Hey everyone! I'm back after a little blogging respite, and intend to grace you with my presence through the winter now! Ain't you lucky? Today I am here to tell you about my new obsession, yeah like I need another one right! I recently purchased a wood stove for my house. I have been thinking about this for years, and I finally bit the bullet this year and got one. Seeing my oils bills rise to around $4000 per year was the final straw. I also come across a fair amount of free wood in my travels as a
contractor, so I figured it was worth a shot. After a bunch of wheeling and dealing I managed to get myself a nice setup for a decent price. Of course no self loving Meathead would allow anyone else to install his brand new toy, so I never even considered having anyone install it for me. Little did I know what a royal pain in the ass it was going to be. For most houses installing a woodstove is a fairly easy deal. I had to put a flue liner in my chimney, and really wanted to do it right and go all the way from the top of the chimney to the new wood stove. This is where the problem came in. I swear the devil built my chimney. The thing has more twists and turns in it then a friggin' maze. So when I tried to drop my flue down the chimney like most normal people do, it wouldn't get past the first bend. I could see it, but it just wasn't going to come.
I even set up a damned block and tackle in there to pull with. True to form I pulled the rope right off the sucker. So I pulled it back out and tried again. Right around this time I called my father for reinforcements since I was climbing up an down the roof like a moron, over and over. I figured with 2 guys we'd be able to push and pull at the same time and get that baby through. No such luck. Turns out I had to bring the 35' stainless flue liner into my house (the wife wasn't looking) and push it up that way. The corner was a little less sharp this way, and after 2 hours of me pushing the pipe up like a maniac while sitting in the fire box, and Dad on the roof pulling for all he was worth, we finally inched the son of a bitch up the chimney the whole way. Now after all of that hell, I was determined to get the pisser running that night. My father and I lifted the 400 pound beast into the basement, and slid it into place. I have to say my dad is one hell of a sport. Of course he did bitch and moan the whole time, but he thoroughly enjoyed taking the pictures you see here of me struggling with the flue. Anyway once we got it in place the installation was very simple. I had it up and running within an hour. I have been totally obsessed ever since. I can't even sleep I'm so excited. You see Costantino men are really sick. Once we get an idea in our heads, we just can't get it out. I have been heating the house entirely with the stove, but still have a couple of cold spots. This is the obsessed part.
I have devised any number of ways to get the heat to these spots. Everything from cutting registers in the floor, to fire heating hot water to run through a fan blown coil, you name it, I thunk it. The other thing is that I can't bear the idea of the stove actually going out. This leads to me waking up spontaneously every night and feeding logs in the hungry bastard (even though it does make it through the night without my attention). All in all though I am totally in love with my wood stove. I am obsessed with sitting in front of it. I get dressed near it in the morning, and it is the last thing I see at night. I even thoroughly enjoyed stacking the 2 cords of wood in my driveway the other day. 2 hours of hard work and it was done. There is something very pleasing about creating your own heat, without dependence on the oil man. I have not run my heat in 2 weeks, and it makes my insides all warm and fuzzy! Bite me Exxon-Mobil!
Stay Warm!
Wacky Dad
