Pot belly stoves
What Are Pot Belly Stoves?
Wood stoves have been used in the US for a long time. Pot belly stoves have a lot of history too. In the colonial
America, they were used not only to produce heat, but also as a place where the meals were cooked. However, these
stoves were used for cooking only in the affluent families.
What Are Pot Belly Stoves?
This is a kind of wood burning stove and the material used to make it is cast iron. These stoves have been given
the status of antique items (there are some other antique stoves as well) because of their long history and they
thus need to be preserved. However there are some stoves that can be used for cooking and heating. You can easily
identify the pot belly variety from the many antique stoves because of their unique barrel shape. Much like a
pooch, these stoves bulge out from the middle, and this is why they are called pot-bellied. As compared to other
wood burning stoves, these are shorter and small too.
While most of these stoves are made with cast iron, in recent times, some of them have been made using stainless
steel and they have glass doors too – the glass door allows you to see the flame inside, and this makes it more
beautiful. And these stoves have become quite popular as well. Also, though traditionally most stoves used either
used coal or wood, but modern day pot belly stoves also use grains and pellets. But those who want something
vintage still prefer the ones in cast iron and wood. There are several exact replica’s of these stoves too that you
could try.
If you have used such a stove for a few years and want to convert it to something modern, then there are some
companies that can help you concert your stove to electricity or gas. But before you do that conversion, do
remember that there are many advantages of a wood stove.
Named After Benjamin Franklin?
The stove is also often referred to as Franklin stoves because it was invented by the famous scientist Benjamin
Franklin who has been credited with inventing so many other things such as the bifocal glass, urinary catheter,
glass harmonica and the lightning rod apart from the stove.
Today, these stoves have again become quite popular as they can be used in a lot places. They look great at
Victorian and old fashioned homes, remodeled houses, historical hotels, museums, and they are often used in modern
homes too where the décor is classical and elegant. Potbellies can indeed transform the appearance of any room
instantly.
Though they are quite popular now, but the purpose is not that much for heating – they are more used for
decoration now. This is because we now have more efficient, advanced and cleaner stoves. The modern day stoves emit
less ash and smoke and you will also not need to supply a lot of firewood like the pot belly. Some homes however
still use these pot belly stoves for cooking and heating. Normally there is a chimney in the stove through which
the smoke can go out.
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