Why Kachelofens ?

So ,lets first see what are kachelofens? Kachelofens are basically woodfired stoves assembled from ceramic parts (kachel in German) with the use of clay and with firechamber consisted of firebricks, or chammote as the material is known here in Serbia.

Masonry stove is a term much better known in North America / it is basically the same thing except that masonry stoves are built mostly with bricks. The technique ,as it seems to me, gives a craftsman much wider palette of materials to experiment with ,which can be very rewarding in esthetical terms.

The real question is why to bother with Masonry Stoves? Why so primitive and dirty solution in the age of the internet, nuclear energy and genetic engineering ?  The answer is simple because  all this technologies ,beside of their possibly fantastic solutions that the humankind desperately needs ,put at the same time limits and produce trouble maybe much greater than their solutions are.

Every technology has its own weaknesses and advances ,but the most important thing is how is the particular technology applied and what are the consequences of its application.

The modern industrial system is created in the manner of not considering the environment as something valuable and not considering the  repercussion on society in cultural and economical sense.

We are all witnesses and victims of the pollution that is damaging the environment which we cant live without. This all happens because earth, air, water   and all the other elements which are the key of our existence are considered as not worthy in terms of money and because so are free to use, damage, and poison ,but the truth is that the environment is infinitively worthy. What are worth all the reaches of the world if we have not a  cup of cold clean water in a warm sunny day?   If we instead of drinking the water from a clean spring we have to buy bottled processed water from far away source?

Beside this, mass production has strong tendency to make human labor meaningless repetitive process in which a human is merely something better than the machine. It is tending to divide the human being from its natural roots and also human from human ,person from his creativity. You see, your job is not to think, it is to push this button or to pull this lever for infinite, hours, days, months and years. Is it possible to work like a cog all life and stay sane?

What is with all the distances modern industrialism is traveling in order to mine minerals ,harvest energy or deliver goods?

What will happen if the supply line are broken even for a short time? If ,says, oil from mid east is becoming unavailable for say 6 months what will happen with the life of ordinary people in a mega city like New York?

But if you live in a small town or a village with plenty of wood around, you and your family are pretty safe from the cold winter.

Besides, you are showing the people around you that there is another way beside the ecological destruction and endless empowering of small circle of powerful people who are controlling the sources of fossil fuels and other dirty technologies. That is in a few words the reason to use a masonry heater or a kachelofen and put it in function and that is the reason these stoves are becoming popular in developed rich countrys.

In the USA and EU the art and science of designing and constructing masonry stoves is appreciated and well paid. Those stoves are for people who recognize their advantages and are ready to pay for them. Good craftmanship is always respectfully business.

I  think that my poor ,by war and economic sanctions devastated country has  many reasons to turn away from dirty  and centralized technologies  in order to begin the steady exploration of sustainable clean and decentralistic technologies, in between the knowledge of masonry stoves has a important role.

Surely I dont claim that masonry stoves are the answer to all the of evils of our times, and that these stoves have nothing to do in big urban  centers but they can offer us a lot in the realm of ecological and economical sense.

My personal interest for kachelofens started in times of troubles which are luckily behind us .The 90 have been tough for people in Serbia / no coal, no oil, no electricity, no money, that were some of the basics premises of those days. When I visited some friends I had for the first time seen kachelofens. Those houses were almost only ones which were nice an warm. There was no restricted electricity problems, no constant and pricy burning of coal or wood0.No need to buy fuels on the black market, there was always money for few cords of wood, and because of that the winter was harmless experience. Kachelofens have returned back to the  neighbourhood in the big style .Old kachels are brought on the light of the day from dusty old attics and put to new life.

The kachelofens had proved their value in hardiest  times and it is my wish that this experience is not forgotten, because of generations which are coming. Let them have a chance to learn from our mistakes and troubles. 

What is more needed for a rural home heating than a well designed masonry stove ? It is almost anywhere easy to find good wood. Why should we import great quantities of coal, gas and electricity if we have forests which could be managed in sustainable manners to give plenty wood for heating, at list for a good part of our needs?

In many cases the simplest solution is the best. Compare the solutions and take the best. Some studies are reporting that wood gives more energy per year in the states than nuclear power plants.

At worst this stoves are excellent for distance homes, weekend homes, rural homes without other heating systems far away public facilities etc.

Kachelofens by its fast burning of wood saves fuel ,are virtually non polluting ,use simple technology, local renewable resources and local craftsmanship.  They emit healthfull radiant heat ,turn us back to our roots by making a fire in the centre of a home, and are a beautiful architecture element in a house. To simplify , in a sentence kachelofen gives you  special atmosphere and nourishes your body and soul.

For all this reasons and some more ,I think that it is  beneficial to make this theme more recognisable and more widely known by audience both by people from around the globe and local people in my country ,Serbia.

On this web sites I will continue my efforts to make the knowledge of building and using Kachelofens well presented.

I hope that this is my small contribution to sustainable development of our small space ship ,planet earth.

If somebody ask you why such primitive heating device say him this is not primitive but beautiful simple solution. It dont gets any simpler and more elegant than this.