Avinunca

I was used to the Home Bargains birch logs lighting extremely easily and assumed there was an issue with the new logs delivered to me. I used a lot of kindling today and put a thin log on top initially. This got the fire going a treat. I only had a very small amount of kindling left in the house before I bought more today. I bought some charcoal too but it wasn't needed. Thanks to everyone offering advice.

I was going to try using a lot more kindling but will try the charcoal if that fails - thank you.

An hour to get a fire going does seem a little slow and not very comfortable. Looks like I need to generate a lot of heat in the woodburner.

I had some Home Bargains logs left over from last winter. They burned beautifully. Couple of small (new) logs now burning nicely but it's taken ages to get them going.

There's a strong roaring updraught. Will take pics in daylight tomorrow. It's as if the logs are coated with fire retardant

It seems quite dense. It's difficult to split - very hard. May be some ash and other woods. Not sure.

I have a Morso Squirrel woodburner and for the last few years I've been buying kiln dried logs from Home Bargains. They have burnt very well and have been very easy to get going. They did perhaps burn too quickly - probably a less dense wood. In view of the increased cost of using the CH I had a delivery of 1.5 m3 kiln dried hardwood. I am having terrible trouble getting them to burn and the supplier collected a sample to test. My cheapie tester shows 18-20 % on the outside and on the inside of logs I split. It's all very frustrating, especially trying to keep at least one room warm until the temperatures merit using the CH. How is it that wood measuring 18-20% is so difficult to burn? Waiting on feedback from supplier. They are doing an oven test. They were very helpful and responsive. We had a long holiday after delivery and the logs were under a tarpaulin but with air able to reach them from behind and from the sides.