Hearthlist Digest #95 - Wednesday, January 14, 1998
 
V.C. Resolute Acclaim
  by DJ Billard <[email protected]>
Ice Storm & Prometheus
  by BLisle <[email protected]>
Ice Storm
  by Embers <[email protected]>
Re: Hearthlist Digest #94 - 01/12/98
  by Ronald Telfer)(by way of [email protected] (Craig Issod) <r
 

(back) Subject: V.C. Resolute Acclaim From: DJ Billard <[email protected]> (by way of [email protected] (Craig Issod)) Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 21:18:25 +0100   I have come across a problem with regasketing the front door of a V.C. Resolute Acclaim . If the proper 1/2" gasket as provided by V.C. is installed, and door latch is adjusted ,it still does not seal . If door is made tighter ,it may break cast hinge. We also tried to leave out gasket which seals against grate ,but still got leak around door. V.C. speaks about shims ? Has anyone had this problem .If posible fax or e-mail A.S.A.P. .FAX # 201-262-3477 .      
(back) Subject: Ice Storm & Prometheus From: "BLisle" <[email protected]> (by way of [email protected] (Craig Issod)) (by way of [email protected] (Craig Issod)) Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 21:19:46 +0100   Subject: Ice Storm & Prometheus Author: BLisle at Lebanon Date: 1/12/98 8:25 PM     Last Tuesday, Darryl Rose our VP of Marketing went to Montreal to finish the last Canadian safety tests for our Prometheus Pellet Basket (which passed). He packed for a one night trip. He is still there holed up in the Bonaventure Hilton in downtown Montreal. He was seeing the devastation first hand. He was telling me about people running out of firewood and burning (trying) the wood off of the fallen trees. The south shore of Montreal has been equated to Bosnia. One of our employees has a house in the area and is not expecting to have his electricity back for a few weeks. Electric transmission towers, not just the local distribution lines, were crushed.   Last Friday night, Roger Blood, one of our guys who packages the Prometheus pellet basket in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, drove 200 miles up to Montreal in a Ryder truck with 120 baskets and every fire starter block I was able to find at the local supermarkets. When he got to the Champain Bridge on the edge of Montreal, it along with every bridge into Montreal was closed due to ice. What normally would be a ten minute drive into downtown Montreal, took two hours of diversion through the tunnel on the east end. Roger had never been to Montreal before and it took several cell phone calls to me with a street map of the city. It was difficult to read most of the signs because they were iced over. A truck driver from Lac-Megantic, Quebec braved the roads and drove 36 tons of fuel from our plant into Montreal on Friday.   Saturday morning Darryl & Roger were at the Pointe Claire Fire Department in the West End and gave away the baskets and the fuel to residents with fireplaces and stoves that didn't have any wood. With the help of the now Prometheus trained fireman, Darryl was able to educate these people on the use of basket and send them on their way with a basket, starter, and bags of fuel. Darryl told me the story of one lady who was crying when he gave her the basket.   While Darryl was in Montreal, his family lost power at their home just SE of Lebanon on Wednesday night and it just came on last night. The battery back up on his pellet stove only lasted so long.     It was difficult to sit back and watch this disaster unfold without doing something. 120 is not many units when millions are without heat and power. But at least 120 homes in the area are now warm.     Regards, Bruce Lisle Energex Pellet Fuel             ---------------------------- Forwarded with Changes --------------------------- From: BLisle at Lebanon Date: 1/12/98 8:25PM To: [email protected] at -FABRIK/Internet Subject: Ice Storm & Prometheus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------      
(back) Subject: Ice Storm From: "Embers" <[email protected]> (by way of [email protected] (Craig Issod)) Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 21:24:59 +0100   Never in my lifetime have I witnessed devastation equal to what I have seen here in the past week. It would be impossible for me to adequately describe the scope of the destruction the landscape has suffered during this ice storm. I honestly can say that not one tree has escaped without some sort of damage. Power lines have fallen like domino's, phone lines are out all over, houses have been flooded with the lack of power to operate sump pumps, and tonight the temperature is dropping low enough to freeze the water lines in peoples unheated homes. We have been busier at the store than we have ever been, people are desperate to get some sort of heating system in their homes. The phones have been ringing off of the wall, and we have been advising many people every day about the use of their wood stove, gas fireplace, oil stove or pellet stove. We have lent every used stove that we had in stock, and have tried to offer special deals to folks that have suffered the consequences of not having a heating system that is not reliant on electricity. Our crews are working into the night to get as many homes as possible heated. The stories about unfair pricing have started to surface already, and it just makes me sick to my stomach to think that anyone could prey on the desperation of people that are under the kind of stress that they are experiencing right now. On a more positive note, the camaraderie, compassion and community spirit that has been evident since the onset of this disaster, has been overwhelming. People are truly working together to help each other in a way that, once again, I have never seen in my lifetime. Our home has had a steady influx of friends, family and neighbors over the past week. Having our Opel operating to heat our home, a gas range to cook on, and a good supply of candles has made our home a cozy haven in the midst of mayhem. We have gotten to know our neighbors in a way that would have never happened otherwise, and it has also taught our children that they can survive without television. The effects of this storm on our industry in this area, and any area touched by this storm will last for some time. One of the most repeated comments from customers at the store this week has been "Never again, I want a heating system that will operate without electrical power." This situation seems to have changed the way people are viewing alternative heating systems. As John said in an earlier posting, there will be no shortage of good firewood for some time. This abundance of fuel, coupled with the consumer desire for a system to heat without any reliance on electricity will bode well for the immediate future of this industry. I also wanted to send best wishes to all of the people out there that have suffered the effects of this storm. I'm sure that communities all over this part of the world are pulling together to help each other through this calamity....... Good luck to you all.   Vanessa Embers Perth, Ontario   <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD>   <META content=text/html;charset=iso-8859-1 http-equiv=Content-Type> <META content='"MSHTML 4.71.1712.3"' name=GENERATOR> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Never in my lifetime have I witnessed devastation equal to what I have seen here in the past week.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>It would be impossible for me to adequately describe the scope of the destruction the landscape has suffered during this ice storm.&nbsp; I honestly can say that not one tree has escaped without some sort of damage. Power lines have fallen like domino's, phone lines are out all over, houses have been flooded with the lack of power to operate sump pumps, and tonight the temperature is dropping low enough to freeze the water lines in peoples unheated homes.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>We have been busier at the store than we have ever been, people are desperate to get some sort of heating system in their homes.&nbsp; The phones have been ringing off of the wall, and we have been advising many people every day about the use of their wood stove, gas fireplace, oil stove or pellet stove.&nbsp; We have lent every used stove that we had in stock, and have tried to offer special deals to folks that have suffered the consequences of not having a heating system that is not reliant on electricity.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Our crews are working into the night to get as many homes as possible heated.&nbsp; The stories about unfair pricing have started to surface already, and it just makes me sick to my stomach to think that anyone could prey on the desperation of people that are under the kind of stress that they are experiencing right now.&nbsp;</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>On a more positive note, the camaraderie, compassion and community spirit that has been evident since the onset of this disaster, has been overwhelming.&nbsp; People are truly working together to help each other in a way that, once again, I have never seen in my lifetime.&nbsp; </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Our home has had a steady influx of friends, family and neighbors over the past week.&nbsp; Having our Opel operating to heat our home, a gas range to cook on, and a good supply of candles has made our home a cozy haven in the midst of mayhem.&nbsp; We have gotten to know our neighbors in a way that would have never happened otherwise, and it has also taught our children that they can survive without television.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>The effects of this storm on our industry in this area, and any area touched by this storm will last for some time.&nbsp; One of the most repeated comments from customers at the store this week has been &quot;Never again, I want a heating system that will operate without electrical power.&quot;&nbsp; This situation seems to have changed the way people are viewing alternative heating systems.&nbsp; As John said in an earlier posting, there will be no shortage of good firewood for some time.&nbsp; This abundance of fuel, coupled with the consumer desire for a system to heat without any reliance on electricity will bode well for the immediate future of this industry.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>I also wanted to send best wishes to all of the people out there that have suffered the effects of this storm.&nbsp; I'm sure that communities all over this part of the world are pulling together to help each other through this calamity.......</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Good luck to you all.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Vanessa </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Embers</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Perth, Ontario</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>      
(back) Subject: Re: Hearthlist Digest #94 - 01/12/98 From: [email protected] (Ronald Telfer) (by way of [email protected] (Craig Issod)) Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 10:06:10 +0100   Hi Tex and John, A happy New Year to you both from Victoria, BC where we have just had 4 inches of snow that is rapidly melting. Having spent 23 years of my time in Canada in the east, I do remember my worst ever ice storm in February 1975 between Ottawa and Montreal, sliding helplessly in a vehicule that had a mind of its own and finally getting home exhausted to my own fireplace, with a lovely wood fire. I had not patented my device at that time, being too busy earning a living, but I would love to contact any of my former customers in the east who bought my RADIANT Firegrate, by e-mail, if I had their addresses, at this point in time and post their comments. I remain committed to my firegrate, for those who use an open fireplace occasionally or constantly as I do here in Oak Bay, BC where we have had a fire going steadily and overnight during this last cold snap. It has been my own experience using seasonned maple and my device in an open fireplace, with 1 piece of 9 inch diameter and 2 pieces of 6 inch diameter unsplit logs, after the fire is started, that this will last 4 to 5 hours before recharging. The type of issue of firewood as per Tex comments about firwewood rationning on TV coverage, would ensure a warm room for a 24 hour period, if the pieces of wood were 5 x 9 inch and 10 x 6 inch diameter hardwoods, preferably seasonned. Independent studies published by Scientific American in July of 1978, show the increase of heat transferred into the room by a RADIANT firegrate, as opposed to going up the chimney by a "conventional" basket type grate. In normal times and most certainly in emergency times, heat loss up the chimney is to be avoided. At present I have 2 quotations for smoke emission tests, neither of which I can finance right now, to ascertain compliance with the new EPA Standards of July 1997 for my RADIANT Firegrate. However, during emergencies I doubt if people or Governments are concerned about smoke emissions, when staying warm means survival. As John states, we are probably about to harvest the greatest tonnage of hardwoods in the history of the Confederation, most of which will have limited industrial end uses, but most certainly home heat potential, with all the savings on fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions and helping the Ottawa government's commitment at the Kyoto conference. Due to interest shown in my product by SBC Firemaster, Richmond, BC (they process waste wood from Weyerhauser Canada at the SBC plant in Princeton, BC for packaged shipment in the Pacific NW) I am having patterns made for a smaller version of the RONJAN Radiant grate, suitable for use in condo or prefab fireplaces, which normally cannot handle 9 inch and 6 inch pieces. Another company in San Diego want to handle the product, they think as I do that I have a GREAT GRATE. Since I have a vested interest in promoting my patented grate, I do not wish to take advantage of any emergency situation. I am prepared to work with Government agencies, such as the Emergency Measures Organisation (if it still exists) due to my own experiences using the grate in power outages. For Tex and John I will forward by separate cover an e-mail message from a recent customer, who suffered a power outage at Thanksgiving, after he had taken delivery of a RONJAN grate a few days before.   Ronald from RONJAN Inc, home of RONJAN Radiant Firegrates - the HOTTEST things in fireplaces and the world's BEST woodburning fireplace grate!   Heat your home as the Sun warms the earth - Use RADIANT energy!   BURNW WOOD! BURN CLEAN! REDUCE GREENHOUSE GASSES!         >Hearthlist Digest #94 - Monday, January 12, 1998 > > Re: Ice Storm > by Tex <[email protected]> > Ice Storm Disaster > by John Gulland <[email protected]> >