But at last, the chimney is installed. The holdup was getting the chimney pipe pieces. Used to be that everything was available locally, from a choice of sellers. Everyone has gone to stocking less and directing customers to order online and have it shipped to the store for pickup.
To be fair, I understand this trend. I understand the decision not to stock less common items in the store. But the problem for the buyer is that hands on information is extremely important. Sometimes its a matter of judging the quality. Or fit. Is it the right size? The website information isn't always accurate on this. Often it's just an approximate size, or worse, some sellers don't know the difference between height, width, and depth. Sometimes the item sent doesn't look anything like the picture. Or it'd flawed or damaged. Yes, they say free returns, but there's another trip we have to take and more time lost.
Another holdup is that shipping is not as fast as it used to be, so it took awhile. The two long pieces od chimney pipe were ordered at the same time but arrived on different days! For awhile we were thinking one of them had gotten lost. Thankfully, everything arrived and everything fit.
If you haven't been following this series, then you may be wondering why the chimney exits from the bottom of the stove. I'll refer you back to my introductory post, with more detail about how a masonry stove works. The gist of it is that the firebox is contained in a large hollow masonry "bell." The bell warms up and retains the heat, which radiates into the room, keeping it warm for most of the day. To better retain that heat, the chimney flue is at the bottom of the bell, so that the coolest air exits the chimney and keeps heat loss to a minimum. Very different from the common wood stove or fireplace.
So there it is, curing and ready for a breaking in fire. We've got a cold front heading our way, so that should be soon.
Masonry Stove: Chimney © November 2024
24 comments:
I hope there will be a ribbon cutting!
Liz, lol. That's a good idea!
Leigh, your comments about ordering and shipping are spot on in my experience as well. I find it very hard to order anything that is not a thing that involves measurement online, because not everyone seems to measure things the same way. And shipping has become both more expensive and takes longer.
All of that said, the finished product looks great! Looking forward to the official test run.
Most definitely online ordering has its challenges. Worse, all of the procedures for doing so are geared around those that live in urban areas where it might be convenient to drop off an item for return at a particular site but not so convenient when you live 40 miles from said store and it requires a two hour round trip drive plus fuel, wear and tear and depreciation on your vehicle.
Not long ago I ran into a new issue. I ordered a replacement for a broken fitting for our garden watering setup. I received an empty package in the mail the following week. Since I received several items, I wasn't sure what should have been in the package so it took logging into a couple websites to locate tracking numbers and compare to the one on the package. I finally determined that it had held my heavy brass fitting but the flap on the padded bubble envelope didn't look as if it had ever been sealed by whomever mailed it to me. I tried to return it online but ran into a couple issues. First, received package but missing the item was not an option to chose from. Any other option requested me to drop off the item to receive a refund. There appeared to be no way to get a refund without dropping off the item. So I had to search various pages to even locate a phone number I could call and after waiting for a length of time on hold, some lady from overseas helped me get a refund and reordered the fitting for me.
TB, thanks! One thing I'm reading about newly built stoves like this is that smoke leaks are common. That sounds like it could be a massive headache to deal with, but we're hoping for the best!
One thing about the shift to online ordering, is that I find it helps me buy less. Probably not what they're hoping for, but when I take into account the headache of it needing to be sent back, I often decide it just isn't worth it!
Another reason is decreased awareness. Online ordering requires knowing what you want and searching for a specific item (and finding the right search terms is another headache!). But if I wander in the store, or browse through a paper catalog, I discover things I didn't know about. I'm much less likely to impulse buy off the internet.
Amazingly (or not) we've had empty packages arrive as well. The seller blamed the shipper and the shipper blamed the seller so it took awhile to get a refund. Whatever happened to the days of customer satisfaction? The more the stories add up, the more I think twice before making an online order.
The placement of the pipe makes it look very dramatic! Your patience has paid off.
Daisy, great word! We discussed 90 versus 45 degree elbows, and thought the 45s would facilitate a better draft. I think they look nicer too.
Leigh, you are correct, Flow: fluid, gas, electricity, exhaust does not like 90 degree bends. forty five degree bends are more conducive to a laminar flow. Ninety degree bends create turbulence.
While it’s still warm enough to open the windows, will you do a small test run to test for leaks?
Kevin, that's exactly what we were concerned about. Ideally, the chimney should go straight up and out the roof, but because this space was built and outfitted for a conventional wood stove previously, we had to work within our parameters. Happily, I think the 45s look more elegant!
Katie, that's exactly right! Several small breaking-in fires are recommended. We'll see!
Looking very good! and looking forward to hearing about the maiden run.
Oh wow! I love it!
Rosalea, I'll have that soon!
Henny, it looks so different from the stove that used to be there that it took me awhile to get used to it. Now I like it. :)
I think it gives it a little bit of steampunk panache..
My brother(Eric) is a retired air flow engineer and I had him look at your Masonry stove and the pipes and he said the same thing about the nineties, he also said that you may get a benefit of greater heat transference to the surrounding mass with the forty fives.
Ha! I'll have to remember that next time I'm describing it to someone. :)
Kevin, thanks for that! I know that at Wheaton Labs in Montana, they have yearly get-togethers for experimenting and building various designs. I've looked at some of their forums, but a lot of it is over my head. I'm happy just to grasp the basics.
Beautiful work! Well done! I'll be very interested to hear how that low flue system works. And I understand about the difficulty getting things locally when you really need to SEE what you are buying. I thought I might have to replace my own aged stovepipe this year, but after a good (and messy) cleaning, it's working well so far. If/when I do have to replace it, I'm going to also replace the tile base and try to raise the stove to make it easier for me to load without leaning so much. It would be very helpful, but all in all I wouldn't mind postponing that job til next year.
You must be very happy that the stove is finished in time for the cooler weather. It looks really solid and well made. Congrats on that. We've found similar issues with some items in shops, but then even finding some of them online can be difficult. Sometimes shipping prices are ridiculous too, making it so you have to either justify the excessive extra costs or do without.
Quinn, it's always a relief when we can eek out a little more life for anything. I hear you about the leaning over. The base sounds like a good idea. Anything to help as we get older!
Nina, good point about shipping costs! That's often a deal breaker, but often we're able to find free shipping. Or in this case, it was free shipping to the store.
Very happy the stove is finished! I was beginning to wonder but the weather cooperated!
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