The main advantage of having a stove instead of using a fireplace is that most of the heat doesn't go straight up the chimney, it heats up the metal stove instead, which then acts as a radiator. The stove also has firebricks inside. Pictured here is a Villager and it is a multi-fuel stove which means that you can burn coal inside it as well as wood. It has a number of controls so that you can alter the amount of air going through it, which controls the speed at which it burns fuel. This stove sits in the room on a couple of paving slabs instead of in the fireplace which makes you closer to the heat source.
A six inch pipe comes out of the rear of the stove and passes through a large metal plate covering the front of the chimney and then goes up the chimney at an angle of about 130 degrees. Alternatively you can knock your fireplace out and sit the stove inside the chimney and have the pipe going straight up. Many stoves have a dual option plate on the top rear side which can be arranged so that the pipe goes straight up or out the back instead. All of the metal joints have to be sealed with fire cement and metal tape or fire rope.
This model costs about £700 new here but luckily we had a friend who had one that they didn't want sat in a garage which just needed doing up a bit. Other makes can be considerably cheaper.
As well as heating it is also possible to cook and boil water on it. Mainly I have been wrapping up potatoes in silver foil and throwing them inside, where they take about forty minutes to cook.
Last year in this country 25,300 more people died in the winter months than in the summer, which was an increase of 7% on the previous year although we are supposed to be a first world country. There is a lot of money here but it is very well hidden, sometimes it drives past me and sometimes I can see where it lives but that is as close to it as I can get. It doesn't get shared out very well, that's for sure.
The pot bellied stoves are rather attractive too, as the above picture amply demonstrates. As with all these sort of escapades you start off in ignorance and rapidly become some kind of an expert on such matters, which is part of the fun really and now I know a bit about all things stovular.
6 comments:
Onya John, Nina and I were having a chat about this over at her place. I'll drop in there and tell her to come check this out. Nice restoration job mate. I always did love restoring things.
thanks nobody
I did consider buying a new one but quite often when you ask around things turn up somehow which is nice and I'd always rather get an old thing and do it up than buy a new thing. I also had quite a bit of help from other people in various ways too so I can't take all the credit as it has been a bit of a team effort which is also good.
Nina's pile of wood is looking good!
take it steady nobody
High John, what a timely entry. I am just in love with your project, already thinking of marinated veggies on skewers. You really did a nice job there.
And you illustrate exactly what I've been saying about how these things fall into our lives.
It seems recognizing and welcoming opportunity instead of fearing the work involved, especially work you know nothing about, is another part of how our survival goals come to fruition.
BTW, you might enjoy Brian's work: Brian Kennedy
PS What you said so humbly about the team effort is the way it works. In our own, individual brave new worlds, beyond the reaches of all things awful, it all comes down to us and our team, sharing and exhanging goods and services. Let the monied not sully their hands while we get to warm our toesys by the happy cookstove.
Cheers Nina
You are right on all points there. I think the monied might wake up one day and find that it doesn't work anymore. People say it can't happen here but it can, Argentina is a good example of that.
cheers for now
john
Oh and thanks for the link. Brians fire screens are really nice!
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