Are Franklin wood stoves good?

Franklin stoves are extremely inefficient and burn a lot of firewood. Plus, they smoke profusely during use and the fires inside are hard to control, often resulting in over firing (burning too hot) and creating a fire hazard in your home.

How old are Franklin stoves?

1742
In colonial America, homes were warmed by a fireplace. The Franklin stove, invented in 1742, is a metal-lined fireplace that stands in the middle of a room. It has rear baffles for improved airflow. It provides more heat and less smoke than an open fireplace and uses less wood.

Why did Benjamin Franklin make the Franklin stove?

One of his early inventions, the Franklin stove, was invented to help colonists heat their homes more efficiently and safely. In an effort to solve the problem of heat escaping up the chimney, Franklin developed a freestanding cast-iron fireplace, called the Pennsylvania Fireplace, in 1741.

Why did David Rittenhouse make the Franklin stove?

It had a hollow baffle near the rear (to transfer more heat from the fire to a room’s air) and relied on an “inverted siphon” to draw the fire’s hot fumes around the baffle. It was intended to produce more heat and less smoke than an ordinary open fireplace, but it achieved few sales until it was improved by David Rittenhouse.

What kind of stove did the Franklin stove have?

The stove consisted of an iron bowl in which the fuel was burned. A pipe extended from the bowl’s bottom and then upwards into a chimney.

Where was the baffle located on the Franklin stove?

In Franklin’s stove, a hollow baffle was positioned inside and near the rear of the stove. The baffle was a wide but thin cast-iron box, which was open to the room’s air at its bottom and at two holes on its sides, near its top.

Why was an inverted siphon used in the Franklin stove?

This inverted siphon was used to draw the fire’s hot fumes up the front and down the back of the Franklin stove’s hollow baffle, in order to extract as much heat as possible from the fumes. The earliest known example of such an inverted siphon was the 1618 fireplace of Franz Kessler. The fire burned in a ceramic box.