Fallen tree - is it worth harvesting?

[Martin Jenkins]

Hi guys,

 

I moved into my place a year ago, and over the year I've got rid of the lpg boiler, and got a wood burning boiler stove that does all our household heat and water.

 

We've got four acres or so of variable quality woods; ash, alder, hazel, oak in the main.

 

There are three or four medium trees down at one end, that have been down for some years - moss growing on the outside of them. I've cut a couple of rounds of a couple of them, and left it in the woodstack outside for a few months, and just brought in one split round yesterday; the logs are pretty light, squodgy when I split it; feels like a lump of polystryrene. It /seems/ to burn ok ish.

 

Is it a right waste of my time chopping these trees up and drying them? I heard somewhere that after a few years laying, a tree became a bit useless for firewood. I hate waste! The previous owner just left everything.

[tree_beard]

it depends on countless variables, and you wont really know without cutting it up and having a look...

 

you can find solid, punky, wet, and dry wood all in the same fallen tree...

[Dean Lofthouse]

I cut some rounds off a really rotten tree and it was squishy as hell, left it under cover for a year and it ended up like balsa wood bone dry.

 

Burns great with loads of heat

[Billy Goat Gruff]

Martin,

Let it dry out, and then use it to light your fires as Dean says, it will be like balsa wood, it will burn far too quickly if you put it on a really going fire, as it will not be dense enough to last, and will burn out.

I would be interested in what model of woodburner and back boiler yo have fitted, as I have two woodburners in my house, and want to put a back boiler on one for radiatora and hot water, as currently I use too much oil, Do you need a massive back boiler to heat a big house?

[geoffw]

I have linked my wood burning stove into the CH system and when it is on the boiler stays off and it can heat all my radiators and hot water. In this weather it is great as the gas CH kicks in in the morning and goes off when the wod burner is lit. It is linked with a Dunsley baker nuetralizer which is basically a second cylinder under the normal copper cylinder which acts as a mixer tank for the split system . I can highly recommend it and it keeps the fuel bills down which has to be a bonus.

[Martin Jenkins]

There are 3 or 4 big old fallen trees. Sounds like it's worth logging then, thanks for the advice!

I would be interested in what model of woodburner and back boiler yo have fitted, as I have two woodburners in my house, and want to put a back boiler on one for radiatora and hot water, as currently I use too much oil, Do you need a massive back boiler to heat a big house?

 

We have a Dunsley Highlander 10 CH, cost £1,125 from a web store.

 

Only form of heating, it's fine for our 3 bed cottage.