Insert 6 - Metalfire Optimum - enclosure partly demolition

The old stove needs removing to make room for the new one. Very important: what size pipe is the chimney channel? The Metalfire needs an 18 cm diameter flue pipe, the existing channel is a 20 cm galvanized pipe. Two problems: 20 cm is too wide, and galvanized steel is not suitable as a flue pipe.

The engineer hopes there is a second tube inside this 20 cm one, that is 18 cm. 15 cm would be trouble. (15, 18 and 20 are standard sizes)

As it was...

Roasting Papaya and Tex

Take the front of the enclosure off:

Removed the old stove, there is a raised platform there, ladrillo and cement:

Also note: no insulation whatsoever.  That is bad. Walls and pillars need to be protected from a stove's heat.

Brittle cement, pebbles, and thus a hole in the floor:

The chimney flue pipe is a single 20 cm pipe, galvanized steel. Rubbish!

The good news is that there is no 15 cm channel in there, so we can just put a new 18 cm flue pipe in there, Engineer Jansen already is assembling a shopping list for 18 cm wide inox pipe materials. 

Also, the inside of the enclosure needs insulating the walls. Rockwool Firerock seems nice, semi-rigid rockwool panels 100x60x3cm. Comes in boxes of 10, for ca. €150. But more on that later.

Fill the gap in the floor with cement for an even level floor:

Leftover bits:

Oooh!

 

Insert 5 - Metalfire Optimum - arrived

In Metalfire Optimum you can read about engineer Jansen's lust for a Metalfire Optimum insert wood stove.  After much deliberation an Optimum 700 was ordered, and it has arrived. The delivery service did not have a cart to lift the pallet up 10 cm, so they could not lift it up to the porch in front of the front door, which is 10 cm above street level. So, it was left outside, next to the porch, at street level.

Grmbll. What to do.

Engineer Jansen decided to buy coaster wheels that can carry this 200 kg heavy piece of equipment, and use some steel profiles to devise sort of a cart. The wheels can carry 650 kg divided among 4.

Well, it may look easy, but it cost all day, and given the engineer's condition it was rather exhausting.

1. Move the pallet

Here it is next to the front door, street level, note the 10 cm step up:

Wheels attached, such that when the bolts are screwed into the pallet the pallet is lifted a centimeter above the ground, resting on the wheels:

Rotated 90º, in line with the front door:

Rotated 90º, in line with the front door, wheels removed:

2. Now remove the stove from the pallet:

Attach steel profiles with wheels:

The profiles are 2 cm above the wooden beams the stove is on:

Tighten these bolts and you lift the stove:

Screws!

Well, that was the theory. The stove is placed on two wooden beams, but those beams are screwed onto the pallet with 4 long screws. The points of those screws were bent, as the cart they used bent them. So, engineer Jansen could not unscrew them. Bending the screws back did not work, not enough room.  Drilling the head of the screws off did not work either, it has cost the engineer one of his drill bits. Could not saw off the ends of the screws either. 

Decided to drill holes around the screws, and force lift the beams off of the pallet, then use the iron saw to saw through the screws.  That worked.

Here the contraption stands 2 cm above the pallet after tightening the bolts:

And wheeled it off:

3. Inside!

Insert 2 - "rope"

For efficient burning the door of a stove needs to be airtight, air for the fire is only allowed from below the fire, through a grille in the the bottom, and from the top, through an adjustable opening in the top of the door. They make the door airtight by fitting a more or less flexible glassfiber "rope", about 1 cm thick all around the door frame. When you close the door the handle presses the door against the frame, the rope seals off the fire chamber.

You need to replace that rope every few years. If air leaks in, the fire burns a lot quicker, but you will lose a lot of heat through the chimney. Test: a piece of paper between door and frame, close the door, handle thight. If you can pull the paper out easily you need to replace the rope, or fit a thicker one.  It's ot expensive, about 10-15€, including a tube of heat resistant silicone paste to glue it in place, if necessary.

Engineer Jansen bought a kit, and carefully positioned the door on a sheer of cardboard as to not damage anything.Only, when he pressed on the frame to loosen the old rope it turned out that the little brass handle that controls the upper opening was touching the glass. And that cracked. (Damn! Blast! etc)

Down to the local stove shop in Turre, that was open till 14:00, according to their Facebook page. When the engineer arrived there, at 13:40, they were closed from 13:30. (Damn! Blast! etc)

The stove shop in Vera would look in their magazin for the proper size glass. After pressing them a few times they has a slightly bigger glass in stock. But it fit. And cost €100.  (Damn! Blast! etc)

This glass is not glass, but a special ceramic material. No recycling: basura.

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 and files,  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 in here 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 stoves are very convenient though, no wood chopping, automatic lighting, automatic temperature control etc etc. 

(Will be continued...)

(video)

Papaya and Tex

Coco

Coco

Tex

Vermiculite interior, all cracked