As mentioned in earlier blogs any additional heating required in our earth sheltered, high thermal mass solar passive house will be supplied by a masonry stove and cookstove in the main living area and a stove in the main bedroom. All will be wood burning.
I had decided upon an Esse 990WD as the cookstove since this provided the right combination of large surface cooking area with multiple ovens for fast and slow cooking. In addition his model also had a back boiler for water heating that would supplement the solar water heater during the winter months.
In anticipation of the house being ready for fitting out over a year ago I purchased the cookstove and a Morso 8148 for the bedroom from a supplier local to my house in Northumberland (
Bankhouse Stoves) when I was back in the UK last summer.
My decision to support a local business was immediately borne out by the excellent service provided by Debs at Bankhouse Stoves. When the stoves were delivered from the manufacturers she arranged their transport as far as Athens and I arranged for onward transportation to Crete. Because of the delays in the build the stoves were then stored until required.
Due to a combination of events it was only when the truck came up the drive that I had my first sight of the stoves in Crete!
I had warned the building contractor, Babis, that the cookstove weighed 450 kilograms so care would be needed moving it into the house across the newly polished and sealed floor.
The cookstove was craned off the lorry and the sturdy packing case removed leaving just the pallet it was on. Whilst the cookstove was being unpacked a start was made to crane the much lighter Morso stove off the lorry. Unfortunately it slipped out of its sling and toppled over onto the lorry bed. Very fortunately no one was hurt and the stove was unscathed - says something for its solidity. It was successfully unloaded and moved using a hand operated fork lift to the bedroom at the far end of the house.
This same fork lift was then used to move the cookstove inside the house. Having had the runner for the sliding windows sunken into the floor so that there was no step to negotiate the route was straightforward. However my concern was that the runner itself may be damaged by such a loading as the fork lift passed over. Babis had thoughtfully made a metal protection plate that was slotted over the runner to prevent any damage.
Whilst moving the cookstove into the house using the fork lift was straightforward involving a lot of push and pulling over the cardboard protecting the flooring finish getting the stove off the plinth and into the correct position was something else.
According to the manufacturers instructions there should have been a couple of rollers at the back of the stove that would enable it to be readily positioned by lifting at the front. This did not seem to be the case as when the stove was off its plinth it was virtually immovable!!
After a lot of sheer physical effort by the whole team the stove was eventually positioned correctly. Job done!!
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| Stating to crane the cookstove off the lorry. |
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| Removing the strong packing case from around the cookstove. |
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| All ready for moving into the house. |
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| The forklift being used to shift the cookstove into position. |
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| Easing the stove off its plinth. |
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| Finally getting into position after the expenditure of a lot of energy and a lot of words!! |
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| The cookstove in its place on the main room. |
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| The bedroom stove in position. |
