety factor.

[taskswap]

They're wonderfully convenient and if I had one I doubt I'd give it up - I was always jealous of a friend that did. But it's fair to say they aren't AS efficient as modern stoves with true secondary burn tubes. Not all secondary air supplies are the same. I'm not saying they're bad, just agreeing that you might get 10% better with the latest designs. Still, very convenient...

Two more reasons they probably went out of fashion:
1. A lot of people are installing inserts these days, and stove makers are coming out with a lot of models that can be set up both ways with the right leg/trim kits. But you can't use a top-loader as an insert.

2. They're... not the most BEAUTIFUL of appliances, are they? It's a great hunk of black iron. People are burning less wood these days and doing it more by choice - not everybody, but more people anyway. You see a lot of really decorative stoves with beautiful glass doors, enamel finishes, wrought iron inlays, etc. Even my basic US Stove insert that I got for my living room for $1200 has a lot of nice detail on a nice glass door. You go to any wood stove dealer these days and you won't find any utilitarian models, it's all QuadraFires, Osburns, and Vermont Castings - and they're all as decorative as functional. Heck, a good soapstone stove runs $4k-$5k. They must be selling because they're still in business, so I figure people are just willing to pay a bit more for something nice.

I still like my Jotul 118 with that decorative scene on the side. But I think cast iron is pretty as-is. I guess not everybody agrees.

[The-Breeze]

Ya...but you know, I thought this was the place to reintroduce these "ugly" stoves considering some of the ideas and designs I've seen on this site.

Bob & I bounced around the idea of "beautifying" these beast. Tiles were one idea but given the amount of heat that comes out of these, we weren't aware of any bonding solutions to hold the tiles on. Of course, those days we hadn't even heard the word computer.

I was wondering if anyone had ideas on what & how to make these efficient stoves "pretty".

[nat_ster]

Originally Posted by The-Breeze

I was wondering if anyone had ideas on what & how to make these efficient stoves "pretty".

Melt down the cast iron, and recast it with some beauty.

Just kidding.

However after seeing some of the metal casting on you tube, I would love to cast a stove one day out of cast iron. I have been keeping brake drums for the cast iron.

Nat

[taskswap]

The soapstone stoves I've seen don't bother with adhesives - they fit them into slots. It's just pure thermal mass. Personally I prefer cast iron - it's way more durable than soapstone. I was just commenting on the general trend I saw. But if you wanted to set up for that it'd be easy enough to weld parallel C-channels to fit them into. They aren't structural. A couple of tack welds would even do it.