Alycidon

If you have heat transfer tubes in your boiler that the smoke flows through, if so these will want a clean through on a weekly basis as they get sooted up reducing heat transfer. A

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_ADJ_2010.pdf page 31 covers it. 2.3 meters. A

there are decent ones about, people deciding a machine is not quite what they want after a season or two. A

Get the stove installation signed off as safe to use, this is a legal requirement. If your neighbor is jarred off and its not signed off he may talk to the local building inspectorate, thats bad news for you. Suggest you use an independent building inspector and not the council one. As long as your flue pipe terminates over 2.3m ( may be 2.5m) from your neighbors window then you are legal but look at it from his point of view. It might be advisable to extend your flue pipe upwards by a meter or so. A

You would not get much work done with that lot about !!. A

Yep, at 240mm with diameters up to 150mm then its about 500 give or take 25. Did this when filling some by hand last winter from a bulk heap. A

It costs the same to deliver a half cube bag as a whole cube bag and that is a major cost that needs factoring into the selling price. £60 for half a cube of is OK, I sell at £115 for a cube but I would be looking for a 2 cube order to deliver over 10 miles. A

Hi Owen, Welcome to the forum, I see this is your first post. There are several hundred members here supplying firewood in various scales accross teh country. Most have Arb interests but some like me sell firewood as an offshoot of a stove buisness. I therefore buy cord in and process myself or buy in ready processed logs. I assume your quote is a half cube 80x80x80 builder bag. None the less the delivered cost is IMHO unwise, even if the timber is arb waste with a zero material cost. It costs about £1.50 a mile to run a Landrover or Transit, ( see Fleet Facts website) £60 gets you no more than 20 miles up the road. You can easily run 150 miles, use a pallet carrier and its £45 + VAT + cost of pallet and bag. So 45 + 5%, 47.50, + bag + pallet, got to be near £60 plus the timber and the cost of hauling it to your yard and processing it. And of course covered storage, I am processing now for next winter, I need two decent buildings now to hold a winters stock, these are not cheap to rent. So please show us where your profit is in £60?, what is the moisture content and how long has the cord been felled and processed. I don't intend to criticise but I cannot see anyone being in business long at that sort of profit level. I suspect that you need a bit of guidance on your sell out prices and am trying to help and not flame you. Thanks A

Can you imagine the verdict from a UK H&S Inspector over here. A bit Heath Robinson yes but it does the job pretty well, built on an old tractor chassis by the looks of it. A

I would put a wanted request onto the classifieds. I would look at the dealers selling new ones, they often have used machines coming back in exchange. How big a machine do you want?, what sort of budget did you have in mind ?. Dont forget you will need to power it and feed it. A loading rack is a good idea, saves a lot of lifting. A

Looking to maybe upgrade my JAPA 700 next year as well so I have an interest here. One of the worst things about unreliable equipment is how much time they waste not to mention the costs. I did have a look at Hakki at the Arb show and they did look flimsy. Having owned a JAPA for a couple of years some of the finer points leave things to be desired ( such as changing the blade drive belts, all day job, position of grease nipples etc) the new 385 looked a bit lightweight in some areas such as the log length stop. But my JAPA has not let me down and Fuelwood have been very good with advice, sketches etc when the splitter needed adjustment. Am looking to go hydraulic deck and processor to speed up throughput. Either that or buy it in ready processed in 27 ton + bulk loads or 40 bulk bags on a curtain sider. A

Genuine ones are warrented for 12 months. I have never sold a new motor in 4 years I have never had one fail. Suggest you talk to Rob Learmouth at Calfire the importers, he might just send you one FOC. A

Due to this wet weather problem that is not going away this winter problem I have been experimenting with my showroom stove burning wood up to about 35%. Essentially keep the secondary air ( the air wash) fully open and leave it alone, control the fire using the primary air supply under the grate. It takes a while to get a good hot bed but once you do as long as you dont let the fire burn down to far between fills then you are away. My stove ( a Morso) then runs at its usual temperature. You wont get the same heat that you would from 16% stuff agreed but it can be persuaded to burn reasonably acceptably. A

Agreed but we all sometimes stick bigger rings in and slice lumps off the bottom to save setting a splitter up. I suspect that the Palax 90 is better but I suspect its a lot more expensive. A

At the Arb show Wilsons was pricing the demoed model which was a 350 wuith a shortish deck at 22-23K + VAT.. Anyone buying one I would suggest they have a good play with one first, a friend has one and had advised that you cant drop in oversize rings for splitting due to a steel bridge above the splitter. This can also cause log jams. A

Sounds like a lack of pull or downdraft issue. Pull will vary depending on windspeed, windy day = more pull. On a still day put a plumbers blow lamp into the stove for 5 or 10 minutes to warm the flue and get you a positive updraft before lighting your fire. Downdrafts, also sounds likely, fit a Eurocowl anti down draft cowl. Rotary cowls do increase updraft yes, when there is a wind blowing but wont help when there is no wind with is unusual. You made another comment about smoke coming out from around the glass, this says that the glass it not airtight within the door, go to your local stove shop and buy a couple of meters of flat rope, this fits between the glass and door. Check also the the main door rope is tight, use folded paper sheets and see if you can pull them out when you close the doro on them. If so the door rope may also need attention or adjusting. A

So a flexible lined flue within a chimney?. Some stove manufactureres (Stovax?) do offer stoves with an air vent to above facility, the pipes are not routed via the chimney. Heat gains doing what you are thinking will be minimal, not sure if its legal or not, you will also get smells into the room from the old chimney. I would suggest that its not a good idea. A

1 Cu m bags out of barn ( one sided) onto trailer, sheeted (if raining), delivered, MC is about 18-20%, far higher than normal but it burns OK. A

No, need to stand on a steel surface that gets up to at least 200C. A

Usually stoves are swept by removing the firebricks and the plate that sits on top of them then swept through the stove. The alternative is a door in the flue pipe above the stove but gaskits tend to fail after a couple of sweeps so have a spare if you go that way, I would get a local guy in, either an experienced HETAS engineer or the building inspector. Just noticed you are in Scotland, the building regs I am talking about apply in England, not sure if they apply up with you but I would think so. A

Please post link to site concerned, thanks. A

Here is a part of App Doc J that covers flue size: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_AD_J_2010_V2.pdf Have a look at page 30. A

Well the problem comes in sweeping it, I would try a 6 inch diameter brush up it on nylon rods as used for sweeping flexi liner and make sure you can sweep it. It is legal to use a 125mm liner on a DEFRA approved stove with a 125mm outlet, that makes an area of about 18 sq inches, 6 inch x 4 inch is bigger but if this were say 6 inch by 3 inch then I would say its a Type 2 flue and you are not allowed to put solid fuel smoke up one as there is no real way of sweeping it properly. I have never seen a solid fuel chimney like this, alarm bells are ringing. I would ask whoever you have lined up to sign it off as safe to have a look at it first. It may just be a throat gather that may want knocking out or it may be a gas only flue. How does it terminate?. a raised ridge tile or a proper chimney pot?. I assume the back boiler was heated by an open fire. The loft arrangement is not that unusual if a chimney stack has been removed then re instated using twin wall fully insulated pipe. I will try and see if there is anything in Approved Document J 2010. A

His is a 27ton artic tractor and trailer, good bloke though. A

I know of a guy with an 8x2 truck with a grab that does timber, its not though a specialsed timber wagon. He is north of Northaampton. A