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I know some of the BR's have wood burning fires so I'm calling on their experince. I've recently fitted a small multifuel burner for the front room and want to burn wood, I've checked various sites for prices and there is an obvious differnce between kiln and seasoned wood. If I buy a bulk bag (1 cubic metre) of seasoned hardwood and keep it somewhere completey dry for use over the next few months will I see a noticeable difference from the kiln dried wood? Will the drier kiln wood be better for my stove, I've read that seasoned wood can give off more tar/smoke.
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Tar and smoke won't hurt the stove. But they will deposit inflammable soot and stuff in the chimney, with consequent risk of chimney fires unless you get it swept at least every year.
If the chimney is just a metal flue, then I think what you do is run the stove on full draught for ten minutes every day. That burns the deposits off so that they never get really thick.
Don't take my word for it though. Check.
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I've had multi-fuel stoves for nigh on 15 years now (on n' off) and have always bought seasoned hardwood,
These days I use Taybrite smokeless fuel which is excellent and I can keep the critter alight for up-to 30 hours without touching it by careful adjustment of the air valve/damper.
I can buy kiln dried logs quite locally, but I'd only use them for kindling.
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You are buying wood?
You need to go out and gather your own!
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You need to go out and gather your own!
A 20" petrol chain saw & L200 and you have cracked it.
Don't buy it pinch it...............!!
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Rudedog, rule number 1 of wood-burning stove ownership is you must never never never pay for your wood!
That is part of the magic, sitting there in front of a roaring fire knowing that its only cost you the price of a match (at the most).
Once you go into wood-seeking mode you will be surprised at how many sources of supply you will find!
Start off with all those folks who will shortly be wanting rid of their real Christmas trees (artificial ones don't burn as well)
Last edited by: BobbyG on Mon 19 Dec 11 at 19:27
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Might have guessed Bobby would know about fires...
(copyright BBD)
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>>Might have guessed Bobby would know about fires...
(copyright BBD)
was thinking of BBD when I saw this thread as well!
Wonder whats happened to him?
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Make sure the seasoned wood is actually seasoned. Better to get your own wood shed, and stick the wood in there so you know it's seasoned. BTW, seasoned is just a posh name for dry.
We only have soft wood here, and the rule of thumb is to cut and split as soon as the snow goes, throw it in a big heap either outside or in the ventilated wood store, then it's ready to use in the winter. Important not to stack it, otherwise it takes to long to dry. Just slung in with plenty of air gaps. I keep about 60 cubic metres so have enough for 2 winters.
I actually pay a local farmer to bring it in 3m lengths, as trying to collect and transport 30 tons a year is a bit much without a proper tractor/crane/trailer. Costs me £10/m3, so total heating cost for the year is about £300. Mind you, I have to have the chimney swept twice a year at £40 a pop, andd a bi-annual safety inspection at £100. I think it's the governments way of screwing money out of those that use wood, to make up for what they lose in tax on leccy, pellets or oil.
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Smokeless fuel only where I live. I might find it difficult burning wood in the more common type of fires.
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Thanks all, I can get a bulk bag of split oak logs for £70 delivered I thought they will last the longest although I may have a problem if I need to cut them any smaller (my stove will only take 20cm logs and most are pre-cut to at least 40) I only have a bow saw and I guess oak is pretty strong.
Strangely a mixed bag of hardwood is a bit more at £100 but that might be easier to cut, at the moment I'm using the wood from a small tree that I had cut down in Spring time so I'm sort of planning ahead.
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I normally get arecycled builders sack of seasoned hardwood delivered in Spring at a cost of £50 from my mate down the gym. I store it in my s facing 'woodshed' for several months, so when I come to use it, it makes a ringing sound when hit. This supplements wood I collect casually throughout the year.
And I use a fair bit of coal also.
I had my Morso installed about 10 years ago and love it to bits, especially on a freezing cold night when it is pumping out the heat, and I have a new bottle of Benedictine,and hot water, to hand!
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Daughter bought a small woodburner firefox cast iron.Chimney is getting swept on wednesday and fire fitted.Looking forward seeing a real fire again.Son in law got some wood I think he bought it.Builder is also putting in a flap for the chimney to be cleaned once a year.I be there to make the coffee.
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>>BTW, seasoned is just a posh name for dry.<<
Not really. In my part of the world you leave the logs uncovered for at least a winter and summer, wet and dry, before storing them dry for use.
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Does it make any differnce?Any wood dry will burn won't it.
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Have a root in the skips of furniture making companies these pine shops etc loads of off cuts.
Dry the logs in the summer split them so they dry through and stock them up ready for winter, it may take you 2x summers if one is a wet one!
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That will keep me occupied rooting in skips.>) I knew I was good for something.
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>> Rudedog, rule number 1 of wood-burning stove ownership is you must never never never pay
>> for your wood!
>>
What he said. Over the last few years, as wood-burners have increased in popularity, the price of a tote bag of seasoned hardwood has pretty much doubled round here.
I'm lucky because I do coppicing and lopping for my workmate's father, who's got a small farm, is getting too old to do the job himself and lets me have as much wood as I want for keeping his hedges and woods tidy. I probably burn about 2 tons a year; wood for 2013 is currently piled up on the field ready to be collected once the weather improves. That's the stuff I cut earlier this year BTW, mostly oak and ash with a bit of hawthorn and beech. Next winter's supply is stacked on my back yard and will go into the shed come spring.
Probably got enough on that farm and his brother's, to keep me in wood for 10 years by which time it'll be ready to do again; that's how it works, ideally.
Try a request on Freecycle for wood; many people who renovate houses are glad to get rid of the old stuff. If you consider burning pallets (I avoid them cos of the nails) visit your local industrial estate; many small companies will be glad to get rid of stuff that they'd have to pay to put in landfill. Bigger companies tend to be a waste of time because they've all got middle managers with nowt to do but write high-minded policies on environmental protection and waste disposal.
A word to the wise. Old telegraph poles burn very well, but are not recommended because they both stink your house out and line your chimney flue with a thick layer of bitumen-like tar. Ask me how I know. They do, however, make very good kindling. Ditto railway sleepers.
And if you haven't got a trailer, you need one, or a pick-up truck. Round here they say that wood warms you three times; once when you cut it, once when you stack it and finally when you burn it. Much truth in that.
Last edited by: Harleyman on Tue 20 Dec 11 at 23:26
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Important thing is that wood is dry. Useful investment is one of these;
www.stovesonline.co.uk/firewood-moisture-meter.html
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Thanks I have a word with them and buy one .We used to burn anthracite in a 24 hr closed burner.Excellent heat output.This was more than fifty years ago.
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I was brought up on wood fired stoves. We used to cut wood a year in advance and store it under cover ...for 2 summers before burning it.
Made a significant difference to heat output...
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When we moved in, 12 years ago, the previous owner left us a load of logs. They were arranged prettily in the house, and remained untouched all that time, although we have always had a Morso stove.
Just a couple of weeks ago they were finally cleared, and so we've been burning them. The heat from one log will blister paint at six miles, and each lasts about an hour.
So, season for twelve years in your dining room is my tip.
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>> So, season for twelve years in your dining room is my tip.
So what are you sitting on in there now?
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Mrs C has been promoted to an orange crate, but I get that on Tuesdays.
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Wood is like coal - heat output (efficiency) varies enormously. It really isn't worth burning pine or fir of any sort unless you mix it with something harder, like oak or ash. You'll be surprised at the difference in heat a hardwood log gives off.
At the moment we are helping our neighbour burn his remaining stock of mixed hardwood from his trees that were felled in the great 'tempete' that hit France at the end of December, 1999. Even if has got a bit wet while waiting for use it burns excellently.
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...Even if has got a bit wet while waiting for use it burns excellently...
When we burned wood in the fires at the farm, we found wet wood burned a bit more slowly, although it could spit a bit.
The slower burn was regarded as desirable from an economy point of view.
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Daughters fire was fixed this morning.Very inpressed with the heat output.I want one but we have no proper chimney.
Found a chap near me who sels wood cheap.Big bag for two pouns fifty.
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Had wood burners in the past and agree with much of what has been said on here but you know what? I wouldn't now swap one for my Valor coal effect gas fire! Happy wood gathering, chopping, storing lighting , grate cleaning, chimney sweeping guys!
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Yep. Dream - third one down. That site is pricey. Got mine for £360 plus £80 to gas fitter for fitting. Recommended
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Wed 21 Dec 11 at 19:56
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We had a Straxgas coal effect jobbie for 4.5 years at the previous place, but we inherited one of these when we moved in here www.capitalsw.co.uk/stoves/cottager.htm which is quite cheap for an alf decent multi,
I'd never heard of the name before and was going to replace it with an expensive Charnwood but,
That Cottager is a blinder, well made in Sussex and boy does it pump out some heat, going to keep the critter now!
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We got writ of our gas fire a while ago.Electric job now with real flame effect.
Also gas central heating combi boiler.
My grandparents used to burn turf.
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"My grandparents used to burn turf."
By the middle ages Norfolk, then one of the most populous counties in England was suffering an energy crisis as most of the tree had been cleared for timber or fuel . Peat was dug and consumed in enormous quantities creating the lakes now known as the Norfolk broads
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I used to like the Norfolk broads. Tudor Hall in Norwich was full of 'em. Good sports they were in the main...
:-)
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Luxury flats eh? Bootiful.
:-)
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Yeah - got indoor toilets and all
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=>Electric job now with real flame effect<=
Electric eh? - you must have money to burn Dutchie ;)
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>> We got writ of our gas fire a while ago.Electric job now with real flame
>> effect.
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>> Also gas central heating combi boiler.
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They'll keep you lovely and warm during a power cut! ;-)
Which is one of the reasons why we use a diverse number of fuels for different purposes; two woodburners, backed up by oil central heating, and LPG gas for cooking. Unfortunately we're too far out of the way for mains gas.
When I first lived down here, in the early 90's, power cuts were annoyingly common. Not so much of a problem now, but just in case I've also got a cheap 2.8KV petrol generator which I can use to top the freezers up and provide a light in the kitchen. Only used it twice, once when we were having the house re-wired and once in a power cut, but worth the investment.
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Kiln or Seasoned wood? - Armel Coussine
