Heating your Home....

[weller54]

I've just installed a log burner. Did it myself as the quotes I had were ridiculous for what seemed a straightforward install. Only thing I had done for me was the fitting of the chimney liner as I didn't fancy getting up that high!!!

So, now to what type of wood you can burn....

Read up and of course most information says to only burn seasoned wood. But, we have access to a lot of woodland where we live and there's stacks of old branches and wood that's been felled over the years.

Why can't this type of wood be burnt?

1 builders bag of 'seasoned' wood to buy is circa £90?...

Seems expensive!!

 

[JayTheFox]

I believe burning general wood from branches is considered poor quality due to the sap inside the wood and the need for the wood to be completely dry. poor quality wood can also produce more toxins and potentially damage the flue etc. You may want to consider coal aswell as wood? 
 

[weller54]

13 minutes ago, JayTheFox said:

I believe burning general wood from branches is considered poor quality due to the sap inside the wood and the need for the wood to be completely dry. poor quality wood can also produce more toxins and potentially damage the flue etc. You may want to consider coal aswell as wood? 
 

Thanks....but if the branches have been off the tree for a long time surely there's no sap left in them?

[Wolfox]

You can burn anything once you’ve got it going, but seasoned wood burns better

 

Had two ton bags delivered Friday - £60 each…. See if you can get a relationship with a tree surgeon and cut out the middle man?

 

Those two bags should see me well into winter 

Edited 11 September 2022 by Wolfox

[weller54]

9 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

You can burn anything once you’ve got it going, but seasoned wood burns better

 

Had two ton bags delivered Friday - £60 each…. See if you can get a relationship with a tree surgeon and cut out the middle man?

 

Those two bags should see me well into winter 

That's very cheap!!!

Surely tree surgeon cut wood is too green?

[Wolfox]

11 minutes ago, weller54 said:

That's very cheap!!!

Surely tree surgeon cut wood is too green?

It was seasoned…. Don’t forget they’re often cutting down dead trees as well

 

My apple tree has died…. Need to get a chainsaw onto it

 

i have a drop saw too and smash up pallets from the neighbourhood for kindling too

Edited 11 September 2022 by Wolfox

[Izzy]

1 hour ago, weller54 said:

I've just installed a log burner. Did it myself as the quotes I had were ridiculous for what seemed a straightforward install. Only thing I had done for me was the fitting of the chimney liner as I didn't fancy getting up that high!!!

So, now to what type of wood you can burn....

Read up and of course most information says to only burn seasoned wood. But, we have access to a lot of woodland where we live and there's stacks of old branches and wood that's been felled over the years.

Why can't this type of wood be burnt?

1 builders bag of 'seasoned' wood to buy is circa £90?...

Seems expensive!!

 

Fair play to you doing it yourself!

We got one put in a few weeks ago but they had to do some building work/plastering to open up the old fireplace first, then open up the chimney/fit the liner and install the burner.

Total cost was £2650 for everything and two blokes did it in a day.

We've sourced our wood from a local chap who does 2 builders bags for £100 which seems decent vfm. When he delivered it, the wife expected it to be all the same size so she could stack it neatly but it was all different shapes and sizes (guess that's why it was cheap?)

Apparently it's all about the moisture % I was told - the lower the better? This stuff is around 10% which means it's supposed to burn better/longer or something.

Quite looking forward to firing up. We don't have gas in our village so electric only and our radiators cost an absolute fortune.

We pay £450 a month in electricity now so hopefully this log burner will pay for itself in a about 12 months!

[VLC86]

Are you in a low emissions zone? If so, you can only burn treated wood so you wouldn’t be allowed to cut a tree down and burn that.

 

I had one fitted about 4 months ago and am in a low emission zone so I buy huge pallets of treated wood for about £180 a pop and I recon they will last about 6 weeks of heavy usage in the winter.

[Wolfox]

5 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

Are you in a low emissions zone? If so, you can only burn treated wood so you wouldn’t be allowed to cut a tree down and burn that.

 

I had one fitted about 4 months ago and am in a low emission zone so I buy huge pallets of treated wood for about £180 a pop and I recon they will last about 6 weeks of heavy usage in the winter.

Never heard of this?  Who’s checking?

 

[VLC86]

1 minute ago, Wolfox said:

Never heard of this?  Who’s checking?

 

Difficult to enforce obviously but all it takes is a nob head neighbour seeing you lugging a tree home and thick black smoke coming from a chimney to have someone banging on your door with a fine.

[Wolfox]

Just now, Costock_Fox said:

Difficult to enforce obviously but all it takes is a nob head neighbour seeing you lugging a tree home and thick black smoke coming from a chimney to have someone banging on your door with a fine.

Oh…. Ok

 

will watch out for that…. I’m guessing I’d be in a low emissions zone…. Will watch out for it…

[weller54]

6 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

Never heard of this?  Who’s checking?

 

I'm in a very small Lincolnshire village, so doubt we'd have any checks to be fair?

Assume environmental sniffer dogs are out there!!?😁

[VLC86]

3 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

Oh…. Ok

 

will watch out for that…. I’m guessing I’d be in a low emissions zone…. Will watch out for it…

Assume you are Oadby and Wigston? If so you are yeah, I’m Blaby and we are as well.

[VLC86]

2 minutes ago, weller54 said:

I'm in a very small Lincolnshire village, so doubt we'd have any checks to be fair?

Assume environmental sniffer dogs are out there!!?😁

Nah, like I say- it’s all about your neighbours.

[Wolfox]

1 minute ago, Costock_Fox said:

Assume you are Oadby and Wigston? If so you are yeah, I’m Blaby and we are as well.

Close - South Knighton!

[leicsmac]

24 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

Nah, like I say- it’s all about your neighbours.

And also the honour system regarding actually giving enough of a toss about the future.

[VLC86]

5 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

And also the honour system regarding actually giving enough of a toss about the future.

Yeah there is obviously that, but I was answering a direct question about how would they enforce the rule.

[leicsmac]

4 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

Yeah there is obviously that, but I was answering a direct question about how would they enforce the rule.

Yeah, and I'd agree that it's only through the way you say that it would be enforced.

 

It'll mostly be trusting people to actually care about it.

[Free Falling Foxes]

Hard woods are better but many soft woods burn well but far quicker.

Moisture content needs to less than 20% and freshly felled timber can take 1 or 2 years to fully season.

An outdoor log store is essential in my opinion.

Regarding water content, I have something similar to this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dryzone-Moisture-Meter-Detector-Materials/dp/B099FBZWHJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_omk_4?keywords=moisture+meter&qid=1662900996&sr=8-4

Also, Google best wood for burners. Not all wood burns well, in fact some are very poor, especially in a wood stove.

 

A previous poster mentioned treated wood. I assume they meant heat treated. Do not burn wood that has been painted, preserved, ect. The fumes can escape into your room and also line your chimmey with corrosive and even flammable tar.

 

Finally, your stove needs to be a multi fuel type to burn coke. Buy smokeless however and definitely not coal.

Edited 11 September 2022 by Free Falling Foxes

[Foxdiamond]

Not an expert by any means but I seem to remember that there is concern about particulates that can cause dangerous pollution from wood burners? 

[FoxesDeb]

The problem we've found with our log burner is that it only really heats the room it's in, the heat from it just doesn't seem to travel, even with a fan designed for the purpose. We deliberately chose a log burner that was over sized for the size of the whole house, too. Our home is all on one level with the bedrooms and the kitchen off the living room, and even with the internal doors open and the log burner going all day the other rooms all stay fvcking freezing. All that seems to achieve is a cold draft in the living room! I'm going the opposite way to all of you, and moving to a house with central heating next month  

 

[weller54]

22 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

The problem we've found with our log burner is that it only really heats the room it's in, the heat from it just doesn't seem to travel, even with a fan designed for the purpose. We deliberately chose a log burner that was over sized for the size of the whole house, too. Our home is all on one level with the bedrooms and the kitchen off the living room, and even with the internal doors open and the log burner going all day the other rooms all stay fvcking freezing. All that seems to achieve is a cold draft in the living room! I'm going the opposite way to all of you, and moving to a house with central heating next month  

 

Perhaps it's because all your rooms are on one level?….

People I know with logburners have said that the heat rises and makes the bedrooms quite warm without the need to put the CH on?..

I'm hoping that will prove to be the case anyway.

[FoxesDeb]

2 minutes ago, weller54 said:

Perhaps it's because all your rooms are on one level?….

People I know with logburners have said that the heat rises and makes the bedrooms quite warm without the need to put the CH on?..

I'm hoping that will prove to be the case anyway.

Yes it could be. Maybe we should go and sit on the roof, it's probably like a sauna 

[weller54]

15 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

Yes it could be. Maybe we should go and sit on the roof, it's probably like a sauna 

😂... that's why they made the film ' cat on a hot tin roof '

[Livid]

There might be a really easy answer to this.

 

If we have the radiators turned on full, will it take our boiler a shorter time to bring the temperature up to the temperature set on the thermostat than if we had the radiators turned down a little?