Soapstone stove
Soapstone stoves , also called Giltstein stoves , are basic stoves built from soapstone , which are mainly fired with logs and wood briquettes .
In soapstone stoves, unlike many modern wood-burning stoves, part of the outer shell is not made of the material, but the inner combustion chamber is also completely made of soapstone. In order to implement the principle of the basic oven, the oven is built in two layers, i. H. the hot combustion gases are carried along inside the stove in so-called " trains " and give off their energy to the soapstone slabs. The gases cool down strongly inside, sink to the floor and are released into the chimney at floor level .
The advantage of this design is the high heat storage capacity, which is achieved due to the high magnesium content of the soapstone. Since the soapstone has a high density (2.5 kg / dm³ and above), the soapstone stove must be placed on a particularly stable foundation.
Soapstone stoves were traditionally widespread in those areas where natural soapstone deposits occur and where raw blocks that are worth processing can be extracted. These are, for example, the Western Alps , the Southern Alps and regions in Norway and Finland . In the Valle Maggia there are soapstone stoves with annual signatures from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries in numerous farmhouses. Typical, not only for this region, are decorations carved out of the stone in the form of coats of arms, as handicraft symbols or ornamental ribbons. There are very old soapstone stoves in the Valais villages of Mund (1555), Evolène (1577) and Les Haudères (1598).
With regard to the layout of these ovens, there are rectangular, square, round and occasionally polygonal variants. Their horizontal structure usually consists of two or three layers, sometimes tapering upwards in steps. A heavy cover plate made of soapstone (baffle plate) closes the upper part of the combustion chamber. Depending on the overall structure, a distinction is made between box and round shapes.
In modern soapstone stoves, the individual plates are not connected with mortar, but with a wafer-thin layer of water glass . This results in practically no joint thickness, but the so-called gas tightness.
literature
- Roland Flückiger-Seiler: The farmhouses of the canton of Valais . Volume 2. Basel (Swiss Society for Folklore / Ed.) 2000. ISBN 3-907624-13-0
- Augusto Gaggioni: Le pigne dell'alta Valmaggia, inventario e tipologia . In: 2000 anni di pietra ollare . Bellinzona 1986 (Dipartimento dell'Ambiente, Ufficio Monumenti Storici, Ufficio Musei; Quaderni d'informazione 11) pp. 43-70
- Amund Helland: Tagskifere, lighter og vekstene . Kristiana (H. Aschehoug & Co.) 1893