Insert 1 - the fire

For heating in winter the house has an insert wood stove and airco. No central heating. Airco is noisy, does not have enough capacity. The wood insert also does not have enough capacity, and also is noisy, as it has a ventilator. It's old. Probably 20 years, as old as the house. So, the vermiculite interior is all cracked, and should be replaced. 

Vermiculite is a quite light ceramic material, "chamotte", that is very heat resistant. You can buy this stuff in plates that you can saw to measure with a woodsaw,  or you can buy the proper shapes from the manufacturer. A better, sturdier material is Skamol, but this one just has old crumbling vermiculite. The vermiculite cladding is important, as it insulates the fire chamber, making the temperature higher, resulting in more efficient burning. It also protects the metal interior, and reflects heat into the room.

But, with use it deteriorates and cracks, so after a number of years you need to replace the vermiculite. This insert needs a new interior,  they even put some fire resistant bricks there to cover the cracks...

A fire is nice though, engineer Jansen can look at the fire all evening. So can the dogs, as you can see below. The only one complaining is engineer De Waal, who would prefer a pellet stove.  However, pellet stoves have more than one ventilator, and are quite noisy. They have a ventilator to blow the fire, and another ventilator to blow the generated heat into the room. Controlled by some electronics these ventilators switch an and off, and are speed controlled, so the pitch also changes, annoying engineer Jansen to no end.

Pellet stves are very convenient though, no wood chopping, automatc lighting, automatc temperetre control etc etc. 

(Will be continued...)

(video)

Papaya and Tex

Coco

Coco

Tex

Vermiculite interior, all cracked