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Author Topic: Ridgewood stoves  (Read 43361 times)

Hartwa

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #15 on: January 22, 2013, 08:23:05 AM »

I am getting a ridgewood on Monday....  What sold me is the thickness of the firebox and of course the price.  When I started reading reviews and what to look for everyone said you want the thickest firebox you can afford....well it just so happens that outside the shaver boiler the ridgewood has the thickest firebox at 3/8" and the price is 3500.

I am a little concerned about the small company...but all companies start small and maybe do there best work when they are trying to build a name for themselves....

I hope I made the right choice.
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fryedaddy

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #16 on: January 22, 2013, 08:42:58 AM »

A thick firebox isn't necessarily a good thing.

I've read many companies posting the thickness of fireboxes but with a conventional (no experience with a gasser)
as long as you MAINTAIN your stove they can last a very long time. The stove I ran in my house previously
was built around 1984 and was taken out of service this winter and had a 3/16" firebox.

My father has the same style stove as my previous and is as old as I am 30+ years. If you maintain
these stoves by keeping the proper treatment in them they should last a long time. This is assuming
the firebox and stove has been welded together and installed properly.
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Scott7m

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #17 on: January 22, 2013, 09:27:28 AM »

Yep the thick firebox thing will bite you in the butt.   1/4" is plenty thick enough to give you longevity to last as long as need be as long as your doing your part.  it takes btu's longer to travel through thicker materials, hence giving them more time to exit the stack.  thats an analogy but one that hopefully most can understand.  my neighbor has a 3/8" firebox, and i can attest its noticeably harder on wood than other models
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victor6deep

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #18 on: January 22, 2013, 09:30:18 AM »

Yep the thick firebox thing will bite you in the butt.   1/4" is plenty thick enough to give you longevity to last as long as need be as long as your doing your part.  it takes btu's longer to travel through thicker materials, hence giving them more time to exit the stack.  thats an analogy but one that hopefully most can understand.  my neighbor has a 3/8" firebox, and i can attest its noticeably harder on wood than other models

Between You and WillieG I have learned a lot.
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Scott7m

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #19 on: January 22, 2013, 09:44:58 AM »

Yep the thick firebox thing will bite you in the butt.   1/4" is plenty thick enough to give you longevity to last as long as need be as long as your doing your part.  it takes btu's longer to travel through thicker materials, hence giving them more time to exit the stack.  thats an analogy but one that hopefully most can understand.  my neighbor has a 3/8" firebox, and i can attest its noticeably harder on wood than other models

Between You and WillieG I have learned a lot.

there is more to things than initially meets the eye, when i first started out i assumed thicker meant better made.  not true at all.  i have since seen that the thicker fireboxes are being made by the smaller companies, not because its cheaper, because it shouldnt be!  but because they dont fully understand the processes of how a boiler operates.  i even had one manufacturer who is popular on the forum tell me that his thick steel made it more efficent cause it held heat longer.   i was like wow, you really think that?  why dont we just have a block of steel in the yard and circulate water through it?  this game is about transferring the btu's into the water, the water is our medium of transport for the btu, if its not going into the water, its wasted. 

at the same time though, you have to be thick enough to withstand the wear and tear and folks slinging wood in there and all of that.  I feel with standard mild steel that 1/4" is a safe bet..  1/2" fireboxes require over 26% more wood to put the same number of btu into the water. 

stainless steel is another story.  Stainless can be less corrosion resistant, but has the tendency to reflect heat.  heatmaster uses 409 stainless, it can handle heat cycles really well and is more resistant to corrosion than mild steel, there fireboxes are 10 guage, or around 1/8"  They arent having any issues with them either...

Hardy is an example of 304, its even more resistant to corrosion.  but very expensive, about 4 bucks a pound on the market.  So when hardy builds a stove, its made thin.  For one reason to save money, another to allow better heat transfer as 304 tend to be more reflective than lower grades of stainless.  a hardy firebox is 16 guage, or roughly 1/16" thick.  Empyre has stoves available made from 304 that is around 1/8" thick, but they cost far more than there mild steel siblings.

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victor6deep

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #20 on: January 22, 2013, 09:49:20 AM »

Yep the thick firebox thing will bite you in the butt.   1/4" is plenty thick enough to give you longevity to last as long as need be as long as your doing your part.  it takes btu's longer to travel through thicker materials, hence giving them more time to exit the stack.  thats an analogy but one that hopefully most can understand.  my neighbor has a 3/8" firebox, and i can attest its noticeably harder on wood than other models

Between You and WillieG I have learned a lot.

there is more to things than initially meets the eye, when i first started out i assumed thicker meant better made.  not true at all.  i have since seen that the thicker fireboxes are being made by the smaller companies, not because its cheaper, because it shouldnt be!  but because they dont fully understand the processes of how a boiler operates.  i even had one manufacturer who is popular on the forum tell me that his thick steel made it more efficent cause it held heat longer.   i was like wow, you really think that?  why dont we just have a block of steel in the yard and circulate water through it?  this game is about transferring the btu's into the water, the water is our medium of transport for the btu, if its not going into the water, its wasted. 

at the same time though, you have to be thick enough to withstand the wear and tear and folks slinging wood in there and all of that.  I feel with standard mild steel that 1/4" is a safe bet..  1/2" fireboxes require over 26% more wood to put the same number of btu into the water. 

stainless steel is another story.  Stainless can be less corrosion resistant, but has the tendency to reflect heat.  heatmaster uses 409 stainless, it can handle heat cycles really well and is more resistant to corrosion than mild steel, there fireboxes are 10 guage, or around 1/8"  They arent having any issues with them either...

Hardy is an example of 304, its even more resistant to corrosion.  but very expensive, about 4 bucks a pound on the market.  So when hardy builds a stove, its made thin.  For one reason to save money, another to allow better heat transfer as 304 tend to be more reflective than lower grades of stainless.  a hardy firebox is 16 guage, or roughly 1/16" thick.  Empyre has stoves available made from 304 that is around 1/8" thick, but they cost far more than there mild steel


I know when I had my stove custom built I requested a 3/8 inch back wall just for if I do ram a log in the tove and it whacks the back. The rest is 1/4 a36 mild steel.





siblings.
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victor6deep

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #21 on: January 22, 2013, 09:53:24 AM »

I know when I had my stove custom built I requested a 3/8 inch back wall just for if I do ram a log in the tove and it whacks the back. The rest is 1/4 a36 mild steel.

If I am correct the ridgewood firebox is a propane tank cut in half.
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Hartwa

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #22 on: January 23, 2013, 01:09:36 PM »

Yep...they are propane tanks.... 

It is true that thicker steel transfers less heat into the water...I did not consider that but I ran some numbers...

mild steel has a thermal conductivity of 25 BTU/ft hr F....at 1/4" this is 1193 BTU/Ft^2 hr F and at 3/8" it is 795.  33% less.  This matters if I am comparing two fire boxes with the same heat transfer area.  The ridgewood fire box has a surface area of 35ft^2...I can transfer energy at a rate of 27400 BTU/Hr F°.  If the 1/4" firebox has the same heat transfer surface are then yes...it will put more heat in the water... the ridgewood stove has a 35Ft^2 transfer area...I think that is pretty good size.

Interestingly enough...if you look at the thermo conductivity of SST at 9.25 BTU/ft hr F...a 1/4" firebox made with SST only can put out 444 BTU/Ft^2 hr F...63% less than the mild steel counter part.
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Scott7m

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #23 on: January 23, 2013, 01:12:32 PM »

I've saw numbers similar, that's why hardy is soo thin as it is a higher grade stainless

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victor6deep

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #24 on: January 23, 2013, 01:13:37 PM »

Is a propane tank even destructable as far as heat and fire go? You would think it would last forever.
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Scott7m

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #25 on: January 23, 2013, 01:16:19 PM »

Is a propane tank even destructable as far as heat and fire go? You would think it would last forever.

It's just steel, it's to thick for my opinion...   

It will rust, corrode, and go through all the normal processes any other steel would.

No magic in propane tanks.
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Hartwa

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #26 on: January 23, 2013, 01:23:15 PM »

Yes...the original propane tank welds will not be an issue.  Where I got to trust Craig (owner) is the the welding on the flue and the front panel of the firebox.  The water jacket too I guess.

At $3500, sure there is some risk but I look at it as the same as buying a used car from a private person for that amount.  I might get a lemon and never see the guy that sold me the car again.  If I get a lemon with this boiler...I will be able to let everyone on the different forums out there know about it.

In that regard this is actually less risk...I trust someone that is trying to grow a business and reputation more that I would someone trying to sell a one time used car.
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Scott7m

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #27 on: January 23, 2013, 01:50:30 PM »

Good point...

Ask him about the scientific date you found in regards to heat transfer, intereted to hear his response.  Because u have actual numbers there, many folks have the best intentions and do help folks reduce utility costs, but don't know the science behind it, it could be that with the right info he could build a more efficient stove just as cheap

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victor6deep

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #28 on: January 23, 2013, 02:10:10 PM »

If I recall craig worked for a big owb company and went his own way
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Scott7m

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Re: Ridgewood stoves
« Reply #29 on: January 23, 2013, 03:12:36 PM »

He may have, I think the primary reason hes using tanks is he's likely getting them wayyy cheaper than having a new piece of steel rolled
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