Rob_the_Sparky

As usual though there is also an element of the papers making it sound worse than it is. The politicians are as usual lumping together all forms of domestic burning and the papers are then taking that and giving you a headline about wood burners. Add to that is that the ban is only being considered by one city, not all of Scotland. In my eye they are both guilty of twisting the truth to their own ends. Do Stove manufacturers not have their own PR group to help lobby for their corner?

From a purely commercial point of view you are right. I process arb waste for my log burner and if I costed my time then it would definitely not be worth it. Economically, you can very soon be in profit purely from a fuel point of view if you careful about your tool prices, particularly the saw. However, it will be a LONG time before the initial investment pays off from a purely financial PoV, if it ever does. For me though the processing is fun, I like to make something from waste so all my logs racks have cost me nothing or very little (nails + paint). Also there is something about a log burner in the house that is nice. I've had gas fires and it is just not the same.

In our business telecoms are normal and flights are rare, if only from an economic PoV. The cost of flights, hotels, and man hours to go somewhere is huge compared to a Telecom. Would not normally travel even to a local contact unless we have to as you soon burn half a day for a 1 hour meeting that way, although it is rare that we work with locals. There are times when face to face makes a big difference so it is not unheard of but it is rare. I would have several meetings a week (sometimes a day) with suppliers and customers but have only travelled 3 times in a year. Given the basic economic of telecoms over travel I'd be surprised if this is not uncommon.

Yep, just look at the design. The fire is contained in an insulated box of vermiculite sheets and air is fed through pipes that pre-heat it. The heat mostly comes from the gasses heating the body of the burner. The difference in radiated heat is really dramatic when you open the door as well showing how well the glass door actually keeps the heat in the fire. I believe all this to keep the fire burning efficiently, especially when not running the burner hard.

AS do I but both handles have broken off and there is now a split in the bottom, still holds logs but the Mrs is protesting. Can't think why ?

Yeah, seen lots of this type of design on-line, they look very pretty but some are not big enough and none contain the dirt, which is high on my list of requirements. I think I'm probably looking at building something, similar to Witterings', or a wicker basket plus home made liner of some description.

Never used these guys but seen them around Wokingham and I expect they have the kit you are looking for. I also know they dump woodchip and have a log business (I asked if they had left over arb arisings) so an alternative arrangement might be for them to have the logs for firewood and supply chippings? Just an idea, no idea if they want logs. I have plenty of firewood logs from another local company so no need for more...

The Mrs is objecting to my combination of a (somewhat broken) muck bucket for logs and an orange B&Q bucket for kindling, something about them being an eyesore... However, looking online I see lots of log racks designed to drop bits of bark all over the floor and generally on the small side. Coal buckets might pass the wife test but look too small to me (but not checked). Wicker baskets look nice but seem to all have cloth liners that look like they would last a year if you are lucky and once full of holes would drop rubbish on the floor. I'm beginning to think I'll have to construct something myself. Hence the question, what do you all use?

Note: LPG is not the same as Propane. LPG contains a significant amount of Butane and this is what causes a problem when the tank get cold as it has a boiling point of ~0C. Propane on the other hand has a boiling point of ~-42C so in the UK I doubt you will have any issues with it remaining liquid. Don't know the details but I know in caravans you have to convert the gas appliances to run specifically on either LPG or Propane so I expect there will be a difference when running an engine on gas as well.

Don't bet on it. I also split with an axe but have a scar on my leg from a log that came towards me when it split. Only log that has done this on me in 3 years of splitting with an axe and typically it was summer so had taken off the chainsaw trousers and it hit just above my boots! No serious damage but it did smart somewhat...

Don't think that is the point. If you bed a log into the ash then only the top of the log is available to burn but if you put is in less "neatly" so some air can get between log and ash then more surface area is exposed to air so you get a stronger (more rapid/hotter) burn. TBH though I use this to my advantage sometimes. There are times I want it to burn more slowly and other times I want it to burn more rapidly. Hence, IMHO it is not a case of right and wrong but rather another bit of technique that can be used to control your fire.

My father has 2 one is an old villager that he has had problems with and a clearview that has been very good. I got a clearview on this recommendation and been very happy with it. Who know if others are better or worse though as the sample size is too small... P.S. Mine is a Pioneer 400 and his is a Vision 500

Interesting to note: I've wondered about the strong wood smell in out road sometimes and wondered if it was our wood burners. Wandering home after school in the dark I smelt it quite strongly again and spotted next doors chimney throwing out a huge amount of smoke so I suspect much of the smell is not our wood burner after all. Not sure councils have any choice but to investigate a complaint, it is how they handle it that is important.

wrt parked cars acting as a buffer battery - it is an idea but relies on the good will of many car users. From what I understand you need to agree that your electric vehicle battery may not be full when you come to use the car. In some cases that might be OK but in others could lead to you having a car but not being able to get to your destination. I suspect that in reality many in the population will not accept this so whether it actually works in practice is to be considered. Biggest problem with electricity is generation when you need it as you can't just store electricity (like you might a tank of petrol of gas). Gas power stations can be turned on/off as required really quite quickly (more rapidly than coal) but with renewables power is generated when conditions are right, not when demand is high so the major problem becomes power storage, and on a HUGE scale. Power storage you might think of as batteries but equally might be generating hydrogen or a pumped water system (google it). Anything that can store the excess energy generated when demand is low to release it later. Car batteries is one that might be an option assuming that huge numbers of cars are sold with large battery storage (so an EV would provide much more than a hybrid). Right now we will hit a limit with renewable power (electricity) where we either have to accept power cuts at high demand times or retain the gas power stations to provide power at these times as the storage systems simply aren;t there yet.

They do look nice but also look physically wide for 5kW burner, I.e. the whole burner looks wide rather than just more glass area. Is that an optical illusion or is the firebox wide and shallow?

Just to add that putting a lot of wood on and then trying to choke the fire is not a good idea. This will send unburnt gasses up the chimney. This is inefficient and some of those gasses may condense into tar in the chimney eventually leading to chimney fires if not swept out. Otherwise as above, it is trial and error to get it right for your burner in your room. Note: just to make it harder wood of different types and densities burn differently (and different log sizes) so yet more trial and error involved. Good fun

Is there a key to drying it? I've not tried this, just assumed that big piles of green saw dust were going to rot before they dried.

I'd ask them to buy it back given that they sold you a car with a fault that they are unable to resolve. What sort of price would then be the argument but note that the courtesy car is costing them money plus hours spent trying to fix it. I suspect though it will depend on how they are incurring costs. Are they having to foot the bill or do they have an overall insurance to cover warranty claims. Why would you accept the car back with an unresolved fault and no compensation?

Yeah, over the last couple of years I have found out what happens with you screw up sharpening the chain and learnt how recover from making a mess of it Plenty of practice with a file and an eye glass to check what I was achieving and how I had messed it up...

I use a 1.9kW Bosch mains saw for firewood, 40cm bar (AKE40-19S) and I've cut through stuff with a greater diameter than that occasionally without a problem. For me it doesn't seem to lack power but as I've not used a petrol saw I can't compare cutting speed.

Previous years I have asked for wood in spring and cut when I got it, very little held in the stack. This year I have a stack over winter so I can start splitting earlier in the year as the PPE is chuffing hot during the summer! Also should give the wood longer to dry but that is secondary to my comfort

Glad it is not just me...but then my tarps are old advertising banners so not that worried about them, just figure the you want the direct heat from the sun.

I'd be very surprised if the lights didn't have an override that detected if all the lights were red for longer than a set period. It is easy to design the electronics for a system that would on detecting this case would drop back to a timer based system. Sounds like this is not part of the design though, I guess it is cheaper not to include this but really ought to be mandated this this type of system is included. Similarly it would not be hard to include a system that detected any one light that had been red for too long or to include one that could contact base if if all went tits up. None of this stuff is hard from an engineering PoV but just more expensive to include.

Best get replies from more knowledgeable others but the answer is "it varies" when they are wet. Some rot quickly (Silver Birch I think is in this category) if not dried but others are fine. If you haven't read Norwegian Wood (Lars W...) yet then I recommend you do, it is a good read and plenty of useful info in there. The book does talk about very long storage of dry wood and again it varies. Some woods contain more volatiles (generally softwoods) that do slowly get lost to the atmosphere but it is fair to say it is a very slow process. I have a stack out at the moment in 3' lengths that is VERY roughly covered (maybe 50% covered) and on pallets but traditionally stacking in the wood is the first part of drying wood. I think the book talks about why transport water back from the woods, better to get rid of it near where you fell it, then take it home.

Had 3 chunks of ash by the back door that I'd left a bit large in the hope they would go in the fire as is because they were going to be nasty to split. Went out in the dark (nearby street light so not totally dark) last night with a sledge and the wedge. First two were hard work and part way through the third I wished I'd got the saw out of hibernation; it was a so and so. Good exercise is the only positive I can think of...