Looking for advice

I recently acquired a workshop space that came with this large wood-burning furnace. It is about 4'x2'x4', I could crawl inside it if I wanted to. I want to replace this with a much smaller heating source (yes RMH) and am wondering what I should or could do with this. I can simply have it removed by a junk hauler but is there a better idea? Would this be useful to someone else, either as is or modified somehow? Am I not seeing an obvious reason to keep it?

Wow, Daphne. That is one crazy heat monster. Just in time for Hallowe'en.

It's the rat rod of furnaces. Someone has been playing and exploring -- welding, adding, tweaking. This is a creative labour of love. Or of restless boredom. Hard to tell.

In a "guy space" it would certainly be a conversation piece. A folk art sculpture.

I'm not sure if it can be removed in one piece. If it were, somebody would probably take it off your hands for the scrap value -- or reuse it, with more cutting/welding.

My take -- It's just too cool to discard without firing it up at least once, if your insurance company and the local fire department will let you. (We want pictures!)

Holy hell..what is that thing???  Salvage what you can and maybe make a useable wood stove out of it...  or a hood ornament for a Mack Truck...  gigrotus beast you have there!!!

I can almost see that as an essential prop in a mystery/suspense/ghost-story film, as a pivotal plot piece... Seriously, the look of it is completely unique and maybe if you re-attach an elbow to the bottom-right corner of it, heat might actually circulate in your home.

Seriously though: there might be a local filmmaker who wants to use it as a prop. Maybe put it up on CraigsList or something similar and allow someone to take it if they haul the entire thing themselves.

Can you shine some light inside the burn chamber and take a photo? Please? I need to know what's in there.

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:I can almost see that as an essential prop in a mystery/suspense/ghost-story film, as a pivotal plot piece...

Well said! It does have a Doctor Who vibe about it.

Okay- thanks for backing up my thoughts that this is a conversation starter or a project but not particularly useful for my space or needs. I know it has been in use over the decades it has been here, it's grandfathered in, and it's in a non-residential building so maybe that is why. The last person in the space used it before they left, I think still inside are the cremated remains of a critter who thought it was a good place to spend the winter.

Hi Daphne;
Junk it,
If you can tear it apart yourself, just enough to get it out the door.
If you can't,  then hire strong young guys to get it out however they can.

Once it is gone you can start building your RMH.
I recommend a 7" batch box with a brick bell.

Is it just me, or is that an eavestrough downspout elbow attached to the top center? If so, I think the redneck rating just went up. No offense to rednecks, only respect.

The door might have some value.

Michael, I think full redneck points were achieved with the frying pan acting as a cap.

Phil Stevens wrote:Michael, I think full redneck points were achieved with the frying pan acting as a cap.

Wow! I hadn't even noticed that. There's something humbling about clever solutions to problems using items that most would consider inappropriate.

Daphne Vega wrote:I recently acquired a workshop space that came with this large wood-burning furnace. It is about 4'x2'x4', I could crawl inside it if I wanted to. I want to replace this with a much smaller heating source (yes RMH) and am wondering what I should or could do with this. I can simply have it removed by a junk hauler but is there a better idea? Would this be useful to someone else, either as is or modified somehow? Am I not seeing an obvious reason to keep it?

Looking at the pictures someone cut a large tank in half and welded a new bottom on. the bottom section is the stove. through the firebox there seems to be 3 steel pipes welded into place. the entire top section seems to be devoted to acting like a plenum of sorts for collecting hot air. I'm not sure if it was supposed to have a fan up top pushing air down through it, one down low to push air up though it or the air was just supposed to naturally rise as it heated. Not sure if the covered duct in the cinder block was a cold air return or hot air out... You almost have to fire it up! It would be an inefficient monster no matter what. any modern woodstove or RMH would be an improvement.
cheers, David Baillie

I love it. If you took the lid off it would be bigger than the whole bathroom in my apartment!
What a conversation starter.
I feel sure someone will come and take it off your hands if you advertise it.
Good luck.