Chimney Follies

So, ob cit, as part of our revisions here aboard Floating Empire, we decided to get as far off fossil fuels as we could (and off their expense) by installing a solid fuel stove.

Ranch tent stove in its final place.

Here's a bit better shot during the installation.

So in the course of our recent interminable spate of rainy, chilly weather, we got the chance to test the thing and determined a) that it put out a lot of heat and b) that the water jacket on the back of the stovepipe did a fine job of heating water for everyday use and--unfortunately--c) that it smoked the place up whenever we had a North wind.  Disappointing. (to read our original review of the stove and subsequent modifications and installation, go here)

We tried a number of things, carefully preheating the chimney by placing some tinder in the far back of the stove (which did help), building the fire more toward the rear of the stove, putting a different cap on the chimney......none of it seemed to fix the problem.

Then I finally bit the bullet and got more sections of 3" stovepipe and extended the chimney another two feet over the top of the boat.

No, these aren't the final brackets....just wanted to know if this would work.

Lo and behold, that was it.  The stove began to draw, even in the strong North wind, not a breath of smoke in the boat, and lotsa heat.  I'm sitting here drinking a cup of tea with water boiled on the stove.

Experimentation is a wonderful thing.  Make sure you give yourself the time to do that before you desperately NEED something to work.

In other news, it looks like the endless rain is . . .well. . . finally thinking about ending.  Today is cool, but sunny, and next week looks wonderfully warm.  The new kitchen setup is working well (as in, why didn't we do it this way in the first place?), and the new book is selling well.

Yes, it's available on Kindle Unlimited as well.

So, all in all, not a sucky week.  We're looking forward to warmer weather, more cookouts, and getting to finally mess with the floatation.

Stay Tuned

Hey, Morgainne has new stuff over at Life, Art, Water, with news of our potted duck.  Go have a look!

M