Who's still burning?

[neiln]

I normally stop about now, a week into May, and normally have quite a few fire free nights through April.  Seems to have been cooler this Spring and I've only had 3 or 4 nights without a fire at far.  Looks like it might finally warm up that last few degrees Sunday though.  ~12m³ burnt, c/h only used for about 10 days in February when I got fed up of lugging wood in from the stack.  Saved a good chunk off my gas bill.

Edited May 6, 2021 by neiln

[gdh]

It's been around zero the last few nights so we've still got a fire going. We normally burn now and then through the summer to keep the damp out the walls but not usually this much in May.

 

On the plus side it means we're still selling a bit of firewood.

[Logdaft]

Still got the fire on every night as it`s still cold here with sleet, snow & rain!

[Gav73]

-3 at night here, I broke out the denser hardwoods normally kept for the depths of winter!

[openspaceman]

58 minutes ago, neiln said:

I normally stop about now, a week into May, and normally have quite a few fire free nights through April.  Seems to have been cooler this Spring and I've only had 3 or 4 nights without a fire at far.  Looks like it might finally warm up that last few degrees Sunday though.  ~12m³ burnt, c/h only used for about 10 days in February when I got fed up of lugging wood in from the stack.  Saved a good chunk off my gas bill.

I would never expect to burn wood from end April till October but apart from a few days in April am still lighting it late evening.

 

This is the first year I've really tried to maximise wood heat and minimise gas in this small semi detached cottage and have got through a log shed full, that is 8m3 stacked. I reckon that saves me about £350 in gas but it values my time preparing wood quite lowly.

17 minutes ago, Logdaft said:

Still got the fire on every night as it`s still cold here with sleet, snow & rain!

Given where you are I'm not surprised

[neiln]

I think 8m³ might save more than that on gas, I have guesstimated in various ways and got £60-£75 per m³.  However even the top end of that, scrounging and processing wood I'm down at about £10/hour.  Still, I enjoy the work and the house is much more comfortable. It was just the depths of winter when I got tired of lighting 2 stoves as RT breakfast and feeding logs all day, then wading across a swamp of a lawn and refilling 2 IKEA blue bags with lots logs and carrying to the house.

 

WFH meant I fed the stoves and kept the house warm though, and consequently burnt half as much again as the last couple of winters.

[Silverhooker]

Still burning both stoves every night, usually only need 1 at this time of year but not this year. Never known such a cold spring. Use about 2 cube a month in the winter and 1 in spring and autumn. Glad I got loads in last year !

[Tippin Alaybye]

Not wanting to touch next years logs so carefully cut up some old fence posts full of metal so I can keep my fire going. Can’t be long now

[Dazza95]

House is still awfully chilly so we’ve been lighting the fire nearly every evening. Like some others have said, we wouldn’t normally be burning at this time of year. 

[Big J]

The fire is on morning and night, and sometimes through the day too. The average temperature so far for us this month (averaging day and night) is only 8.4c. It's very cold for this time of year.

We've got some lovely spruce with a bit of douglas, which was really intended for next winter. It was felled May last year, processed in late October and stacked outside, not under cover for the entirety of winter. Due to the dry, cold spring, it's sat at 18-21% MC, despite the logs being a fair size (50-60cm). I've honestly never burned hotter burning wood - I've a well sealed stove and it's sometimes a struggle to keep the temperature in the normal operating zone (according to the flue thermometer). 

It burns so much hotter than the ash we did most of winter on. Much, much better.