Rob_the_Sparky

I have both bamboo (2 types as far as I can tell) and cherry Laurel. I have had to remove a couple of clumps of the bamboo due to it running but most of it is still OK. This was all established when I moved in ~9 years ago. I like the look of the bamboo but would recommend you keep an look out for runners if you plant it. The runners we found were VERY long (20 feet+ in one case) and you have to get them all out to stop it re-sprouting.

I have a small 5kw clearview and my father has two 8kw ones. No problems to report in many years (mine is now at ~7 years and dads is at a LOT more than that). Mine has a smoke control kit on it and I too have to control heat output primarily by number and type of logs but it is not uncontrollable. Shut down the air and it does slow it down. Just once I think I have had it get WAY too hot and I simply opened the door. Sounds odd but seems that combination of a LOT of air and a lot more radiated heat brings down the flue temps. Only problem is a slight warping of the baffle plate but it causes no issues at the moment and is easily replaced if it gets worse. Rob P.S. The air inlet for the smoke control is easily located and could be blocked very easily on my stove if I desired but I have not felt the need to do that. P.P.S. I get through about 3 Cube a year as it is not my only heat source.

More to the point it sounds like traders are using the tip sites listings more when they are out of their area than in their local area. If you are looking for "regular" (well repeated anyway) supply then it seems to make more sense to make contact with firms locally.

LOL. Well actually I tried e-mails to several companies as I figure that these can be read whenever is convenient rather than ringing people who might be in the middle of a job. Only spoke to them after initial e-mail contact! N.B. thinking about it - I have also obtained wood from walking over and talking to people taking down a couple of trees in our road...

Just in case it helps. I contacted my local tree surgeons directly and now have enough supply from one of them to supply my needs for logs. Not all of them have material available but some do and as I live near him it works for us both. He is only quite a small business but had logs left over from what he needed so was happy to drop them at mine on the way home rather than have them build up in a big pile. This was sorted out before I found out about the tip site so I never needed to add myself. Rob P.S. I also put him in contact with my son's school and he drops off chip there.

Way way way back in the day I lived in a house with a blown hot air system (from an over night electrically heated heat store) and the problem was the cold air coming back to the blown air system meant there was a constant cold air draft around your ankles. Hence the idea to blow (and duct) the cold air to the burner rather than the hot air from the burner sounds like it might work better, avoiding that sort of draft occurring.

Another easily available free building material is broken 3" square fence posts. Most are over 6' long and in good condition where they were above ground. As they are treated they last longer than pallets. I have used these are the structure for my small log racks (0.7-1m^3) (painted pallet planks for the sides). The only pain is that the fence posts tend to be twisted so you have to figure out how to use them without this being an issue. I see no reason to sink anything into the ground as these are pretty heavy on their own and very heavy with logs in them. I have stood mine on slabs (just laid straight on the ground) to minimise rot. Built the first one about 4 years ago now and no sign of any rot yet.

I have no idea if this has ever been done but lower power motors can be used with an accumulator. They store fluid under pressure to be released when required. This does not increase the number of strokes that can be done per minute but does increase the speed of the stroke if there is a delay between strokes. I.e. the accumulator is charged while you go get another log and fluid is released when you use the splitter. They are used on BIG projects to move things like bridges without a stupidly large motor. No idea if they are even available at this scale but just a thought...

I suspect you will find that an open fire will give more direct heat but less total energy so they might be nice to sit in front of but relatively ineffective at heating the room. However, I'm more than happy with the radiated heat from a stove and would never go back to an open fire. If a stove is over sized though you may have to run it cool to prevent it over heating the house. In that case you will get relatively little direct (radiated) heat and just have a nice warm room. Not sure there is a right sized stove but our stove is undersized so we run it more or less flat out all the time and rely on the central heating when it gets properly cold outside. I'm sure though the right answer is not an open fire.

If Andy's thought about heating what is already there is valid then could the heat from the liner not be heating what is already in the chimney. I.e. what was there before the liner was installed If that happened you might get some smell even if there was no leak from either liner but when your stove was on anything produced would go up but when your is cold and next doors is heating maybe you can smell it?

I have a multi-fuel (Clearview) and TBH a bed of ash builds up really quite quickly on the grate if you don't disturb it. I'm surprised that this is a problem but have no experience with other grate designs. When the ash is getting a bit full I will poke it to reduce the amount but never to zero.

I'd guess it went in about 15 years ago, when our company was still on campus. Oh and yes it is a fair sized building and I guess you know the lake I mean. It was also a pretty sizeable pipe that was installed to circulate the water.

I don't know any details but for sure a pond can be used but it might have to be quite large. One of the University of Surrey's buildings is heated using this technique but the pond is actually quite a sizable lake. Interesting about the amount of heat from the core. wrt solar hot water: How do you avoid boiling the tank if not using water fast enough? If you size the panels to be useful in winter then in summer the power is just going to be far too much. (also going on holiday might be an issue) As most systems appear to be pumped, how do you prevent it boiling if the pump stops? Both of these have been things stopping me moving beyond thinking about it.

Don't know but there is clearly no doubt in his mind that kiln drying is the only option available to suppliers.

I would have thought that it would be terribly slow, having used a few car jacks for cars. Are you not better off with an axe or as above build an electric one? I use an axe for most of mine plus a wedge and sledge or just the saw for the horid bits.

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We (groups of parents) shovel it by hand every month or so at school and sometimes it is dry and mouldy. Never had a problem so I guess it depends if you are already susceptible and how much you breath in. I always stand back from the dust when this happens but you can't avoid breathing some of it.

I don't want to consider the cost of ripping up all our floors Good points wrt hot water and bacteria, not ones I was aware of. Does that mean some sort of supplementary system is a necessity? The other problems with heat pumps is they work to generate a temperature differential. If the medium you are using to exchange to gets colder then the max temperature generated also drops. A particular issue with air based heat exchangers, as the air temperature drops then the max temp they can generate also drops. I.e. just when you need more heating power, the amount available reduces. I'm interested to see how all this pans out. OK for new builds although builders are prone to doing the minimum they have to and fitting an air based exchanger is MUCH easier then a ground (or water - I.e. lake/pond) based system. For retro-fit systems what is not always considered is whether the existing mains infrastructure can actually support them (plus the power for the electric car). My brother in-law gave up on his heat exchanger plans after he found out the cost of installing a second mains feed to the house to power it (he does live out in the sticks so it would had to have come a long way).

If all central heating and all cars are to move to electricity then there will have to be BIG infrastructure changes. We have yet to be able to phase out gas power stations with renewables, let alone provide for the much increased demand that will occur if this is to become reality. Big infrastructure investment has to be paid for suggesting higher prices so it is certainly possible there will be more demand for logs. However, the large volume of logs needed to heat a house and the faff (relative to gas or electricity) or reloading boilers I suspect will limit the demand. Another thought is that if houses have to use heat pumps and they just aren't that good at producing high temps to heat the house then wood burners might be an option people turn to to supliment them. We do this with gas at the moment, I could just use gas but the direct heat of the wood burner is nice and means I burn less gas than I otherwise would (and I like hitting things with an axe )

Yeah, not convinced it will increase demand, particularly as there are people out there quite successfully presenting domestic solid fuel fires as dirty polluting things. What might increase demand is more WFH though, those of us with stoves have to be here to feed them so when at home I burn more than I do when I'm in the office. Having said that I DIY my wood from arisings so I'm not going to change the demand for logs

Republic of Ireland to ban the sale of polluting solid fuels - BBC News Ireland are not banning the burning of wood yet they show an image of a wood burner burning logs and you have to read to the end of the article to find that out. Bias anyone, or just poorly informed reporting?

Does this scheme prevent the delivery of arb waste or is it only relevant if the wood is in ready to burn sized chunks? I'm interested as most of the wood I burn is delivered this way but supply seems a bit thin this year.

Considered adding yourself to the tip site list linked to this site? You might also want to add what you want the wood for, I'm guessing firewood in which case do some homework as softwood burns well (when dry) and is much easier to get hold of. The more flexible you are the easier you make it for the suppliers.

Yeah, you may get waste wood but don't expect "firewood". Firewood is really the end product so cut to length, split and dried so has time and money invested in it. What you may be able to get will be freshly felled wood, if the company in question has no use for it or you are willing to pay enough to make it worth their while. Will depend on the company. I contacted several local companies directly and many have a use for the wood already. The tip site is a resource for the companies and may get you wood delivered. Will depend on your access and how well you enter your details and how far you are from their job site/route home. The idea is to make it easy for people so the better the information given the more likely you are to get wood.

Other solutions include guttering or large overhangs but yes that looks very neat. My logs are generally hanging out the front of the log store so no chance of fitting doors