New Forest DEAN

"Hello, can you deliver some wood? You can, oh jolly good. We won't be in. Just stack it by the door......."

He's done five videos on this topic making for an hours viewing. That's my entertainment for tonight

Thanks Hardtop (sorry to hijack the thread!) The syphoning tends to drop the tank store by about 20 degs C regardless of where its starts - i.e. tank at 70 last thing at night will be 50 in the morning, 60 down to 40, and so on. I believe the load unit has the 60 deg C setting, which is standard for domestic. Should I change it? presumably this will affect loading the tank as well? - the stove typically on produces hot water at 58 / 60 deg C. Cheers - DEAN

The wife bought me an axe and I got fed up with it getting buried in the wood. So I swapped it for a maul, which never gets stuck and splits the wood every time. Smaller segments just need a light tap; Rings need a full heft. 18" dia, 15" long rings sometimes need a full body heft, but I like the challenge of getting a total split first time! Keeps me fit - I did about 16 tonnes last summer.

I have an ESBE load unit on my Clearview stove, connecting to a thermal heat store (250ltr accumulator). It won't start to load the tank until the water is the required temperature, which makes for a more efficient, long lasting system. The problem is that it doesn't stop thermo-syphing the wrong way - as the stove cools over night, heat leaks from the tank down the back boiler and is then lost (warm lounge but cool tank). It is controlled by a flue stat. In short, I haven't found the load unit to be very good at controlling this. High or low temperature valves are apparently a better idea? Not sure if this helps, but all info' is good!

£140K!! - where is the site? top of Ben Nevis? Commando - Solar thermal from Barilla (Lymington, Hampshire) was about £2500 supply only. With the Gledhill Thermal heat store and plumber it was about £5000, but the old heating system was knackered, so it needed changing Its great April - Oct / Nov, but can be a bit redundant in winter as the it will typically only reach 30-40 deg C and the tank already has that heat left from the wood burner the day before - thus it wont take the heat from the roof. A twin tank system, or heat exchanger, can solve this I believe? Not sure I would use a small heat store (ours is a Gledhill 250 ltrs) if I did it again - it looks cheaper to use a standard tank and heat exchanger units, which are maintenance free and allow lots of connections (i.e. solar thermal, oil, gas, wood etc). Something like that...

Difflock Sounds like you know what you're doing! (I'm sure we've spoken on a Landy website?). Sorry to be lecturing. My eventual decision with GSHP was why spend £10 - £15K on something that only works a bit. Even if it would get the house up to, say, 14 deg C, which then had to be topped up, there still seemed to be a better use of the money, particularly if its going to break down and still need electricity to run. £10K was based on me doing most of the installation as well. TGB - If someone sold a good complete off-the-grid system, I would buy it. The solar thermal is brilliant - £2500-£5000 installed and we have 'free' hot water from April until Oct / Nov', plus a bit in winter.

Difflock - I researched ground source heat pumps at length and was put off by what I found. Most, if not all, of the companies had no real grasp of what they were selling and couldn't answer even simple technical questions (once most had got my details I had constant hard sell from idiots). The technology has been successfully used in Scandinavia / N. Europe for decades, but as usual, we Brits can't help fiddling around with a proven technology to make it 'better' - for which read more complicated and likely to break. I'm sure there's a WHICH? report that identifies that 80% were incorrectly installed. Suggested figures of a 1-4 return (i.e. 4kw of heat for every 1Kw of electricity put in) were actually only 1 - 1.3. Finally, it was apparent they only work with very well insulated houses (i.e. current standard or better, with heat recovery / vent systems). They do not retro-fit into existing houses very well. Tread carefully...

You should be able to get a free consultation with a Planning Consultant (specialist who deals with Planning Applications / Planning Law - they are usually ex-senior Planners, not an architect or surveyor). They will be interested in doing the application work for you. Speak to more than one. Give them all the facts - they should be able to give you a good indication of likelihood of success at Planning for a Cert of Lawful Use or full Planning Application (Cert' of Lawful Use is your safest bet initially). If you have been operating in a full manner for some years, then it will definately work in your favour, unless you have a current approval with restrictive description of works or Conditions attached that you are not complying with. If a Cert' of Lawful Use is unsuccessful (i.e you have been operating outside of the previous approval or not for long enough) then you will need a full Planning Application. If what you are doing falls outside of Planning Policy then you will have an uphill battle, for which you are best employing a consultant again. But, as others have said, its not impossible. You can continue to operate whilst any application or appeals are running. - Be very careful if you speak to the Planners yourself. As a civilian you will probably say the wrong thing and hang yourself. - Always take professional advice. - Don't use an architect or surveyor for this. It needs a Planning Consultant (typically MRTPI). Speak to more than one. - Get the Parish Council on your side. - Get your Local Councilor on your side. - Don't waste time with petty retributions on the 'Lady' (its not true that they have control over Planners / Conservation areas - its not the 1900's anymore. They may have sway over Parish though...). She will likely have more money to tie you up in some legal bullsh*t, even if its not Planning. Win this battle and carry on trading! Hope this helps.

This is similar topic to another thread - I think wood burners are definately a luxury, unless you have no real choice. Everyone thinks they are lovely and cosy and good value (wood grows on trees, it must be cheap!), but don't factor in the cost the stove, installation, maintenance etc. And then the logs aren't cheap if you buy them ready split.... Gas (especially a combi condensing boiler) is the cheapest by a long way - our last house annual bill was about £400 for about 6 hours a day. Oil in our new house (a bit bigger) was £300 a month!!! So got rid of the oil boiler.. Wood for 5-6 hours heating a day, 5 months over winter is costing about £500 total - but I do all the ringing and splitting, which is a huge amount of work (plus chainsaw, petrol etc). If I spent the same time on a paying job, I could easily pay for oil instead. But I enjoy chopping wood....at the moment...If I had to buy ready split it would be very expensive, probably as much as oil or more. We also do the kettle and some cooking on the stove. Our hot water comes from solar thermal (not PV) on the roof and provides for April to October - still getting a couple of showers in November. We do run a 'cool' house though, not hot.

I stand corrected - I deal with a lot of people moving into the New Forest and the two things they want are a wood burner and an Aga, because that's what you 'must have' when living in the country.... £15 grand later (not to me unfortunately). Recession - what recession? Fuel shortage - what fuel shortage? There was another article in one of the broad sheets a couple of years ago (the Observer or Guardian, I think) that ripped the whole wood burner thing apart. Doesn't make much sense unless you want a warm bum when sh*gg*ng on the carpet Do any of you sell logs constantly to people with only wood fired heating?

I know this is a stupid question but: How much does a cord of hardwood weigh? Roughly, there-abouts, give-or-take, about, roundly, total guess.... I've got someone who wants to flog me hw cord for £130 delivered, which I know is too high. Cheers - DEAN

There may be a lot of people buying wood burning stoves, but only as a trend - the novelty soon wears off. Its romantic and cosy at first (particularly when they have the gas on as well), but soon turns into a pain. So there may be a demand for logs, but I think its still a bit of a luxury, fueled by the idea that its cheaper than gas or oil, which its not. Stove cost, installation, logs, cleaning etc - it all adds up. Energy prices go up - people start looking at alternatives - everyone tells them wood is cheap, it grows on trees! - so they get a stove fitted..... The number of people who have only wood-fired heating, and thus have no choice, is very low. We have a wood-fired system and I buy / scrounge and process cord - with the labour involved (+ chainsaw, fuel etc), it would be better for me to get an evening job in Tescos and use the money pay for oil! Logs = not financially viable for heating at current prices. Demand will only be as a luxury item for people who haven't done the maths.

Did anyone get a reply to their PM's? Cheers - DEAN

PM sent as well. We are local in the Lymington area and can arrange collection. Cheers - DEAN