County4x4

It can yes - but the type of fans the building regs cover are specifically extraction fans There's absolutely nothing in the regs saying you can't or shouldn't use stove top fans. The reason they suggest avoiding fitting a stove in the same room as an extractor fan is that if the draught in the chimney is poor, and the room is well sealed, then an extractor fan can actually pull the air DOWN the chimney and push it outside. Obviously if the stove is lit, then this can create a dangerous problem. Tumble dryers vented to the outside can have the same effect. A stove top fan is never going to be able to do this as it's just gently shifting air around in a room - not removing it or adding it, so it's never going to be a potential hazard. Andy

Sorry - missed this bit before. The section you're on about is regarding extraction fans - ie fans sucking air out of the room to the outside. Ceiling fans and any type of stove top fan are totally different - they're not extracting anything - just stirring the air in the room. So no problem with either type of fan running alongside a stove. Cheers, Andy

Haha - the "ecofan any good?" argument will run as long as you lot argue about Stihl and Husqvarna saws! Basically, loads of people use them and swear by them, and those who've got really into it have measured temperatures around their place with and without the fan etc. They think they're great. The other lot reckon they are too expensive, and so have never, and will never try one. They all say they're a load of rubbish, and that the people who say they're good are only saying so to save face after spending so much money on a piece of junk! This lot also say you'd be better off using a computer fan for about a tenner - but don't explain that the fan itself is totally different. A pc fan creates a fast moving stream of a small amount of air to cool a processor or whatever - and an ecofan moves a large amount of air very gently, so gently you'll hardly notice it. So this set of critics wuld probably also suggest that you stick a hairdryer to the ceiling instead of one of those fancy expensive ceiling fans!! The main thing if you do get one is to site it properly - many small stoves don't really have room for them. They want to be sat at the back of the top plate somewhere, where they can draw cooler air up the back of the stove, and blow it across the hot stove top. If the unit is sat in front of the stove pipe in the middle of the stove it won't work anywhere near as effectively - it needs a difference in temperature to produce the current the motor uses. Let us know how you get on! Andy

Are you playing with me - it's there now!! Andy

Hi Steve, I've edited my signature line in my control panel to include my website, and then saved it - but it's not showing on my posts. When I go back to the control panel, it's showing there though. Any ideas? Cheers, Andy

Right - just a few points for starters! Stoves always work better with a liner. You don't HAVE to have one unless the chimney is leaking - it's not a HETAS requirement. Many installers insist on them to avoid problems further down the line with tar leaching through the walls of the chimney into upstairs rooms. This is more likely to happen with a stove as there's far less draught in the chimney and less heat, so it's easier for tars and creosote in the smoke to condense inside the chimney. If you fit without a liner, you must make sure the chimney can be accessed for sweeping - lined installations are usually swept through the stove, but we can't get big enough brushes for an open chimney through a stove pipe. So fit a register plate with an access hatch - or two if it's a wide fireplace. The sweep needs to get the soot out once he's swept the chimney, or it's all piling up just cooking nicely right above the stove, and waiting for an excuse to catch fire. Stove installations are covered by the building regs (part J) - if you install it yourself, then you must have the job signed off by the local building control officer at the council. Otherwise, if there's a problem, YOU WILL be liable, and insurance us unlikely to pay out. It's also technically an illegal installation if not signed off. Enough people are already killed by faulty stove installations each year - and carbon monoxide from a stove will kill you just as well as fumes from a faulty gas fire. An external air vent is required by the regs if the stove is over 5kW. There is nothing at all in the building regs concerning the use of, or banning stove top fans. The ecofan is widely used and many owners swear by them. People who've never owned one and won't pay for one say they're rubbish! Don't overdo the size of the stove. Check one of the online "woodstove calculators" to give you an idea of what you should be looking at, and then adjust a little maybe if you have a particularly cold or draughty place. It's much better and more efficient to run a small stove fairly hard than have a big one just ticking over. You'll have a cleaner chimney and use less fuel. Make sure the chimney is swept properly before the stove goes in. Bear in mind that a smoke test is often done wrong. If you're checking the chimney for soundness, the fireplace and chimney pot need to be sealed up when the smoke goes in. Just lighting a smoke pellet in the fireplace only tells you there's a draught up the chimney - it won't show up leaks unless they're gaping holes. And just to make the point again - carbon monoxide from a stove can kill you without breaking a sweat - PLEASE make sure the job is done right, and get it signed off. You can download Part J online - have a read through it and then you'll know what's needed to comply. Cheers, Andy Edited to add - you may well find the place a lot less draughty once the stove is in - that open fireplace will be removing up to 5 cubic metres of air a minute from the room, and that air has to be replaced from somewhere - and "somewhere" is outside.

I think half the effect with wood ash is that it's alkaline so it actually dissolves the deposits - the stove glass spray cleaner is based on sodium hydroxide as far as I know for the same effect.

The ash tip is good IF you've only had wood in the stove. If you've been burning smokeless as well, the ash from that will scratch the glass. I generally give custys glass the once over when I'm sweepng their chimneys - I use a spray on stove glass cleaner from Calfire which is extremely effective - though it does kind of take your breath away a bit if you breathe in near it! Andy

The primary air control on our Squirrel has been shut for years - and we keep the ash up to the firebars as well so I doubt that any air would get through in any case. Glass is clean all the time. It's fair to say that the airwash on a lot of cheap stoves, particularly often with Chinese imports, does not do such a good job of keeping the glass clean. Fahrenheit on here, who installs hundreds of stoves every year will confirm this. I'd agree with everything Alycidon said except the bit about the blackened glass being caused by air coming through the primary inlet. Andy

Hodge - it was a few years ago that this was going on. Mate of mine bought one around that time and said he wouldn't have another. Think he's using Charnwoods nowadays.

Fahrenheit on here will have a better idea - he's a stove installer. I'm not entirely sure where the greymetal stoves are actually made - some are extremely cheap in spite of the "for sale in the Greman market" stuff. And some are extremely thin and "not recommended for use inside the home" Always a good idea to have a look at one of the online stove calculators I reckon - many people get suckered into buying the biggest stove they can fit into the space, and it turns into an elephant at the zoo, requiring constant feeding and generally being a pain. It's a lot better to run a fairly small stove hard and efficiently than have a monster just ticking over - and will probably use an awful lot less fuel too. There are several stove outlets suggesting getting the biggest you can and then "just have a small fire in it" - not very good advice tbh. Firebelly have had qc issues in the past - a couple of big sellers stopped dealing with them as a result - not sure if these have been sorted out now. whatstove.co.uk is good for customer reviews of all sorts, but bear in mind that not all the reviewers will have had other stoves to compare. Good luck! Andy

BW is heading down the pan I reckon - though the directors will still be pulling their £300k plus under the new regime I'll bet:thumbdown: Recognised a few of those bits of equipment from our bit of canal up here at the top of Lancashire too! Andy

Just out of interest - it's obvious that firewood prices vary around the country by up to a 100% difference. Do the prices of cordwood and so on follow suit in different areas, as I've seen cord advertised some places at more than some guys in this thread are selling the finished product at? Andy

Hi John, What would you call a reasonable price just out of interest? I can get hold of plenty - but it's a new thing for the guy I'm dealing with, so I could do with knowing what people are paying, and then hopefully I'll be able to do a better deal for them. Cheers, Andy

I can get my hands on IBC cages if anyone is after any in north Lancashire. Buyer to arrange transport unless local. Can probably sort up to an artic load at a time. Andy

£46 isn't a bad price I don't think mate - seems to be about the going rate with the big pallet networks

Some bloke sitting in the tree won't make any difference in the long run. There was a situation like this near my mums a good few years back - whole gang of "eco warriors" (who always seem to make more mess than anyone else!) living in a 300 year old tree. They were there for 15 months - and guess what - the site now has new homes on it... No idea how much taxpayers money went into the "removal" but wouldn't have been cheap I guess! Digging in - Alfreton - Mansfield and Ashfield Chad Andy

Crikey - where have Yahoo been - I must have bookmarked the article about that place about five years ago!! Andy

Where is Peckerwoo? Seems about time we had an updated weather forecast! Andy

Probably not Steve - the majority of my 15 years in tree work and forestry were spent on the ground felling and planting. Did a bit of climbing but nothing like most of the guys here - not particularly keen on heights - though oddly enough don't mind depths if that makes any sense?! Used to be a very keen potholer in me younger days and would abseil down a 300 foot shaft without a care in the world and climb out again. You wouldn't catch me going up a 300 foot tree though!! On the directory front though - I'm guessing the one here at arbtalk would be a much better bet and figure higher in any listings as it's a "proper" website. Google ain't daft, and they know when a site is just a bunch of keywords rather than "real content", and stuff gets ranked accordingly. I might well have a think about the firewood directory though - see if we can flog a few more tonnes of briquettes! Cheers, Andy

I've just had a look at the website and using the search facility at the bottom of the page, rather than sticking my mobile number in, it seems that they're listing a lot of people. However, either I've been missing something or there are a lot more chimney sweeps around than I thought - about five listed for Coniston for instance - not a chance! It looks like pages thrown together covering every possible keyword combination rather than links to actual people! "Coniston chimney blockage remover" for instance - who is ever going to use a search term like that?! Likewise, the various pages just seem to be collections of keywords and phrases. I get quite a few calls from directories like these - and they all seem to say "we're currently getting 1200 enquiries a month for *insert your trade here* and we have one space left" etc etc. Most of our business probably comes from our listing on google places - which doesn't cost a bean, and which always appears right near the top of any google search results - the little map with the pushpins. I have to say I wonder how many people (ie customers) actually use these directories? Had another one offering leads at a fiver a go - but they'd send me them without contact details for a while so I could see "what a benefit it would be to my business". I think I had one over the course of a couple of months, and that was miles outside my area. I did eventually manage to find my listing with them via a google search for a chimney sweep in my area - somewhere near the bottom of the third page of results. Do many people get that far do you think? Or do they just call the people at the top of the first page - which is where I already am with google places?! I guess the thing to do is to do what a customer would probably do - get on google and search for a tradesman near you, or anywhere else for that matter. Then start scanning the results to see if you can find a listing from this outfit. I found local traders near the bottom of page 2 in my case. It may work for some I guess, but I won't be signing up any time soon! Andy

Yeah yeah - never mind all that - it's got a SEAT!! ;-) Andy

That looks painfully slow at the side of this though!

I think I'd go with 10W-30 mate unless you're expecting a cold winter and are going to be using the unit outdoors regularly right through it. I'd agree the graph isn't very well thought out though! Kohlers are great engines - I used to race mowers for a good few years, and built and raced the first mower fitted with a Kohler - a Command Pro CS12 fitted with the slightly different carb from a CS Hydro 12.75. That engine was brilliant - other members of the club had raised eyebrows over the cost but my guess was that a better quality engine would last longer and so actually work out cheaper in the end - some guys were going through four or five Tecumsehs in a season! All racing mowers have the governers removed so they'll run up way past the normal operating speed - up to about 5000rpm. That engine I fitted is still being raced today which says a lot about it! I also remember a great ebay ad for a big flail mower with a Kohler on it. Seller said "it hasn't been started for ages - but it will - it's a Kohler..." Says it all. Andy

That it's been heat treated to kill off any nasties, rather than fumigated with a toxic chemical agent such as methyl bromide - that will leave residues in the wood. Andy