Alycidon

Wide range of answers and advice, some sound, some not so sound. To cover your points as they arose; The installation of a stove comes under Building Control Regulation. While it is perfectly legal to install your own stove it must then be signed off as safe to use prior to use by a qualified building inspector. Not getting is signed off means that you are in breach of building regs, you could then be fined several K. If you then have a house fire it is highly likely that your insurer will invalidate any insurance cover. The building regulations appertaining to stove installation can be downloaded for free here: https://www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/approveddocuments/partj/approved. You will need fully insulated pipe to go through the ceiling/floors, this is usually shiny stainless steel but we usually powder coat to match the colour of the stove. You will need a fire stop plate on the floor of the bedroom, the pipe is this room must be boxed in as it presents a serious fire hazard if anything comes within its combustible distance. How far that is varies between pipe manufacturers, I use Poujoulat and its 50mm, cheaper less well insulated brands are more than that, some a lot more. Don't forget the floor joists are combustible. How much heat output do you need?. You have just said a stove, work out the volume of the room you wish to heat and divide by 12 if you have poor insulation, 14 for average and 16 for good. So, a good quality stove that will take long logs, my recommendations for a short list would be, 5kw, Esse 100, either single or double door. Nordpies Bergan 8kw. Esse 200, either single or double door, Morso Panther, Morso 08. Above 8kw most stoves are able to take a long log. I do act for Villager and saw that someone had a door sealing issue, there is usually no sealing strip between the two doors. The doors themselves are all hand fitted to each stove, this involves hand fettling and the use of a 'vibratic persauder' (a hammer !!) problems of that nature not that I have ever had any need referring to Villager for their engineer to sort. I have serviced and repaired Villagers over 30 years old that have simply needed new firebricks and not a lot else. I have never come across a leak between the doors. Someone was talking about burning old fence posts, as long as they are not creosoted then that's fine. Avoid creosoted ones like the plague unless you want a chimney fire. Hope that helps. A

When you come to replace the belts use Gates, the design is far superior ( how the belt is constructed) resulting in longer life. But any belt will fail quickly if A, the pulleys are missaligned and b, the belts are allowed to run slack or slip. Suffice to say that I sold Gates industrial drive belts and fan belts for several years. A

Stripped it again today, hooked the fuel filter out. it is or appears to be clean, sucking on the pipe from the tank produces petrol and I can blow bubbles in the tank by blowing through the pipe. Took the carb off, the male mandrel that the pipe pushes onto is clear, yet the new plug I installed this morning is dry after 20 pulls on full choke and 10 on no choke. So fuel is getting to the carb but not into the cylinder, this means the either the carb has an issue or the electrics, both of which are beyond me. Looking at the exploded diagram I see that there is another filter within the carb, maybe thats the issue but if so then a new gaskit kit and overhaul wont come amiss. So this evening I took it into my local Stihl dealer and asked him to sort it together with another couple of small jobs that need doing on it. The Husky dealer failed to call me back and I when I called them again as I was leaving they eventually started talking maybe 3 weeks, not good. Meanwhile I better buy another saw. Thanks for your guidance. A

Dont that yesterday and the plug is still dry, hence my belief its a fuel supply issue. I assume the fuel filter is on the end of the pipe within the tank, how do you get at it?. Thanks A

Hi, Went out with my Huskvarna 50 this afternoon. After about 10 mins cross cutting Ash with a diameter of about 20/24 inches it got very hot engine wise and would not tick over, while I had cleaned the air filter the day before when I sharpened it I suspected that the air filer was blocked. Was running on same fuel it ran fine on earlier in the week. I switched the saw off and moved the logs about with the teleporter so that I could back cut them. In short the saw turned over ok but would not fire or run, not a peep. Chain moved freely so not a pinched sprocket on the end of the arm. Stripped it out, air filter fine, spark plug dry so probably fuel blockage, took carb out and fuel pipe off the carb, can blow fuel back into the tank ok. Reassembled and still the same, need to buy a now plug tomorrow and try that. Dont know if I have a spark at the olug cap. Anyone any ideas?. At the end of the day it does bring home relying on old kit is not a good idea so maybe I should aquire a 550XP seems which to be the current equivalent. A

I am the guy in the other forum, same name !!. Last Sept my Ash and Syc were going out at between 4% and 7%, I did give you a very detailed account of how I do it, I also admitted that in a normal summer MC in Sept will be nearer 12% but last summer was very dry where I am hence surprisingly low MCs, maybe the meter was not accurate but its certainly nor far out, I have to say I was surprised. In short that cord stood for 12 months before processing then about 15-18 months after processing. In my showroom I have some lumps of Ash that I split 40 years ago, they have been kept inside ever since. I came across them when clearing out my late fathers things from a farm shed where I put them. In some areas the MCs do not register on a gauge. A

Hi. Welcome to the site. I use NFU Insurance, they should be able to help. 2 policies, one for the building, another for the stock, machinery and Employers Liability etc. At the end of the day processing it yourself if you are employed by the company you will need need Employers Liability Insurance. When I see the prices some are going out at and look at the cost of site rent, cord, processing,storage and possible planning permission issues it would make more sense to buy in kiln dried from abroad by the container load rather than employ someone unless you are already employing and need to find them something to do. The object if the exercise is to make money not be a busy fool. A

My 135 will lift a dry cubic meter but wants weight on the back to do so. Without power assisted steering its pretty stiff on the steering. A

I thought that as well, would be pleased if its right. I usually use the Nottingham Energy Partnership site to compare between fuels, they usually rate gas and logs pretty close. A

Exactly what I would do. Advise him of the MC of the product you currently have in stock and the usual MC in Sept when its nice and low. A

Well I did call my local ( Nothampton) Husky dealer, gave them the part number and advised them that I thought that the part number was no longer available. They promised to look into it and possible alternatives and call me back. 7 hours later and no call back so I rang them, again. Sorry part discontinued, no alternative, scrap the saw. I then rang Stanton Hope, spoke to an excellent guy, he thought he had one but that it was a coil spring not a flat spring so he promised to ring me back, that was late Monday. Weds comes, no answer so I start fishing round myself and find a new top cover with choke and spring attached, £30 but the only option so away we went. An hour later Stanton Hope rings, he has the correct spring at about £3, fair credit to him he did give me the option to not proceed but I dont work like that, so now I have a top cover and a spring winging their ways to me. So thumbs up for Stanton Hope. A

Last week delivering a stove in a local town center a large tree had blown over in the recent gales. A WOMAN and her kids ( 12-14 ish) were shifting lumps of 200mm branch 50 yards on a wheelbarrow and lobbing them into the rear of an estate car !!. Did not see any saw and more or less only the trunk was visible which had been de limbed, this was mid afternoon last Weds. A

The choke spring broke on the above saw today, having a dig round suggests the current part number is 501770703 ( was 702). Can someone give me a steer to a likely supplier, my local dealer keeps little and the web suggests its no longer available, FR Jones comes to mind thinking about it, anyone else?. All it is is a flat spring with a U bend in it and a slot where it engages the choke lever. Thanks A

Fuelwood seem to have dropped their Woodline range and gone with AMR. I am considering a 20T plus horizontal splitter to break up oversize cord, their AMR28 may do the job. Getting a fair heap of it with quite a bit more to come shortly. Anybody got one?, if so how well is it screwed together and any quality or operational issues. I am aware that Fuelwood offer good levels of support. Suspect the Posch may be a better bit of kit, especially with the Easy Split option. A

When I was a 17 year old I was driving an MF165 and a Ford 5000 pulling 10 tonne bulk grain trailers filled with hen muck, brakes were on the hydrualics and relied on you moving a two way valve before setting off from Tip to Brake. Forget to move the lever and the trailer when loaded was in charge, very unfunny in the wet. A

2 x IBC crates, thats probably over 750kg if full of hardwood. What happens if you get a puncture?, I would recommend a GD85, twin axle, so a second tyre to get you somewhere safe to change the tyre, will carry about 2 tonnes from memory. I do sometimes carry 2 tonnes, even behind a landrover I would not want any more. A

I call the dross Kindling and it comes free !!. Mind you as a result I sell very little kindling. A

Apart from how good they are at bullcrap !!. A

If the guy has no funds then getting a court order does not mean you will get paid. Next stage is to ask the court to appoint a bailiff who then goes into the debtor and seizes goods such as TVs etc to be sold at action. If the invoice is in the name of the bloke and he says the TV etc belongs to his wife then things may get dodgy. If the bloke has a job the court can serve his employer with a Garnishee order, this forces the employer to pay all monies owed to your debtor to the court. A

Big bales of straw are always strapped, they can move, but those big square mischanthus bales going to Charles in the village arent always though I would agree, they weigh a hell of a lot.. The need for additional markers, lights etc depends on how far the load projects from the rear of the trailer, http://assets.highways.gov.uk/specialist-information/abnormal-loads-industry-guidelines/A_brief_guide_to_overhanging_loads.pdf So if you have less than a meter overhang you are fine technically. But if some bright young PC stops you then you run the risk of opening up a can of worms with red diesel, brakes etc etc. Personally I would get a couple of the old large triangle overhanding load boards and stick them on irrespective of whats hanging over the back. They may need to be illuminated so a DIN socket on the back of the trailer would be handy. Might just be enough to save the pain of being stopped in the first place. A

There is a vid of the Fuelwood one on their web site. Looks very much like the one on Wilson's page. http://www.fuelwood.co.uk/Log-Conveyors-and-Cleaners/Log-Cleana.aspx Good idea but looks quite heavy, wonder what the effect of the extra weight will have on the conveyors. Looks like they will need to be attached on the ground then winched up into position, this puts extra strain on the lift wires and one of those letting go would probably be very nasty. Hopefully thats all been considered though. A

Smokeless fuel if petrolium based will not do the stove any good at all, grates, baffle plates etc burn through or buckle. Absolutely correct, shut down by no more than 25% given an average wind outside. A

I processed some more fresh felled larch and Leylandi last Nov time, moisture was more or less running out of it, very wet indeed but it did come from a damp area. A

You would have thought so but it certainly clags up the glass on my Morso Panther, no other wood does that. Remains to be seen what in the flue liner. A