1997 MHA
Annual Meeting
May 23 - 30
at Wildacres Retreat,
Little Switzerland, N.C.
 Introduction
 Technical
Highlights
Photo Essay
Comments
Report by
Heikki Hyytiäiinen
Meeting
Minutes
Report on
Meeting
Introduction
The 1997 Annual Meeting was a
big success. All who attended were pleasantly surprised
at the uniqueness of the setting in the Smokey Mountains,
the excellent facilities, and 3 gourmet meals per day.
The peaceful atmosphere and lack of distraction
allowed us to get a large amount of work accomplished.
John Gulland walked us through the fine points of
developing a certification program, and by this time next
year, there should be fully certified Custom Masonry
Heater Designer/Builders. A draft "Heater Mason's
Reference Manual" was rolled out and reviewed, and
is now ready for a final edit. Stay tuned to this page
for more details
Technical Highlights
After a day long, very vigorous discussion, there is
now an offical MHA Masonry
Heater Definition.
Special guest was Heikki Hyytiäiinen, who travelled
from Finland at our invitation. Heikki held several
sessions with us, including a general discussion on
several active current research initiatives in Europe on
woodstove emissions. Another session went into technical
details of Heikki's own work with a consortium of
European manufacturers and universities and funded in
part by the European Economic Community (EEC). A third,
very enthusiastically received, session was on commercial
and domestic bakeoven design and construction. I had more
than a casual interest in this, since we are about to
build a small commercial oven here at Masonry Stove
Builders, and a second, larger, commercial oven a couple
of hours away, near where John Gulland lives. I came away
from the workshop with a new oven design,
and will be building a double deck oven at MSB, instead
of the original design. Stay tuned.
Several hands-on sessions were also well received.
Included were a dry run on a masonry skills competency
test, a contraflow white oven installation, and a burn
unit that was used to demonstrate a German flue gas
analysis system.
Photo Report
I had my trusty digital camera with me, so for
starters, let's have a look at some snapshots:
The beautiful library at Wildacres became our
headquarters for meetings. Ben Sotero and John
Zamkotowicz discuss an aspect of certification as part of
a small task group. Heikki Hyytiäiinen (red shirt) sits
in another task group, behind.
A bassoonist plays in the concert hall next to the
library. 65 bassoonists were our Retreat-mates for the
week, filling the forest with mellow woodwind sounds.
The dining hall - savoring yet another gourmet meal. The
food was outstanding.
Jerry Frisch shares a joke with Marcel Ouellette and Tom
Trout on the patio high in the Smokey Mountains.
Back in the dining hall for yet ANOTHER gourmet meal!
Tim Custer starts work on his burn unit.
Ben Sotero makes wet dust on the wetsaw
Pat Manley and David Moore square up a base for a
certification masonry skills test
Jerry Frisch demonstrates a master's technique
The certification area.
A new generation of stove masons. Corey Hart tries his
hand as Keith Hedin looks on. Next year, the actual test
will be 6 courses of bricks, within a 1/8"
tolerance, within a time limit.
Marcel Ouellette tries his hand at 4" CMU's - very
tricky unless you are used to them.
Gary Hart finishes up the burn unit for combustion
testing.
Pat Manley overlooks the white oven demo. Johnny Z. from
Jersey handles the trowelwork.
Heikki Hyytiäiinen (centre), Norbert Senf and Leila
Nulty-Senf in Central Park, N.Y.C. on the return leg from
the conference.
Comments from Participants
during the meeting:
Jerry Frisch:
When I first agree to a N.C. meeting at Wildacres, I
said "O.K., not much to loose?" Then, when I
purchased the plane ticket to N.C. for $568.00, I thought
"Jeez, I could have gone to Hawaii for 4 days
including hotel for $355.00". I thought, not again,
for me. But I went anyway.
However, when I got there, settled in, etc. I started
to realize that this is a place that I will never be able
to beat or, for that matter, match. I will be #1 on the
1998 sign up sheet. The food is beyond comparison. The
rooms are AAAA+. And talk about peace and quiet - I have
not heard a phone or TV or even radio in 7 days. (7th
heaven? I think so.) And all for $250 room and board and
cost sharing (it's true). Check it out.
And, the benefits have been worth twice the cost and
time spent. Believe it or not, at age 64 3/4 I am still
learning more and more stuff about heaters and ovens.
This is an opportunity no one should pass up.
"You snooze, you loose". Hope to see you
here in 1998. Save the date. Don't be late.
Yours......J.E.F. (The Olde Fart)
Pat Manley
We would be hard pressed to find a better location for
our annual meeting than Wild Acres. It is a peaceful and
beautiful place. The friendly staff is clearly dedicated
to serving our needs, and the food was great (and plenty
of it). Sharing the week with the bassonists was an added
extra. I knew I would come away knowing more about
heaters, but bassoons too? Thanks to all who
participated. I'm looking forward to next year already.
John Fisher
I think it was an ideal setting for us to focus on our
favorite thing. The bassoonists were great neighbors
David Moore
Based on my experience this week, I predict that the
South will rise again, but just not as early as
everywhere else. Good place to get away to; rather than a
rat race - more like a duck race
Gary Hart
Good food, relaxing location, beautiful views, lower
heart rate. Thank You! We need more hands on
Ben Sotero
Very informative. Learned a lot. Glad I came.
Other Comments
Wildacres is a great place for a meeting. No
distractions like TV or radio. Nestled on a mountain top,
truly a place to get a lot of work done
Breakfast shoud be earlier in the morning (7:00 - 7:30
perhaps) so day can be started
Report by Heikki Hyytiäiinen
Meeting Minutes
Report on Meeting
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