Be still my heart :)

I have discovered that I can be extremely patient.  8 - 9 months worth of patience to be precise.

I lived in fear of this chimney separting
enough that it fell down in a messy
heap

You recall last year we had a smoke problem with our incorrectly installed Dover stove.  The aluminium chimney should not have been a stand alone chimney, it should've been enclosed inside a brick chimney.  This is because the aluminium chimney cannot take the contrast in heat and cold and as a result the "sections" expand and contract thereby pulling apart, leaking smoke and causing resin to collect and drip out and down the wall next to it, never mind inside the chimney.

An external chimney which should've been
insulated - and should be much higher
than the roof apex.  The chimney in the
pic above is 150mm galvanised steel -
un-isulated - WRONG!

Also, RMan installed the bend to the outside prior to the stove being in situ, which meant that it was at the wrong (external) height, and the angle of the bend was also incorrect.  We tried to install a (specially ordered and manufactured) bend at a 62.5° angle - WRONG!  Reckon that the standard 45° is standard for a reason.  And I also reckon that that probably did not help with the "draw" - thus smoking us out every time it was lit.

Before - the kitchen with the Dover stove

Well, now that the house is complete internally, there is no way that I was going to allow all that fresh paint / skimmed ceiling / furniture / curtains to accumulate any soot / smoke smell at all.  Which means that we have not lit the Dover since the middle of last winter.

And - we've already had a bit of lovely cold weather recently - which means that winter's on it's way LOL  Memories of the cold I experienced in our building site of a house last winter are still pretty fresh in my mind - and, normally, I don't feel the cold.   Admittedly, we don't have any temporary thin board nailed to large drafty openings anymore, our double glazed windows are all installed, and, with the ceiling in place, the draft from the roof area is no longer a feature in the equation.  Plus, with the furniture, the room feels somehow warmer.  But we still recorded an internal temperature in the house of 13°C recently.

"C'mon, Dani - let's light the Dover - it's freezing," RMan pleaded.

"Nope, it's not happening, RMan.  Either the chimney is redone (call back the builders to knock huge hole through the wall and build / tie in a new (brick) chimney), or everything must be replaced," I replied.

I stood firm.  I don't do that often, but when I do...

I got nowhere - for 8 - 9 months.

Then a cold front hit in early April - and RMan remembered last year - he feels the cold more than I do ;)

When the time was right (i.e. when RMan was really, really cold) I sprang into action.  Persistently.  Adamantly.  And I successfully convinced RMan.

The end result is...

Tadaaaaa! 

The Rosa oven reached 300oC in 1/2 hour -
and the temperature in the room went from
17.9 to 23°C

Our Nordica Rosa was installed yesterday :)

The Nordica Sovrana wood burning stove

Nordica Sovrana

I was originally going to go for a Nordica Sovrana.

However, RMan didn't think it looked "farmy" enough - too clinical.  And, after numerous (seriously, at least 12 ) phone calls and likewise number of e-mails to the supplier, Fernando, in Somerset West, (a very patient man LOL) RMan decided that the Nordica Rosa would better suit our needs.  Me - I wasn't fussy - all I wanted was there wherewithall to keep us toasty warm this winter, and something effective to cook our meals on.  

Here she is in this morning's daylight...

After - the kitchen with the Nordica Rosa installed
she adds a 'je ne sais quois' to the room :)

Nordica Rosa Specifications

Don't you love it when a plan comes together :)

No worries this year about being cold :)

This stove is a completely different beast to the basic Dover stove.  The Rosa doors are:

1  heat resistent glass so that one can see the state of the fire, as well as the state of the food in the oven without having to open the doors constantly;

2  and they all have proper seals which the Dover doesn't.  The Dover is just cast iron against cast iron = plenty of smoke / heat emitting gaps, and very high consumption of wood.  Even the Rosa's chimney has a seal where it meets the stove top.  And the chimney sections have been riveted together, so no danger of their falling down :)

And the emissions are:
    dust - lower than 75mg / mtr3*
    CO2 - lower than 1500 mg / mtr3*
(* 13% O²)

The 250mm diameter insulated stainless steel
chimney

This state of the art wood burning kitchen stove and chimney have been professionally installed, with a (single skin) stainless steel chimney internally, and an insulated (double skin) stainless steel chimney externally - no contraction and expansion going to happen there :)  Also the chimney is now the correct height above the roof apex, which helps with the draw and the smoke dispersal.  The installers, Jaco and Michael, were  fantastic - not only did they have a slow 3.5 hour trip here, in the pouring rain, from Somerset West with the 180kg stove on the back of their bakkie (pickup truck) but their care (when breaking through the wall and eliminating as much debris / dust as they could), attention to detail, and the pride in their work was obvious through the constant measurements / spirit level checks.  Even down to carefully and thoroughly removing any fingerprint marks on the stainless steel chimney and cleaning up their mess (chips of bricks and cement and the dust) afterwards.  Bless them - they arrived at 10.30 a.m. and only left at 5.30 p.m. - still with a 2 hour trip home ahead of them.

They got a steaming bowl of homemade chicken soup to warm them just before they left - it was the least I could do :)

Our local saw mill has (free) scraps of dry bluegum which is the recommended and perfect hardwood to burn in the Rosa (together with the alien Australian Black Wattle we have to hand - until it's finished.  Then is 100% dry bluegum.)

Life is certainly going to be very "rosy" this winter :)  Without using any LP gas nor Escom's expensive, possibly erratic and coal produced electricity.  The Nordica's emissions are far superior to their coal fire generated power too :)

Yeeeeeeha!  All my future birthday's and Christmas pressies in one fell swoop - I'm beside myself with excitement.

Thanks RMan - for all our sakes.  Big points scored... :)

At this precise moment, outside is 11°C, inside is a comfortable 23°C, and I am sitting at the dining room table publishing this, with RMan watching his rugby.  The stove has been lit for an hour and my back is all lovely and warm, a crisp roast chicken and even crispier baked potatoes are cooking in the oven which will be served together with a broccoli and cauliflour cheese bake.

I'm We're going to be in heaven this winter :)