Trial By Fire

:date: 2026-04-13 19:33 :tags:

Here is what the top of my chimney looked like when it was brand new just after I installed it last fall.

And here is what it looked like after just one use.

How is that possible? Well, the new wood stove was lit with a single spark on 2025-10-24. That fire burned uninterrupted for 171 days (= 5 months and 20 days) until last night when I finally let it burn out completely. I'm still using it, but now I will just let it go out at night and relight it in the mornings.

I am extremely pleased that the chimney did not collapse during the several blizzards with 50mph+ winds and sudden feet of snow. I was pretty sure that my design would not fail but during many nights of high winds I was mentally preparing for a huge chunk of the house to detach.

Just feeding this thing dozens of trees over the last half a year has been a huge project. Hell, just clearing snow off of the wood every day was almost a full time job.

One thing we didn't have to feed was the propane tank. Last winter we filled it three times; this year zero. We last filled it in September and will get at least another month out of it. Probably a good time to stop using that commodity anyway.

I wish I could say that it was cozy and comfortable in the house all winter, but it was not. It was often quite cold and harsh. What I can say is that it was infinitely more cozy and comfortable than it was the previous year without the stove.