Our two wood stoves in the house are identical, both Jotul #4 Combifires. One is in the kitchen and one's in the living room.
They're a unique, cast iron, airtight stove we really like for several reasons, one being the fact that the door can slide under the stove turning it into an "open fireplace" while using a screen that fits completely over the opening.
Or at least the door is supposed to work that way.
Although we rarely operate the one in the kitchen showing the open fire, almost every evening in the winter, Papa Pea and I spend a cozy hour or two in the living room before the open fire of the Jotul in there.
Problem? The door on that stove has been sliding only about halfway underneath the way it's supposed to. So last week, father and daughter spent some quality time together trying to solve the problem.
First they took a good look underneath the kitchen stove to ascertain what the mechanism that allows the door to slide under the stove looks like.
"Hellooo! I see you, do you see me?"
Then to the living room stove to see what the problem might be.
Result? It's a work in progress. The situation hasn't been totally resolved, but we're working on it. More fun to come.
12 comments:
MP my question would be when you do that does it tend to reduce the amount of heat thrown because it’s being run like a ““ fireplace? The fireplace extraordinaire which is actually a woodstove in a chimney works much better when the doors are closed.
My new woodstove does not have that option although the old 48 year old Vermont casting parlor stove had a screen that would go over if you wanted to just open the door up and swing it totally open and put the screen on. And that old girl worked hard but took so long to build up steam I can’t imagine doing that.
Goatldi
Goatldi - Sure, just like any traditional fireplace, a cast iron, air-tight wood stove with a good gasket on the door throws more heat when it's closed up than when having an open fire in it. I've always (in my unrealistic fantasies?) yearned for a lovely stone fireplace with lovely mantel above it in my home, but since we do heat our whole place with wood, a good cast iron stove does the job so, so much more efficiently than a fireplace ever could. Sigh. We had friends who tried to heat their house with an open fireplace (attractive though it was) and ended up having a fire in the middle of winter because they ran it so hot constantly that the floor of the fireplace set the boards of the room on fire. When we enjoy the open fire in our stove on winter evenings, we always close it up tight before going to bed.
I grew up with a wood stove in the kitchen and one in the living room. It was so much fun to huddle around the stove on a cold winter's night with a cup of hot cocoa and toast with butter. Wonderful post. xo Diana
We have a cast iron wood stove in the den but it has a glass door so that’s nice. Unfortunately in our big old house with individual rooms ( versus an open floor plan) it really only heats the den and a little bit of the kitchen. But the ambiance is still nice. I like the idea of a door that slides underneath! - Jenn
NanaDiana - Wonderful memories! I can almost taste that hot cocoa and buttered toast! There's nothing like the heat that radiates from a wood stove, is there!
Jenn - Our house has individual rooms, too, but our attached garage with the wood stove in there helps that end of the house a lot. We leave the door open from the heated part of the garage into the house much of the time in the cold months. My quilt room, on the other hand is just off the living room but not much heat from that stove travels into my area. I have an electric baseboard heater in there but hate to put it on as I can mentally see the electric meter spinning furiously when I do. Instead I wear lots of turtlenecks and sweatshirts!
Oh the joy of repairs. I'm now dealing with a washing machine fail. My husband is working so many hours, he is too tired to work on it. I may attempt it myself if I have to do it. Just not today. Hope you get it figured out.
Kristina - We were commenting just the other day that we're not done with everything we want to do around this place (all new projects), while everything we did first seems to be falling apart! Home maintenance . . . does it ever end? Good luck with your washing machine.
No, home maintenance NEVER ends, a concept my husband seems to think he can "ignore and it will go away." We had the first fire of the fall last night in our Fireplace Extraordinare; a couple days before that I had used our heat pump to nudge the indoor temperature from 62 to 65 as we were all chilled. Why does 62 inside seem so much colder than 62 outside???
Love our woodstove with the glass door, the best of both worlds. We have not needed a fire the last few days, as it is so mild. The glass tends to 'dirty up' more with intermittent use in spring and fall. I just polished it up so our next fire, probably needed in the AM, will be clear and bright. There is nothing so comforting as wood heat, it permeates to one's bones like no other heat source. Hope you get the door issue figured out so you can enjoy your open fire again.
Michelle - A very good observation! 62° outside is a lovely temperature while inside, one feels as if one is living in a drafty barn! I'm usually the first one up in the morning and if the thermometer shows 67° or below, I'm quick to build a little fire. We humans are strange creatures, aren't we?
Rosalea - We can still have and enjoy the open fire in the living room stove but the stove doesn't look nearly as nice with the door sticking halfway out in front. Sort of like it's sticking its tongue out as us!
I didn't know wood stoves could do that. Sounds like a very nice feature! We rely on the window in ours, which is nice but not the same as an open fireplace fire.
Leigh - I've never been too fond of the "windows" on wood stoves because the ones I've personally seen always seem to be dirty. But as Rosalea says above, it is possible to keep them bright and shiny by using a little elbow grease and keeping on top of it. :o)
Post a Comment