Steven P

So if I read the question right, you have 2 very similarly sized logs, when you split them both and checked their moisture levels from the centre of the log they both read the same 20%, then you put them both on the fire, whch one would burn the slowest? Should be both the same, how they are dried makes no difference really. Now if you are finding the air dried log burns slower than the kln dried log then there is a reason for it and the only real variable is that the air dried log is wetter (higher moisture content) than the kiln dred log. I am guessing your second part of the question is really gven the choice what hard wood log should you buy? For this you will get many answers, we all have our favourites (I really like thorn - hawthorn, blackthorn and so on, others will swear by oak, or ash). Pretty much (with some exceptins) 1kg of wood at 20% moisrure has the same energy as most other wods at 1kg and 20% (16MJ per kg according to google just now, just over 5,000kwH per tonne of kiln dried wood).. however we buy wood by quantity (builder bag, tipper truck, 'load' and so on) and here you should look for the most dense woods to get the best value. Softwoods are considered 'bad' because they are the least dense (generally) and so the least energy per delivery, Something like this link could help here https://solidfuel.co.uk/pdfs/GUIDE-TO-WOOD-AND-MULTIFUEL-SEP19.pdf and you can find expanded tables but load for lod oak is pretty good for heat output.

I was a bit late orderng coal this week so had to go to the shops for a days worth of coal. Got Lidles £4 for 10kg... I won't be getting that again, a reaonable heat but so much ash it smothered the fire (had to empty the ashpan twice a night, normally its once every other day)

Yes, it would be right to target the end user to ensure that they are burning dry wood. You can sell me wood at 10% moisture, say a tonne a month, but then dump it on my drive. Some months it might stay below 20% moisture, but this week, I'd be lucky to bring any wood from outside that wasn't dripping wet. The retailer cn do al thy want but at the end of the day the customers actions keep the wood dry or not. However, political comment, the governmet isn't interested in what is right just interested in the bottom line and how they can profit (and they will, simplest that costs go up so they get mre VAT) (look at recent policies - and not so recent - of 'can't fix it, tax it (Sugar tax, plastiv bag, Scottish minimum alcohol pricing , cigarette duties, beer duties...)

I split it as soon as I can and stack it at the end of the drive - it gets afternon and evening sun for the wgile summer and any wind that comes down the drive, that seams to do the trick. I can tell, if I stack it on the north facing wal, it won't dry as quickly, on the south facing wall it is done within the year

I read once that increaseing road capacity doesn't make things better in the long term, just they take a while to fill up again - so the crossing is no suprise hat more cars use it

Same idea as a composting bin - wel known you can put in anything in there (including say, chicken remains, the bone from a sunday joint and so on), and ver time compost comes out. Gess they just got the mix right to make it quicker. Cannot do it in a normal compost bin because.. the rats get in and it won't get hot enough insde to kill any bugs. not that I woudl recomend this, but my litle 5wk stove will get rid of most animal bones over night (for the days when Ihaven't put the bins out for 6 weeks and it is full, a lot of waste gets burnt).. guess you could just use a bigger stove, uncle Bob goes in and heats the house as he goes? Saves a lot of carbon emissions too that wy if you're using the fire anyway

I'd just go to B&Q and get a new handle for the time, effort and cost

Problem you might have is too many signs! If you put up a sign you are saying to the world "Look this is dangerous" and a clever lawyer might argue that you knew it was dangerous but did nothing to make it safe, trying to shift the liability from the stupid onto you. Perhaps look at rhe wood pile and decide what might be a reasonable height for it to be at - consider how stable it s, whether the sides are vertical or sloping and so on and keep it to that safe height... and then no signs needed surely? I would consider a sign "Keep off the log pile", and as long as the gate is locked shut, no trespassing sign and the log pile is out of sight (not tempting people togo in and climb on it) then that should be OK... but if you are worried a quick call to the insurers might give you a clue what they will axxet and pay out on if there is an accident

Depends how patient you are, if it is slowly falling then wait until it is at a height you are happier to cut at?

Sounds about right for cost per heat output, If you have only electicity then solid fuel is good. If you can get them for free and ignoring the time you put in yourself then logs are good. f I had to pay for solid fuel I would buy coal and never wood - cheaper for the heat output, takes up less space, fire stays in longer, no arguments about smoke - it is all smokelss that I get (well, mostly...). For many of us adding anything other than a stove is going to be big money (OK I am a special case, gas main to the house was going to be 10's of thousands apparently), central heating boiler at £1k installed? radiators and pipes - another £1k? Gas tank - the same again? Gas conection if the pipe is utside the door £1k? which is another factor to take into account. that is quite a lot of kwh worth of wood to make it a saving (hoever, it makes the house worth more when you cme to sell it). It's a tricky thing to work out what actually is the best value if you look outside the raw fuel costs. Things are gong to get easier - and mre exensive - when the government turn off the domestic gas supplies, electric only The nowegian wood book is worth a read here.

I reckon to get through 2m3.. but also a ton of coal.. (the free space in the garage for dry wod is only so big), 5kw stove, 3 bed house near Glasgow - next year I have to burnore wood as there is loads sitting outside slowly getting wetter and wetter as the wnter goes on

Reminded me of a couple of stories. A while ago a pensioner had school kids sitting on his wall to eat chips - he was OK with that apart frm them dropping the litter, so he had a word, and gave them a bin, litter problem solved because it was easy for them (kids still ate chips there). Point here, people will use a bin if it is easy for them, carry rubbish for 50m and they will ditch it. Second thing, the council has team to prosecute fly tippers and they do look in bags for receipts and so on, I guess there is some truth in that story. However they normally reserve that level of investigation for serious fly tippers. A couple of things annoy me - the take away bag thrown ut of the car wndow because that is just pure arrogance for the countryside and lazyness, and also (living 1 mil from th ecouncil recycling point) is 'proper' fly tipping - drive the car, empty the boot and drive off again.. when 2 minuteslater yuo could be putting it for recycling. I can accept howver the we al drop rubbish witohut knowig it (you thikn its gone in the pocket but you missed - particually happens this time of year whn yuo have gloves on). I will also take a carrier bag up the lane every now and then and fill it with rubbisjh - just because someone else dropped it doesn't mean I should leave it there to look at every morning

I'd also worry about the cutains, not you perhaps but the next owner of the house who might not realise. At first thought your quote sounds high but what are yuo being quoted for? There doesn't look like a lot of wall space so you might need something more compact which could limit the choces the nstaler has.. and of course the more secialised stove is, the more the manufacturer thinks they cancharge. I'd get a breakdown of the quote if you can to see what is in it

A full days fuel in that? We'll burn that before breakfast! nce idea though and I like the bag thing

I tend to stck them up on the hearth or in the coal bucket. Normaly I need to fetch more logs in in the morning so I keep my kindling uderneath the saw horse and brng that in at the same time. My problem is I have a fire gueard still to keep the boys safer, so I can't really put in a basket or similar.. however I like the log store and I might have a thnk about that (got some decent boards in the garage I can use, plane them down, stain them and varnich and that cold be OK)

Not sure when I last had the storage heaters on.... I took one off the wal about 18 mbths ago (it was getting in the way). We do exist in the UK heating our houses with the stove. In the US though, houses are larger and I suspect they have more room for decent covered log stores

Generally pretty safe. They are outdoor transformers, low voltage (compared to some of the really big ones), and made pretty robust. If there was any danger then the fence or wall around it would be a lot more secure - for example secure enough to stop a child climbing over to rescue a stray football (the power companies hate headlines that might produce). The cabinet next to it also contains electrical stuff and should be treated with the same respect and caution as the transformer. Obviusly though you are dealing with electrical equipment and the enclosure is the owners private land, fenced off for a reason - if you need to get in there (or I guess work over it) then you should really get in touch with them and let them know and grant access.

I guess with a steel plate you can have a shorter stove (slightly) or tsller fire box though. How thick would the vermiccile sheet tend to be?

No reason except my one is steel - if it was a flat sheet that would be OK, mine also has a bend in it so just going on what I know really. As far as I can tel it is there to make a longer path for the flames before they go up the chimney, and the longer path means they mix with more air and can butn all the volotile gasses more completely. So anything that will do the job should work

As above, if you cannot source a manufactures one, it might owrk out as cheap to get oe made up. 5mm? Steel sheet and maybe bent in the middle plus whatever cut outs are needed. If it is a simple flat sheet an hour or so with a hack saw should get something that works. If you want a template to get something made up i would be tempted to cut it out of some card - an old Amazon box? Easy to cut and fold as required, about the right thickness and you'see if it works. Just another point... just check the wood you have besides the burner doesn't get too hot and self ignite

I guess I am like many people, but not all of my wood is easy to split ash or similar with a nice round shape and small enough to fit in a tyre.. but I've seen videos and this trick works well. Bits of wood flying off what I am splitting at a speed enough to damage stuff is rare though

we burn a 50-50 mix of both (logs only at the weekend when I am at home...) Heating only with solid fuel you either hve a cold house or are tied to the stove, with coal you can get an hour r nore beten fueling. Sulphuric acid - as far as I know this will form if you get sulpher from the coal and water / steam but will only become a problem if it settles on the chimney liner - in other wrds if the chimney is too cold - otherwse it goes up the chimney. The drier the wood the better of course

Appoligies Stubby - that's me not wording things as well as I could. You're right of course - wod needs air from above, coal needs it from below (in simple terms without going all science on the subject). What I was meaning is that if you ly all the logs in one direction the top logs are blocking air getting to the lower logs, there are fewer air gaps. Lay layers at right angles and more air gaps for the air to circulate and the fire isn't stiffled by its fuel.

I've never assumed that splitting wood with an axe is safe, ever since I dented the car with a pieve of wood. So far.. lots of shin bruises and cuts, bruised foot a few tmes when logs fall off the chopping block onto it, black eye once (log caught me on tne bridge of my nose), couple of cuts on my hands at the moment where I rubbed them along the edge of the axe blade. No scars yet and the golies are still safe.

Reading this a thought ocured to me, but I am no expert here. As a new start your costs are ging to be lower so perhaps you can afford to spend more time on a job but charge the same. For example, a second hand van and trailer for start up, but upgrading later as you get better finances - but buying or leasing a new van is going to cost more than buying a second hand van (as an example). Similarly the amount of kit you own will be less.. you have less invested in the business and it owes you less to make a profit. Buy a chipper and suddenly you will need to thnk about replacing it and putting money aside for another and probably better model, you now need to save for a new van, new trailer, new chipper, new saws and so on. New start just needs to save for van and saws.