US Stove 1869 Railroad Potbelly Coal Stove, Black

*See update below for more detail*I moved to Pennsylvania where anthracite coal is cheap and plentiful, so I decided to give it a try. This is my first experience burning coal (I used to heat with wood), so I thought I'd share a few things here for those who are looking into coal burning stoves.First, a potbelly stove, this one included, is extremely charming, but it burns inefficiently without minor modifications. It draws air quickly and requires some work (installing gasket around the doors and a damper in the pipe) to slow down the air or else it burns up the coal ridiculously fast.Second thing to keep in mind is that thing will smoke and stink badly the first time you use it. It might stink a little bit for the first several fires, but the first one is by far the worst! All new stoves do that though, no matter how expensive they are. If you have someone in the home with severe respiratory issues, you might try burning your first fire outside with it if you can.In summary, it's an ok stove, but with a few small modifications (see below), it can become a really good stove.***UPDATE***I’ve started to get the hang of this stove after two winters of daily use. It is heating our home wonderfully now!Directions for a more efficient burn:1) MOST IMPORTANT: Take a large piece of aluminum foil, fold it once, and place it in between the bottom ash-cleaning door and the stove itself. This will cut off most of the air flow into the unit. Air flow can then be controlled by the small flap on the right side of the unit. This one change made it possible to allow the fire to burn 4-8 hours at a time, 12 hours if we really load it up and shut the flap.2) Get a fire going with charcoal soaked in lighter fluid – I use about 20-25 pieces.3) Once the charcoal is thoroughly lit, add a thin layer of coal and let it burn for a good 30 minutes with the damper wide open.4) Every 20-30 minutes, add another layer of coal.5) Once you've got a good fire going, close the damper up and adjust the side flap for air control.Trickiest part - Daily maintenanceI clean this out twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.MORNING: I pull open the flap on the side and slide the shaker lever all the way out. I gently reach (with an iron poker) into the bottom of the fire through the ash cleanout door (on the bottom front). I work a little bit of the ash out and then close things back up.EVENING: This is where it gets a bit more difficult. I clean the heck out of it.1) Open the the side flap and bottom front door.2) Slide out the shaker lever.3) Reach under with the fireplace log poker and scrape out the ash. Scrape carefully until live coals start falling out. Try to get - not just the center of the underside of the fire - but around the edges as much as you can. The key is to be careful or else all of the coals will drop into the pan (which happens to me about once every week or two). If the coals drop through happens, scoop the live coals only (without the ash) back into the fire.4) Slide the shaker lever back in to close up the bottom of the fire.5) Open the main front access door to get to the top of the fire. Push it down along the circumference of the fire with the poker and really shake and thrash it the coals downward.6) If your cleanout below the fire was successful, it should have created a cavity from the ash and burned up chunks coming out of the bottom. When you push the fire down from above, this will cause it to collapse downward, giving you more room to add more coal (just make sure the shaker is closed so that it doesn't fall into the ash pan).7) I then take the poker, run it into the ash cleanout door, use it to "hook" the shaker grate, and then shake the mess out of the grate. I do this for a few minutes, shaking it every possible way, and poking up into the fire to get out the loose ash. This keeps the fire burning hot and keeps it from choking and dying.I’ve kept my stove burning for a couple of months at a time this way. I think it requires more upkeep than the newer, better stoves, but we’re used to that from our wood burning days and both my wife and I are now comfortable operating and maintaining a fire in this. With the aluminum foil trick I recently learned, this is not a bad stove.

I bought this to swap out for my wood furnace. I knew I was taking a chance and was not ill-prepared.Here’s the thing: You can’t shake the ash out of this thing. It will burn coal beautifully for a day or so, but it’s not a good stove for coal overall. At least not for anthracite coal I haven’t tried bituminous.It’s inexpensive and that’s great. If you vent it properly and keep it away from combustibles it will not be a safety issue, no issues there. It’s not a coal stove though.You can burn wood in it and provide heat but I don’t think I’d choose this as a wood stove.If you want to burn coal or want a regularly reliable stove somewhere, this isn’t it. If you want a stove for a camp or something like that where you can go and drag along a couple of bags of nut coal or use for wood yeah you’ll enjoy it. Not something to rely on for household heat.

Love it

Nice stove beautiful accent to my room ..Only problem , it came without the bottomDoor ..after sometime the door was sent..Thank You ...

Update: The stove was purchased in Nov. 2017. I just noticed a crack developing on the rear of the stove. I contacted USSTOVE Company, and they don’t have replacement parts for the stove. I think that if a company cared about their product, they would carry spare parts for them. They told me that it can be welded. I now strongly recommend adding a refractory cement on the interior of the combustion bowl before you use the stove. This stove should not be expected to run 8 hours without attention; hourly is my recommendation. It’s door seams are not exactly air tight. The stove is a great heat producer. Mine maintains an outside surface temperature of 500-800 degrees. Also you can cook on the top of the stove. I’ve had one of these caboose stoves for three winters now. I used another brand potbelly stove many years ago, for five years. I would recommend this stove for use in a garage, work shop, roomy basement, or living room. This stove throws heat in all 360 degrees direction! The front feed door doesn’t come with a secure latching device. The tongue on the door sits on a grooved ledge on the stoves body, so it’s possible if loaded heavily with wood, a log could possibly bump the door open. But I found a good inexpensive fix for that online which is in the pictures I’m posting. When the stove was new, I made a chain that wraps around the stove and over the stove door, to make sure the door stays shut, which gives me peace of mind while the stove is still burning wood or coal, and doesn’t void the one year warranty. I have recently added a bolt lock to secure the door latch, and a 1/16” holes stainless screen inside the main door circular vent to stop the possibility of a spark flying out from inside the stove. I also added a stainless screen with 1/4” holes, that sits over the grate so I can burn rice coal without the coal falling through the grate. I bought the perforated screens on Amazon. Make sure you install the proper stove pipe through the wall, or ceiling. An infrared thermometer gun is a great way to see how hot the stove or stove-pipe is while operating the stove. The stove came with the chimney pipe damper. I installed the damper in the upper part of the first section of stove pipe. The damper slows the amount of hot air going up the chimney, which in turn holds the heat in the stove instead of letting the heat just fly up the chimney. It’s very useful in controlling the flow of air through the stove. This narrow stove, about 20” diameter, makes it possible for me to maintain my vehicles in the cold months of the year. I burn wood scraps , logs, coal, in any combination mix in this stove. If you burn soft coal in it, don’t fill it up with soft coal, because the soft coal can get very hot, and could get the stove too hot. Hard coal is best, easier to control. Start slow and learn how the stove acts, once it’s going well the vents can be mostly shut, and the stove will run steadily. I made some more modifications. I glued 1/2” stove rope to the inside edges main feed door. The bottom door requires 1/2” stove rope to the top of the door, and 3/4” stove rope to the sides and bottom of the bottom door. Adding the stove rope allows me to have a more mild burning of the fuel. Also it allows me to leave the main door vent open so I can see the flames flickering in the stove. It’s so nice to sit near this stove on cold days. I recently added a narrow door hinge at the ash door handle. One of my pictures shows it. I cut a slot in it to go over the door handle nub. I then use a small Allen wrench to put through the handle nub hole.

Shipping was delayed for several weeks. When it did arrive it was damaged.

I'm not really happy with this stove..I went by the reviews and they gave it a five star...I don't know if my husband is doing something wrong but it doesn't throw out the heat like I was hoping for.. I just wish there was a number to call to see what he might be doing wrong..as far as delivery and sending the part with no instructions on where it goes and what its for, delivery service was excellent..

Potbelly upright gives a good amount of heat love it! Has a great look!