Alycidon

The secret is turbulence in the firebox of a stove. The smaller the pieces of wood the more turbulence you get between them and the more dramatic a flame picture you get. The downside is that you have a shorter period between refuelling intervals. In my tests and those of a leading stove manufacturer the optimum all round log diameter is 100mm. These give reasonable flame and reasonable life. In my showroom stove I burn Oak joinery offcuts usually, spectacular fires. A

It is a good stove and will serve you well. Your local Arada dealer should be able to supply spares as required or they can be bought direct from the Arada web site. Any problems with it in service like glass going black pm me. A

I am an Esse cooker dealer. I have sold maybe 30 Esse wood fired cookers over the last few years without a single problem. Of these about half are Ironhearts, we have just taken an order for one for a log cabin in the center of a large woodland block. The air channels running around the oven for the Ironheart and the enamelled cookers are basically the same, the major difference is that Ironhearts have no internal heat insulation so produce 9.7kw of heat to the room. Thats about twice that volume of heat of an average stove. Think of Ironheart as an overgrown stove with a cooking facility. The enamelled cookers have a lot of heat insulation to the sides of the cooker to allow combustible kitchen units to be sited close to these cookers. Water boiler wise the Ironheart has an optional small DHW hot water boiler only, the enamel cookers have optional DHW boiler or a 35,000 BTU central heating boiler. There was a comment about food burning on, the tops of Ironheart are cast iron but there is an enamelled top option that should wipe clean but rough use will possibly chip the enamel. Never sold an enamel top on an Ironheart, they are standard on the enamel wood fired cookers. Morso have just introduced a tall contempory stove with an oven, its the 8229 model and can be seen at the bottom of this page on my web site. morso stoves dealer northants A

How are the bags going to react to the heat applied?. A

You must be strong chaps, I could barely lift some of the pieces and they've been drying for quite a while Timber does not loose a lot of moisture when in the round with the bark in place. A

I have had some kiln dried ash in from the Baltic area this summer, most was 3% or below. I split and tested about 12 bits at random, one was 15%, a couple were 5%, the rest were 3% or under. Stored in an open barn currently the outsides are about 8%, not tested any centers but would expect around 3% or so. Best I have ever done with air dried was about 5% external in Sept, that was in bags under cover for 2 years prior to sale. Currently I am at about about 12%-14% external. The reason KD is taking off in the UK is mainly one of money, at £55 a ton for hard cord to make 1.6 cube or so against a shade over £80 for a nice stacked crate of KD ready to sell and making 1.6 cube loose and no time and money spent processing it. Half my logs this time will be imported KD, I just cant make the maths stack to invest 30K in a bigger processor set up unless its going to be heavy grant aided. At present grant levels are likely to be 40% max next year. A A

Good quality 316 is fine for wood and smokeless coal and very occasional smokeless fuel use providing the stove is not closed down (slumbered) for long periods. Slumbering the stove, using over a boiler stove, burning smokeless fuel regularly then use 904. Cheap 316 as supplied on the web is built to a price, we now will not install any customer supplied liner, the quality is just to poor. A

Its an Aarrow Ecoburn, but an older model. I note installation date is 2015, that must have been on someones shelf for a long time as the current model Ecoburn Plus has been running for almost 2 years. Stove is multifuel, so can burn wood, smokeless coal and some types of smokeless fuel, there is a list of approved fuels in the owners manual below. Please do not burn ordinary bituminous house coal in it or petrolium based smokeless fuels. Both burn very hotly and will damage the stove, the damage is not covered under any manufacturers warranty and bituminous coal burns very dirtily so will clag up the glass and b, in some situations the firebox can explode when you open the door. PM me for more info if required. Stove user manual is here: http://www.aradastoves.com/pdf/manuals/bk530-rev11.pdf If you also want my stove owner tips for best operation manual for this stove again please pm me with an e mail address. I am an Arada Platinum dealer. A

Still got a pulse at least !!. Look forward to catching up. A

I have used Bag Supplies and have 5 or 6 year old bags with 10 trips on them and still going fine. I do though prefer the SG Baker bags, the eyes are bigger and the bags in a stripe weave are less likely to be damaged with fork tines when stacking the next pile. Be aware the the BS bags are 1100 x 900 and the baker ones 1m x 1m, if delivering on pallets the BS bags better suit a europallet. A

I think I recognise that install, is that you Ray?, if so we have spoken on other forums on a hobby we share. A

You have great skill, I am much in awe, thanks for sharing. A

Talk to Fuelwood, they are very helpfull. A

I have a Defender and have to have a tacho in it. A

316 is fine for wood and smokeless coal ( Anthracite), its man made smokeless fuels that create the problems. Building regs sign off do vary vastly in cost, you can of course also use an independent building inspector rather than council ones. A

I had a massive Horse C felled about 15 moths ago, billeted most of it last August time, stacked it outside against a hedge. Logged it up in May, its now going out mixed with other woods, pretty dry. A

Closure plate and register plate are two descriptions for the same thing, a galvanized steel sheet across the bottom of the chimney opening to stop heat rising upwards and crap falling downwards. Must be fitted with inspection doors if liner installed or bigger sweeping access doors if no liner fitted. A

Cheers ]316 is not just for gas and is perfectly fine for solid fuel. Its ok for smokeless coal and occasional smokeless fuel use only. Burning man made smokeless fuel on more than an occasional basis the fumes contan sulpher gas which is highly corrosive, it will go through 316 in about 18 months, in that situation just fit 904. You don't actually need a register plate if your fitting a liner. So what stops the heat rising up the chimney ?, without a register plate you might as well leave it as an open fire. There for open chimneys to stop hot ash falling back down the chimney. With a liner you use one just to stop the usual crap coming down like rain. The stove fitters manual online is free and gives you step by step guide to fitting a stove. The Stove Fitter's Manual | How to fit a wood burning stove The chap from building control who signed my last one off was an ex brick layer who told me he knew nothing about stove fitting. He said use common sense and they have been fitting them for more years than he had been alive without regulations and it was a waste of time him looking. Not surprised to be honest , I have had a building inspector sign off a self install with a cap on the top that you use to close off a disused chimney. Vermiculite is for insulation of the liner in a cold chimney, ie a chimney that runs up the outside of a house to stop condensation in the chimney. The flue liner, cowl and flue adaptor can be had for less than £200. (6") 316/316 Solid Fuel/Multi Fuel Flue Liner FlexiFlueDirect.com If your house burns down and its fitted correctly your insurance will have to pay out. The insurer passes the claim to a loss adjuster, its his job to get the insurer out of paying. No sign off and no insurance. Dont forget that the sign off is registered at your local town hall so you cant say the cert went up in the fire. If it's been fitted by a professional incorrectly and your house burns down, your insurance won't pay out. Your insurer would pay out in that situation but would then be suing the installer. It's easy to do and do it properly and you won't have any issues. Agreed, but get it signed off. Cheers

Anyone can get the basic certificate, it was an open book exam and multi choice answers when I did it. Pretty sure it still is. I have also seem some highly illegal and downright dangerous installs carried out by 'qualified' installers. Found an oak beam this week within 8 inches of a flue pipe on the inside, beam caught fire !!. Min clearance is 15" unless fireboarded. A

Oh God !!, Look for direction of flow arrows on the outside of it, these must point in the direction of the gas flow, ( upwards). What are you proposing to do about a register plate ?, thats the plate at the bottom of the chimney. You will also need a CO2 alarm, talk to whoever is signing it off about stove CE plates as well. All stoves should now have one fitted but he may let you off with a used stove but ask first. This is of course assuming it does not have one. A

Not if there is no Building Inspector sign off, AND you will also be facing fines of up to 5k for breech of building regs. Perfectly legal to install yourself but you MUST get it signed off as safe to use by a building inspector before first use. No sign off and your insurance will get invalidated in you ever have a fire. A

Nett, gross or EN?. A

I would agree with that. A