I have been on a tear lately trying to find the stove that is just right for me and its not any easy thing for me anyways. Ironically when I, oh I mean my wife decided for me that there are to be no more bituminous coal stoves in my posession the first stove that tickled my fancy was the Elm stove.
Its been a little over a month now since my wifes friend came up from the Chicago suburbs to visit us up here in Northern Michigan. Last winter was one for the books and I really still have some snow left in my front yard.
The end of my own personal clean coal project came on the night my wifes friend and her three domesticated children checked into Chez Bushinski and my heating plant began to malfunction. I do believe it was my wifes comment that the house was starting to smell like a steam engine show that made me look towards the old Bituminous Dragon and to my suprise the ugly mustard colored smoke was slithering out from the air control dial. I sprang into action and went outside and there was nothing coming out of my Selkirk smokestack, so I grabbed my coal hod and had to unload a live charge of bituminous coal in my living room with the doors and windows fully open with 10 degree temps.
My wife and five children were not really agitated at all by this and were really good sports, now my wifes friend was another story. While I was unloading the stove I caught wifey friend opening up her cell phone and was trying to call 911, I implored "are you crazy, if you call 911 half of Tuscarora township is going to come ripping out here" . If I lived a quarter mile from where here, the night would have really sucked, but the coal gods granted me a pass on this night because Chicago Jenny said that she could not get a signal on her celly.
My wife stepped up and turned on the electric baseboard heaters and the Northern Tip of the Lower Peninsula experienced a brown out that lasted for a few minutes as my back up system came online. I fully ventilated the house, did my best to make our guests feel that the house was safe and explained that we would not get the Black lung from this exposure.
On that night I made it my personal pledge to restore the wood stove to its rightful place, on my hearth.
If you have not read any of my other posts, I have sought opinions and suggestions on a number of stoves that have caught my attention and about two years ago, I turned my back on a good stove. The last wood stove I burnt was a Pacific Energy Super 27 that served me for 10 years without any trouble 24/7 for the cold Nor Mich winters. I do not remember if it was Ebay or that old chunk of coal I found while I was deer hunting, in a swede hole on the side of a narrow gauge railroad bed that turned me on to the dark side of coal stoves, but it was something.
I have selected a narrow few stoves that now could be the next for me. I wish that one of my local shops had a Avalon Arbor burning. It would be nice to know if most steel plate stoves of higer brands burn about the same, since they look about the same. Now that damm Elm stove. I have seen the videos and have done my fair share of snooping around the internet trying to find something bad said about the Elm stove, as it seems that there are always detractors. That is one thing that is not written. Does any one on this forum own one of the new Elm stoves with the secondary tubes. It seems that the way things are looking if no one does, there may be one soon,me. I have poured numerous hours in my study going over all the critical data of dozens of manufacturers claims and boasts and can not find a reason to stop going back to the Vermont Iron Elm site. Hope to hear from someone.
Bushman
Its been a little over a month now since my wifes friend came up from the Chicago suburbs to visit us up here in Northern Michigan. Last winter was one for the books and I really still have some snow left in my front yard.
The end of my own personal clean coal project came on the night my wifes friend and her three domesticated children checked into Chez Bushinski and my heating plant began to malfunction. I do believe it was my wifes comment that the house was starting to smell like a steam engine show that made me look towards the old Bituminous Dragon and to my suprise the ugly mustard colored smoke was slithering out from the air control dial. I sprang into action and went outside and there was nothing coming out of my Selkirk smokestack, so I grabbed my coal hod and had to unload a live charge of bituminous coal in my living room with the doors and windows fully open with 10 degree temps.
My wife and five children were not really agitated at all by this and were really good sports, now my wifes friend was another story. While I was unloading the stove I caught wifey friend opening up her cell phone and was trying to call 911, I implored "are you crazy, if you call 911 half of Tuscarora township is going to come ripping out here" . If I lived a quarter mile from where here, the night would have really sucked, but the coal gods granted me a pass on this night because Chicago Jenny said that she could not get a signal on her celly.
My wife stepped up and turned on the electric baseboard heaters and the Northern Tip of the Lower Peninsula experienced a brown out that lasted for a few minutes as my back up system came online. I fully ventilated the house, did my best to make our guests feel that the house was safe and explained that we would not get the Black lung from this exposure.
On that night I made it my personal pledge to restore the wood stove to its rightful place, on my hearth.
If you have not read any of my other posts, I have sought opinions and suggestions on a number of stoves that have caught my attention and about two years ago, I turned my back on a good stove. The last wood stove I burnt was a Pacific Energy Super 27 that served me for 10 years without any trouble 24/7 for the cold Nor Mich winters. I do not remember if it was Ebay or that old chunk of coal I found while I was deer hunting, in a swede hole on the side of a narrow gauge railroad bed that turned me on to the dark side of coal stoves, but it was something.
I have selected a narrow few stoves that now could be the next for me. I wish that one of my local shops had a Avalon Arbor burning. It would be nice to know if most steel plate stoves of higer brands burn about the same, since they look about the same. Now that damm Elm stove. I have seen the videos and have done my fair share of snooping around the internet trying to find something bad said about the Elm stove, as it seems that there are always detractors. That is one thing that is not written. Does any one on this forum own one of the new Elm stoves with the secondary tubes. It seems that the way things are looking if no one does, there may be one soon,me. I have poured numerous hours in my study going over all the critical data of dozens of manufacturers claims and boasts and can not find a reason to stop going back to the Vermont Iron Elm site. Hope to hear from someone.
Bushman
