we didn't start the fire...

We got the stove back from the VERY nice Phil at Pithers stoves and it's working perfectly!

When we inherited it the fire bricks looked like this:

and the iron casting that forms the inside of the hopper was warped and degraded from 25 years of 800 degree heat.

The joint on the back where the stove meets the flue was also loose, something that we tried to fix with a kit for patching up car exhausts, but which wasn't that effective.

While the stove was off being repaired we cleaned out the flue really well,

and Phil repaired all the joints, replaced the casting, repaired the joint to the flue, and best of all provided us with a section of insulated flue to put over the existing pipe above the roof. The only problem is that it doesn't fit over the collar that's welded into the roof itself, so we just need to get a sheet of stainless steel spot welded into a tube so that we can slip it over the collar and pack it with insulation, before sitting the chimney on top of it.


So now the fire is working like a dream, and with our new IKEA (our boat is rapidly becoming World Of IKEA) clothes hanging rail set up next to the stove, and our new washing machine, we don't stink half so bad as we used to...