Monday, September 22nd, 2008
First of all, let me just tell you how much I hate the word “obsolete.” I hate it almost as much as I hate the words “green” and “organic.” Gee, how much can we overuse these words? I didn’t use one of my lights today, therefore I am running a “green” company. Hmmm.
Basically, everything is obsolete these days. I mean, is my car obsolete just because there is something better out there? Is my telephone obsolete just because there is a new model? Ok, I’m sorry. I don’t want this blog post to sound like a rant, even though I can rant with the best of ‘em.
I was in the pellet stove place the other day waiting to talk to someone about when my pellets can be delivered. Remember, they aren’t answering their phones? By the way, the delivery was scheduled for today, but no one showed up. Basically, the day was spent working and looking out the window. I might stop by to visit them again tomorrow to see what they have to say about this.
Anyway, while I was there pretending to look at some stoves, I noticed a sales guy walking by. He asked if he could help me when I said yes. I asked him what the little door in the floor of the fireplace is and what it is used for. He replied, “Well fireplaces are basically obsolete…everyone is getting inserts.” I felt like saying, “Look you little pissant, I didn’t ask you whether or not fireplaces are obsolete. I asked what the little door was.” But, me being me, I didn’t way that. I just kept my charming smile and got an answer after he tried to sell me an insert.
Just in case you wanted to know what the little door in the floor of a fireplace is, it’s a clean out. Instead of shoveling the ashes out of the fireplace, you can just open the door and push them down into the hole. Then, you can go downstairs and shovel the ashes out down there.
I think the word obsolete is obsolete. So there.
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Thursday, September 11th, 2008
It was a bit chilly last night at around 50 degrees. It wasn’t chilly enough to make a fire, but I did anyway. I wanted to see how everything worked. I mean, I know how everything works, I just wanted to see it in action.
I made a fire with some fairly green wood I took out of the woods a few weeks ago. It was a little smokey and hissed, while the moisture evaporated out of the ends of the logs. I know that kind of wood isn’t meant to be burned, but it had to be done.
After a while, the fire got going pretty good…
I am not sure how much heat this fireplace is going to produce this Winter. From what I have been reading, not much. Fireplaces aren’t too efficient. I guess the issue is that when the fire goes out, all the heat in the house goes right up the chimney. This fireplace does have glass doors though, so I can close them before we go to sleep, stopping some of the heat from escaping the house.
I really want the Hampton Wood Insert HI300. This wood burning stove insert has a nice, glossy baked on enamel so it looks really good. It has a BTU of 75,000, an efficiency of 77%, can handle a log size of 18″ and has a burn time of 8 hours. Also, this wood stove has an optional blower, so you can really pump up the heat.
I hate the fact that I have been thinking about this wood stove so much, because that means I am most likely going to get it. I just want to get into the season a bit to see how the pellet stove does.
I like the idea of having both a pellet stove and a wood stove.
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Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
Well, the guys came over yesterday to install the new St. Croix Prescott EXL pellet stove. As you might recall, our previous pellet stove was a Harman P38. I was a little nervous about switching brands because I had gotten used to Harman. Also, Harman has very good reviews. The reason I couldn’t get a Harman this time is because they are all backed up and we may not have even gotten one this season.
It took the installers about 3 hours to finish the installation. When everything was in, they fired it up to make sure everything was working properly. One of the installers noticed one issue…the auger wasn’t turning, so no pellets were falling into the burn pot. the auger motor was working fine, just not the auger itself. We made an appointment for the service guy to come out today. By the way, I could have fixed this. It was easy. I actually was almost done fixing it when the doorbell rang. That’s me beating my chest.
Today, the repair guy came out and fixed the auger issue. The small set screw on the auger shaft wasn’t tightened properly, so it wasn’t catching on the auger motor.
I must say, this unit is very nice. It has auto-light, which was very important. I am going to hook up a thermostat, so the pellet stove can shut down and start up on its own. Also, the auger and fan is much quieter than the Harman. The whole system just seems to be more elegant. For a few hundred bucks more, I am happy that I went with this model.
Here are some photos…
What’s nice is that the outside venting is under the porch. The necessary clearances are 24″ away from the porch and 12″ off the ground. Also, since we used the fresh air kit, the clearances from windows and doors is only 9″. I would say that’s one of the huge benefits of pellet stoves.
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Monday, August 11th, 2008
As I was outside today cutting down some more small trees, the chimney repair guys rolled down the driveway. I thought he said they were going to call to set up an appointment, but this was fine with me. The faster I can cross something off my list, the better.
The job was to repair the crack in the chimney crown and ad a cap. I found a nice site that offers reasons why repairing a chimney crown is important. I have a feeling this is one of those repairs that a whole lot of people ignore. I guess they will be forced to fix things once they start falling apart. Heck, I wouldn’t have even known about this if the chimney cleaning guy didn’t tell me. I did my own research to back up what he said.
The cap they put on the chimney is stainless steel and measures 13″x28″. It has a lifetime warranty. For the price they charged, it better.
There are some benefits to having a chimney cap installed as well. They are:
- the cap helps to prevent downdraft
- it helps to repel rain and snow
- stops animals from nesting in your chimney
- helps to improve draft
- helps the chimney crown to shed water
- stops or helps to stop the fireplace damper from rusting
With all these benefits, I thought getting a cap would be the prudent thing to do. I am a prudent person.
During a walk last week, I noticed that virtually all the new houses around here don’t have chimney caps installed. I guess it’s not that imperative for new construction. I am still wondering why that is. It is probably the duty of the homeowner to get that done after the house is built. It still strikes me as odd though.
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Friday, August 1st, 2008
When we first moved in, there was a slight chill in the air. I guess it was early May or something, when it still gets chilly at night. I am not too good with the cold, so I got a fire going in the fireplace.
As the fire was burning in the fireplace, I thought to myself, “Hmmm, I wonder when the last time this chimney was cleaned out.” Now, if I was my father, I would be up in the roof looking down it with a flashlight. Since I am me, I let the fire burn and thought about it again a few months later.
It has been a few months. A while back, I got a postcard in the mail from Safeside Chimney out of East Hartford. It included a $20 a chimney cleaning coupon. I decided to call them for a chimney cleaning.
As a side note, if you are thinking about buying a house and keeping it nice, it can cost a fortune. Ok, I said it.
Anyway, yesterday, the chimney guys came. They were scheduled to clean both the chimney flue as well as the boiler flue. I thought this was a pretty good idea to get done in the Summer, since we are not using them all too much. I will admit that we almost overlooked this chore. If this company didn’t send me the coupon, I am not sure I would’ve called. It is quite important to keep these things clean, as they can cause big problems if you don’t.
Now, when I told my father that I had a company come over to sweep the chimney, he said, “So, you don’t want to get a sweeper and a few pipes and do it yourself?” That’s the house I (thankfully) grew up in. We did it ourselves and learned the entire time. This time is a little different. First of all, I keep thinking that I am not as limber as I used to be. Second of all, I am probably not as strong as I used to be and third of all, there ain’t no way I am going up on this steep roof to clean out this chimney. You tell me if you would do it…
Looking up the side of the chimney from the outside.
No %$^& way I am going up there. You should’ve seen the guy trying to get down. It would’ve been easier for him to jump into one of the big air things the cops use when someone is getting ready to jump off a building.
The good news is that the chimney was cleaned. The bad news is that he found a crack in the chimney crown while he was up there. To prove this, he brought up the company digital camera. When he got down, he showed me. I believed him, but I still went inside to get the binoculars, just to make sure he wasn’t pulling a fast one. I didn’t know if he was showing me the same photo he shows everyone. Well, come to find out, there is a crack in the chimney crown. Luckily, it is an easy, but expensive repair.
He wrote me up an estimate to repair the chimney crown as well as to install a stainless steel chimney cap. There wasn’t a chimney cap installed. He said that by doing this, water wouldn’t make the crack worse and eventually lead to popping the bricks out of the chimney and doing more extensive damage to the house. Whatever…I just signed the estimate and told them to call me to set up a time to fix it. I will tell you that repairing the top of a chimney was not on my list of priorities.
Here are some photos of the cleaned chimney, from the inside.
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Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
I was sitting in the house a few nights ago, when I heard a “thud.” It sounded kind of like a muffled explosion. As I remember back, I heard the thud right after I heard the fire siren go off at the fire house down the road. I looked out the window to see what it was and I saw the car across the street was on fire.
I ran out to the living room and told Laura there was a fire across the street. We went out on the front step when we started seeing all the trucks pull up. There were two big fire trucks and about thirty individual volunteer trucks. You can imagine how many volunteers come to these happenings out here in the country. I decided to grab the video camera. Please be warned, there is language in the video.
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