cornish wood burner

Certainly with the biomass chippers the productivity goes up dramatically with hp and mouth size.

The same should apply to any chipper unless you are chipping twigs I guess.

yes would you like some:lol:

 

The problem is the vast volume of slabwood produced, I give it away most of the time but i discourage public collection so i then end up delivering bulk loads to here and there. The majority of slabwood goes to estates that have large biomass setups where they have it chipped. The problem here is theres too much additional handling = cost

 

Having it chipped as it leaves the mill is much more economic/efficient and means i can directly supply the chip for next to nowt, and we're due a kiln upgrade- why not fuel it with chip.

 

Im really impressed by the figures from gdh. its a goer

Also chipping slabwood at the mill stage will give a better chip than after it's dried. Certainly better for any boilers with a fussy feed system. You will end up with a product that has a value and quality close to roundwood chip.

Only down side is a little extra bark but it shouldn't make a huge difference.

The legend lives on and is very well .

Stubby, please could you wish him well from me when you are in contact with him next.

Not met him but he sounded like someone you could rely on.

Perhaps ask him if he has caught any fish yet.

Hi Cornish wood burner. Thanks for the input. The reason I mentioned that the fan is working hard all day is to get across that the burner is loaded many times a day, and is gasifying all the time. We have a large heat load, and if left without burning, the accumulator tank soon gets dragged down. We sell a lot of firewood ourselves, and the fuel we use is all the softwood and poor quality hardwood that I don't wish to sell. However, it is very dry, having been dried in poly tunnels beforehand, and is always below 20%. Because of what I burn, I accept that I am loading more often than burning hard wood, but will still expect more kW / day. Regarding siting of heat meter, the boiler room is about 75 m from the house. I actually have an 80 kW and a 100 kW sited together, both running into the same tank. The 100kw is currently rarely used, but was installed to make use of the tariffs when they were better. I hope to install a kiln in the near future using the 100kw for the heat source. Because the 2 boilers are on different tariffs, they each have there own meter which records there output into the tank, and the 2 demands on the tank, ie our house and the workshop / office, each have another meter, so we have reasonably good records of what heat comes from each boiler and where it goes. We do suffer heat loss from the heat main, but only a small amount, no more than you would expect. The low readings stem from the meter sited only a couple meters from the boiler, before it goes into the tank.

It sounds like you would have been a prime candidate for a chip boiler. I normally run our RHI chip boiler at about 80% capacity. However I can get the rated output 24 hours a day if necessary but run lower to improve efficiency and longevity.

I can imagine keeping your boiler topped up is bit of a chore. Feeding it with 25 kg of wood per hour to get your 80 KW must almost be impossible. The problem with any boiler is continuity of supply. Without it you have no chance. Our big chip boiler (non RHI )has a flawed feed system and suffers a visible big drop in output because of it.

Unfortunately there is some very poor advice and design out as we have found over the years. I now do not trust any salesman or system design and always do my own calculations on it. We have turned down many more than we have approved.

We also burn around 45t of softwood every year which is much more than expected

Presumably you mean 380 KWh per day so assuming your boiler is 80% efficient and your wood is 20%MC then that is about right.

Thanks for the reply. I understand how you might never achieve what you think you might in peak performance, ie 80 kW in one hour from a 80 kW boiler, but the cumulative figures given are over a 24 hour period ie from the examples given above © 301 kW a day from a 100 kW boiler is averaging only 12.5 kW an hour, which seems incredibly poor. If an assumption is made that they are on 6p a kW, the return / day in the winter would be about £18, not a lot I feel, unless I am missing something.

Depends on their demands so you can't really gain much info from those.

We run a 1 MW boiler through the summer but only expect about one MWh even on a cool day.

Thanks for the reply. I understand how you might never achieve what you think you might in peak performance, ie 80 kW in one hour from a 80 kW boiler, but the cumulative figures given are over a 24 hour period ie from the examples given above © 301 kW a day from a 100 kW boiler is averaging only 12.5 kW an hour, which seems incredibly poor. If an assumption is made that they are on 6p a kW, the return / day in the winter would be about £18, not a lot I feel, unless I am missing something.

Those figures depend on demand so small demand will result in a small reading on the meter.

Our 95kw attack runs at about 40/50kwh and 130kw eco Angus runs at 70kwh so whatever your KW is half it and that's about what you will get.

These figures from renewable energy companies are basically useless. You won't get anywhere near what they tell you.

Hi Graham

Are you saying your boiler is not giving it rated output or is inefficient?

You say the fan usually running at 100%, so presumably you keep it topped up with wood or could the fan be blowing your heat up the flue when the wood runs low.

Might be interesting to weigh a batch of wood and see what heat is recorded on your meter from it. That should tell you how efficient your boiler is.

Presumably your meter is very close to the boiler before your heat store so there shouldn't be much unrecorded heat

Sorry hit quote rather than reply

Could be many many things. Rather than guessing I would get the fault read. Probably cheaper in the long run. How much do you rate your time per hour?

 

Yes and as Stubby says this is one of the techniques a modern stove uses, essentially you move the heat exchange surfaces till after the combustion is completed, so they don't quench the secondary flame.

 

Perhaps that idea might have been of use with those smokey glen farrow boilers talked about on here a while back, I know they wouldn't believe it but I think we both thought some of their problem was too cold a return/chamber cooling the burn.

If you want to tow with it avoid the wheelchair ramp version.

Because the floor is lowered the rear structure is altered and you CAN NOT fit a 'legal' towbar. However, you can carry a very big load inside the van.

 

It depends what will work for you, and what choices you have. Enjoy!

The local one keeps the trailer option open so that's the one I would go for. I expect it would struggle with the Cornish hills when towing but plenty of gears.

Anyway thanks for the heads up on that.

Thanks Harvey I think it's the same engine by the Citreon Peugeot pas group.

had a pre hdi version, excellent, towed the 252 behind it for years. no problem. last one was 05, engine management went wrong, scrap!

That's interesting because I have a twin wheeled trailer and I was wondering if I could tow it. From its early days I remember the Peugeot 1.9 had a good reputation. Good to hear you guys confirming that.

Even at that age the van is probably a better long term bet but losing the cars handling and trading 160 horses for 70 makes it a difficult decision.

Thanks for all the opinions and info, it looks like I have some thinking to do.

 

Shame I have nowhere to put it, it would keep me warm two ways

Certainly would.

I have a place to put it but I suspect Bonsai would want more than a few beers to deliver it.

Mine is an 03 reg and it seems reasonably simple. Probably a good idea to look at a peugeot forum or call your local Peugeot specialist and talk to a mechanic.

 

Touch wood, I've had no issues in the 25K miles I've had mine (must be a record).

The plastic door handles are crud but that has never stopped me using it.

Thanks Shane.

Didn't really set out looking for one, but came across a mint condition one in my local garage. The non turbo might be bit of an embarrassment up hill especially loaded but it looks a size I could live with.

If you get an expert, why not go for a wheelchair ramp one.

There's loads of them about, there is a lot more room in them where the floor has been lowered, and the mileage is usually a lot less. You also get a handy loading ramp.

 

I got on years ago with 27k on the clock for less than 100k+ vans of the same age.

Seems quite a usable van for its size.

Any idea when they started putting the emission rubbish on them?

Looks like £235 for 12 months RFL.

Vehicle Tax Rate tables Car & Light goods vehicles registered before 1st March 2001.

Thanks, I thought that's what it might be but didn't come across anything definite. Much appreciated.

I am considering a w reg 1.9 expert as a cheap runabout. Does anyone know what the road tax would be?

It would replace a car as my going to work vehicle, and save towing a trailer when cutting my firewood.

It's much slower than the car it would replace (MGZR 160) but I think I could put up with that, in return for the van convenience and be able to travel off road with no trailer to pick up my wood when its wet. I did look at new vans but I only travel a few miles a day so the dpf etc would give trouble.

Wouldn't normally consider anything this old but it's like new, fsh, and simple old tech so hopefully fairly reliable. Opinions welcome but I definitely do not need a 4x4.

We have about 30 tons of Beech (Arb Waste in various sizes) that can be dropped off within 5 miles of the Bracknell area? It's on a 18t grab tipper lorry.

Shouldn't that be in the overloaded thread?

Why not use end grain sealer. That's what it's made for.

I would test the flow through the rad next. No cost involved except labour

Is it possible to get a large diesel crane fed chipper with or with out attached crane something that would do 12" plus.

Komptech do one that will do 12 inch plus another 20 inches or so

780 hp CAT engine. Perhaps a little OTT

They definitely do smaller but I'm not sure of the choice of power sources with the smaller ones though

Last Skodas I drove and rode in seemed pretty boring. I know exactly what you mean when you think you will miss something. Everyone's different but I had one as a loan car for a day and hated it.

I would have thought something like a Focus or Seat would be more interesting. Plenty of engine and spec options with those without breaking the bank.

What you need is to walk to your car and smile when you see it. Life's too short.

Could probably buy 2 new ones for the transport costs[emoji3]

 

 

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Then another 3 for the labour cost when it gets here.

Being outside in the damp for a while, my guess is you have a stuck centrifugal switch.

Why not rip the back end of the motor off and check.

It's contacts should be closed when stopped and open against a spring when the motor spins up to speed. This then cuts out the start winding.

We send larger motors away for repair but the small ones are hardly ever worth it.

Yes but you need to consider any small part of the periphery of the disc, the centrifugal force on that particle is its mass times the rotation speed squared times the radius, so a particle on the edge of a 9" disc is under twice the force of a similar particle of a 4.5" disc at the same rotation speed.

 

I'd be quite happy to use a half worn 9" disc on a 4.5" grinder at home but wouldn't at work. Similarly I have out of date discs at home which I couldn't use at work.

Which is of course why they run a 9 inch at approx 1/2 rotational speed of a 4.5 inch.

The point I was getting at is in a 9 inch disc there are many more particles or mass /mm of radius so the centre needs to be stronger to take these forces. Shed the outer part of the disc then that leaves you with a stronger disc than an original 4.5 one.

Does the cancelling out of the start circuit change the polarity?

 

I feel I'm digging myself a deep hole here.

No. Think of two separate windings each supplied by the sinsudoidal mains voltage. The capacitor changes the timing between these two waves and this affects the magnetic field which drives the rotor in one direction or the other.

If you change the polarity of either start or field winding then a serviceable motor will run in the opposite direction. Change both it will stay running in the same direction.

Was this a test? If it was I did the same one about 45 years ago.

I suspect I can guess your capacitor test method and it always seems impressive.

I'm sure you're right not to put that on a public forum though.