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neiln

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Everything posted by neiln

  1. neiln
    Just a home owner here that does my own logs, but this winter had been really wet and I'm noticing the logs I'm pulling from my shed are slightly damp, they've been there 18-24 months, usually they'd be bone dry, but this year I'm having to faff about drying logs on the hearth and nursing the stove a little more. Feel for you guys running a business.
  2. neiln
    Doesn't an aluminium haft vibrate/shock lots?
  3. neiln
    I reckon she'll come out or already has. I get feckin' loads of the black and yellow feckers every year. 4 so far this year. I've had several disappear on top of kitchen cabinets for a few days then dozily emerge. I've also had several crawl into the lounge Light rose before coming out again. They don't seem any more awake even a few days later.
  4. neiln
    I had Peacock* in my lounge earlier!Had to catch it in a pint glass and put it out. supposed to snow tomorrow so I hope it finds a spot to rehibernate quickly! I normally just get queen wasps (bloomin' loads of them!) shield bugs and a few small moths. It brought a bit of colour to a grey and cold midwinter day. Anybody else get any nice insects emerge from their firewood a it warms up? *I'm not good at Papillion ID, but I think it was a Peacock.
  5. neiln
    I've had much more success by talking to guys I've seen working close by, but I wouldn't be surprised if once you get used, assuming it's easy, you'll get used regularly by the same guy. Oh and Leyland, great to have a bit in the pile. It's one of the densist soft woods. Less ash from soft woods too.
  6. neiln
    Yes, and break them up for more surface area. I'm in my fifth season having burnt over 35 cube and I'm still learning. Maybe I'm slow!
  7. neiln
    I'm assuming everyone had seen the articles in the guardian, maybe elsewhere as well, about stoves leading to indoor particulate pollution through smoke spillage on opening the door to reload. I've heard it may be worse with modern stoves, due to the baffles required to meet the efficiency targets. I just thought, would this be easy to overcome with a bipass valve like a key damper? Open the baffle bipass before opening the stove to load it, close again once loaded?
  8. neiln
    Yeah it's just one of the changes to houses that make modern houses more sealed. Solid floors or fitted carpets, rubber seals on doors and window openers, overflows, I'm sure there's more I can't think of right now, a modern house is a lot more air tight then older houses were. So the 'air vent of certain size for every kW over 5' in building regs ought to be treated as just a guide perhaps, I've a feeling the wording does say something about more may be needed if the house is well sealed.
  9. neiln
    Sorry my fault. I was going to quote something then thought it didn't help and on the smart phone I've deleted the content of the quote not the whole quote! Oops. Not trying to put words in your mouth!
  10. neiln
  11. neiln
    Where you are in the country will make a difference to how fast stuff dries. London/SE fairly warm and drier than many places, so oak to 18% in 2 summers isn't a problem (if...IF my £5 moisture meter is accurate... It's possible it isn't). Youngsbury, that's impressive! Must have been tempting to tell him to put it all back.... Then sit and watch as he pushed the barrow! I can imagine theft from a in presumably rural estate setting though. Where is silver hook I wonder.
  12. neiln
    I've got 4-5+ m³ in my front garden, most stacked against the South facing house wall to season. I've done this for 3 years now and not seen any stolen. I've had a few people knock and ask to buy some but none had been taken. This is a South London suburban street though, and several neighbours would see a thief I suspect. Tbh, I feel more worried it will walk when it's still in rounds or halves, it takes ga lot longer to pick up and load splits. If I were you, I'd split and stack it all now.
  13. neiln
    If you don't mind old but tried and tested (as in it works well, is very well made, but is a few percent down on the efficiency compared to modern stoves.... Sort of great quality but affordable as old tech), you could do much worse then the franco belge Belfort. £749, 5kW nominal, 3-7.5kW. mum's had one for about 20 years, still like new.
  14. neiln
    Split it to stove size now. Oak is a joy to split when green! It only gets tougher as it seasons, so I'd recommend you split it to stove size.
  15. neiln
    I've thought perhaps that is it. It's dry.... Or dry enough, burns with no popping and no creosote on the glass, but I could believe it's still a few% higher MC than the split stuff. The result is I split more of it, and tbh I've learnt bigger rings are quicker to process and pick up less small limb wood anyway. I've been burning some today and yesterday by chance, iirc it was cut and stacked about 20-21 months ago, about march or April 2019. It's burning fine, flue thermometer shows about 170-180C. I just know a couple of splits of the same size would burn hotter. It could also be that the circular shape has less surface area and slows the burn, compared to a triangular or square split.
  16. neiln
    turkey oak, a bit mleh. english oak, trunk wood, fab, but I can find small diameter limbwood aa bit mleh. I cut to 12 ish inches and split to 3 to 4 inches and it can burn well when dried a year, but I try to dry it 2 summers as i think it does better and most people sem to say oak retains its moisture longer than most woods. if you must dry it in one summer, split to 2-3 inches and stack in a good spot and it will dry. or solar kiln it. it doesn't burn super super hot, it burns well and it burns long. Mix it with a bit of holly or yew for perfection.
  17. neiln
    Presumably kiln drying forces some of the more volatile turps/resins out of the wood, and hence a lot of energy.
  18. neiln
    Really. What do you think it's burning? You think it all goes to CO2 and H2O do you?
  19. neiln
    I'd also like to know the methodology. When opening the door I first open the vents to clear any smoke, I crack the door and wait a second or 2, then slowly open the door. If in a hurry for some reason it is possible to pull a puff of smoke out, or if I reach inside to move a log, then occasionally I can get a slight smoke smell in the room too. So I can see it's possible but affected by how you do stuff. This must also be balanced against any positive benefits from the fresh air being pulled into the house... Humidity is way down and other indoor pollutants from all sources must be too I'd guess. So even if it's worse for pm2.5 is it worse overall? I'd like to see more detail.
  20. neiln
    Maybe. What I'm suggesting is, look at the weight of the stove, not just the steel/cast construction. Besides that the only 2 stoves I have significant experience of are a Franco belge Belfort (cast iron, 5kW) and a Stockton 5 from stovax (steel body, cast door, 5kW). Iirc they are both about 85Kg, although the stovax must have a kilo or two more steel as the Franco belge has heavy old refractory brick. I've had the top plate off the Belfort so I know it's side and back plate are only about 3mm thick. The stovax looks thicker around the door opening... But can't be loads as the weights are similar. Of the two the Belfort throws brutal heat, the Stockton is much less so.
  21. neiln
    I've read time and time again that cast iron is a softer heat, and stays warm longer.... Well I tend to think it's much more down to the design of the stove. Google tells me cast iron has a lower specific heat capacity than carbon steel (460 Vs 520 J/KgK). So for the same mass the cast stove would get hotter and cool quicker. It needs about 15% more mass to behave more like the steel stove.
  22. neiln
    I've said before, I think it's ok for what it cost, but yes it seems to have too much air and with really well dried wood I need to take care how I load it. The need for spares is likely because I have been running it too hot. I don't find the aperture for logs small, for a 5kw stove I think it can swallow some very large chunks. However your door isn't right. Either it's wrongly adjusted (the hinges bolt on, I suspect you'll find you've some scope to adjust them) or something is warped by the sound of it.
  23. neiln
    You don't have to accept it, but I'm saying you're not really losing out to take it. If it did fail, fiskars guarantee is excellent I believe. The edge is the only significant damage in my eyes, and I'd weigh the aggravation of taking a file to it as less than swapping it. As I said, I must just have a more stressed feeling then you as I'd be taking that easy way forward with the file, even if it doesn't feel quite right .
  24. neiln
    Yes somebody has had a few swings and that feels wrong, but I must be too stressed or something....I really wouldn't bother wasting a second trying to return it. It would look worse after 60 seconds use, other than the chipped edge. Even the chipped edge wouldn't worry, 2 minutes with a file, it's gone. Yes you're entitled to return it, and is your right to you need no reason,.. Distance selling regs protect you. But really? Really? I can't see how you'll be any better off.
  25. neiln
    Well yes but..... If everything jumps 30% it'll be painful

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