Back in Black

We finally got the stove fixed, and now we’re ready for winter, sort of. Maybe give it a month or two. We originally planned on having Graham the Stove Man come on 9/13, but we lost power due to a storm, so had to reschedule two weeks later. Total bummer, and of course, the morning of the 13^th the power came on first thing in the morning. Oh well, you can’t win them all.

Graham showed up promptly at 9:00 this Monday, and he did a stand up job. I give him high marks on reliability and service, he did a great job. The process itself was interesting, he undid the pins and took it apart piece by piece until it was all gone, then brought each piece, starting with the base, back in. I figured it would take him all day, but it took him a few hours, and he was done by lunchtime.

 I was ready to feed the guy, but he was done and out of here, so I had to force him to take some chili. Now our stove is like new. He cleaned the metal and added a coat of paint, which I didn’t realize was how it was. It looks beautiful, and now it’s sealed properly and ready. He said it would take a couple of break-in burns and we would smell a little of the paint, but we’re fortunate in that the weather is still warm enough to open the windows.

We were also informed to keep an inch or two of ash on the bottom to prevent future cracking. Of course, I discarded all the ash over the summer, but I do have sand, which I was told would work just as well. I’m also hoping that the stove will burn more efficiently since it’s sealed up, but time will tell.

Until then, thanks for reading.