Stayin' Warm 1

The Fuzz cut this hole in the wall. But it was for a good cause. It was for our Brand New, Super Duper, Insulated, Chimney. We needed this so we can once more burn wood to stay warm. If we are living out here in the woods, why pay the Power Co. for heat?
But to burn wood in the trailer, we need a method for getting the smoke outside.
The usual method is a chimney, with which this trailer was not equipped. But The Fuzz is not one to let this sort of thing stop him. So once again it was time for a trip to that, now familiar, Home Improvement Store. There he purchased the necessary components for the installation of a chimney, suitable for our new home in the woods.
To the left you can see the framing necessary for mounting this High Tech Chimney though the wall.
On the right is a pix of one of these High Tech components, sitting on the table. This is the "Tee" that passes though the wall. This High Tech Pipe is heavily insulated and they claim it can be placed within 2" of a "combustible surface". The Fuzz says he hopes they are telling the truth, or "we're in a world of trouble".
But this does have to be supported somehow.
Here's a look at the stuff mounted to the wall.
You may wonder why he bothered with the framing here on the wall. Why not just fasten it all to the studs? It is designed to fit standard 16" framing. (which we actually have for once!) Well, The Fuzz found that the "thimble" which passes though the wall would only adjust down to 4 1/2" whereas this wall is only 4". Thus he added a bit more.
Here's a look at the finished chimney*.
The neighbor boy complimented The Fuzz saying "Nice smokestack!"
I guess it does look more like a "smokestack" than a "chimney". But that's OK.
The Fuzz set some paper on fire in the stove and it did seem to draw OK. But perhaps we're getting ahead of things here. So keep watching for part 2 of "Stayin' Warm"- which we might have time to get up here soon.


*As always you can click on the pix for a closer look!

This Time

This time, things will be different.

Well The Fuzz is back on the job. His back seems to be holding up, at least so far. Things have been pretty quiet around here. My Sweetie and I took a walk along the river Sunday. Boy was it low. It's been so dry here. With the Easter freeze and now the drought, it's not been a good year for agriculture around here.

The mornings have been cool. The Fuzz usually lights a little fire to "take the chill off" the house in the morning. So the new stovepipe has been broken in. Remember how shiny it used to be ?
Well it's not like that now. It's been "heat treated". It's always good to get that done when one can still open the windows.



The Fuzz tends toward the lazy side, "If its not broke, don't fix it". This has led to problems in the past, like when he discovered rusted out spots on his stovepipe, the day before Thanksgiving. It turns out, something WAS broke. This complicates things since there is inevitably a fire in the stove at that time of year. That situation called for quick work, and a smoky house. The Fuzz's Sweetie was not happy.

But this year, things will be different. We start the season out with a Brand New, already Broke In, Stovepipe.

Stove Pipe

That fall like weather is finally here. At least for the moment. That cool breeze, those cool mornings.

Of course, those cool mornings call for a little something to take the chill off the house. This means Fire. Fire means Smoke. And Smoke has to find a way out of the stove, and out of the house.

Now there is a hole in the ceiling that connects to a hole in the roof. This might sound like a problem on account of rain and all, getting in, and making things all wet. But this is not a problem. This is a special hole, just for Smoke.
Here is what this hole looks like from the inside.
But the smoke starts it's journey from inside the stove. This means that it must get from the stove to this special hole in the top of the house.
There was a time, when folks just let the smoke kinda rise up in the room and find it's own way to their hole in the roof, but that system doesn't really work all that well. But now days we have a better approach to this. We have a Stove Pipe.
It will be noticed, in the above illustration, that this Stove Pipe seems to be in bad condition. This is, in fact, the case. If this critical component were to fail, it could be serious. So It must be replaced. And that was the project for the day.
It was time for a trip to the Home Improvement Store. There among the thousands of useful items, The Fuzz found Brand New Stove Pipe Stuff.
(He also found some fancy, high dollar light bulbs, to replace the ones that were burned out, but that doesn't have anything to do with Stove Pipes, so I'm sorry I brought it up.) First the Stove Pipes had to be snapped together. The fuzz had fun looking at the trees though them. Then, some of them had to be cut into the proper lengths. The Fuzz used his cool side grinder for this. I don't know why this stuff seems to be floating around like this. It wasn't. Here are all the finished parts waiting for assembly, the damper is installed, and he even remembered to clean off those little stickers with the barcodes on them.
The Fuzz carried all this stuff inside, and stuck the 9" piece up into the hole inn the ceiling. After this was secured, the rest was connected and fastened with screws. One does not want these things coming apart at an inopportune time.

So here is the finished project. Now The Fuzz's Sweetie can be warm without burning down the house.

But there is one thing I Don't understand. The Fuzz bought 6" Stove Pipes, yet these all have the number "9" on them.





In unrelated news, the Older Son no longer has a fiancee, They were married in the Tropical Paradise.