I had to work Friday so I did not get as much done this weekend as I hoped but still managed to do a fair amount and the heater in now in the basement! It's nowhere near hooked up but it's there. And the extra money I made by having to work over will help buy the additional flue pipe I need. This freaking thing is heavy. Allen and I had a time getting it loaded onto my truck and poor ol' Blue now has his first dent, dang it. But anyway, I'm ecstatic to have this heater. It is going to help out so much this winter. I have to check the specs for this stove and make sure I have the proper clearances against the wall etc. but I don't think there will be much problem there. I will also have to remove those center two windows and make a solid section of wall for the pipe to pass through but that is OK. I might can use those 2 windows in a chicken house or studio or something.
I have also found some drawings for a water heating system using wood burning stoves. It looks fairly simple to do; just divert the water on it's way to the electric water heater, pass it through a coil system next to the wood heater and send it on it's way back to the electric heater. If it's not all the way to temperature, it's at least preheated so that the electric heater doesn't have as much to do. A shutoff valve lets you bypass the system in the summer.
I've got some cleanup to do on the heater, put the doors back on and replace the stone in the floor of the heater but it was hardly used and in great shape. It has been a little cool here lately in the mornings but it will still be a while before any real heat is needed.
This end of the basement looks great, right? You should see the other end! Looks like a cyclone hit it but I'm slowly getting stuff cleaned up. I had to practically empty one end and clean it up to get the heater in. This let me build this really great shelving unit though. I love this thing! I think it came out well to have made the design up as I went. As you can see, maybe, it holds all of my stained glass supplies with the glass standing up and sorted by color so I can see what I have at a glance. It is right next to the kiln so I have a few supplies for that in here too. I didn't have time but plan to put up some shelves for gardening supplies and hand tools also. I cleaned up the yard some and got a lot of salvaged materials stored in our bone yard away from the house, so it makes things look a lot better.
Today I took a little time and went to the big art/craft festival int his area where I used to sell my pottery some years. I was curious how the economy has affected such things and just wanted to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. The show was very busy and most vendors said they had done pretty good business. I was rather surprised.
Anyway, I saw the Queen, Rurality! and spoke with her and hubby for about an hour and a half. They are doing well but very busy so she has just fallen out of the blogging habit for now. She has possible plans for a triumphant return though, so maybe it won't be too much longer.
6 comments:
Ahhh, now not only do I have stove envy - but I have basement envy! It looks great down there and I am positively brimming with jealousy for all the workspace you have.
Seems everyone is starting to focus on getting set for winter now. We just replaced all of our old, uninsulated galvanized ducting this past week. Your stove looks like it will keep you nice and toasty - are you diverting heat from it upstairs in some way?
You met Rurality!
Pablo must be foaming at the mouth ... he worships the blog she walks on ... and with good reason.
She can take a 2 month break and still stay in the top listings on Nature Blog Network.
She is a clever lass for sure.
Good luck with your stove. My hot water gets preheated by the waste heat of the central air heat pump system.
Really works well.
Hey Maya! Well, don't be too jealous of that basement; I only showed the clean area!! lol! the rest is atrocious.
The stove is a convection type so it will blow the warm air out and circulate it better and then I am just going to use the floor vents (no duct work yet) to allow the hot air to rise naturally into the living area. I know this sounds odd but it is kinda an experiment.
Hey FC! Yeah, I've known Karen for some time; we are practically neighbors. She is the one that talked me into starting my blog! Her blog is great. I hope she comes back soon.
that's a great idea that you use to preheat your water! I hope mine works good.
The basement is certainly ttaking shape, wont be long and the other end will look the same I'm sure!
We have what we call "wet back" systems on our fires here, does the same thing you spoke of, heats water for winter whilst fire is warming us, here they link to solar hot water systems or electrical.
Love that shelving unit you built!
Blessings:)
Ha. I was wondering how that shelf related to ceramics. I don't think I read that you also do stained glass. Must of missed that day.
Glad to hear of Ruality. Various bloggers I read have noted Ruality sightings. It makes for great reading.
Hey Molly! Yeah, getting that end of the basement cleaned up really helped a lot! Maybe it won't take too long to get to the other.
I hope to link my water to a solar system also for summer use and just switch between the two.
Hey jenn! I may not have mentioned before that I do stained glass because I don't get a chance to work on it much. Got lots of material for it though and maybe now it will be easier for me to do a few projects.
I hope Rurality is back soon too! She has the best photos!
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