(no subject)

[glenatron]

The weekend before last we swapped out the woodstove in our house. It was old and had gaps between the side panels so it wasn't really possible to get any controlled burn out of it, it would just blaze through any logs and then go out unless constantly supervised, and it didn't even put that much heat out when it did. So we got a new stove, took out the old one and put in the new flue liner one must have to comply with building regs, which went fine except there was a fireplace in the way. After some hours with a jemmy, hammer, cold chisel and other manly tools with which I have no experience and for which I have no aptitude whatsoever we could reach the flue liner down into the room. Winners!

Unfortunately the new stove was taller than the old one and the flue outlet was higher and there was no way we were going to get flue liner to bend around and fit on the back of the stove. No way. So we had to order a pipe to go on the back and have a week with no stove. It turns out the little old stove may not have warmed the room up much, but it did a pretty good job of stopping it getting incredibly cold. We ended up sealing ourselves in to the study and bedroom, heating those up with extra electric heaters.

The pipe arrived in the middle of last week and I managed to go back onto the roof and adjust the height of the flue liner to fit more or less correctly on Saturday afternoon in the gloaming. sleepsy_mouse was out Saturday night watching Alice Cooper, so I stayed in with my little metal snip things and a sheet of steel and watched Pearl Harbor, which is exactly as good as the song suggests. It was very funny. If you wanted to survive the attack the most important thing you needed to have was lines. The more the better.

All my efforts got a roughly-right-size backing plate with a roughly-right-size-but-a-bit-small hole in it that didn't fit the flue pipe through by the end of the evening so on Sunday night I went back to trying to extend the hole. Cutting through steel sheet isn't too hard with these metal shear things we've got, but trimming a couple of millimetres off the edge really is.

While I worked at this on Sunday we watched Born Of Hope which, much like it's fellow recent Tolkien fan-film The Hunt For Gollum managed some very impressive production values and looked great. There were a couple of weak moments in the script, which was a little too clunkingly Tolkien in some places, and one of the actors annoyed me a little but it seems mean to nitpick at what was an entirely respectable achievement and highly enjoyable watching. I was left wondering how on earth that got made without us knowing about it and going off to play at being extras. I'm going to try and keep an eye out for the opportunities to do bits of that in future, especially if it gives Zorro a chance to be the movie star he always believed himself to be...

So eventually the hole was snipped and rasped to size so it fitted onto the flue pipe and then got stuck, at which point I declared it finished. So finally, on Monday, we cemented the stove in place and lit it up:


New stove!

Comments

[kittyfantastico.livejournal.com]

Huzzah! Behold the conquering heroes!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I don't know about conquering, but "less shivering" certainly...

[bunting.livejournal.com]

Best reading chair/location ever!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

With the old stove it was literally the only warm place in the entire room. Sometimes the entire house.

[flax.livejournal.com]

I am seriously impressed by your stove, all the more so for your installing it yourself. I am also very jealous — my house is freeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing, and my cat unwilling to snuggle. (And that chair looks pretty great, too.)

The website for Born of Hope still says to contact them if you have a loffly horse you would be willing to share, so worth a shot!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I did that, but it was after they had finished filming so I never heard back. Likewise I think I was a bit far away for the extra work in the GRR Martin tv show...

[littlesnowy.livejournal.com]

Glad you've got heating, it's been really cold recently (as I'm sure you noticed). My flat in Swansea had very unreliable hot water and fairly useless heating and thet was never any fun.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

We also don't have any kind of central heating so the stove is a big part of the house's heating strategy, especially as the storage heaters tend to have lost all stored heat long before we get home in the evening...

[littlesnowy.livejournal.com]

Not that I want to belittle your acheivements but you should buy a CO detector and stick it somewhere near the fire to make sure the flues working.

(Not even due to you fitting a new fire, also in case some seagull builds a nest in the chimney and stops the draw)

You can get tiny card ones that change colour when they get dosed for a few quid.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I don't think we have the kind of house that is going to be attractive to commanding officers.

[littlesnowy.livejournal.com]

I used to find that if I put the input dial all the way up and the output dial all the way down they'd still be warm when I got home.

Then I'd stick the gas fire on so I actually could take my coat off.

[evil-c.livejournal.com]

If you had said we'd have dropped off our gas heater that we have for the tack room. Silly man! I could also have dropped off an Asher to give you a hand! We're putting one in our dining room next year. Asher knows all about them (I hope).

Well I'm excited for you having a new stove. Its so warm & inviting!

Congrats!

[oifonly.livejournal.com]

Most impressive stove action. Be careful though - with your new-found DIY skilz, Sleepsy_Mouse will be able to find all sorts of exciting home improvements for you to do. :D

I haven't had a chance to watch The Hunt for Gullom yet. I've tried a couple of times but stuff keeps getting in the way! If they do another one I have a pony who'd like to be a film star, too. Possibly afther he'd joined Zorro in stomping on a few extras first.....

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Well, perhaps we need to be designing our own epic film. With Staro you're looking at "The Littlest Rohirrim" maybe :)

[oifonly.livejournal.com]

hehehe....oo, I like that. I definitely see Me'n Staro as a pair of Rohirrim. And how did you guess that Eowyn's "I am NO MAN" rip-helmet-off-and-pose is one of my favourite girlPower! moments of all time? Oh yeah. I can see me and the Staromeister as wannabe Rohirrim, without doubt. Now, all I have to do is larn how to wield a rubber sword...boiiing!

[oifonly.livejournal.com]

or, Gollum, even. Speeling? Yeah, not so much.

[allezbleu.livejournal.com]

very manly!!!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I am a superbuff bundle of testosterone and machismo, no question!

[fleefloodle.livejournal.com]

Would you like to come and heat the flat as well? The radiators are...unreliable to say the least, and the lower floors don't seem to have theirs on :( (or have insulated their ceilings).

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

After this experience I think my days as a freelance central heating engineer may be somewhat limited.

Certainly if you've metalwork that needs doing I strongly recommend pretty much anyone else.

[stu-the-elder.livejournal.com]

Christ.. that setup.. you live next to Ryhope wood, don't you, and you've been hiding it from us, all this time..

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Me? No I live near a woodland that looks like this:



Nothing Ryhope-like here...

[penella22.livejournal.com]

Lovely. Living in my little one floor-almost-an-apartment type place, I long for days when I will live in a home with a *wood stove*. Very well-done sir for installing the new stove yourself. Even if the metalwork isn't brilliant, I'm sure not freezing your socks off is.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Its surely an improvement, no question...