WeBuiltThePyramids

We are home! I am very very tired though so I may not be able to hop back in here until tomorrow. Is this what getting old is like?

Cyclone139

(Yes, sadly. ) Welcome back!

FoxPhile

Welcome Back!

WeBuiltThePyramids

So how our wood stove had been out for a month, our furnace went out now. It is 22 degrees and we are heating our 1800 square foot house with two space heaters.

FoxPhile

Brrrrr!

Okay - I'm sure I'm showing my ignorance but how does a wood stove go out?

WeBuiltThePyramids

There's a part in the flue that basically controls the heat/smoke/draft. Whether or not it is open, closed, or partial controls how fast the fire inside burns as well as where the smoke goes. We have it closed most of the time, so the heat comes into the house instead of rising up out the chimney like the smoke does. But when we have to use the door to add wood, we have to open it so the smoke won't take the easiest route out and come into the house (opening it basically causes a draft that makes the smoke to shoot upwards and very little comes into the house). That part is currently broken in the closed position, meaning we can't use the wood stove without smoke billowing into the house whenever we open the door to add wood.

FoxPhile

Ah! Thanks for the explanation. I'm very much a wood stove newbie, but I do remember my brother sternly cautioning me to be sure the flue is open before I start a fire. It makes sense that, like anything mechanical, that mechanism can break. And if it's stuck closed, there's not much you can do.

Is there even a way to get that fixed? Are there wood stove repair people you can call?

WeBuiltThePyramids

We can get it fixed, but it's going to cost us about $4000 and after my dad's gallbladder surgery we can't afford it right now. So space heaters it is.

FoxPhile

OUCH! You would think you could almost replace the entire stove for that much.

WeBuiltThePyramids

It's built into the house, so no

FoxPhile

My wood stove was an add-on from the gas crisis of the late 1970s. The original owner of the house converted the garage into a den and put the wood stove in at the same time, but it's still a stand-alone, so it would be pretty easy to replace. Not that I want to.

FoxPhile

The family came over yesterday for lasagna. We're starting to make a habit of having dinner together about once a week. It's nice.

WeBuiltThePyramids

I don't feel well and wasn't even hungry but now I want lasagna.

FoxPhile

I do pretty much from scratch lasagna - at least I make my own tomato sauce, boil the noodles and put it together. My brother and SIL are used to store-bought frozen lasagna, so I'm not sure quite what they thought of mine. Neither of them do much cooking beyond heating things up. Since I almost never use prepared foods, they are getting a new experience every time I cook dinner for us all.

Hope you feel better!

WeBuiltThePyramids

That sounds delicious.

I'm going to a hockey game tonight - I actually cannot stay interested in hockey when I'm watching on TV, but I LOVE going to games. An old friend from college and I used to go to all the home games together, and we haven't seen each other in a couple years, so we're renewing the tradition tonight.