Alycidon

You might be right but nothing ventured nothing gained. I dont have to continue after year one. People buying a stove will be spending 2k ish usually to have it supplied and installed, they want to know that they are not dealing with cowboys. A

Overall averaging about 2 cu m an hour with a JAPA 700, includes set up and clear up time. One man. load scaffold rack with teleporter, switch forks to a bucket and convey into bucket. Assorted sized timber from 3 inch to around 12 inch. Big stuff is a pain as the splitter is only 4 way so the big lumps have to go through again. Timber grab on a 3 point linkage would be helpfull, something to grow into. It might be small but its easier than an axe or an old sawbench !!. A

The W23 had a 23,000 BTU (around 7kw) boiler in it, it was replaced some time ago by the W35 with a bigger 33,000kw (10kw) boiler in it. 10kw would be enough for a 120 litre DHW tank and 3 or 4 big double rads. For DHW only there is a WD model with a small 7000 BTU boiler, (just over 2kw). A

If you ask the man on the street what Corgi ( now gassafe) stands for with regard to gas appliances probably a third will know, another third may come accross it when they do reserch about a proposed gas purchase on line. Hetas ( and Oftech for Oil) is far less well known, it is the solid fuel equiv to Corgi. It seems though to have few teeth to discipline members. My installer who has been Hetas for many years believes it to be a good thing and the reassurance gets him more work hence I am enrolling the showroom. A

Not selling enough to make it viable, its also not a well enough known standard but at least these people are trying up set a quality standard. A

Being more professional than your competitors sets you apart somewhat. A

See my post and link earlier on the Esse Centrailser, you can download the info and show it to your plumber. I think the Dunsley is a similar idea but I have not familier with it. A

Heat output to the room from the appliance os what you need to know in KW. Take volume of your room in Cubic meters, divide by 14 for average insulation, 16 for good and 12 for poor. So a room 6m x 8m x 2.4m tall = 115.2cu m; needs just over 8kw to heat it as the primary heat source given average insulation. The big Esse W35s give about 5kw to the room, cant say about anything else, your supplier should be able to tell you. A

Yes, detailing; Fuel type: ie wood log Accreditation Status: Country of Origin; Moisture Content; Pack size; Log Species; ( hard/soft/mixed or ash/beech etc or whatever) Drying method of log: Log length: A

This has to be signed off as being safe to use. The key question is what happens if you have a power cut and no pumped water just as you have refuelled the stove !!. If the water in the stove boils you have a very dangerous situation as it may explode. Woodburning/multifuel boiler stoves require plumbing to a cold water tank, when plumbed using an Esse centraliser or similar ( Dunsley?) then excess heat is allowed to escape into the cold water tank. http://www.esse.com/pdfs/Centraliser.pdf The problem is that Combi boilers do not usually have a cold water tank. Broseley have a system called SCWS that solves this problem, they will however only supply SCWS products to companies who have installers who have been on and passed the Brosely training course. This is a free course but is only available to trained and qualified plumbers. Innovation In stove design | Broseley Fires Hope this helps. A

Agreed, its what I currently do, but if their is someone else steering customers your way as your product is proven to be constantly up to a specified standard is that worth the subs ?. Not currently but maybe once it is more recognised and used. A

Reserch I have done since I posted points to the scheme being helpfull to promote the wood fuel product to new stove owners IF they manage to find details of the scheme. Cost wise first year looks like £550 plus VAT, ongoing £250 plus VAT for the basic membership. This includes annual on site inspections of processing plant, paperwork etc and end user audits. So you would want to be shifting more than a few tons to make it pay. Me thinks its a bit like BS5750 a few years ago, if you were not approved you would be out of buisness, well that was wrong for sure. None the less to have a user who is satisfied with his stove he needs dry fuel, anything that promotes the benifits of good dry fuel is a good thing. I am going into the Hetas approved retailer scheme, my firewood sales this year were around 50 cu meters, next winter I am looking to move around 150 cu m so if I charged another £5 a cu meter for the HETAS assurance would it make any difference?. Just put Firewood Quality into Google, nothing aboyut the scheme is on page one. Maybe let this one develope a bit more first. A

Tell them you dont charge extra for the bark !!, most like that for the garden. A

Does anyone have any experiance of the above and are suppling logs under it?. It is part of this HETAS Recommended retailer package I am in the process of probably joining http://www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/PRACTICAL/FUEL_SUPPLY/STANDARDS/HETAS%20STANDARDS/SUPPLY%20CHAIN%20COVER%20FOR%20SBAS.PDF Seems pretty simple, they assess what you are doing, how you are keeping records etc and id acceptable away you go. I guess the issue is the cost of the compliance audit !!. A

Prices from Tilhill were £60 PLUS VAT delivered. Cord is charged at 20% when buying for resale. If you are buying as the end user ie burning it yourself then 5% applies. Dont forget that you would have to be able to justify this to a VAT inspector at some point in the future. Buy at 5% for resale and the VAT will be looking to your supplier for more tax and will levy a fine of at least the value of tax undercharged having audited his books for the last 7 years. If anyone can get me hardwood delivered on a crane trailer to Northampton area at £45 plus VAT per ton in 25 ton loads then I will have some. A

I use a shed closed on three sides OK. A

ALL woods when burnt give off gases, these gases contain creosote. At normal stove operating temps the creosote gets burnt off in the firebox. Slumbering a stove overnight on a low oxygen setting will cause a fall in temperature in the firebox so that in around an hours time the temp will not be hot enough to ignite the crerosote. As a result it gets into the flue/chimney in gas form and condenses there coating the flue with crerosote. This is the major cause of chimney fires. Burning wet wood has the same effect as the energy in the wood is used to evaporate the water rather than creating heat. I suspect your sweep has found evidence of tars/crerosote in the flue hence his advice. Resin in wood has nothing to do with it, the problem is burning too wet or with to little oxygen. Another reason people are put off soft is sparking, stoves run with the doors closed ( well 98% of them do) so a few sparks are no issue as the fire is enclosed fully. A

Wet/rotton maybe, certainly not as dry as they could be. I am processing softwood logs felled 2 years ago, still in the round. MC on processing is about 25%. Stuff felled last autumn was about 30%, down to 27% after a week. I am processing and storing in bulk in a barn, loading with a 2 cu meter loading shovel. use a wall of filled arb bags to seperate soft from hard. A

Eductaion is the key. I am a stove retailer with a live stove in my showroom, and I sell both soft and hard wood. Last night I delivered a trailer of logs to a house where the towns largest stove retailer had installed a stove. The ladies were given no advice on how to use the stove and none on wood, mositure content, etc, They went down to a major DIY chain and bought some softwood that I measured at 42%, covered in white mould. I got involved following a personal reference. I spent half an hour educating them, showing them how to use a moisture meeter, showing them how to use the stove they had spent several thousand pounds buying from a competitor and telling them the ins and outs of the importance of using dry wood. The question of hard v soft did not arise. Soft if dry with more or less burst into flame, hard is slower to ignite. Temp outputs from soft usually higher than hard but the burn time is less, overall I think it represents good value for the customer. The is a LOT of poor stove retailers out there, most are looking to make a quick buck from the stove and thats it. ( There are also some very good ones who encompass the whole project from initial discussion to ongoing fuel supplies). HETAS are now introducing an approved retailer scheme in an attempt to improve standards. In order to qualify there must be at least one showroom staff member who has attanded and passed a relevent HETAS training course. These also cover fuel and the importance of moisture in wood, tars and sulpher gases from smokeless fuels etc. Companies like mine that also sell wood will be required to label each consignment detailing source, hard/soft/ mositure/ fuel assurance scheme etc. That will be a good excercise for me. A

Commercial shoot then yes you may well be right, those boys can shoot 200-400 a day, 3 or 4 days a week at £35 a bird + VAT. I was thinking of a private shoot or maybe a syndicate. A

Size of finished log looks a bit big, aim for no more than 4 inch (100mm) square. A decent double acting hydraulic ram would do, the problem is making a strong enough anchor bracket. My brother tried to build a simple one using a 4 inch double acting ram he had about but it just kept bending anchor brackets. If you have an enginnering bent then get stuck in but without CE marking it would not be legal to sell them I suspect. CE testing is far from cheap. If you use such a tool as part of a business your insurer may be asking questions about make/model and then maintainence records etc. Air compressors need a 12 month safety check for example and a 2 year full check inside and out. Just thinking aloud of possable problems once you get one into use assumeing you want to use it as a log supplier. A

Suspect it would want CE marking as well, that is not cheap. Plus VAT and carriage although I appreciate you can reclaim the VAT and also get 100% allowance against tax as a limited company. So the tax man pays for 22% of it as well !!. But what happens if it goes wrong?. Tempest web site seems to consist of that video and thats it. Nice tool though. A

Delivered to Northants., Speak to your local Tilhill harvesting manager for quote for your area. But if Highland Forestry has supplies near you at £36 + carr + VAT then that will probably be a better deal. A

At £60 a ton fresh felled from Tilhill etc it needs to be £100 a cube out + VAT. A