The Town Mouse, the Country Mouse and the Fire Bowl Mouse

October 19, 2019

I’m sure you’ve heard Aesop’s fable about the Town Mouse visiting the Country Mouse. 

This story is about the Fire Bowl Mouse....

Last June, we received a phone call from Stacey, a client that bought a propane lit fire bowl for her home in Connecticut in 2015.  Stacey has no natural gas in her home. She was using the fire bowl every summer and enjoying it tremendously. 

As it turned out, a family of mice crawled inside the fire bowl through the ventilation holes to escape the winter cold. They nested there and had a warm and wonderful winter. 

The mice filled the ventilation holes with nesting materials and were having a great time, until Stacey lit the fire bowl. Which was a bit scary for all involved, especially for the mice.  Since the ventilation holes were all blocked, the plate ended up skipping around to release the pressure. 

Stacey immediately turned the fire off and called us the next day. We thought maybe she had developed a propane leak or the ventilation holes may have been blocked. We told her not to use the bowl until a plumbing and heating specialist takes a look. The plumber arrived and after we looked at the photos, the story was very clear.

Well…. we wish we could say that no animals were harmed during the creation of this blog . Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case here.

Please remember these important safety tips:

• Ventilation holes must stay open and unclogged.
• The fire bowl must sit on a flat surface, so there’s also ventilation from the bottom of the bowl. 
• Always check the fire bowl after a long time of not using it, especially when you are using propane.  

Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.

Also in The more you know and...more