Hot water! Yay!
But this time the overnight banking didn’t work! There were hot embers, so I didn’t need matches, but all the wood had burned out with all the knobs and dials the same as they had been all the other previous nights, but this time I had to relight it with newspaper and kindling and then gradually fill the firebox with wood. I really don’t have time for this on a school morning, so I hope it was just a case of not enough wood.
Well, the radiators stayed reasonably warm most of the day and when I started cooking about 5pm I opened the spin wheel right up to boost the heat. I also switched from H to C and the oven temperature went from simmer to bake within half an hour. I boiled water for pasta surprisingly quickly too. I went out for two hours in the evening and accidentally left the spin wheel open half way. Chris kept it fed with wood while I was gone, and when I got back, the radiators were properly hot for the first time in days and the water was actually hot! Hot enough to have a bath!
So, even though I did try opening the spin wheel before, I presume I didn’t leave it open for long enough. The instructions say not to leave it open as the firebox can overheat and cause damage to the fire bricks. But if that’s the only way to get hot water – surely that makes it ok?