This happened today.
The shiny, that is.
When we first purchased our home, the only source of heat it had was a wood-burning stove. Which after a year was more than I could handle. I’m a city boy! I don’t like that whole having to get up at night to put wood in the fire so your water doesn’t freeze. Or your blood.
We removed the stove and all the chimney portions after we had central heat and air installed. I don’t recall the reasoning now. But I think it had to do with insurance costs at the time.
Fast forward to last year, right before winter. Our heat pump went out. And it was either $13K to replace it, or just deal with the winter using the heat strips that stilled worked. After a shocking but not surprising power bill at the end of last winter, we decided to put the stove back in.
Which required a new chimney to be installed. New, because we didn’t save the old parts when we removed it. That’s technically not true. They were just used for other projects around the house.
All that meant I had to climb a ladder and install chimney sections.
And I dislike heights. Granted, it is only 30 feet from the ground to the top of the chimney. But that is still higher than I want to be. On a ladder.
But I got it all installed without breaking anything. On myself.
We had to do a test burn while it was still warm enough to open the house up, in case of smells or other… issues.
No issues with smell. Or anything else.
Although our little girls have never seen a fire before, and one of them is particularly nosy…
And then there’s me, enjoying it the only way I know how…
I guess it’s good to have a backup heat source in case the power quits flowing. But I won’t be happy about it.
Until next time...
30 feet? pffft.
It’s not the fall that will kill you. It’s the sudden stop!
I’d probably have a heart attack before I hit the ground. That’s how scared I am of being up there.
We “heated” our house in the upper peninsula of Michigan with a wood stove. What a joke- it basically heated the living room and the rest of the house was frozen. It would be 40 below outside and my upstairs bedroom would be 10 below- I had to sleep with a hat and a winter coat on.
That’s why we had central heat and air put in a year or two after we purchased the house. But considering we didn’t have a backup in case the power was out, this was our best option.
The Husbear grew up in a similar environment like what you described. I’m not sure I would have survived childhood.
I *do* know how high that is! It’s scary-high. I heated with wood for about fifteen years, so I know this drill, unfortunately. But I love, love, love wood heat, so yay for you! Please be good boys and clean your chimney flue-pipe regularly (especially since yours is so long AND its outside where it’s colder and creosote can form in it more readily, I’m told): a chimney fire is no joke and really, really scary.
I’m particular about home maintenance, so I do everything I can to avoid chimney fires.
You will enjoy watching the kitties “melt” in front of the fire. My cats love the heat and never ever have been burned.
They have barely moved more than 10 feet from it since we started running it a few days ago. It must be a nice life they have! 😉
Never saw a picture of the Husbear’s back before — now I know both sides of him are hot!
heh heh… I’ll let him know you said so. 😉
I would dearly love a fireplace with a wood fire – priceless.
You could put one in. Although I guess you’d only get to run it like two days out of the year out there, right?