Wood burning stoves FUEL BAN from 2021

[sovietspybob]

I'm in the process of getting a log burner fitted.

This is for a couple of reasons,

a) Its a Victorian house and as such is cold as **** 90% of the time. The heating is OK but cant keep up in the larger rooms.
b) Yep, aesthetics. I do want to be curled up infront of a warm fire on a saturday night. sorry.
c) It was always going to be a defra approved low emissions jobber. I'm the first house into a smoke restriction area and as such I need to have one. Plus its better for the neighbours.

I'm not bothered about buying properly kiln dried wood, if I was then I wouldn't be living where I am. I've got space to store 'wet' wood until its dry but being the UK I've not got a great deal of confidence I'll be able to get it under 20%!

Just follow the general rules for seasoning and they dry out fine in the UK, make sure wherever you put it it has decent airflow though it. You see some people shove it all in a sheltered corner round the back of the hosue where the air cant get through it and it'll never season properly that way.

I've had some wood with around 40-50% moisture when delivered but after 12 months in a proper log store which keeps the rain off the top but allows for lots of airflow they'll be around 15%, also make sure when you stack it you leave an air gap between the rows that makes a big difference.

 

[joelk2]

when i see log stores they are all open fronted, how does one's logs dry out when its open fronted and always raining in the winter months when burning is at its highest? im having a burner fitted within the next few months so want to know how to properly store the wood.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Wood moisture content is measure as water/rest as opposed to water/total. So when you hear moisture % it can even be over 100%. IE a 10kg lump could contain 6kg of water, and hence be 6/4 = 150%

Unless you leave it in a position where it can absorb as much water as possible (it basically would need to be submerged) seasoned wood would have a lower % moisture than freshly cut wood.

It takes a long time for wood to fully dry, equally it takes a long time to fully absorb as much as it can. A good example is a deck board, it can rain for a day and yet underneath will be basically dry.
Seasoning allows the inside water from when the tree was alive to slowly wick out.

 

[zarnage]

when i see log stores they are all open fronted, how does one's logs dry out when its open fronted and always raining in the winter months when burning is at its highest? im having a burner fitted within the next few months so want to know how to properly store the wood.

The wind will usually always win. Log stores will be raised off the ground, to stop the logs drawing water up, and covered from the top, to stop the majority of the rain getting between them. But the sides are usually slatted to allow the wind to pass through. So the front being open isnt really a concern.

 

[joelk2]

The wind will usually always win. Log stores will be raised off the ground, to stop the logs drawing water up, and covered from the top, to stop the majority of the rain getting between them. But the sides are usually slatted to allow the wind to pass through. So the front being open isnt really a concern.

ahh cool thanks.

 

[sovietspybob]

This is a small one i made a few years ago, like said it's slatted all around to let the air through and its got a raised base to stop them sitting on the ground and drawing up any moisture.

You don't need to worry about a bit of surface rain as that doesn't really penetrate the wood much as long as the top is covered and it's not sat in a puddle it will season fine.

Well worth buying a moisture metre as well, they're less than £15 and makes life a lot easier knowing when it's good to burn, also a good haggling tool when getting logs delivered as you can test them and haggle the price down if it turns out they're not actually seasoned as much as the guy said!

 

[joelk2]

This is a small one i made a few years ago, like said it's slatted all around to let the air through and its got a raised base to stop them sitting on the ground and drawing up any moisture.

You don't need to worry about a bit of surface rain as that doesn't really penetrate the wood much as long as the top is covered and it's not sat in a puddle it will season fine.

Well worth buying a moisture metre as well, they're less than £15 and makes life a lot easier knowing when it's good to burn, also a good haggling tool when getting logs delivered as you can test them and haggle the price down if it turns out they're not actually seasoned as much as the guy said!

looks good.

as far as the logs themselves go how long does a cubic metre normally last?

 

[Orionaut]

looks good.

as far as the logs themselves go how long does a cubic metre normally last?

That's actually one of my bugbears. This stuff should be sold by weight not volume.

 

[sovietspybob]

looks good.

as far as the logs themselves go how long does a cubic metre normally last?

How long is a piece of string

Depends how big your burner is and how long you run it for.

We have a small 4kw stove which only takes 2 or 3 logs at a time and last say 90 minutes roughly between refuelling so we don't go through logs that fast.

We'd empty say 1 and a half of those size log stores per winter but we're not burning every day, mostly weekends and the occasional week day evening.

 

[dal]

Ive just read that small bags of coal are going to be banned from next year as well, does anyone know if this includes smokeless coal, i find it keeps the fire incredibly hot a lot longer than wood, although we do burn wood as well.

 

[alexakasloth]

@dal it's just traditional house coal (smokey stuff) from what I've gathered, smokeless coal will be ok.

 

[Orionaut]

@dal it's just traditional house coal (smokey stuff) from what I've gathered, smokeless coal will be ok.

Which you shouldn't use in stoves and are not allowed to burn in (Most) urban areas anyway.

Which is why this is an utterly pointless bit of legislation that will deliver no significant benefits and hurt poor people off the gas grid who have no choice.

 

[SPG]

Cant see the problem unless you burn coal in which case you need to pay a liitle more for smokeless, which is what i burn at the weekends with a log or two in the evening if the mood takes me.

This will not stop people burning green wood only buying it.

 

[LuckyBenski]

That's actually one of my bugbears. This stuff should be sold by weight not volume.

But that will incentivize sellers to keep wood wet. Or even spray it before selling (actually probably better as it will dry off again)

 

[a1ex2001]

Which you shouldn't use in stoves and are not allowed to burn in (Most) urban areas anyway.

Which is why this is an utterly pointless bit of legislation that will deliver no significant benefits and hurt poor people off the gas grid who have no choice.

It's a good bit of legislation as it removes from the markets fuels we should not be burning, there is no need of smokey horrible house coal I'm still amazed I can buy it at my local garage despite living in the middle of a large city which is naturally a smoke free zone. It shouldn't hurt anyone living off the gas grid as they can still buy heating oil or decent coal/seasoned wood which is what they should be burning anyway nobody should be heating a house with traditional house coal and wet wood.

Obviously you can't stop the skip divers from burning any old rubbish without direct enforcement but that is expensive and complicated hence nobody in the UK has been done under smokeless control laws in years.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

EEEEXXXXActlyyyyyyy!

You should should all get together and use the Ballot Box for what it is for!

(Sort of remember an anecdote from the classical era of Greek city states. It was democratic, anybody could propose a new Law, but when the vote was taken, they had to stand on a stool with a noose round their neck. If the vote went against them, the stool was kicked away! )

Oh man, this is great! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaleucus

 

[LeeUK]

It's only fashionable millennials who buy solid fuel and logs from petrol stations and diy sheds because they know nothing else. I grew up with solid fuel burners and our fuel was always bought from proper fuel merchants at half the price.

 

[topgun06]

It's only fashionable millennials who buy solid fuel and logs from petrol stations and diy sheds because they know nothing else. I grew up with solid fuel burners and our fuel was always bought from proper fuel merchants at half the price.

How much should we be looking to pay for a load of logs?

 

[alexakasloth]

I'd like to know as well what a good price/ fuel merchant is too. Coal and smokeless coal from say Wickes usually works out at the cheapest around here (smokeless 10kg bag for £3), but I buy "barrow bags" (1/2 * 1/2 * 1m) of seasoned ash logs for £45 from a fuel merchant in west sussex.

 

[LeeUK]

How much should we be looking to pay for a load of logs?

I'd like to know as well what a good price/ fuel merchant is too. Coal and smokeless coal from say Wickes usually works out at the cheapest around here (smokeless 10kg bag for £3), but I buy "barrow bags" (1/2 * 1/2 * 1m) of seasoned ash logs for £45 from a fuel merchant in west sussex.

I'm not up to speed on solid fuel prices now as I've no longer been on solid fuel heating for nearly 6 years.

A rule of thumb was I could get it for half the price from places like CPL or a local indie fuel merchant (telephone and cash on delivery) compared to B&Q and forecourt prices.