• Firewood

    Fireplace Digital Thermostat

    We have been using a spring loaded thermometer in our wood stove flue since its been installed. Typically we replace it with a new one each year because the probe that is in the flue bends from overheating. We don’t always catch the wood stove in time to close the damper when trying to bring it up to heat. With a little bit of research online and reading some reviews that appeared to be honest, we purchased a digital thermometer from a web site that specializes in selling high heat thermometers.

  • Stuff

    Close call with a chimney fire

    Well this morning was a close call. I am pretty sure we almost had a chimney fire on our hands. In normal cool weather we let the wood stove die out overnight and in the morning start a new one. There are usually only a few coals left.

    The last couple nights its been cold, -19C to -21 C (-2 to -6 F). So I’ve been getting up at 3-4 am and loading the stove again. As per usual, last night I loaded the stove at 11pm and went to bed. I got up at 3:30 am…

  • Harman Oakwood wood stove.
    Seasonal

    Our Harman Fireplace Wood Stove goes BOOM! (updated Mar 13, 2024)

    Our fireplace was WETT Certified installed. Everything done right and approved by the insurance company. The unit has its own air intake and a chimney that goes straight up. The problem is [was] that the after gases do not burn off properly as this little video shows. At the time of this blog post we have had the stove for 6 years, its always done this. Some call it whuffing, or wuffing, or huffing. [Edit note Sep 05 2013: To clarify, not every time but its gotten worse the last couple years.]