Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a few visits from nearby chimney people helping me with my gas appliances.

It started because the fireplace and stove kept turning off. I tapped a little bit about that before, so I’ll try not to repeat too much.

A week ago they came and rebuilt the stovepipe and chimney on the faux wood-burning stove. They found that the stovepipe was indeed clogged with nesting material like pine needles and leaves, and more dead bats. They rebuilt the stovepipe inside, moving the bend a little higher to leave more of the view clear. The stovepipe is smack in the center of the room, so the chimney can’t exit immediately above, so there’s a bit of a bend. On the outside, the chimney was corroded and the cap had dented and bent bits, so between the two there was enough space for critters to get in and nest. Seems like a bird nested in the cap, and the stovepipe was just debris from that, but that the bats also entered in the gaps. That shouldn’t happen for a while, anyway.

They also checked the cap and chimney over the fireplace, but didn’t find any damage or congestion. There have been dead bats in the fireplace. When we had it cleaned and checked last year there were remains of 25 bats in the fireplace. Even without congestion in the chimney, the fireplace snuffs out sometimes. After a bit more inspection, they concluded that the faux logs may be placed incorrectly. In particular, there’s one placed probably too close to the pilot, so when the fire gets hot or aggressive, it may cause the thermocouple or thermopile to cut off the gas flow, or even just snuff out the pilot, leading to the same.

They couldn’t find the right model of the fireplace, installed in 2000, to determine the placement of the logs, but with a careful eye one can see that there’s a misalignment in the symmetry of the mirrored faux log on the other side. And when the flame is set to be fairly high, like half-way or more, there’s a bit of additional flickers behind that bit, where the pilot light is.

Because they had the fireplace on to see if it would burn out while we waited, they couldn’t get in and adjust anything, because everything was too hot. Also, if they were going to go that far, they wanted to test the gas pressure, to make sure it was correctly adjusted, but didn’t have their test gear, noting it was in the other truck. So they said they’d come back “next week” to look at it.

Today seems to be “next week.” We didn’t agree on a date or timing, but in an a conversation with the missus, they said they’d planned to be here on Tuesday, which is today. Because of that comment, the long weekend, other driving I was doing, super cold temperatures, and a triggered mouse trap, I decided to to come down to check the driveway and help or understand what they find. Mostly I watch or let them be while I do other things, but then let them point and explain later.

I arrived yesterday, around dinner time, when the temperature was a balmy 1°F. I woke up to a weather report of -10°F, and it’s since warmed up to -7°F, with a forecast high of 13°F. Tomorrow is supposed to be the hot day this week, tipping the forecast at 22°F, before dropping back to the single-digits and below-zeros. I used the fireplace last night to help warm the house and add some log cabin ambience, but I’m leaving it off this morning so it won’t be too hot when they arrive. The stove thermostat is set to help keep the house warm, and I’ve turned on the ceiling fans to circulate the warm air. It’s quite comfortable inside. It’s quiet outside, without much breeze, but walking past a window does let you know it’s cold outside. There are a few cracks and gaps through the logs, too, where some slight breeze sneaks through.

I’ve done all of the little maintenance bits I have to do, including removing the mouse and resetting the trap, except for sweeping the floor, and I thought maybe breaking out a mop to scrub the tile floors. There are a few more things that could be vacuumed or swept or wiped down. I could move the exercise equipment back into place, now that the rooms have been rebuilt. And there are so many books to go through. I should run the shovel over the deck and push the accumulated snow off, and maybe over the concrete bits to just keep it from turning into ice, but it’s now -6°F, so I’ll wait a little longer to do any of that.