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My wood stove pipe collar rusted through during that January deep freeze
Woke up to smoke leaking around the ceiling joist on the coldest morning of the year in Barre, Vermont, so I patched it with furnace cement and a scrap of sheet metal while the wife held a flashlight, has anyone else had to jerry-rig a stove part in an emergency?
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holly_green821mo ago
...and that's how you learn what true Vermont engineering looks like, right? A little furnace cement and a scrap of sheet metal, that's practically a rite of passage for anyone with a wood stove. I swear, my stove pipe collar has been held together with hope and high-temp silicone for two winters now after a similar surprise cold snap. Did it at least hold long enough for you to get a new one ordered, or are you still living on borrowed time with that patch job?
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morgan_butler1mo ago
Well, I have to respectfully disagree with you there. I grew up in northern New Hampshire, and I've seen too many patch jobs turn into chimney fires or carbon monoxide leaks to feel good about calling that "true Vermont engineering." I know it's tempting to save a few bucks with furnace cement and sheet metal, but those high-temp silicone fixes are really just bandaids, not long-term solutions. A proper stove pipe collar isn't that expensive, and spending the money on a real replacement is way cheaper than a house fire or a trip to the emergency room. I'd rather spend an afternoon driving to the hardware store and doing it right than worry every time I load the stove. To me, real Yankee ingenuity means knowing when a temporary fix needs to stay temporary.
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