Saturday 15 October 2011

The Iron Maiden


Nope, not a pig, goat, sheep or extraordinarily large chook. It's the slow combustion stove. We've cut lots of corners on expense and this time we went hard on the biggest Australian made wood fired stove available. Four ovens and a large fire central fire box. It arrived some time ago, and spent a month or so facing the wall and defying all attempt to photograph it. Now it's installed, hooked up to the hot water tank ready to heat the house, the water and our food. Trev's done a great job of removing timber floor boards and provided extra support for its 380kg weight, along with lots of fire proofing. It turned out that the pipes coming out of the wall meant the flu lined up with a roof batten so he then had to (much swearing) remove part of the roof and create a timber box to allow for the flu to go through. It's now almost ready to fire up. Still have a little plumbing to go and tiling around the outside.

Looking forward to seeing how it heats the house, thermometer all at the ready.

7 comments:

Barb. said...

Four ovens?! Wow, you must do a lot of cooking. But I love it. We are in WA and I couldn't do without our (small) wood stove for heating and cooking during Winter. It's not set up for hot water yet but that is on the list.


Is it still possible to read about your no spend time, 6 months, in Queensland. I have read your book but thought there was something, an old blog? as well? Thanks.

Barb.

simplelife said...

Thanks for the pics. This is just gorgeous, can't wait to hear how it heats and what great things come from the ovens.
We have a wet back on our heater and it's great with our solar tubes, this time of the year and autumn are the worst though, cloudy days but not quite cold enough to need the heater going. It's a choice, cold showers or hot house. I think it would work better in a smaller household, but there are 6 of us and 3 are teenagers.

cheers Kate

Hazel said...

Oh, how I would love one of those! Some things are just not worth cutting corners for.

Unknown said...

when we have spare money, which is only about every couple of years, we purchase something to improve our lives and the environment, rayburn wood stoves are popular here, they heat the central heating, the water and you cook with them, when my boiler packs up, then I will buy one and keep a small electric cooker for the warmer months when the house doesn't need heating. what will you use in the summer, it's too hot here for heat in the summer and you get a lot of hot weather

Sharon said...

Thats the stove we are planning on putting in our strawbale house in the making. (we only have a frame so far). 4 ovens will be very handy! I've now lived with a combustion stove (just an old stanley traditional) for just over 2 years, and could not go back to the standard cooktop, they are just so great and multitasking. For one input of fuel you get so much back...

Rebecca said...

Gorgeous! We only have a wood heater with no oven or hot water, but it's amazing how much we can still do with it. Not only does it heat the house, but it cooks soup, heats plates, dries orange peel for fire starters (and a divine scent) and dries clothes brilliantly in winter. Beat that reverse cycle airconditioner! We just have to get some airconditioning duct and fan put in the ceiling above it to blow some of the excess heat into the bedrooms and we'll be set.

Dentist Geelong said...

I love to have this kind of ovens in my home.