neiln

I've an 038 super I've been meaning to rebuild but tbh I can't see myself getting to anytime soon. Is that of interest to you? P+c unscored original Stihl but some Muppet ( not me) made a bad job of a helicoil repair to a striped plug socket and it really needs either weld repair or a timecert done, or a new cylinder. I had it running using a thin copper washer and loctite to get the plug sealed and found the idle speed wandered so fairly sure it has another air leak. At that point I started dismantling and ordered a few parts to rebuild it (err, fuel hose, filter, air filter, crank seals and av mounts) from huztl. Since then my 3rd Little'un arrived and I've got no further.... He is 15 months now 🤣 plastics a bit faded but ok, case could do with some paint if you want it tidy, but it's fine otherwise. The pile of complete with a 20" Stihl bar that is on its last legs, new chain and drive sprocket/clutch drum. If you, or anyone, is interested I'll try and bother to get some photos.

Oregon Yukon boots, Amazon look the cheapest £48 Various trousers t A class1 from £55-60. Inflation is a bummer, I'm fairly sure I got boots, trousers and helmet for just under £100 when I bought mine 7 years ago.

The guy is a homeowner so can do as the wishes, besides are they chaps or trousers? Called chaps, but look to be trousers! It's a decent deal but you can hunt out better possibly. I agree that boots are important, Yukon Welly type ones are what I use, they were pretty cheap. Type A = front of leg, fine unless you're climbing Class 1 = the level of protection as a measure of chain speed that should be stopped ( 20m/s I think), again fine for a small saw. That type of trouser is about £60 up. The foresters helmet, good. Safety specs still worthwhile though too. The gloves are class 0 which iirc is 16m/s. You'll find class 1 from about £18 I think

You're mixing up Ron and ethanol numbers. I've run super in my stuff, including a 365, for 3 or 4 years. All good. Btw, Esso synergy supreme 99+ is e0. Guaranteed on their website.

What's complex? Open oil bottle, fill measuring cup to clearly marked spot, add to can filled with petrol, cap and shake? I mean stubby we've never met, but you seem to know one end of a saw from the other (don't hold the one with teeth!) So I think you'd find it quite forward! I'd say foolproof, but I don't want to suggest you're a fool. All in all, it's easier than driving to catford to visit jonsey and buy some aspen, and much cheaper.

I mix small amounts as I found it could take me about a year to go through 5 litres. I bought a metal 2.5 litre bottle and user that, and use a small measuring cup to measure the 63ml of oil (40:1). I used a large syringe for a while, and use a small one to add the few ml of stabilizer. I still find I often have a litre or so around for 6+ months as I cut very little over the winter, as now, I mixed 2.5 litres in late August/early September and ran 3 tanks through the new EA 4300, the remaining litre could be sat until April. It's not been a problem, sealed metal can, stabilizer and good oil, plus super grade petrol, it keeps ok, but I've just bought a 1 litre bottle with the intention of using that when I need a little mix late summer. Also, mark the measuring cup or syringe at the regular amount and it's pretty simple.... Not fool proof, but pretty close.

I note the OP had now got a husky 135 (good choice). But just for anyone else that reads this a few points. A small stihl, the ms170 or 180 (not even the 171/181) is a well made saw and serves a homeowner very very well. I've cut, split and stacked 80m³ of firewood (processing arb waste) over the last 7 years, mostly with a ms180 and 14" bar. Keep the chain sharp and don't overwork it, it cuts well. I did run out of patience dealing with some large ash and got a bigger saw (365), but then when dealing with 10-15 m³ of wood each year in a suburban garden I quickly run out of room and the wife runs out of patience.... Plus when the wood comes free from friendly tree surgeons I take it when offered so at times the piles of logs can be large and need dealing with. Even then, if I didn't have 3 small children/had a little more time I could have dealt with everything with the ms180. This summer I sold the ms 180. I sold it as I saw a (Dolmar) Makita EA 4300 on Amazon for a really really really good price and bought it. I gave the stihl a good service and got a good price on eBay, so the upgrade was less costly than a new MS180. If I'd bought this saw originally, with an 18" bar, I wouldn't have bought the husky 365. As it is I now have a good pair pro saws and can easily deal with more firewood than most London homeowners! (~32m³ over the last 18 months), but for someone starting out, if they were confident they would be doing 10+m³ a year I'd suggest they consider a 40-50 cc saw, the Makita, a stihl ms241, or equivalent husky. Less than that, the ms170/180 or husky 135. Less than 3m³ a year look hard at electric, corded if you can work with they limitation.

Looks like you got a good saw I'm surprised no body said consider where your nearest dealer is and what they sell as that might tip the balance.

I do mine through the plate in the flue. I tape up the hole so it's just big enough to slide the flexy rods in, and let the soot fall to the stove. No mess. Takes about an hour to do two stoves.

Yes. Bosch blue battery drill and a kit that iirc I spent about £80 on. Your can get cyclone/power sweeps from £30 to to £300. I didn't fancy a cheap one breaking but don't need a professional one to use once a year. I need to dig it out and do the 2 flues, I'll see if I can find a make/model/name for you.

Yep, I got an email from mse as I use their automated service to inform me if a better deal is available, so they knew my supplier has folded. Email said, don't bother looking, you are going to the price cap and that's all there is. Oh well, 30 cube of wood ready in the garden which has basically just gone up in value considerably. ....so when the wife moans if I say I need to collect more/run the chainsaw/swing the axe, I have more ammunition to argue why it's important I do it

So my energy supplier, green, folded last week as did avro, and a few more are teetering I believe. The difference between the deal I was on and the price cap could mean about a 50% price increase. I hadn't realised it was quite so large. That makes wood heat comparable in cost I reckon. Perhaps demand will increase.

3m flue could be an issue, many stoves will need more to draw, I believe 4m is the minimum on a couple of stoves I've had iirc, so check they aspect of any chosen stove carefully. You don't need kiln dried, properly air dried burns as well and as clean

I need to get some wood from the stacks, split some kindling and sweep the flies. Hope to not need it for a few weeks yet though

I need to get some wood from the stacks, split some kindling and sweep the flies. Hope to not need it for a few weeks yet though

I think only Esso currently guarantee the super as e free. Shell stopped a couple of years ago and not sure bp ever have, I just looked on their website and I can't see them claiming anything other than E5.

Esso synergy supreme 99+. Esso have updated their website since the change to E10 but still clearly say the supreme is guaranteed ethanol free (except certain locations ...devon, cornwall and the far north iirc). If you can't get Esso, use any premium fuel as its e5, I would suggest shell v-power, but bp ultimate or any other premium fuel is e5. Use a stabilzer anyway with a fuel if leaving it, stabilizers slow the oxidation of the aromatics which cause the gumming. Some stabilizers but not all (so check the labels) claim to help reduce ethanol problems. Stihl green 2 stroke has a stabiliser in it BTW, but I add Star-tron too. I've been using premium fuel in my saws for the last 4-5 years and haven't had any trouble. I'm not expert but would think to run hot the saw would need to be lean, or the fuel be giving more oomph. Ethanol has a lower calorific value than petrol but only slightly, the higher RON of the premium may slow the flame front a weenie bit and reduce the efficiency (or shave the key and advance the timing to compensate) but I can't really see premium being noticeably different. Ethanol is less viscous than petrol so theoretically e free petrol through the same saw would run slightly leaner but again i can't imagine it would be noticeable...get your carb screwdriver out and adjust for e5..oh hang on...you've been on e5...adjut for e10 if you are running it or get used to a teenie bit more 4 stroking. in summary, run premium fuel and esso if you can get it, and use a decent stabilizer what ever yu run, if you leave fuel round for more than a couple of months

Large secure cabinets exist, but agent cheap https://www.simplysafes.co.uk/chubbsafes-archive-cabinet-880.html I'm sure cheap would be useless though.

Jeez us! Do you leave the windows open or is it a mansion! 40! A poorly insulated 3 bed semi here, heated purely with ~ 12m³ wood Since I'm on gas (but actually burn wood) I don't follow oil prices but know my brother is happy with it now. I was surprised he swapped when he did, but the house is warm and it's not expensive. He does top up with a few cube through a 7 or 8 kW stove.

My brother replaced his oil boiler with air source heat pump a decade ago and after some initial teething had been happy. Your need bigger rads ideally as they won't be quite so warm, and I think he has the heating on a little longer, but still has a warm house and saves money Vs oil. I suspect the cost Vs mains gas won't look quite so good.... And Vs scrounged firewood, bloody awful!

I've always wondered, how do you get one lit?

Yeah WFH last winter I burnt 12+M3, instead of about 8.5. I'm not sure the cost increase of gas will drive people to wood if they buy it.... Is more likely to go the other way as per Irish potato famine. When the spud harvest failed prices went up, people couldn't afford their usual diet and were forced to give up the expensive bits (meat) to afford the staple (spuds) and actually consumed more spuds not less. Gas =spuds, meat=luxury firewood. This scenario only applies to those that are hand to mouth and can't reduce savings or cut another luxury to afford to gas price hike though. For the other, more wealthy, you could see an increased demand as wood costs less more then gas but more likely you buyers will accept a similar %age increase.. In so stick £10-20 on your price for a cube.

I'm not an arborist, but have experience with subsidence so.....Soil needs to be wet, ideally file saturated, before the build as dry equates to shrunken and subsequent wetting could cause heave as it expands the soil. Remove the tree now or march will make f all difference. The ground will be at it's driest now and the tree starting to shut down for the winter. The soil will then rehydrate as it rains and the 'hibernating tree' doesn't remove water. Come march the tree starts to wake up and the weather begins to dry.... Cycle repeats. The issue is, will tree removal cause heave by resaturating the soil too fast? No. Small tree won't predate house, won't be a problem, the soil rehydration will be the same over the winter with our without that tree. If it were a huge tree you'd possibly consider removal in stages over a few years to allow slow recovery of the soil but I understand that is old thinking and shown to be wrong. Just get the tree out, and of your concerned, wait until march before beginning your build.

The legislation doesn't apply to super/premium, that stays at E5 (5% max, no minimum). So it seems odd the premium fuel had disappeared from the op's nearest forecourt. I saw an E10 label for the first time last week, in my local Shell, but the v-power remained E5. I had made the journey to my nearest Esso, as their website still claims synergy 99+ is still ethanol free. However it was closed for refurbishment so I'm still to find out what they will have.

Exactly. The auto control of the air is simple. Also, with the catalytic stoves the fire box can be rammed full of fuel and set to slumber, burning really long, the cat which is above the baffle kicks out most of the heat as it burns the smoke. I just looked up the blaze king king, their biggest stove in 81% efficient, EPA compliant, 4.35cuft firebox that can be stuffed full of over 80lbs of wood. On low it kicks out 4.9kW for 40 hours. Ok it's big, and overkill for many UK houses, in fact you'd probably need to be in some Scottish estate mansion to get close to the temps and house volume that it would work well in but they do have smaller stoves too. I'd love to be able to get my days worth of wood from the stack, pack it straight in the firebox in one go, and not touch the stove again until the next day. However I can see they is not the market for stoves over here and can see why UK manufacturers don't have similar. Here is lots of small stoves for ambience, the blaze kings are 'wood heaters' and quite different. Although I have wondered how difficult and costly it would be for a UK manufacturer to partner up and become the UK importers. I'm sure they would sell a few but I imagine the cost of testing for UK may be quite an outlay. My understanding is that our tests are the same as the US EPA, so they may accept the exciting certification perhaps.