Week 11 and it’s getting nippy in the late evening and mornings. Time to get that stove in position. Always take a look up your chimneys before you get started.
I bet you thought this was the post where we lit the fire, sorry that was just a wishful thinking picture! No, no, no, there is much more to the process than simply sweeping a chimney, popping your fire in place and setting it alight. Read on…
After contacting three chimney sweeps and stove fitters only one could reply (the Englishman) and his quote was eye wateringly expensive!
In Brief, The job is to sweep the Chimney and drop a flue pipe down a very straight and wide chimney (see pictures below) then fit the cowl on top (comes with stove). In fairness, the quote was based on the images but travel and ‘extra costs’ seemed excessive to us.
The two French companies that we called in our best French, texted and even called in with a note freshly checked via Google translate have not got back to us. I’m guessing you have to book more than 3 months in advance for all of your chimney needs. It is possible that our French is completely incomprehensible? Either way, we can’t wait around forever so we had to get on with it ourselves. It was a dusty old job.
Chimneys Soot & Dust
Wowsers! The registration plate was over six inches deep in soot and dust. The tar in the chimney is caked up to an inch or two thick in places. Simon took out 50Kg of dirt out of the chimney. It’s a big un. The chimney had a thick layer of tar and could be serious fire hazard to use without a new liner. If planning to keep an open fire we’d need to consider professional tar scraping with a chemical wash to remove the thicker stuff. The plan is to use a new stainless steel insulated liner connected to our stove flue pipe to avoid any issues.
Simon set to work shoveling, scraping, brushing, collecting in dust sheets and hoovering every loose bit and more in preparation for our flue pipe and liner to connect to the ESSE stove (Scaffolding and roof ladders at the ready). The ESSE has a story of its own as Florence Nightingale, Shackleton and Scott owned ESSE stoves. We decided that if the stove was Polar expedition ready then it should get through a rural French winter. The launch of the 2004 ESSE Iron Heart celebrates 150 years (1854-2004). Can’t wait to fire it up Video here soon.
Take a look at when ‘The ESSE arrived’ at Le Chassaing here – (The blog post where we share our journey shifting a 500Kg stove in the summer sunshine).
Other stove info on our website:
We are not stove installation experts and do not advise that you fit a stove without consulting an expert or contacting your stove manufacturer for advice.
