Regulations are coming

[Bluecoat]

A consultation on the burning of coal and firewood is under way. Under attack are bituminous house coals and wet firewood, cue the banning of bituminous coal and the regulation of firewood suppliers.

[Woodwanter]

Interesting. This must surely tie in with the threat of banning the drying of fuel under the RHI, in the coming weeks?

 

how easy is it to dry firewood down below say 20% naturally?

[bilke_user]

32 minutes ago, Woodwanter said:

 

how easy is it to dry firewood down below say 20% naturally?

I'm drying spruce, birch and larch from green to under 20% in 18months in a two sided farm barn on a hill with great air flow.  Oak takes about 2 1/2 years.   I'm in North Argyll and average annual rainfall here is 126" .

Working 2 years ahead isn't too bad and you soon get used to it

 

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Mentioned it on another thread:  "anyone see the piece on wood fires on Newsnight last night...?  Although a ‘soft’ / early, fairly meaningless piece, it could be the harbinger of the potential demonisation of solid fuel probably leading to tax and dissuasion tactics to follow from government policy"

 

Makes you wonder....

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

1 hour ago, Woodwanter said:

Interesting. This must surely tie in with the threat of banning the drying of fuel under the RHI, in the coming weeks?

 

how easy is it to dry firewood down below say 20% naturally?

Is that stipulated anywhere?  Haven't seen that news?

[Woodwanter]

11 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

Is that stipulated anywhere?  Haven't seen that news?

It's about to go before parliament after heavy consultation. It's been delayed - was meant to be back in October. They never planned for the RHI to be used for drying fuel, it was supposed to be to replace fossil fuels which arguably few would use to force dry logs.

 

nothing has been formalised yet but my consultant has been advising others with 'new business plans' to not rely on the RHI for a dedicated drying set up  

 

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

1 minute ago, Woodwanter said:

It's about to go before parliament after heavy consultation. It's been delayed - was meant to be back in October. They never planned for the RHI to be used for drying fuel, it was supposed to be to replace fossil fuels which arguably few would use to force dry logs.

 

nothing has been formalised yet but my consultant has been advising others with 'new business plans' to not rely on the RHI for a dedicated drying set up  

 

That's interesting.  I've missed that completely.

 

Can't say I'd be opposed to firewood drying kilns being extracted from RHI qualification.  No offence to anyone that's doing it, it just never sat well with me.  

[Woodworks]

1 hour ago, Woodwanter said:

Interesting. This must surely tie in with the threat of banning the drying of fuel under the RHI, in the coming weeks?

 

how easy is it to dry firewood down below say 20% naturally?

Impossible if you live in the wrong place and have a wet winter. had most of our just below 20% late Autumn but they have now crept up to over 20% with endless days of very high humidity. 4 dry days here since the beginning of December. 

 

If any future regulation stipulated below 20% we will have  give up or build a kiln. 

[Woodwanter]

1 minute ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

That's interesting.  I've missed that completely.

 

Can't say I'd be opposed to firewood drying kilns being extracted from RHI qualification.  No offence to anyone that's doing it, it just never sat well with me.  

 So had I, if it wasnt for our quarterly conversation I would nit have heard either! These things never seem to be publiscised till it's been decided.

 

I don't disagree with you, the concept was to save on fossil fuels, it's has produced a lot of employment though.

 

Just now, Woodworks said:

Impossible if you live in the wrong place and have a wet winter. had most of our just below 20% late Autumn but they have now crept up to over 20% with endless days of very high humidity. 4 dry days here since the beginning of December. 

 

If any future regulation stipulated below 20% we will have  give up or build a kiln. 

Well this is it, if they restrict forced drying via RHI on one hand but insist on dry logs on the other then it's going to be jolly hard to get enough fry firewood surely? Not like the government to not think these things through though!

[Woodworks]

Just now, Woodwanter said:

Not like the government to not think these things through though!

No that would be a first