for November...

First snow in E Sussex today, though it was light and didn't stay.

Tried a few new "coals" on the room stove - quite impressed with
MaxiBrite and Phurnacite - both seem easier to light than pure
anthracite and slumber better - and a finer ash without big lumps of
white crap that block the grate.

Now I'll have to see if our coalman can get either for a sensible price.
So far he's tried to sell me Pureheat which turns out to be a Petro-coke
product and is explicitly banned in the instruction book so I'll have to
cancel that.

On a random aside - had it swept a week back. "it" is an Aga Little
Wenlock Classic (4.7kW,) with SS flue liner. I had been mooting DIYing
that. Glad I didn't - at least this time. Quite a few bits to take out
which weren't obvious to me.

And - oh, the liner. Only a deposit of ash, no tar - but he had a bugger
of a job to get past the first joint. The liner makes a slight turn
right after the top stove pipe and I guess the liner mates with this at
a slight angle, as it was cutting into his rods something rotten. And he
had mole grips on them to turn them. Said he's lost rods up such liners
before when they got cut in half (became an insurance job on his
libility ins. to have the liner removed and refitted).

He said it's not the installer's fault - just sometimes the liner juts
out to one side due to entry angle and presents a ******* sharp lip to
the rods. If it's not that, it's often the self tappers that get him, so
he said.

sometimes it's better not to have a go...

--
Tim Watts