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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Addendum about windcap installation


Bruce wrote an email this morning to a friend in Florida regarding the installation of the new windcap a few days ago. I thought it was so good I decided to post it here. He gives a bit more of an explanation since he is the one that is the installer---I am just the "pray-er"!!!!!!!!!! :)+


We also had to replace the wind cap on the wood stove chimney. The old one which was 8 (?) years old got to losing the grease it needed to make it turn with the wind and it would lock up. Trust me climbing up the side of an A - Frame house 32 + feet in the dead of winter to grease a cap is nothing but an un-necessary risk. You are almost straight up on a 40 foot ladder and when you get up at cap level you have to turn around and face out. That means you are only suspended there by your heels which have snow on them and the rungs of the ladder are metal and a gust of wind can send you right out into space. So you have to be very careful and quick... I have a climbing harness but with winter clothes on it doesn't make the situation any less dangerous. My wonderful wife went on line to keep me from going up that ladder a couple times a winter to do the grease act, and she found a cap that has no moving parts with a guarantee that it won't allow smoke into the house. Cost a lot more but when the wind blows and swirls up here in the winter and the old cap locks up we get down drafts and end up with a smokey house. Very unpleasant to say the least. I called the fellow in Mich. and he told me which one we needed and when it arrived and we had a good day - up I went to put it on and take the other one down. It went nice and easy and seems to be working well. Only one back draft in some major winds but the fire had gone out in the stove and was only smoldering so there was not enough heat to keep the smoke rising. What a great improvement and now I will only have to make that trip in the summer YEAAAAAAAH!!!!!
So that is the rest of the story---from the guy with the birds eye view! :)+


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