09 May 2015

The stove saga

Here's what's happening with the process of getting a new wood stove. As I said earlier, we were disappointed that the Invicta people wanted to rip out the insulation and the stainless steel chimney liner in our fireplace and put it all back new before they would put in a new stove. It seemed to us that the fee for doing all that, 2,500 € was slightly over the top. The current fittings are not that old and the chimney liner has been swept annually.

Earlier this week, we went to see a local wood-stove specialist here in Saint-Aignan. He and his wife/office manager (they seem to be a mom-and-pop operation) had nothing good to say about Invicta stoves — calling them shoddy merchandise, basically. I think they just want to sell the brands and models that they want to sell. They deal in Supra stoves, which compete directly with Invicta's and seem to be comparable in features and quality. Both are sold by the major hardware and building-supply stores here in France.


Problem is, the Supra stoves that we like are slightly too big to fit inside our fireplace. And we don't want to have the fireplace torn out, as both the Invicta and Supra people have proposed as part of the deal. We like the look of our tufa-stone cheminée. It was one of the things we found attractive about the house when we bought it 12 years ago, and when you start tearing things out in an old house you never know what extra problems and expenses you might be signing up for.
After we ruled out removing the fireplace, the Supra installer proposed putting in a fireplace insert and closing in the big fireplace opening completely. The insert he wants to sell us has a built-in electric fan, so that would mean running wires to it across the ceiling of the utility room downstairs and up through the tile floor or brick fireplace floor. We don't want an electric "turbo" fan. We had one in our fireplace insert in San Francisco but we couldn't use it because it made way too much noise. Been there, done that. Anyway, the Supra installer's stock answer to every suggestion we made about the job was: « Ah, ça ne serait pas beau ! » In whose opinion, I want to know, would it not be pretty?

Left to right, the current fireplace; the Supra installer's suggestion; and my idea of painting the fireplace front to match the walls.

Besides, the insert he recommends costs nearly 2,000 € all by itself, and the work to install it, including the electricity and the fireplace enclosure (habillage, he called it, or "dressing it up") will probably cost at least another 2,000 € — probably more. That's way over budget. I did a couple of rough mockups in Photoshop to try to get a better idea of what the fireplace might look like, and I'm not happy it. The Supra man wants to sell us a Cadillac solution, when what we want and need is a Toyota. (No offense intended to anyone who drives a Toyota, which is of course a good, comfortable, reliable vehicle. Remember I drive a Peugeot and a Citroën!)

At this point, we are leaning toward just keeping our old stove for another year. We will try to buy logs cut to fit it. That means we can focus on other home-improvement projects this year and think about the stove again at a later date. It's not our primary source of heat for the house, and nowadays we don't even spend evenings by the fire the way we used to, before we had the loft space finished in 2010 and made it into our TV and computer family room.


Meanwhile, we have one more stove installer coming on the 19th to give us a third opinion on the stove and fireplace. We'll see if he can change our minds about postponing the job for another year.

I tossed in a couple of flower pictures to dress this post up. Habillage !

23 comments:

  1. Ken, any insert in that fireplace will RUIN your room...
    I think your l;eaning is right..
    keep the fire for another year...
    or even two....
    get logs to fit, pre-cut from your "newly discovered" supplier...
    at the excess to supply pre-cut timber... that is lighter to carry at 30cm, anyway...
    it will be a good few years before you would recover the first 2000€ that "they" want you to spend...
    older Invicta models are way less than half price in the bricos...
    by the time the model you were first attracted to gets there, it will probably cost 450€ or possibly less.
    Then, any competent plombier(e) [musn't be sexist in this day and age], would be able to make the switch.
    But, a question... does the "old" fire heat the room adequately?
    If it does... is there any need to change when you now know you can get 30s supplied at very little extra per stère...
    None of us aged mid-60-somethings are going to suddenly get stronger...
    and shifting and moving 30s is a LOT easier than the almost double weight...
    sometimes more because they tend to be less split up, 50s!!
    A thought well worth bearing in mind....

    « Ah, ça ne serait pas beau ! ».... the idea stinks!!

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    1. Agreeing with you, Tim. On verra.

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    2. Moi, aussi! That first picture of your present situation would sell me on your home, as well. And, unfortunately, even though I am trying to fight it, I am, at 67, just not the girl I was even last year for strength and length of time in one day that I feel up to hard labor (!). Another point to add to all of Tims: how much longer will you choose to stay in this home? (I'm thinking the payback time of a large purchase).

      Mary in Oregon

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  2. I think I like your current (old) stove the best! But of course, it is you who have to live with it. Good luck on making the right decision.

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    1. For the time being, the status quo is looking pretty attractive.

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  3. Not something I know a lot about and I shouldn't really write comments late on a Saturday night, but aesthetically neither your existing or the proposed fire places work well. A wide and low grate burning a gas or oil fired faux combustible would look very nice. Ah, but yes, it must be a practical heating appliance.

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    1. In France, fireplaces that burn anything other than wood are considered fake and a little strange. We don't have piped-in natural gas here, so that wouldn't be an option, but then I've never heard of anybody in France having a gas-fired fireplace. That was very common in California, but it would be considered environmentally unfriendly here. Wood is really our only option. Sorry you think our house isn't esthetically pleasing, but it isn't a highrise after all.

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    2. By the way, have you been to NYC yet? I was reading your post about it again. Hand our dollars, not quarters. You will be seen as less imperial. And expect that most people will never have heard an Australian accent before. They'll think it's cute, if they think about it at all. Good luck to you.

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    3. Tablet typo: "hand ouT" not "hand ouR".

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  4. I like that red tile in your existing fireplace and agree with Tim's comments. Love the flower photo with the insect.

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    1. I like the red brick fireplace interior. It needs to be cleaned and I've started cleaning it. It was pre-woodstove fires that blackened it.

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  5. I'm glad you're leaving the fireplace that is there. I love the stone.
    We have had two fireplaces with electric blowers, now... noisy, noisy, noisy. No thanks.

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  6. Bonjour Ken,

    Before, when I was younger I was too shy to speak up but now, whenever I have installers coming in to give an estimate ( most times Y is at work) and I hear that mantra: « Ah, ça ne serait pas beau ! » , I reply :
    " I am just buying your services and I am the one who will live with it. So tell me what is feasible and their costs and I will let you know".

    Like you said, just take your time and you may have some better options in the future.

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    Replies
    1. I should work on that kind of rejoinder.

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    2. Ken, you need a copy of Mad's "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions"!!

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  7. I can't see anything wrong with the look of your current fireplace, on the contrary, I love it, it looks ever so inviting! I agree with Tim, hang on for a while end you may have different options.

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    1. I sort of like the fireplace and old stove too.

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  8. It sounds like the French would get a laugh out of our California fireplace: ceramic logs, gas, and a light switch to turn it on. Barely puts out any heat.

    Don't know if you remember the movie Clueless (set in LA) but the main character Cher turns on her fireplace with a remote control from across the room, lol.

    Thanks for the lovely iris picture. Very Georgia O'Keefe.

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    1. Things are changing here in France. People have electric grills and gas grills for barbecuing. Fireplaces and stoves still burn wood, however, or pellets (granulés). Change comes more slowly here.

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  9. I am not just being agreeable but I agree with Tim, also :)

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  10. Morehead City made it on to the national weather mao. Hurricane Ana has arrived. Hope your family is ok.

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