Fire Thread! - Stoves, Wood, Axes, Chainsaws

xdcx said:
So after singing the praises for those Valiant Ventum 3 fans for years.... mines died yesterday :(
Bought end of September 2018 so it has only done 2 winters and already gave up.
I have emailed Valiant but not got a reply yet.

Stripped the motor out of the thing. Can't believe how hard it appears to find a replacement for the damn thing....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stove-Replacement-CWLAKON-Models-Medium/dp/B07JLBC2VZ

Out of stock. But that is the exact motor I need. Can't find that item anywhere else.
Clutching at straws but anyone got any ideas/suggestions on where I might get one of these motors?
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Have you looked on CPC / Farnell or RS Components eg

https://cpc.farnell.com/w/c/electro...chanical/motors/prl/results?st=electric motor
 
I've seen one person in this thread mention solid fuel. Why is wood so popular now? I grew up with an open coal fire (I remember it being welsh/notts coal, and then Polish) and have fond memories.

We've rented cottages with wood stoves and staring at the flames is wonderful, but now we're thinking of installing one I've got the wood or multifuel question to face.

What's been the attraction of wood for you?
 
I use hard wood on a bed of anthracite, need to find a bulk supplier of anthracite locally as it'll probably be a bit cheaper than the 25kg bags.
 
Harnser said:
I've seen one person in this thread mention solid fuel. Why is wood so popular now? I grew up with an open coal fire (I remember it being welsh/notts coal, and then Polish) and have fond memories.

We've rented cottages with wood stoves and staring at the flames is wonderful, but now we're thinking of installing one I've got the wood or multifuel question to face.

What's been the attraction of wood for you?
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I vowed to never burn coal on mine because the people across the street, despite having 4 stores full of wood, burn coal.... and it is disgusting. You can taste it when you go outside and the reek goes all over the street.

I'm from a coal mining village and grew up with everyone burning nothing but coal in open fires for most of my childhood and even I still can't go back to that dirty stuff.

Also because I can get all my own wood and don't have to pay the coal man :p
 
xdcx said:
Mine was £20 more than that. Hardly expensive.

Valiant are sending me out a new motor for free :) It's over 2 years old but they said it's fine and they will honour it. So I am happy with that. Probably what that extra £20 on an expensive fan has rewarded me? ;)
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Thats still £20 more you could have spent on beer :D
How much better does it blow than a cheapy?;)
 
Does anyone know where I might get a baffle plate made? Mine is warped and I don't know the brand of wood burner.
 
Just take old one to a metal work shop/factory /fabricators.
I just took some drawings into a fabrication place and they cut all I wanted from sheet 4mm - A Mate welded it all together and I had a very cheap wood burner that woked just as well as a clearview - They even bent the baffle plate - Made 8 in the end with the last three having front and sides all one piece and lift off top to clean it out.
I do miss that one in dining room - walk down the stairs and heat hit you.
 
Yeah i had a valiant fan given to me as the motor had worn out, thought it'd be easy but they're so hard to find bits for at sensible prices.

Ended up buying a new one from Amazon in some fire slate 2 years ago on black Friday, it's a no-name but it's identical to the Valiant in every single way, every wrinkle in the casting etc so i wouldn't ever pay their premium myself.
 
How to tell kiln dried hard wood from naturally seasoned soft wood? My Mum had a stove fitted last year and a friend of a friend gives her mates rates on logs and they're supposedly kiln dried, but I have my doubts and think she's just getting cheap off cuts from his main business of landscaping as some of it still has moss on it etc.

She pays about £70 for a half ton bag, what is the going rate for pucka stuff and how can I tell what it is she is getting at the minute?
 
There shouldn’t be live moss on seasoned wood. Dead, dry and yellow moss might still be attached; but most people scrape moss off logs when they split them as the moss holds moisture and you didn’t want moisture in your wood pile.

Seasoned wood should be darker in colour than kiln dried wood, especially with oak that has a high tannin content.

Either way, the firewood needs to have been split into the desired lengths before drying/seasoning starts.

YT has many videos on the subject, but they’re very USA focused and they burn a lot of woods that you just don’t see in the U.K.
 
Telecaster said:
She pays about £70 for a half ton bag
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Full ton bags from the online shippers tend to be about £120-150 but that includes a hefty markup from shipping on a pallet. I've never seen kiln dried wood with moss on, most of it comes out of eastern Europe and is very clean. Even UK based cozilogs has UK mixed ton bags of kiln dried wood for £120. I'd say your mum is being ripped off.
 
Telecaster said:
How to tell kiln dried hard wood from naturally seasoned soft wood? My Mum had a stove fitted last year and a friend of a friend gives her mates rates on logs and they're supposedly kiln dried, but I have my doubts and think she's just getting cheap off cuts from his main business of landscaping as some of it still has moss on it etc.

She pays about £70 for a half ton bag, what is the going rate for pucka stuff and how can I tell what it is she is getting at the minute?
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Yeah if it has green moss on it then it's very, very unlikely it is kiln dried.
Post pictures of some pieces and split some to see what moisture % is in middle of some.

£70 is not mates rates for half a ton bag of anything. Even kiln dried oak IMO, that's rip off material.

£70-£80 in most of the UK *should* get you a full ton bag of seasoned hard wood. As in, if you are not buying from a total chancing ****** (of which there are many in the selling wood game unfortunately) it should result in a wood that is dry and great to burn. Someone decent will be able to tell you where it's from, what it is and how dry it is before you are lumped with the stuff.

I can get a full ton bag of kiln dried softwood (pine/larch) delivered here for £65. Nobody doing hardwood around here any more, it's all softwood as we have so much big cuts happening on the hills there is insane amounts of the stuff to be had as bulk.
 
The most accurate way is a moisture meter as.above

I get a.tipper load full (about 3 builders.bags / 3m3) of seasoned mixed hard and soft and it was £165 for the last delivery a.few weeks ago
 
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