Feedback On... Stovepipe Power
(Page 2 of 2)
January/February 1975
By Sherman S. Cook
Poor coal (any that burns orange and smoky) presents the same hazards as resinous woods. For Heaven's sake, MOTHER, warn your readers not to make installations like Mr. Wassil's Fig. 1 unless they have access to coal of excellent quality that gives off a blue and yellow flame . . . and not much of that!
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If inferior fuels are used, the fire simply must be allowed to burn so hot that the high stack temperature will prevent condensation of the volatile products which escape combustion. It follows that capturing too much of the stovepipe's heat can only result in problems and dangers.
The only safe, sane and relatively trouble-free method of burning pine, spruce and fir woods is to design a heating system with [1] a proper masonry chimney capable of withstanding repeated fires in the flue and [2] built-in heat storage capability. I have just finished installing such a system, complete with hot water boiler and large insulated storage tank upon which thermostats in house and greenhouse can draw as required to warm baseboard fintube heaters. This is the only means I can think of to provide anything like an acceptable level of indoor temperature regulation. There's nothing cheap about an installation like mine, but it really works like a charm and is worth every penny and hour of labor I put into it.
Finally—while I'm at it-a few words about fireplaces: Most of them draw more warm air out of a house than they can put back in. An open hearth with a 12" X 12" flue can do this at the astonishing rate of 200 cubic feet of air per minute! Any such unit that isn't equipped with a Heatilator or similar steel liner and a tempered glass front should be kept closed up in the winter months . . . particularly if any heat is derived from oil, gas or propane heaters or furnaces.
Keep up the good work, MOTHER, but please pass on my warning . . . lest some ignorant homesteader find himself shivering in the snow in his nightshirt because he followed Mr. Wassil's advice.
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