Continuing again this week with the theme of unusual or rarely seen stoves. This week is a move away from the usual fare of wood-burning stoves, this week we have a domestic biomass boiler or to be more precise a pellet boiler. I came across this MCZ Pellet Fired Stove in an address in Duddenhoe End where I Swept it and another appliance. The stove is installed in an Inglenook fireplace in the main sitting room. The customer told me that when the stove is in operation, it has a beautiful blue flame up the front of the large stove glass. As you can see the stove itself has a very contemporary, streamlined appearance, very stylish and is about to be swept using a large Viper (one of three I have on the van). The sweeping access is by the way, via the small inspection hatch half way up the stove pipe.

MCZ are an Italian Stove Company based in Vigonovi Di Fontanafredda and two other sites in Italy, Santa Lucia Di Piave and San Polo D’Enza. They also have sites in Arnas France and Labin Croatia. The company employs 555 people across these site and exports it product to over 40 countries including the UK. They pride themselves on the application of the latest biomass burning and green technologies.

https://www.mczgroup.it/

Yes, within a few weeks I have been called to remove a live bird which had fallen down an uncapped redundant chimney. On this occasion the bird was a big pigeon which had dropped down a chimney at a house in Saffron Walden. The poor pigeon was stuck at the bottom of the redundant chimney and could not get out because the fireplace was bricked up. The only chance of escape was a small air vent in the base of the fireplace, which allows the chimney to breath. I removed the vent cover and was quickly able to establish that I would be unable to remove the pigeon via the vent by taking hold of the bird, as once holding the birds folded wings, my hand was then too wide to withdraw through the hole. So what I did was to put both hands through the hole and behind the pigeon. I then ushered the bird forward and into the hole. The pigeon was then able to do the rest as it scrambled out through the vent hole. Whilst he was doing this, I was able to withdraw one of my hands and gently take hold of his folded wings as he emerged from the hole. I then took the lucky pigeon outside and threw him up in the air, he happily and rather quickly flew off into the distance towards Saffron Walden church. This was truly a great escape for the pigeon, he is a very luck bird!

I recently completed the Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps 5 Year Refresher & Technical Update Course and have the certificate to prove it! It was a day long course completed online because of the Covid restrictions and there were 10 other sweeps undertaking the course along with myself. The course was packed with lots of interesting material and updates as a lot has changed in the five years since I undertook the chimney sweeping training course with the guild. Updates included advice about safe Covid working practices, risk assessments and procedures for customers who are currently shielding.

There were also a number of technical updates, providing useful information on recent changes. These included an update on the new DEFRA rated stoves and their installation, information on what should be done with old redundant back boilers. There was technical information on rear flued appliances and the differing ways they can be completed outside of Approved Document J (Technical bulletins BS EN 15287 & BS 8303). There was in addition a section on documentation that should be carried whilst working including how to complete a Method statement, COSHH Documentation and RIDDOR forms. A very useful and informative days training.

Now here is what I call a retro stove, the Morso 1125, this example is at an address in Sewards End where I swept recently. It is really a most unusual looking stove, part retro and dated and part space age and contemporary in style. They are now rather rare as Morso stopped making them in 1982 with many of them being sold in the USA, presumably because properties out there are much bigger and require a much larger Kw rating to heat them effectively. In fact, if parts are required for one of these big beasts then you would have to look to the US to buy them, at a very large cost. I had to replace the log retaining bar on this stove as it was broken, I therefore resorted to the blacksmith David Gowlett at Springwell Forge in Ugley who fashioned a replacement part at a very reasonable price. Although I very much like the look of this stove, the one draw back in my view is that it has no glass in the doors, so when it is in operation you can not actually see the fire in the firebox. I suppose the only answer to that is to operate the stove with the doors open, you might then be able to see the fire, but this would somewhat defeat the object of the stove, as it would not be working at optimum efficiency. All in all, a very attractive and unusual stove though!

Yes, it is that time of the year again when the Jackdaws are looking to build nests in chimneys and raise a family. I have had lots of calls since the beginning of March where Jackdaws have been posting twigs down chimneys. However, this week I had a call from one of my regular customers saying that she could hear a bird in the redundant chimney next to the Wood-Burning stove chimney I usually sweep. There had been a wire mesh across the open stack, but upon my arrival I could clearly see through my binoculars that the birds had pulled back the wire over the chimney. On entering the room with the chimney, I could clearly hear a bird flapping around on the register plate. After having closed all the doors and opened all the windows wide, I carefully removed the inspection hatch from the register plate. I had anticipated catching the bird in a large dust sheet, however the bird, a large male Jackdaw evaded my attempt to catch it and flew directly from the chimney out of the window. But to my amazement there was another bird still in the chimney, a smaller female with striking blue eyes. This bird had climbed up on to the brickwork in the inglenook void, and despite our best efforts to coax it out it stubbornly refused to comply. I then resorted to the step ladder from the van and went into the chimney void and simply picked the bird up off the brickwork. Surprisingly, the bird allowed me to do this and did not attempt to peck me at all. I then took it outside and let it fly away. Job done! I even managed to sweep the chimney whilst I was there!

Although I have been sweeping the flue to this Nordpeis Uno 1 Wood-Burning stove for the past few years now, I thought that it definitely falls into the category of unusual stoves. Surprisingly I do sweep a number of other examples of this model of stove and other models of Nordpeis stoves in the area. The Nordpeis Uno 1 does have a very definite space age appearance, a most contemporary type of stove. The stoves firebricks are ceramic and are prone to cracking and fit together inside the stove rather like a jigsaw. In this instance I had to replace the front firebrick which is held in place by a long metal clip at the front of the stove.

A Google search reveals that Nordpeis are based in Norway and were established 30 years ago.

https://www.nordpeis.co.uk/about/

It would appear that Nordpeis are sold in the UK are part of the Stovax Stove Company and are sold through approved retailers.

Stovax Limited,

Falcon Road,

Sowton,

Industrial Estate,

Exeter EX2 7LF

T: 01392 474000

Recently we swept all six of the showroom flues at Cut Maple Fires and Stoves in New England near Sturmer. We do the sweeping work for this excellent company and we are always pleased to work on their fantastic installations. Needless to say they are a highly respected and totally professional company in the area. They have an absolutely fantastic show room located just the other side of Sturmer going towards Wixoe on the A1017 – Their show room is in what used to be the Little Chef, but you wouldn’t recognize it as such now! They have a fantastic array of wood-burning stoves on display a number of which are actually burning at any one time (hence the need to have their flues swept annually). As I said we swept six flues attached to six different showroom stoves, in this blog I have include photos of three of the stoves we swept: Heta Inspire 45 wood-burning Stove, Dean Forge Hembury 5 Multi-Fuel Stove and Clock Blithfield 5 Multi-Fuel Stove.

The show room is also fantastic for ideas, for example they have some wonderfully modern metal log containers that are like artworks in themselves. They are also great for buying stove parts and accessories, these include heat resistant stove paint, ceramic rope of various dimensions and cement and fireboard for cutting bricks. As well as selling and installing stoves, they can install liners and cowls.

The show rooms are very attractive and well laid out and the staff are very helpful. There address and contact details are as follows:

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

Recently we swept all six of the showroom flues at Cut Maple Fires and Stoves in New England near Sturmer. We do the sweeping work for this excellent company and we are always pleased to work on their fantastic installations. Needless to say they are a highly respected and totally professional company in the area. They have an absolutely fantastic show room located just the other side of Sturmer going towards Wixoe on the A1017 – Their show room is in what used to be the Little Chef, but you wouldn’t recognize it as such now! They have a fantastic array of wood-burning stoves on display a number of which are actually burning at any one time (hence the need to have their flues swept annually). As I said we swept six flues attached to six different showroom stoves, in this blog I have include photos of three of the stoves we swept: Contura 556G & i5 wood-burning stoves, and Jotul F371 wood-burning Stove.

The show room is also fantastic for ideas, for example they have some wonderfully modern metal log containers that are like artworks in themselves. They are also great for buying stove parts and accessories, these include heat resistant stove paint, ceramic rope of various dimensions and cement and fireboard for cutting bricks. As well as selling and installing stoves, they can install liners and cowls.

The show rooms are very attractive and well laid out and the staff are very helpful. There address and contact details are as follows:

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

Continuing this week with the theme of unusual or rarely seen stoves. This week is about the Contura 450T Wood-Burning Stove. I had not seen this model of Contura stove, but have recently swept two at two different addresses in Haverhill. As you can see, they are a very large wood-burning stove, so I would think that they have quite a high Kw rating. Both customers told me that they push out a terrific amount of heat when they are in operation. Fortunately, both customers have them placed in rather large open plan rooms. The stoves themselves have a rather chunky, unique design, that definitely creates a presence in any room. Looking at Contura’s website it would appear that this distinctive model has now been discontinued and it no longer appears in the catalogue.

Contura Stoves are a Swedish company based in the town of Markaryd – Markaryd is a municipality in Kronoberg County at the southern tip of Sweden. Contura Stoves are known for their distinctive contemporary stove designs and the appliance of the most up to date stove technology.

Contura Stoves

Box 134

Skulptorvagen 10

285 23 Markaryd, Sweden

What a fantastic week of weather we have just had, lovely warm sunshine all week. Yes, spring has definitely been in the air and there are spring flowers everywhere, snow drops, crocuses and daffodils. With spring beginning to arrive I thought it was time to have another thatched animal in the blog. I saw this thatched pair on a roof in Stambourne when I was out that way sweeping. Not a village we advertise in, but one that we do a great deal of work in. Some of these jobs are for Cur Maple Stoves and Fireplaces and some of the others are our contract work for Eastlight Community Homes, but the majority of jobs are private customers who have come to us from word of mouth, the internet or just seeing our van around the village.

These two pheasants made me think of a Mexican standoff for some reason, to Western gunslingers facing each other off! Which one will be the quickest on the draw!

The internet tells us that pheasants are birds of several genera within the subfamily Phasianinae, of the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Though they can be found world over in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Asia.

Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly decorated with bright colours and adornments such as wattles. Males are usually larger than females and have longer tails. Males play no part in rearing the young.

Pheasants typically eat seeds and some insects.

The best-known is the common pheasant, which is widespread throughout the world, in introduced feral populations and in farm operations. Various other pheasant species are popular in aviaries, such as the golden pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus).

Interestingly, Pheasants are native to Asia, but were introduced into much of Europe by the Romans, possibly arriving in the UK with the Normans in the 11th century.