Witterings

Sorry for late response .... got caught up with Xmas and hope everybody had a good one! I will grab a bit, split it and test the middle, she tried some other wood as well and that worked fine so it's definitely not the burner / installation which is good. Think I'm going to suggest she gets some other decent wood and keep this load to next year which will give it a chance to dry out properly and no money wasted. Cheers for everyone's help ... much appreciated!

Where it's a tall cheese shapes wedge I did it all round with the meter apart from the bark side and they were all pretty much the same. I didn't recognise the wood as anything I'd seen before so just wondered if maybe whatever it is just isn't great for stoves.

Cheers for that, have now attached☺️

Can anybody tell me what wood this is? Mother in law has just had a burner installed, I gave her some wood I had which burnt absolutely fine and she ordered some kiln dried of which this is one log and it burns really poorly .... It lights but is difficult to keep it alight. I stuck a moisture meter on it and it's between 14 and 16% so pretty much what kiln dried should be but it's really not great!

Hadn't thought about a roller 1st, if I'm honest though I'd probably rather change the mower than create the extra work. Though about a meadow for part of it but it'd only cover a small part of the problem area and would make it even harder to clear up after the dogs, wouldn't want to just let it accumulate, it'd be a nighmare with flies in the summer.

I have a Hayter 56 with a roller and whilst it's brilliant in the summer we get a lot of worm casts in the winter and it's totally useless as one length of the lawn and the roller completely clogs up with mud, I'm sure it can't be doing it any goof either as it's constantly trying to drive with heavy resistance. My choices are either sell it and get one with wheels instead or buy a cheap mower for either side of the summer that works reasonably well, I try and keep the lawn fairly short and use it to pick up leaves in the winter as we have 2 dogs and it's really hard to find their poop if the grass is long or covered in leaves. If anybody's got any recommendations for something relatively "cheap'ish" that ,may be OK appreciated.

Guess this is a typo ... the D is next to the F on a keyboard ... As the Mrs really doesn't like the slugs as they eat her plants, I'll let her know what you recommend ... what sort of ferquency's required?

Cheers for everyone's replies, think it's made my mind up as I have quite a lot of wood and would have to pay for coal I'll probably stick with wood although I did fancy not having to top it up quite so frequently hence why the coal appealed. That said, if coal ash is a slug killer I could be awfully tempted to have a change of heart as we're plagued with the bloomin critters 😄

I've got a multifuel stove but believed you should either burn logs OR coal but not mix them. From memory I think part of the reason was your meant to use the vent underneath if it's logs and the vent in the door if it's coal. Anybody know if you should / shouldn't and the reasoning behind it?

Brilliant .... cheers guys 👍

I've used Stihl SynthPlus recently and am running low, is there any real difference between that and something like the Silerhook linked here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverhook-SHCR5-Chainsaw-4-54-Litres/dp/B00YTPOAKS/ref=sr_1_4?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Gcxuld6Xth1IbAmW56AaweTdLVKqEPBkFtuccDxqJjh_rDqezrR0kooIix705HSYGl4LmMxm4SDyLP-MkKRKtNDLKTHmnOyyO5kuYarrSDShvuIFPwwrnRdX1S5bL7JgURyon25WNA-RrshFPFFH-2AAk-4x3vI1NJXah2K7fOPe2Rv8VN6ANDRpLBvNGpaUVL9oZ799mRQ9bkGGfqxwFZbsAjX5lSlcwMSZ1uiR8uc.MEJWde8FiVstavG0juq2oE1Q2F1_doRVvm4Wd8relBU&dib_tag=se&keywords=chainsaw%2Boil&qid=1719048446&rdc=1&sr=8-4&th=1 One of the reviews the guy was saying this is "thin" and getting thrown off the chain meaning he used about double the amount so was a false economy buying it. What's people thoughts on the best budget oil / bang for the buck which gives decent protection?

It wasn't disbelief .. it was just the 1st time I'd seen a comment along those lines and you often get people in forums who don't really know what they're talking about making a comment for the sake of it so thought I'd check it out. Now this is where I have egg on my face ... I missed your sign off of 22 years+ Garden Machinery Main Dealer ... So I look like the numpty now 😄 Seriously though, a BIG thank you for mentioning, could save me from an expensive mistake and really appreciated 👍

I was sceptical as to why this would happen and just spoke to a dealership who do extensive servicing as well and they confirmed it. Guess it comes down to a trade off of how much work there is to do and if it's worth the saving in fuel as chances are it'll need a service / replacement parts if I then revert to Aspen which'd cost about £60. There's also the hassle / time element of taking it there / picking up it up which equates to lost income as not working. The alternative of running it just on normal fuel and then leaving it for long periods unused is likely to cause more extensive problems with a much bigger repair bill. Think I'm going to take the view I got a sh1t load of Oak for next to nothing and paying a bit more for Aspen vs what the wood will save me in gas bills is absolutely huge. Cheers to everyone for their help though and will use the Esso fuel for lawn mower and any other garden tools in the future.

That's what I was thinking, run it till it's dry, put a small amout of Aspen in and run it a bit more when I know there's then going to be a gap in between uses. Does anybody know what teh difference is then between Aspen and Ethanol free and does the latter last / safe to leave in a machine any longer than normal fuel?

Cheers to all for the responses ... didn't mean to pick out one reply (and sorry for the ignorance I'm about to display) but when you say Esso fuel .... I'm guessing it means from an Esso garage and they're the only ones that sell it???? Sods law we have every other garage apart from Esso near here .... any idea if it's just the same as some of the higher RON ones at other garages?