Look and Learn From My Mistake!

     My husband brought wood up to the house. "Hey, bring some inside and make a fire. It's a fire building kind of day." I thought, "Okay."  

     I put some crumpled newspaper in the wood stove, added some bark and small pieces of wood, then lit the paper. It took off pretty well, so I added 3 or 4 nice sized pieces. The wood was nice and dry so it took off right away. I sat in my recliner, enjoying the warm, orange glow coming from the stove's window.

     The fire got pretty hot pretty fast. I could smell that hot smell. You know what I mean, when the metal stove pipe gets so hot it has that "smell", like an empty cast iron skillet left on the burner? I thought, "I'd better put down the damper to slow down the fire." I looked up and noticed the plastic window fan was still sitting on top of the stove, leaning a little on the stove pipe. AAAAAAAA. I pulled it away from the pipe. Strings of plastic, like a cheese pizza, strung across. I pulled it and pulled it. It just kept coming in fine threads. It wouldn't stop. I had a wad of what looked like a ball of thread. There was a lovely melted grid of white plastic on the pipe. I tried to wipe it off to no avail. Whoa is me! Eventually it melted and dripped down into the connection of the pipe and stove. I guess it dripped inside that connection into the firebox. It's about gone from the stove pipe now.

     The fan had been sitting there all summer and, I guess, just became another fixture in the room. Well next summer it will be an art fixture in the room.

I wonder if it still works?

                    

NOTE:  The fan was checked on 12/9/11. It still works. Hurray?