Under a stone vault, the heater rises slowly. At this stage it is still just light-coloured masonry on its insulating base — but every element is marked in pencil: J1, J2, F2, B…
These marks are not site decoration: they refer to the bonding plan drawn up beforehand. A masonry heater is not a free stack — it is an assembly in which the thickness of every wall, the position of every expansion joint and the cross-section of every flue passage are calculated. One brick in the wrong place, and the draught changes.
To the right of the heater, the ceramic storage flues are stacked in waiting, with their preformed bends. It is through them that the flue gases will make the long detour that gives the unit its name.
2018 project, in the Côte-d’Or.
Bessey-en-Chaume, in the Côte-d’Or.
