Fire Thread! - Stoves, Wood, Axes, Chainsaws
- Thread starter xdcx
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Soldato
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- 13 Aug 2004
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- England
Second time I've lit the fire this autumn.
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Ha!Had ours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, since the weather was soo miserable.
Unfortunately it's not really cold enough yet, so had to open the windows to let some of the crazy heat out!
I was broaching the idea of getting our lounge burner up and running last night
The Mrs was sat with a blanket on the settee saying so long as it doesn't get too hot ..
Had some washing to get dry and it does do an awesome job of that.
Getting close to lighting ours... Did a bunch of room shuffling this year and have ended up splitting up old IKEA furniture to burn as not worth selling it. Have loads of it (3 wardrobes at least!) but know it's going to burn damn fast when we start - but garage is very full of it so hope to start soon! 
Had a firewood delivery end of last month, usual mess up with supplier - we order it for end of October and they deliver it end of September, moan about it and they offer some money off it - still £189 for a 'square pallet'. We got through 1.5 of those last winter and had run empty... Got a lot more cuts from the farm this year and intending on getting some more blocks all stocked up for when we've got the space for them.
Considering changing our stove, something to pump more heat out. Anyone done much on BTU's and up the the regs for any recommendations? We've got a big place, 1970's build so insulation isn't great. Semi-open plan main lounge with dining area opened at the side of it... Still seem to find the heat stays in that room on the coldest parts of the winter and we end up huddled around the fire! Fairly sure it's too small for the space it's in (suffice to say the bloke who did it is no longer in business), while also recessed into the chimney (which we had knocked out for it)... So probably have to consider getting someone in to open it up further along with a beefier stove then only being semi-recessed for better air circulation...
Couple of pics from August on last visit to the farm, waited for the temperatures to drop then cleared up a bunch of old stuff that had been under tarps, which I'd hauled out to dry/air in around June...
Oh and @{SAS}TB happy with my saw horse! Ordered the Oregon one from rainforest and they cancelled 1 then the next had a 3 week delivery time on it. Hunted around and found this one similar price and in stock at Screwfix so easy to grab it - very happy with it!
Thought it might be flimsy with no upper struts but so far so good. Was an absolute 'mare to put together - instructions would have been best ignored! Took over an hour to put together with limited tools in the field, rookie error!
Had a firewood delivery end of last month, usual mess up with supplier - we order it for end of October and they deliver it end of September, moan about it and they offer some money off it - still £189 for a 'square pallet'. We got through 1.5 of those last winter and had run empty... Got a lot more cuts from the farm this year and intending on getting some more blocks all stocked up for when we've got the space for them.
Considering changing our stove, something to pump more heat out. Anyone done much on BTU's and up the the regs for any recommendations? We've got a big place, 1970's build so insulation isn't great. Semi-open plan main lounge with dining area opened at the side of it... Still seem to find the heat stays in that room on the coldest parts of the winter and we end up huddled around the fire! Fairly sure it's too small for the space it's in (suffice to say the bloke who did it is no longer in business), while also recessed into the chimney (which we had knocked out for it)... So probably have to consider getting someone in to open it up further along with a beefier stove then only being semi-recessed for better air circulation...
Couple of pics from August on last visit to the farm, waited for the temperatures to drop then cleared up a bunch of old stuff that had been under tarps, which I'd hauled out to dry/air in around June...
Oh and @{SAS}TB happy with my saw horse! Ordered the Oregon one from rainforest and they cancelled 1 then the next had a 3 week delivery time on it. Hunted around and found this one similar price and in stock at Screwfix so easy to grab it - very happy with it!
Thought it might be flimsy with no upper struts but so far so good. Was an absolute 'mare to put together - instructions would have been best ignored! Took over an hour to put together with limited tools in the field, rookie error!
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A free-standing stove will likely generate much more heat into the room.
Our downstairs is all mostly open plan, with the free-standing Stovax Vogue in the extension that's wrapped in massive windows. Even in winter, once it's up to temp the whole of the downstairs is warmed just from the stove.
It's the midi-T one, which is rated at 5kW. (2.5 - 7 range)
We could make it warmer on the other side of the house if we used some fans to help move the warm air around. The downstairs loo which is on the opposite side of the house to the log burner stays pretty cold, but that's due to the doors in between blocking the warmth.
Our downstairs is all mostly open plan, with the free-standing Stovax Vogue in the extension that's wrapped in massive windows. Even in winter, once it's up to temp the whole of the downstairs is warmed just from the stove.
It's the midi-T one, which is rated at 5kW. (2.5 - 7 range)
We could make it warmer on the other side of the house if we used some fans to help move the warm air around. The downstairs loo which is on the opposite side of the house to the log burner stays pretty cold, but that's due to the doors in between blocking the warmth.
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Had the chimney sweep come a couple of weeks ago, so ready to go now the temperature is dropping.
@Roady - no help on BTUs but I was thought the Clearview Stoves showroom in Ludlow was superb when we went in a good few years ago.
@Roady - no help on BTUs but I was thought the Clearview Stoves showroom in Ludlow was superb when we went in a good few years ago.
Good shout - Ludlow being an easy one as the inlaws are there.
Crazy money everywhere. A couple here like Certainly Wood seem really popular and very active on local social groups, can sometimes have deals but not prices I'd touch at the moment. We've used 'Pontrilas Sawmills' the last couple of seasons - https://maps.app.goo.gl/vakzQpbM4JBa898x7 (they don't seem to have an active website?!). They're a massive commercial sawmill and you'll regularly see their lorries around. I seem to recall ring them up and say you're after 'hardwood offcuts for home' and you'll get put through a guy who tells you what's available (can get his number if needed). If they don't have offcuts then then ask him for hardwood blocks, can barely tell the difference when we get them just the blocks has more rough stuff from the mill they've kiln dried rather than straight edge stuff that's split when they've processed it.
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The ever increasing cost is why I started to process my own a few years ago
The Mrs thinks I'm mad (as I sure the neighbours do) when I have the tree surgeons dropping a load on the drive but it saves a small fortune, I like to be organized and I love the whole process from laughing them about, cutting and splitting - certainly one of my happy places
The Mrs thinks I'm mad (as I sure the neighbours do) when I have the tree surgeons dropping a load on the drive but it saves a small fortune, I like to be organized and I love the whole process from laughing them about, cutting and splitting - certainly one of my happy places
I wouldn't mind doing that myself as we have space around the garden to stash logs to season for a year - just need to find a friendly tree surgeon who will drop sensible sized stuff that I can easily work through.The ever increasing cost is why I started to process my own a few years ago
The Mrs thinks I'm mad (as I sure the neighbours do) when I have the tree surgeons dropping a load on the drive but it saves a small fortune, I like to be organized and I love the whole process from laughing them about, cutting and splitting - certainly one of my happy places
I've done similar whenever the usual tree surgeons are around. Even when sorting neighbours trees I manage to get a few big branches off them. Had a load on the drive for a year, then chopped them up. Got a load of hazel logs from my own tree's I'm mixing in with the kiln dried.
Soldato
- Joined
- 14 Apr 2004
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Just swapped out our old Esse for a Heta Inspire, the heat control is actually amazing
Spent an hour chopping some wood on saturday afernoon. New chain and some 5 or 6 year seasoned willow meant for easy cutting and splitting. Most of the rounds fell in half before I even picked up the Fiskars. Was a bit easier than the last time I saw this wood, when it had a bees nest in it. Needless to say they were not best happy when we started cutting it in to lengths!
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