The Self-Sufficiency Handbook. Alan Bridgewater
the new brickwork, as previously described, so that the stove stands in the room, or (2) installing a top-venting stove within the opening and having a short length of flue running vertically from the stove’s top plate up through a metal closure plate and up the chimney. The object of the closure plate is to seal the opening so that soot does not fall down, you cannot see the sky, and the heat stays in the room.
While this arrangement is good in that it maximizes room space, it is more complicated to install. If your chimney is very large, you will also need to fill the cavity between the outside of the flexible flue pipe and the inside walls of the chimney with insulation, such as vermiculite. The following step-by-step procedure will help you understand how the boiler should be installed by either you or a professional.
1.Measure your fireplace’s opening—its width, the height from the surface of the hearth to the top of the opening, its total depth, and any details such as beams, bulging brickwork, and any ironwork.
2.Visit a stove showroom and choose a top-vented stove that will fit into the fireplace opening, either partially or right up against the rear wall. Choose a model that allows the vent pipe to run straight up from the top of the stove and up the chimney and allows you to use and maintain the stove with a good amount of all-around clearance between the top of the stove and the underside of the fireplace opening; for example, if the stove has a top opening or kettle plate, you need to make sure that it is easy to get to. Note: If you have a large house, explore the possibility of installing a back boiler on the stove so you can have a hot-water or central heating system.
3.Order a metal closure plate to fit the chimney opening. If your fireplace opening is large—perhaps an inglenook-type opening that is big enough to stand in—then you will likely need a closure plate with additional structural pieces, bracketed supports, access hatches for chimney sweeping, and so on. If this is the case, have your setup measured by a specialist.
4.Put the stove in its place in your home and clamp it to the flue liner.
5.Finally, seal the fire opening with the metal closure plate as recommended by the stove manufacturer.
Warning
Although the chimney is a relatively basic DIY task, the proviso is that you must use a top-quality, double-wall system, follow the guidelines set forth by the manufacturer, and follow all building codes.
Building a New Insulated Flue Pipe Chimney
Maybe you want a wood-burning stove, but you don’t have a chimney. In this situation, the easiest thing to do is build a chimney using stainless steel, double-wall, insulated chimney pipe. In essence, this is just a system of various-diameter cylindrical sections—straights, elbows, corners, junctions, brackets, straps, ties—that allow you to build a tubular chimney up to roof level, meaning a chimney either inside or outside the building. The double wall results in a good, safe system, and the top-quality powder insulation within the double wall means not only that, to a great extent, the flue gases rise without condensing but also that you can run the flue up between floors (such as through bedrooms) without it being a danger.
What all this adds up to is that, if you want a chimney without working with bricks and mortar, you can have one. The system needs to be supported at regular intervals, as detailed by the manufacturer, with appropriate floor, wall, ceiling, and roof brackets and ties. I think overall that internal installation looks more attractive than external, and it is certainly easier to install, but that is just my personal view.
All You Need to Know about Firewood
A tree is a perfect solar collector, an ecological miracle, and a renewable energy resource all at the same time. A tree spends its whole life gathering the sun’s energy and then releasing it through combustion. In the context of burning wood on your stove, you might think that wood is wood is wood, but that’s not true. Some wood types burn better than others. The best woods produce more heat, for a greater length of time and with less smoke and fuss, than inferior woods. Some wood types are also easier to handle and split than others.
You can obtain firewood by ordering it from a recommended supplier or by cutting it yourself. Either way, you need to know what makes a good fire, so consult the following information about different types of wood.
Alder: Poor choice. Produces little heat, light in weight, little heating value.
Ash: Good choice. Produces a lot of heat with little smoke, long burn, heavy, medium to high heating value, difficult to saw and split.
Aspen: Medium to poor choice. Medium burn, can be difficult to saw and split.
Basswood: Medium to poor choice. Produces a lot of smoke, medium burn, light in weight, easy to split.
Beech: Medium choice. Produces a good amount of heat, medium burn, medium weight, easy to saw and split.
Birch: Good choice when dry. Produces a lot of heat, medium burn, medium weight, easy to saw and split.
Birch
Cedar: Good choice when seasoned. Produces fair amount of heat, good smell, makes a lot of noise, relatively easy to saw and split.
Cherry: Medium to good choice, good amount of heat, slow burn, good smell, relatively easy to saw and split.
Elm: Poor choice. Does not produce much heat, difficult to burn, difficult to saw and split.
Hemlock: Poor choice. Does not produce much heat, medium/easy to burn, easy to saw but not very easy to split.
Maple: Good choice. Long burn and good heat, easy to burn, easy to saw and split.
Oak: Top choice. Produces a lot of heat with little or no smoke, long burn, heavy, very high heating value, easy to split.
Oak
Pine: Poor choice, worse still when wet. Short burn with medium heat, easy to burn, makes a lot of noise, easy to saw and split.
Poplar: Medium to poor choice. Medium burn with medium heat, easy to saw and split.
Walnut: Top choice. Burns well with good heat, smells great, difficult to saw but easy to split.
Willow: Medium to poor choice. Burns better when dry, short burn, produces a lot of smoke and not much heat, easy to saw and split.
Lighting
Although most of us take electric light for granted, there was a time, not so long ago, when lighting was noisy, was smelly, required a lot of effort, and was anything but instant. For example, when my grandpa was a child in the 1890s, they had gaslights, oil lamps, and candles, and that was about it. Interestingly, he told me that while he had spent a lot of time trimming wicks, fetching oil, cleaning the globes and chimneys, buying more candles, and generally keeping the light sources in good condition, he did not remember his world as being dark or gloomy. The homes, the street, the corner shop, the pub, and all of the other buildings each sat in its own individual pool of light rather than everything being linked by all-encompassing illumination.
It is plain to see that if we reduced our lighting levels and overall usage of light, we really would not be any worse off. There are alternative ways of making electricity, which we discuss later in the book, but for now let’s consider how we could make small changes to the