Long shot, in need of firewood!

I got 500kg of coal delivered from CPL and it cost me £150 called homefire its a blend of coal and 2 other things I can't remember off the top of me head burn hot and slow.

http://www.coals2u.co.uk/homefire-25kg-prepacked

Homefire generates a lot of heat and leaves behind very little ash. It combines all the traditional qualities of a real fire, is slow burning and easy to control. What’s more, it produces a fraction of the smoke and less carbon dioxide than coal

Powerful - excellent sustained heat output.
Long Lasting - Lasts up to 40% longer than traditional house coal.
Environmentally-friendly - up to 80% less smoke and 25% less CO2 emissions than traditional housecoal.
Attractive - good flame picture.
Clean - little residual unburnt fuel..
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you will have to check if your in a smoke controlled area as you might need smokeless but to me it only smokes when you first light it, my fire has been going 24/7 since friday it is ok in multifuel stoves too.
 
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shimy182 said:
We clean the chimney out every 3 years, and its 3 years because it makes it big enough to scrape off. I know its unfit to burn, but we tend to go for it anyway. This/last year, our preperation was not enough, hence we're running out :(.

last year, we used fresh wood for the last 2 weeks or so.

Anyway, you've warned me now, so when I make the " chimney damaged beyond repair" thread, you can say " i told you so " :)

Also, I'm liking the news paper compactor idea :p
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if you burn mostly wood you should have it swept 2-3 times every year for coal its yearly
 
If you lived near me you could have an endless supply of old wooden window and door frames. Well, whats left over, as my dad has a wood burner.
 
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shimy182 said:
So long shot I know, but we're already nearly out of firewood and it is cold... We do have central heating but its pants !
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What you need is a couple of big jumpers!
Think how environmentally friendly it would be to not heat (but keep above 0*C though) your house all winter, you would save loads of money as well!

Anyway, don't you have peat to burn in Cambridge? Set up a little illegal peat mine :)
 
If you can get too oxford we got a whole cage of broken pins from our bowling alley here you can have.

Just need to get the plastic off which shouldn't be too hard :)
 
Check Ebay, we found a guy that delivers 4 ton / crane bags of seasoned hardwood logs for £120 cash, good quality logs.

Don't mix logs & coal

Don't burn pallets other than for kindling, it burns too fast so pumps the heat up the chimney it does not radiate heat

Your not allowed to burn plywood or anything with glue, mdf etc

Window frames are a very bad idea, burning paint is toxic and old sash windows may have asbestos rope

The newspaper thing is good but you have to burn with a mix of logs 2 : 1

Dead wood is rubbish it'll burn too quickly, what you want is cut logs seasoned for at least a summer in a barn
 
Big bags for firewood are like £3 at my local garage and it lasts for ages.

You wouldn't consider buying it, but you'll willingly ask a forum if you can come round and chop a tree.
 
maccapacca said:
Don't mix logs & coal
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Any particular reason?

My Auntie primarily uses an open fire despite having central heating and has used one her whole life.

She always gets a good bed of coals going then uses logs as she gets them cheaper. Works very well as far as I can see.
 
Like someone suggested, you could check your local joinery workshops to see what offcuts they have. Try to get hardwood blocks as they burn much slower. Problem is if anyone that works there has an open fire it's likely they'll be doing the same thing.
 
maccapacca said:
Check Ebay, we found a guy that delivers 4 ton / crane bags of seasoned hardwood logs for £120 cash, good quality logs.

Don't mix logs & coal

Don't burn pallets other than for kindling, it burns too fast so pumps the heat up the chimney it does not radiate heat

Your not allowed to burn plywood or anything with glue, mdf etc

Window frames are a very bad idea, burning paint is toxic and old sash windows may have asbestos rope

The newspaper thing is good but you have to burn with a mix of logs 2 : 1

Dead wood is rubbish it'll burn too quickly, what you want is cut logs seasoned for at least a summer in a barn
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Don't burn treated wood either. Some of it is treated with an arsenic compound.
 
Fourstar said:
Any particular reason?

My Auntie primarily uses an open fire despite having central heating and has used one her whole life.

She always gets a good bed of coals going then uses logs as she gets them cheaper. Works very well as far as I can see.
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It works well yes , but you have to sweep your chimney more frequently, the moisture from the logs sticks the soot from the coal to the chimney, it's ok as long as you understand
 
We have a wood burner and going throught the wood we had last year like theres no tomorrow!! Got to find some myself. Used loads of pallets last year too but very hard work that!!

We did buy some wood in too.

Couldn't get my mother-in-law in the fire!!
 
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koolpc said:
We have a wood burner and going throught the wood we had last year like theres no tomorrow!! Got to find some myself. Used loads of pallets last year too but very hard work that!!

We did buy some wood in too.

Could get my mother-in-law in the fire!!
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ow, and it seems you will understand the pain too.

also to add to why i dont want to buy wood, houses that partially reply on fire uses a LOT of wood, and so buying will also cost quite a bit, then it just becomes more effective to leave the crappy heating on 24/7. But with rising fuel prices, things may soon change :)

also depends on the size, but chopping a tree will get you a lot of wood.

Trying the pallet idea soon too, and also considering coal if things turn bad.

Thanks so far for the posts !
 
Our heating is rubbish too. I type this wearing a very thick fleece!!!!!!! House is very old and badly insulated. Solid stone walls.

I suffer with a bad back too so cutting would is literally a 'pain'.

Got to cut up some later with my little elec saw!!

Should buy a chainsaw but they are so dangerous and heavy for me with bad back.

I don't want to get pallets again as very hard going but needs might push me that way.
 
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