I was thinking about what to do for my weekly blog this week and looking back at my recent posts I realized that they largely focus upon wood stoves of various shapes and sizes. So, this week I thought I would break things up a bit and write about something a bit different and that is definitely not a wood stove! Although we do sweep more stoves than anything else, unsurprisingly we do sweep other things, for example, Aga’s, Rayburns, Parkrays, small open fires and of course large inglenook chimneys. This week I thought for a change I would focus upon large inglenook chimneys.

It is possible to divide large inglenook chimneys into two broad categories, large opening inglenook chimneys, where the bottom of the fireplace runs straight into the chimney and large inglenook chimneys which have some form of register plate with inspection hatches. large inglenook chimneys with register plates usually have some form of fire hood attached to the register plate and are used to assist the draw of the chimney. This is because large inglenook chimneys were the first kind of chimney, i.e., built at the start of the development of chimney technology and therefore they are frequently not particularly efficient at what they do. Often, I find that the fire dog/grate is raised in some way, usually on bricks, to bring it closer to the hood or chimney opening, again this is done to assist the draw of the chimney and stop the combustion gasses lapping back into the room. I sweep them using a number of different Inglenook brushes, from stiff to soft. It is a time-consuming process as each side of these large chimneys have to be swept individually from top to bottom and if there is a register plate it has to be cleaned off. All part of the busy sweeps work.

I do see a lot of Vermont stoves whilst sweeping across the local area. This example is a Vermont Intrepid II Multi-Fuel Stove in rather attractive Red Enamel which I recently swept at an address in Rickling Green. Although Vermont stoves can be classed as Retro stoves, they are rather dated technology now, but attractive all the same and I do see many of them still all around the area; Intrepid’s, Encore’s, Defiant’ s, Dauntless, Resolute’s and Vigilant’s. Vermont claim that the Intrepid II has a 10 hour burn interval per each load of wood. This seems an incredibly long period of time, but the stove does have a capacious firebox, albeit long and narrow. Vermont also say that the top surface can be utilized as a cooking hob.

Vermont Stoves uses a quote from Frank Lloyd Wright in their marketing: “The fireplace? The heart of the home itself”. I think that this is a rather nice sentiment. The are based in the USA and their website tells us that; Hearth & Home Technologies is a subsidiary of HNI Corporation (NYSE: HNI). HNI is the second-largest office furniture manufacturer in the world, and the leading manufacturer and marketer of gas and biomass-fueled appliances and hearth products. The company has been recognized by Forbes and Fortune magazine as a top company to work for in the U.S.A.

https://www.vermontcastings.com/products/aspen-c3-wood-burning-stove

T: 001 877 863 4350

Chimneys in Cyprus

We have just returned from our summer holiday in Cyprus, where on the whole chimneys do look rather different than here in the UK. Most days the temperature was in the high 30’s and it was very hard to imagine ever needing to light a fire and use a chimney, the locals assured us that it can get cold in the winter months and at times they even have snow. Its very hard to pick out in the photo, but the traditional fisherman’s cottage does have a very short factory made chimney that is rather too close to the roof for comfort, making it very hard to see. It definitely does not conform with UK building regulations! We back to work now and all ready for our really busy season of sweeping!

Yes, I’m still going on about my 60^th birthday this month. I just wanted to show everyone this card with chimney sweeps on it that was made by our dearest friend Netty Patterson. I think everyone can agree that it is absolutely fantastic! Netty is so artistically gifted, a brilliant birthday surprise that must have taken a lot of time and concentration to make. Thank you Netty, I was deeply touched!

Yes, last week myself and my twin brother Mick were 60 and we celebrated by staying with our families at Gurney Manor in Somerset. I thought I would include this in my weekly blog primarily because of the chimneys at the property. They were all large inglenook type openings and one that was part of the old cook house had an unusual circular configuration, which can be seen in the photographs.

Gurney Manor is a Landmark Trust property – The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then makes them available for holiday rental. The Trust’s headquarters is at Shottesbrooke in Berkshire.

Gurney Manor is in Cannington, Somerset, and is a 13th-century manor house with an attached chapel wing. It is now supported by the Landmark Trust and is available as holiday accommodation. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building and is considered notable partly due to the substantial survival of medieval construction throughout.

The first building on the site was an open hall house erected before 1350. It was rebuilt around 1400 with various additions during the 15th century. William Dodisham added the south wing, porch, and kitchen and put in new windows. In 1480 he left it to his niece Agnes, who married local landowner Walter Michael. Their family and descendants owned and improved the manor until 1616. It then became a farmhouse often inhabited by tenants until the early 20th century. In these 300 years the property enjoyed few improvements but nonetheless suffered few fundamental alterations. In World War II the house was divided into flats by a Mr Harris, whose descendants sold it to the Landmark Trust in the 1980s. The interior includes the remnants of a 17th-century strapwork plaster ceiling. Restoration work in the late 20th century included the repair of structural problems as well as the construction of new oak roof trusses made in a traditional fashion with an adze.

I recently swept this monster of a stove at an address in Littlebury Green. Needless to say that this stove was located in a rather large room. The customer told me that it heats the room very well and with the aid of a fan it never gets overly hot in front of the stove, but just has a nice even heat throughout the ground floor. I do a small number of smaller DRU stoves, but not many and this is the first of these large DRU78CB’s that I have swept. I am much more familiar with the stoves of their partner company Dik Geurts as my blog attests to.

On 17th May 1754, a sales contract for the building of a new blast furnace was signed between Johan Baptist van den Bergh and some local entrepreneurs in Ulft, the Netherlands. This project heralded the start of a company that is still going strong to this day. The company is called De Koninklijke Diepenbrock en Reigers of Ulft or, in short, DRU.

DRU started out as a blast furnace, producing numerous products from cast iron. DRU pots and pans are still well known today. When natural gas was discovered in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1960s, DRU switched to producing gas fires and wall heaters. DRU is now one of the oldest industrial companies in the Netherlands.

DRU is a modern company that continues to specialise in producing gas heating appliances. It is the largest producer of balanced flue gas fires and wall heaters in Europe and also produces wood and multi-fuel stoves and fires.

In 1999 it relocated from its original home in Ulft to Duiven. The buildings in Ulft, which form part of our industrial heritage, have now been largely renovated and accommodate the “DRU factory” where culture and business come together.

DRU has operations in 3 countries and a dealership network that spans Europe and beyond. On its 250th anniversary, DRU was awarded the prestigious designation of ‘Hofleverancier’ or a Supplier to the Royal Dutch Court.

Drugasar was founded in Manchester in 1975 as the UK distributor for DRU functional heating products. It became a fully owned subsidiary of DRU in 2003, and now distributes gas fires, wood and multi-fuel stoves and gas wall heaters under the DRU, Dik Geurts and Spartherm brands.

I do like a contemporary cylindrical stove in the right setting. This is a Morso 6140 Multi-fuel Stove that I recently Swept at an address in Farnham. As I say, I think a contemporary cylindrical stove is great particularly if it is in the right setting, which is usually in a large room in my view. This particular example is located in a large sitting room in a barn conversion, so it is ideally located. There is also that nice juxtaposition of a contemporary cylindrical stove in an old building, that works very well, the contrast of old and new, fabulous. Aesthetics aside, I thought I would focus this week’s blog on this Morso stove as it is unusual, in that I do many, many Morso stoves across the local area, however I can’t think of any other examples on a Morso cylindrical stove that I do. In fact, I do a huge number of morso stoves, usuuall the Morso Squirrel in its many incarnations, or the Morso 03 or 04, but not many cylindrical stoves. I think you will agree that this stove has very sleek lines and does look particularly good in its setting. From my point of view, unlike the Jotul cylindrical stoves, it was quite straight forward to dismantle and put back together. Making my day sweeping a lot happier and straightforward!

Morso are a Danish stove company who have been making metal consumer goods since 1953. It was Neils Christensen who founded the Morson Foundry making all sorts of products including metal stable windows, tools, pots and pans and even grave crosses. Around the turn of the century Morso began to start making tiled stoves and room heaters for schools, churches, railsways, government ministries and even to the Danish Royal Family. Indeed, so successful where they, that in 1915 they became the official purveyor of stoves to the Danish Royal Family. It was in the 1950 when tiled stoves became obsolete that Morso began producing Wood-burning Stoves.

Morso Stoves UK

Unit 14B, Davy Court, Castle Mount Way, Rugby, Warwickshire CV23 0UZ

01788554410

https://morsoe.com/

 Just like its name this is a chubby workman like stove, the Chili Penguin Chubby 5 Multi-Fuel Stove. I recently Swept this example in an address in Clare where it was installed by Cut Maple Stoves of Sturma/New England. They always make an excellent job of all their installs as can be seen in the photographs. I actually sweep quite a few Chili Penguin stoves across the local area, most of which have been installed by Cut Maple Stoves, however the majority of them tend to be of the baker type of stove, and this is the first example of the Chili Penguin Chubby 5 that I have swept. It was a great stove to work on and was very easy to dismantle to access the flue, much in the same way that many Dean Forge stoves are simple to dismantle. The customer was very pleased with the stove, and it is easy to see why as the stove has quite a large firebox for a 5Kw stove and throws out plenty of heat when in operation.

I must admit that Chilli Penguin is a rather unusual name for a stove company, but they do have a very attractive range of stoves, which include: The Chilli Billie, The Short Penguin, The Chubby 5, The Hungry Penguin and the Hungry Penguin Tall, The Fat Penguin, The High & Mighty, The High & Mighty tall, The Stock Cube, The Fusby, The Woody, The Penguin 7, The Seventy Ate 78 and the Penguin Idris 7Kw.

Chilli Penguin are a small family run business located near the stunning coastline of the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales. What inspires and excites us is beautiful, functional design. We love things that look amazing and perform brilliantly. We love fire and steel. We love the idea of stoves, objects that warm homes and lives, that can be fueled by a renewable resource like trees. We want our stoves to burn as efficiently and cleanly as possible, a number of our stoves are already Ecodesign compliant.

Chilli Penguin Showroom
10 Glan y Don Industrial estate
Pwllheli
Gwynedd
LL53 5YT

01758 721 247

https://chillipenguin.co.uk/about/about-us/

This stove was installed by Cut Maple Stoves in Sturmer/New England:

Cut Maple Stove & Fire Company,

Sturmer Road,

New England,

Halstead CO9 4BB

Telephone: 01440 788788

Email: cutmaple@fireplacesetc.co.uk

Website: http://www.fireplacesetc.co.uk

I do see a great deal of these Ekol Crystal 5 Multi-Fuel Stoves around the local area, they do seem to be a very popular low budget stove and the customers all report them working very well. So, it’s probably comes as no surprise that there are so many of them around the local area. They are in addition rather easy to work on, coming apart and back together quite nicely, which is a real bonus for the busy chimney sweep! They clearly have a rather more traditional appearance than some of the other stoves in the Ekol range.

Ekol are a British Stove manufacturer based in Wareham, Dorset. They make a large range of stove models including the adept range, Apple Pie range, Clarity models 5, 8, 12, Clarity Vision and Vision Bio and Clarity Double-Sided, and the Crystal 5, 8, 12 and Inset Plus. They also make the Satfire range of stoves ST-X4, ST-X5, ST-X Wide, ST1 Vision, ST2, ST3, and ST4. The Ekol website gives the following information:

Developed from our desire to create truly environmentally friendly Woodburning stoves which are beautiful yet subtly understated, and where form is in perfect harmony with function – Function which is so advanced that smoke seems to literally disappear as if by magic. Superior in quality of materials and construction, and all this at a price which does not break the bank, we believe that few people can afford to be without one.

Ekol stoves have been developed without compromise, ensuring the best burning results and each lovingly hand built from individually cast components by the most skilled of foundry craftsmen. Ekol stoves are built to last, to perform as intended every time, and with minimal maintenance.

Our stoves come complete with a 5 Year Guarantee (Crystal and Clarity ranges) or 10 Year Guarantee (Adept range).

Ekol Woodburners have passed with flying colours, the stringent ‘DEFRA’ testing – They are Ultra-Clean Burning and a positive leap forwards environmentally.

For playing your part in saving the planet, you will be instantly rewarded with a mesmerising flame effect unique to Ekol Stove Technology – Then of course you will notice your heating bills all but disappear.

The Ekol range of stoves are MULTIFUEL and capable of burning any Smokeless coal.

Ekol Stoves
Station Works
Johns Road
Wareham
Dorset
BH20 4BG

Tel: 01929 555 211

Enquiries: enquiries@defrastoves.com

https://www.defrastoves.com/

Last week we had some time off and as you do with your time off you spend it by doing work related things! So in between visiting family we made a fact-finding trip to the Clearview Stoves Showroom in Ludlow. As can be seen from the photographs, Dinham House the Clearview Stoves Showrooms are a truly impressive place, almost like visiting a small stately home or National Trust property. The inside of the is finished to a very high specification with lots of stoves, many of which were actually alight.

Interestingly, Dinham House has a historical claim to fame, during the Napoleonic Wars Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother Lucien Bonaparte was captured by the British and was placed under house arrest in Dinham House. Lucien was the younger brother of Joseph and Napoleon Bonaparte, and the older brother of Elisa, Louis, Pauline, Caroline and Jérôme Bonaparte. Lucien held genuinely revolutionary views, which led to an often abrasive relationship with his brother Napoleon, who seized control of the French government in 1799, when Lucien was 24. Lucien served as the final President of the Council of Five Hundred at the end of the French Revolution, the Council being dissolved in November 1799 when Napoleon seized power. Lucien went into self-imposed exile by living initially in Rome, where he bought the Villa Rufinella in Frascati. In 1809, Napoleon increased pressure on Lucien to divorce his wife and return to France, even having their mother write a letter encouraging him to abandon her and return. With the whole of the Papal States annexed to France and the Pope imprisoned, Lucien was a virtual prisoner in his Italian estates, requiring permission of the Military Governor to venture off his property. He attempted to sail to the United States to escape his situation but was captured by the British. When he disembarked in Britain, he was greeted with cheers and applause by the crowd, many of whom saw him as anti-Napoleonic. The government permitted Lucien to settle comfortably with his family at Ludlow, and later at Thorngrove House in Grimley, Worcestershire, where he worked on a heroic poem on Charlemagne. Napoleon, believing Lucien had deliberately gone to Britain and thus a traitor, had Lucien omitted from the Imperial almanacs of the Bonaparte’s from 1811 until his 1814 abdication. Lucien returned to France following his brother’s abdication in April 1814.

We wanted to speak with Clearview as we had heard a number of different rumors concerning the eco status of their stoves and the future of the company. We had even heard that the company was either going to sell up or cease trading. We discovered that it is true that Clearview won’t be making DEFRA approved Eco stoves, they are in no way going to stop making and installing stoves. Which is good news as I have always been impressed with Clearview stoves, if operated efficiently they are an excellent product.

Clearview have produced a letter for public consumption, which explains their position. This letter reads as follows:

What is Eco design? ‘Eco design’ is a new European Standard by the European Union prior to Brexit. Eco design was scheduled without field trials and with little if any consideration of the many and varied buildings and conditions throughout Europe. Many so-called ‘Eco design’ products are not working, are dangerous and are clearly not fit for purpose. Clearview Stoves are confident that once shortcomings are realized the ‘Eco design’ standard will be changed, abandoned or ignored.

The European ‘Eco design’ Standard applies to new product designs for use within Europe. The European ‘Eco design’ product category provides for existing tried and tested products already on the market to continue to be sold, used and fitted. There is no suggestion that existing stoves will be replaced.

Clearview stoves will not build a product that does not perform at least as well as the Clearview stove thousands of homes know and love. Clearview stoves have the tightest quality standards of any UK stove manufacturer. Clearview stoves are built for the real world – they work superbly and exceed expectation. The Clearview reputation for performance, durability and ease of use is second to none. “Our Clearview is the best thing we have ever bought” is so often said. With rising energy prices and encouragement to reduce our carbon footprint there has never been a time when using a Clearview stove made more sense.

So, as I have said, I do like the Clearview range of stoves; they are simple to work on and the majority of customers who have them say they are very efficient at burning and easy to operate and maintain. Clearview have been making stoves since 1987 and are based in Bishops castle in Shropshire. They have a spectacular show room in an old stately home Dinham House (See Photo) in Ludlow, where there is the full range of Clearview Stoves displayed in rooms, with many of the stoves in operation.

Clearview Stoves

More Works,

Bishops Castle,

Shropshire SY9 5GB

01588 650401

Dinham House,

Ludlow,

Shropshire SY8 1EJ

01584 878100

https://www.clearviewstoves.com/