aesmith
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Everything posted by aesmith
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You can see it on the exploded diagram. The grate itself is concave, but the flat plate that it sits on has a raised rim where the grate sits, the area of that plate outside the grate is lower than that rim. I don't think we have a flue issue, the flue is just over 5m tall with a 6" liner. Also the behaviour was exactly the same with the 1430 at our last house (flue about 7.5m). In both cases you almost always need a reasonable amount of primary air to keep it going nicely. With the spinner fully closed it stains the glass more, showing (I think) that there's unburned stuff coming off the wood. Wood is almost entirely Ash and Sycamore, with the odd bit of pallet or other joinery scraps.
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My (amateur) experience suggests that wood loses the first lot of moisture pretty quickly, so long as there's enough ventilation and without needing that much heat. If that's correct, it might be better to use a lot of ventilation at low temperature until the wood's down to 30% or so.
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Could be stuff building up on top of the baffle, we used to get quite a lot collecting there at our old house, although not at the current place where the flue's in better condition.
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What sort of temperature? I think the point about the quantity of water counts both ways, it will need a lot of air throughput to carry out 750 litres of water, and during that time as well as the heated air being lost you also lose the latent heat from that water. Dehumidifier keeps both in. Also depends on how much the heat costs compared to running costs for the dehumidifier.
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I just thought I'd mention one disadvantage with the Morso 1410, which also applies to the 1430 that we had in our last house. They're not dedicated wood burning stoves, but have a grate for burning solid fuel. Furthermore the primary lower air supply is delivered below the grate, and the stove doesn't burn properly with this supply fully closed or if the passage is blocked by build up of ash under the grate. You therefore have to empty the ash more often in comparison to stoves where the wood burns on a bed of ash. Actually thinking about the grate, as second disadvantage is that the grate in the centre is actually higher than the surround, so if you use solid fuel the bits always want to roll away from the grate. I keep meaning to make some sort of fireclay inserts to resolve that. Both these are just niggles, and my impulse is still to go with the devil I know.
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Thanks for the input, I also heard from someone who has two Squirrels each only a year or so old, so I guess my concerns about current quality have been answered. I'll look at the other models you mention, thanks, although we prefer a traditional rather than futuristic look.
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I'd grab a secondhand Squirrel in a flash.
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Hi, We have a Morso 1410 squirrel in one room, and an old stove of unknown make and poor condition in the other room. I'm going to fit a liner in that second room, and rework the register in the fireplace etc. That all needs sorting out. We were wondering whether to replace the stove at the same time. The obvious choice would be another Morso 1410, but I've been told that current ones aren't made to the same standard. Any thoughts either on current Morso quality, or on alternatives of the same sort of size? A wider stove would be OK in the opening, but we don't need more heat output (room is around 16' x 14', 8' ceiling). It would need a glass door. Thanks, Tony S
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Depends on how often you'll be cutting bigger stuff. I use an MS180 with 14" bar, and found it quite a business dealing with a log that was well over twice the working bar length. However that's not something I'm likely to have to deal with again so was better to just bash on and get that done slowly, rather than buy a bigger saw that I may not need again for a while.
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Best old tractor with high flow rate for splitter ?
aesmith replied to arboriculturist's topic in Firewood forum
How about an industrial tractor, something like an MF40 with crankshaft driven pump on the front of the engine? -
Thanks for the comments. I agree that it might be a good idea to review whether or not pruning is actually necessary. For example one case is an Ash tree that was cut back by SSE to maintain clearance from the power lines, it looks ugly but could be left as-is. My main concerns are firstly a couple of other Ash that have had storm damage leaving jagged and split branches. My thought was to cut these back to a sound branch (sort of equivalent to smaller scale pruning where you cut just by a bud). The other issue is a Lilac which has a couple of very long stems with no leaves or branches except at the end, after maybe 10 or 12 feet of bare branch. One of those broke off just below ground level a couple of years ago, and I think the others will do the same before too long. My thought there was to cut these off just above ground level in the hope that they'll grow new shoots. I'll see if I can post a couple of photos. Tony S
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Picked up our new strimmer yesterday. I presume the dealer put that sticker on as a sort of joke since I'd been grumbling about his price for Aspen. I was surprised to here that he uses the Stihl equivalent in his workshop, and the machine was handed over with 1/2 tank of Stihl. He says he uses Stihl as it costs less than Aspen (I thought it was the other way round).
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Stihl chain oil is only £3.26 +VAT from L S Engineering. I Oregon actually any cheaper?
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Brushcutter/trimmer - Stihl vs Tanaka vs Kawasaki
aesmith replied to aesmith's topic in Maintenance help
I was in the dealer this morning, but "the man himself" wasn't in. He carries the bigger Stihls, and the smallest bent shaft ones. In fact pretty much all except the FS56 (even had the FS55). However there were a lot of Kawasaki, so if he doesn't continue to deal with them as Mitox Pro then there's quite a hole in his line up. Also noticed one machine labelled as Kawasaki but with Mitox stickers on the shaft. I'll see what he says when I speak to him. -
Winter's pretty much over here, and we haven't even finished the wood left over from last winter.
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Brushcutter/trimmer - Stihl vs Tanaka vs Kawasaki
aesmith replied to aesmith's topic in Maintenance help
Thanks for the insight, I'm glad I posted the question. I was pretty much set on the Kawasaki, but this puts a different complexion. The dealer in question doesn't deal with Mitox, so I need to find out about ongoing support. Rave review or not, this might be job lot of Kawasaki he bought at a closing out sale. (As he did with Solo chainsaws for example). I don't think he'd be promoting a bad machine. The whole reason for replacing the MacCulloch is lack of spares/support since MacCulloch dropped out of manufacturing and became just a badge. The Kawasaki/Mitox thing isn't the same, but there's a similarity. Who knows whether in two years time the Mitox Pro range might be a completely different made in China product once they're run out of Kawasaki engines. I coming round to thinking Stihl again. Tony S -
Hi, Not sure if this is the right place to post. We're looking to replace our trimmer, currently a MacCulloch curved shaft model which is probably around 15 years old and basically trouble. That's 32cc, and is around the right power for what we do, and we only need a string head not a blade. I want a straight shaft though, that flexible drive fails too often. I was all set to go for a Stihl FS56R, this was partly recommendation from a friend but also because I've been impressed by the backup and parts availability for our Stihl chainsaw which is over 12 years old. However our local Stihl dealer is steering us to either go cheaper with Tanaka, or up in price with Kawasaki. In fact almost a rave review on the Kawasaki 27cc model. Just wondered about general experience and opinions of these two brands. We want something that will last for years of relatively light use, not something that will become unfixable because either parts or support become unavailable. Thanks, Tony S
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Sorry, forgot I'd not replied. Thanks for all the comments, I'm glad to hear there's no general reason not to prune while trees are in leaf. Some of our Rowan have dead branches that I'd like to cut back before they cause problems, and it's difficult to distinguish when the tree's dormant. Following comments above I'll wait until the leaves are fully open. Other ones of concern are Lilac where there are some really top heavy stems that are going to fail if left. One already did so last year. I'll do these immediately after flowering. Thanks again, Tony S
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Hi, I've generally thought that significant pruning should be done in winter, when the tree's not in leaf and before the buds start to open. However I saw a comment in another thread saying that Cherry should be pruned when in full leaf, so I was wondering if that applies to any other trees. The sort of pruning I'm referring to involves cutting branches from a few inches thick upwards. One example would be after storm damage where I want to cut back to a suitable side shoot. Other examples would be where the branches are crossing. Or where the branches are in the way, or looking top heavy. Trees include Oak, Beech, Ash, Rowan, Cherry (or other Prunus), Sycamore and Maple, Elder, Lilac, Willow. From what I've seen Cherry should be pruned in summer, Lilac immediately after flowering, but are there any others I've named that shouldn't pruned in winter? Thanks, Tony S
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RSPB findings here Effect on Songbirds We have lots of Magpies on our land, and no shortage of songbirds nesting successfully.
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Thanks, I see now. That's for C1+E, which wouldn't apply to myself or the OP as our vehicles are less than 3500kg MAM so would be covered by B+E.
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Are you sure about that bit in bold? I can't see anything saying the trailer mustn't weigh more than the towing vehicle (or not for B+E, C+E etc). It would make a nonsense of our vehicle for example, MAM of vehicle is just over 2500kg, max trailer weight is 3500kg.
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Yes, just surprised it broke the flywheel when working on the other end of the crank. I always thought an impact wrench was pretty safe for these jobs, and you specifically don't need to hold the work still.
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Still cold here, using the stove every night. But with two mild winters in a row we're actually still using firewood laid in for last winter.
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So what happened? You used an impact wrench on the clutch, and the shock broke the key on the flywheel on the other side of the engine? Were you holding the flywheel still?
