Wood stove lust.

I'm loathe to whinge about the constant rain we've had lately, lest I bring a drought upon myself (Miss Seven asked me yesterday "Why does it always rain in winter?". It doesn't darling, it just feels that way...), but the cold, miserable weather has had me shivering in front of the computer, looking at various alternative heating options for our house that don't involve turning on the air-conditioner and watching our electricity bill sky-rocket.

I have very fond memories of sitting around my Mum's slow combustion stove but we've not had a reasonably-priced, local supply of suitable burning timber... until recently! Just up the road from my daughter's school is a landscaping supplies place which has just started selling wood - and serendipitously, we've just had a tow bar fitted to our car. No trailer as yet, but several neighbours own one, and one might be agreeable to renting theirs out to us on the cheap.

So, imagine my delight when I stumbled across this little beauty on the 'net:




How cute is that? It's the Nectre Baker's Oven Wood Stove, manufactured - wait for it - in Australia, and I can get one locally. It can heat up around 8 squares or around 75m² (which would comfortably cover our living/dining/kitchen area) and can even take a water jacket fitting to provide hot water. Unlike most wood heater's however, it is also an oven (most modern wood stoves are not designed to double as heaters). It's also tiny enough to fit in our modest house without dominating the whole family room - it won't fit in the kitchen - and still be accessible to cook on.

Sadly, it would cost us around $3000, fully installed (including the flue and floor protector plate, but not the water jacket).

Bummer.

I might have to start a secret "wood stove fund" and start selling off household goods on eBay to raise the money. What's that kids? Where's the sofa? Dunno, haven't seen it ;-)


~~~~~~~~~~

Incidentally, if you have a wood heater or stove, do you know about Australian-designed SmartBurn? It is a device added to woodfires; it lasts up to three months and reduces smoke and emissions by around 50% (around 15 kg of smoke emissions over the life of it), as well as making your fire burn up to 17% hotter and cleaning ash and sap residues from the inside of your flue, reducing the risk of fire.

Good stuff.