Stereo

Looking for qty of woodchip for my chickens (lot of them). Totnes area. Hardwood preferred but not essential. Have plenty of space to tip if anyone needs shot of a few tons. Or can collect if my truck feels up to it. Thanks.

Anyone know of any suppliers? Closer to Totnes the better. Half round with bark is fine.

Goats are browsers. Sheep are grazers. Goats have far lower natural worm resistance than sheep which is either the effect of or the reason for their grazing habits. Given a choice, a goat will always pick a hedge over a sward. Many sheep will get up and pick leaves, especially ones with medicinal value such as Ash. But in general they prefer a short, grass sward rather than tufty stuff or bramble etc.

Thanks for all the comments folks. I do love my goats and they are real characters but there can't be a goat owner out there who hasn't at some considered ending the crafty buggers! I took the lead comment in good humour. The area is young hazel coppice and they have about a years growth on them but are surrounded by bramble which is making extracting the timber difficult. Of course, I should have removed it all at the time but the nature of the site and lack of machinery at that time made it difficult. At the end of the day, a few evenings with the strimmer will clear it up but I just figured goats might be a win / win. They get fed, I get access. But not at the expense of the trees. My only thought was if I left it until Autumn when the leaves have dropped, would they be less of a target for the goats or will they just attack the stems anyway. I know with some stuff like the sycamore branches I often cut and throw them indoors on a rainy day, they will strip the bark completely.

They'll be right up the trees. They do a damned good job of clearing weed but the do clear everything and they prefer to browse higher up than eat from the ground.

Got an area of hazel and thorn which I coppiced a couple winters back. Lots of wood but didn't extract it all so much is left in heaps and the bramble and weed has become well established. I could go in with a strimmer and spend a few days hacking away. Or I could pen my goats in there and they would clear it very nicely and get fed too. Problem is the hazel coppice is just established and coming back very nicely. I think they would trash it this time of year. So I'm wondering when would be a 'safe' time to let them in there. There is no doubt they will nip leaves off trees but is there a time later in Autumn when this will not hurt the tree as much?

Good stoves. Did they install it too?

Will PM you

Any one need to lose some woodchip near Totnes? I can use a ton or 5. Please let me know if you have any to tip and can deliver to the field. Thanks

.22 AA S200 here with mod, mag kit and Yukon Photon. It's not even fair on the poor buggers. Also just got a Cometa Fenix 400S from Mole Valley for about £200 as I just fancied a cheap springer again. Very well made gun and well capable of ratting. Cheap scope and DIY NV would work well.

Edit: Emailed Gledhill and they just called and said it will be the main body of water in the tank, not an exchanger. Brilliant service.

OK, starting to worry now. This appears to be the store I have: http://www.heatandplumb.com/images/products/gledhill/main/main_product_GHSOL021.jpg My Esse is connected to the 'Conventional Heat Source' connectors as pictured. I have always wondered why the flow is so low on the tank as it would make sense to have it at the top. I also assumed that the Esse was using the same water as that in the tank. However, this image seems to suggest that the Esse is running into a coil and therefore a sealed circuit. I thought this was not allowed for uncontrolled sources?

Thanks for all the comments. From further reading it seems that the temp range in the store is important. At the moment, as soon as I light the fire and water starts circulation, I putting potentially cool water in the top of the tank which ruins the 'stratification', I think. Not only that but I am also dragging the coldest water into the boiler, so ruining the effectiveness of the stove. I now gather that I would need a flu sensor to control only the pump, as mentioned above. It will only run when the fire is lit and that makes sense of course. I have the same concern with a passive valve as above too. Will it just pop open and let all the cold to the boiler and then shut again when it gets it back? The active type devices seem to open and close more gradually. I guess I need to ask the manufacturers themselves.

A bit off topic but I know there a load of people with wood burning installs here so have a quick Q. I have an Esse W23 connected to a thermal store and underfloor heating. The store is also connected to a condensing gas boiler via a coil which keeps it at a set min temp. Problem I have is that when I light the stove, the water at the bottom of the store is below this min temp and that means cold water coming back to the stove = poor running, gumming up and a messy flue. Apparently they should have put in a load valve when fitted but didn't bother. So I need one. A plumber I know has recommended a passive one which I assume is just a bi-metalic strip system or something which will return water to the back boiler until it reaches 60 deg and then starts letting it into the store. This means only hot water goes into the top of the store (better stratification?) and also cold water is not allowed back in the back boiler. I am told I will need a pump with this too as it's all gravity at the moment. What happens if the pump fails / power cut? I've also seen the powered laddomat type ones which are the same concept but contain an internal pump (I think). Anyone use either of these and offer comments? The plumber seems to think that the passive one will need a flue sensor to operate it but surely it works on internal water temp? Thanks for any comments and sorry for the OT. Spent a lot of money on their rig and it doesn't work well so need it get it right before spending more and I'm losing trust in 'experts'.

Cheers.

I'm going for the vertical hydraulic like I had before. Not perfect but I found my Clarke one comfortable to use and quiet. It's only domestic for my own supply and sometimes you need an hour away from the house to split some logs............so speed is not everything. The vertical electric ones are far better than the horizontal too and if I do get some straight 1m lengths, I can billet them up too. Plus it's £100 cheaper.

https://www.frjonesandson.co.uk/products-page/machines/log-splitters/ Hope links are allowed. I'm never used the firm but I think a lot of folk on here rate them and I think they are on here too. They've got the Portek one too. Edit: The vertical is so much better than the horizontal at this level. If it's the same as the Clarke, you can do long logs up to 1m and also if you cut logs roughly the same length you can set the splitter to be just above the log so not so much waiting for it to contact. I did like my Clarke but had to sell it to raise cash last Xmas. Now I can't decide as the Portek looks much faster and will also do bigger rounds but is dearer and would need table mounting etc.

Can't decide on this. I can buy a Lawnflite vertical for £330 plus vat or the Portek for £445. The Lawnflite looks like the same (badged) machine as my old Clarke Logbuster 6 which I quite liked but I can also see the Portek would be quicker. The Clarke was not that slow if you had similar length logs as you could set it to start just above the log and it was very comfortable to use.

Cheers, I suspect delivery costs would kill it but that's a decent price.

Nice set up.

I like the idea of IBC cages but they seem as rare as hen's teeth down here in South Devon. I suppose it wouldn't cost a lot to knock up some DIY potato boxes from pallets and rough timber.

Cheers Billhook.

Thing is with that is when it gets really muggy in Jan / Feb, I can't help thinking that the logs start soaking it all up again. So really need moving to dry storage in Nov/ Dec for most of the UK, most years? I have left wood out and logs just seem to get wet again although subsequent drying time is far less, I admit. Billets or whole branches seem to stay dry outside.

I've been thinking about this on the farm. Just been out and chopped up some old oak that has been sitting in the grass for a couple years. Most of it will be OK but not for this year. So I'm trying to work out the best way to store / season wood on the farm. I have previously split into billets and stacked with a sheet and this does work OK but can't help feeling it's not the best way. What I've settled on is a polytunnel. We want one anyway for growing fruit / veg in spring / summer and housing chickens in the winter. So I'm thinking of either sourcing metal IBC crates or creating similar from a pallet and stock fence and drying in the tunnel. Then when the hens go in, the pallets come out and go into a dry barn near the house for use over the winter. I've looked at all sorts of ideas for drying wood and sun and wind just seems best. I did have an idea to build a very small scale oven idea from an oil drum on it's side with fire underneath for emergency fast drying but it seems a shame to burn wood to dry wood, unless it's really not suitable for indoor burning, in which case it probably needs to go to a proper incinerator. I guess you could build something which would burn sawdust / chip etc. Edit: Just realised I put 'old oaf' in the second sentence, should be old oak of coarse. Got the chuckles now.

Bump. Any more thoughts on these? About to order one I think. I think a good set up on a stack of pallets and straight into a crate / bag would be pretty awesome. I have a vertical electric splitter which I liked as it could do 1m billets but it was slow.