Alycidon

Good idea, if I can buy it at the right price. Its not viable to pay £80 a ton plus VAT for cord to make 2 x cube, cut it up, season it, deliver it , pay for vented bags, and then charge a price that competes with the web. I have seen seasoned at £60 a cube for hard wood, might all be pop agreed. I can make money selling imported crates and I can get £600 worth onto my trailer, for loose seasoned wood a load is worth £250 as it takes far more space. I do sell seasoned yes, mainly fallen timber from my brothers farm but the market is changing towards kiln dried rapidly, dont really know why but it is. A

I only bring in couple of containers a year, but cant get any new supplies until late Feb at best so will just sell seasoned for the rest of the winter, thus my next container will arrive in June by which time the dust should have settled. Containerships who handle the shipping have brokers so will use them certainly to start with to handle the import declarations, cant see that there will much if any cost. You will also have seen the UK requirement from Jan1 that all packing crates must be marked as heat treated, one company I use were heat treating but not marking but they are now changing that. A

200mm should fit just about everything. 250mm would fit a Squirrell but new smaller stoves such as Charnwoods Aire 3 for small highly insulated places need shorter logs. The ARADA Puffin needs 200mm from memory, I am not aware of any stove that needs shorter than 200mm. A

Magnets on the prop shaft. A

Auto every time, my last 2 Discos have been auto diesels, plonk it in drive and off you go. I pull trailers loaded to about 2.7 tonnes 3 or 4 days a week, no downsides at all. But its a one way street, its a pain having to go back to a manual. A

Most manufacturers today build the majority of their stoves with a one piece steel body and a cast iron door. Less joints for air to get in than a cast stove and far lower production costs as the body can be folded from sheet steel by robots. Cast will hold the heat somewhat longer than steel but you would be hard pressed to see a difference. Clearview were good stoves in their day, but technology moves on and efficiency levels increase, Clearview have stayed rooted in the past. In 2014 the minimum efficiency levels changed from 55% to 65%, in 2022 its going to 75% and 2025 to 80%. You will note that the Clearview web site does not show many efficiency levels, yet all other manufactures do, it is I believe a legal requirement to advise prospective buyers of energy and efficiency levels. Stoves from Chanwood, Arada and Esse are all made from scratch in the UK, Morso in Denmark. Not assembled in the UK from Chinese or eastern European parts, these are allowed to be called 'Made in the UK' . If you want a traditional cast iron stove then look at the Charnwood Skye and the Morso Badger 3116, highly efficient, minimal emissions, 2025 compliant, made in the UK or Denmark for the Morso. Costly yes but heirloom quality products. A

You should be Ok, just dont go pileing lots of logs in at a time, one or two is fine as long as they are not to big.. A

Cant speak for Stovax, fortunately I am not a dealer. But Arada, Charnwood, Morso and Esse who I do act for generally have a price increase of about £20 a stove a year, however this year their price rises were due in May, due to lockdown etc they all held off until November ( Morso 1 Jan). So yes there are rises but not to the 30% level. A

This is typical of many modern stoves, air now tends to enter the stove from the base at the rear so that by the time it gets to enter the firebox along the top line of the glass its superheated. The other issue is many stoves are fitted with an upper and lower baffle plate arrangement, this holds the heat in the stove for longer and helps efficiency but can create issues with draw. If necessary remove the upper baffle and try the stove without it in place. I have known a few Morso's have this issue. Modern stoves really need a minimum draw up the flue of 12PA, a 10 year old design would work perfectly well on 8PA. Ultra efficient, ultra clean stoves require a better performing flue. Pull can be boosted either with a wind driven rotary cowl or an electric draft booster cowl. A

Modern stoves should be airtight, older ones less so. It is highly likely the Olymberel which is a budget stove is leaking air into the firebox from all sorts of places hence its free burning. The Stockton 7 is nominally rated at 7kw, as such it does legally require an outside air vent being installed unless the installer considers that the house has adequate natural ventilation. This would usually be things like gaps under the doors and around the windows, pretty unlikely I would have said in these days of double glased everything. So air supply could be a problem. How is it installed ?, ideally it should be on a 150mm diameter flex flue liner. No liner and your pull can be radically reduced depending on the house chimney diameter. Think you said the house was old so likely to have a very large chimney and have lime based mortar between the bricks or stone. This really does need to be lined. How high is the flue, the higher the better. Fuel size, for optimum performance load 2 or 3 logs at a time, loading one big one and you wont get the turbulence required in the firebox. I am taking for granted that the fuel is dry, ie 16% or below. Air controls, refer to your Stovax user manual, usually the primary air going in under the fire is for lighting only on wood or for use with solid fuels. Once the stove is going close the bottom ( primary) air supply and manage the fire purely on the secondary air supply coming in above the fire. Finally are there any trees or buildings taller that the top of your chimney, if so winds could be blowing down onto your roof and flue preventing the smoke getting out and severely reducing pull. A

Morso Squirrel doors fits a 8mm SOFT rope, even then to much glue will lead to problems you have experienced. The 5mm rope Morso do is to seal the flue pipe joint. Under the glass is a flat 2mm thick self adhesive rope. As a Morso dealer I usually have the kits in stock. A

Friend of mine has a Woodmizer near Kettering, think he is an occasional visitor here. PM for details if needed. A

IFW now offer 3mm solid chequerplate side extensions, 750 + vat a set or thereabouts. A

Best thing is a 5kw stove with a clip in boiler, the heat to water is then usually about 2.5kw leaving the other 2.5kw to the room. 2.5kw to water would be enough for Dom Hot water or a single 1m x 600mm rad. The boiler replaces one of the firebricks. But most of the boiler stoves that are still around ( and most will go as at present the dont comply with the 2022 emissions regs) are speced burning solid fuel, this will generate about 30% more heat than if you are burning wood. Dont worry to much about 2022 as there will be no requirement to change stoves, just that older less efficient designs are phased out for newer cleaner more efficient models. Look at the ARADA range, they are currently one of the leaders on boiler stove technology. There older Ecoburn Generation 2 range had clip in boiler options, the current Generation 3 which was launched this summer I believe does not. The generation 2 is no longer on the ARADA web site, I still have a few in stock I think. Another thought would be the Charnwood flue pipe boiler, this will only fit some Charnwood stoves only and no others as they use the flue flange fixing points. One of those fitted to the new Aire 3 ( not sure off hand if Aire 3 would be compatible though) would generate around 3kw to the room and 2.7kw to the water, Charnwood Flue Boiler - Charnwood Stoves WWW.CHARNWOOD.COM The Charnwood ash-carrier is a simple yet invaluable addition to your Charnwood stove. It offers a clean, safe and effective means of ash disposal. PM me if necessary. A

Never needs tyres, always needs brakes !!. I reline brakes every 12- 18 months, tyres punctures excepted last 10 years. A