Rode the Spanish Creek trail again. Plus the lower one. And mapped them both plus some of the S Crestone Creek trails in Trailforks. My username is Epomethius if you happen to want to look. T’was a fun ride.

Prior to all that I met with a chimney and stove installer. The hurdle with the RMH is the insurance company apparently. Meaning unless ok’d by UL or the equivalent, the heater would null the policy. See, the companies hire forensic detectives to determine what started the fire. If the culprit is an antique appliance, you’re probably out of luck as that is another category that can cancel your payment. The solution is to pay for a certain type of mason to inspect the heater at certain intervals which, if ok’d, will result in money transfer and a plaque stating this masonry heater is certified as conforming to applicable codes.

Another issue is that at 8000 feet there is simply less oxygen which makes for a less intense burn which makes for a poorer “motor” getting the exhaust out of the house. A number of these have been built up here over the years and only one ever worked well. The book The Rocket Mass Heater Builder’s Guide claims burn issues are typically due to blockage, poorly implemented transition from the manifold to the horizontal section of the chimney, chimney design flaws (mostly exiting horizontally and then up as the biggest no-no), not respecting the minimum allowed cross sectional area, and too much heat taken from the exhaust for it to exit properly. The chimney location itself is solid, which is nice and also means only getting the UL certifier is before moving the water heater so the famous chimney can at last go in.

Still mucho mosquitoes. Happily still not too much of an issue going up and plenty fine going down. Now trail work… I want to mow some of the grass which keeps me from seeing where I’m headed on the trail we ride the most. I took care of the obvious stuff needing cutting and along the way discovered I’d forgotten to bring work jeans. And with those mozzies, wow that is an issue. Issue remediated and with Mme Awesome’s bug net upper body jacket and head cover I’m looking forward to the trimming.