There are some weird ones out there that seem to be jumping on the eco/green bandwagon - I’ve seen but never tried ones made from dried coffee grounds (Morrison’s petrol station) and coconut husks.
Also got taken in by some blurb on a manufactured coal briquette bag and bought a few to try - they had some kind of olive base and absolutely stank the house out.
Some years ago (at my previous house, which had one logburner) I bought a device for making paper fuel bricks. Shred then soak the paper (preferrably unglazed such as newspaper), and this device - a sort of press - squeezes out the water and forms a brick, that then needs to be left to dry for quite a long time.
They were OK, and at least were a reasonable way of getting rid of the paper - but quite a faff.
At our house in Nova Scotia we run a Vermont Castings standalone Resolute model cast iron wood burner … Fuel is a mix of hard and soft woods … beech (pieces of bark are great for getting the fire started), spruce, alder and oak. With an open plan style house it does indeed heat up the whole place … to an extent that it’s recommended to close bedroom doors upstairs.
We had to run it in the summer when Hurricane Dorian came through and we were without power for a week … a bath tub of water drawn before we lost power and a cast iron dutch oven and skillet allowed us to have tea, coffee, fry ups … just like camping …
Up there people normally have their wood delivered in the Spring and let it sit out on their yard to dry until September time when they bring it in to a shed/storage.
A friend of mine stocked up this year as he’d heard that there could be a cold snap sometime in February … always planning ahead…
Take it seriously then😉
I’ve seen those devices and a few YouTube clips of people making newspaper logs.
Nice oak logs from a local farmer who’s been supplying us for 20 years. The main fire in the cottage is a Jotul 6 which was refurbished 16 years back. The chimney is swept twice a year. The logs are barn seasoned and not at all damp. Worse thing is to burn damp wood - a sure way to see tar in the chimney an a potential chimney fire!
My neighbour uses post prettily sawn kiln dried logs. Not exactly environmentally friendly in my book. We use so called environmentally friendly BBQ fire starters and normally one is fine. We also don’t light a fire until we dip to 5C either.
When it gets really cold we use a Coalbrookdale 7 solid fuel burner in the snug as it burns 24 hours but that only lit when it’s really cold and then only for no more than 2-3 weeks a year.
For fuel, when we had a wood burner, we bought ‘tips and butts’ from a local wood yard - a flatbed truckload lasted over a year, though a lot of time chopping up - bought a chainsaw and a hydraulic log splitter, and spent a few weekends cutting to size and stacking in covered storage alond two walls of the house. It was very effective, and not particularly expensive, but then it was not the primary house heating.
There we go…
Some beautiful fireplaces on show and I have to say I’m rather jealous. All may not be lost though because we’re looking to install a log burner in our cabin/summerhouse. It’s only about 4m x 3m so according to the calculator for non-insulated rooms we don’t need anything more than 3 - 4kw. I know I’ve got to install a stone hearth but but having made up a shortlist I came across this somewhat vital piece of information:
To comply with British building regulations, you or your installer need to ensure that the heat of the stove can’t cause a fire. In short, you need a hearth. And your hearth needs to be big enough so that if a log or other burning fuel were to spill from the stove, it would fall harmlessly on to a fireproof surface.
In many cases a stove needs to be installed on top of 125mm (5 inch) “constructional hearth”. However, where a stove has been marked as “suitable for a 12mm hearth”, you will be allowed to use it freestanding on top of one of our easy-to-install one-piece hearths. These stoves have been tested to make sure they don’t get hotter than 100 degrees Celsius at hearth level.
What’s more, if the regulations permit you to have a 12mm hearth, it can be placed on any surface, including wooden floors.
So, the suitability for installing on a 12mm hearth has cut down the choices by about 50%, looks are important too because we want a large window in the door to see the flames. I’ve emailed a couple of companies for advice and to see what flue type and fittings they recommend for a wooden roof.
Check out Salamander stoves. We have one in our shepherd’s hut in the garden. Wonderful and even made in Devon. The hut needed fire boards on two sides plus a stone floor - lime slab from our neighbour’s posh new kitchen. The chimney is a double skinned one and installed by a guy who does narrow boats in Brighton. We needed to include a floor vent and a CO monitor to comply.
We used to have one of those. I loved it, although to see the flames, you have to open the doors, so it becomes a relatively inefficient open fire rather than a stove. I eventually changed it for a little Morso, which is brilliant.
A Hobbit stove is one of the options we are considering and I notice Salamander are doing a complete stove/flue package for £995.
Your hut looks great BTW and a pic of the inside would be good to see.
We have a clearview that is used a lot in the colder months. Fuelled from hardwoods felled on the farm (living next to the in laws has its advantages), seasoned for a few months in the open then in a barn for a few more months. We planted several thousand trees I think around 7-8 years ago (mix of lots of different native woods but a fairly high proportion of ash) and should be able to coppice the ash fairly soon. The farm has probably 100 or so mature trees and 4 or 5 are cut down each year. My father in law regularly plants a few new ones here and there
We also have a small wood burner in the front room but that gets very restricted use
I understand that there will be fairly stringent restrictions coming in in the next few years - but don’t know if that will be in urban areas only.
We looked at wood pellet boiler when we did the house (2007/2008) but the company I spoke to gave some thinly disguised lies about the costs and output of pellets. May have moved on since then. I would like to replace our oil boiler and Rayburn with something more “green” but difficult to find any sensible options at the same time as having money to fund them!
I’ll take one tomorrow for you. We have the Hobbit with the log stand. The double walled chimney starts 30 cms before it passes through the roof.
Sad to hear you have so much Ash. Here in the Cotswolds the fungal disease known as ash dieback is devastating woods and hedgerows. On many estates around here removal of ash is on an industrial scale, and in Kent local arborists are refusing to cut them down because of the H&S hazards (shedding of limbs, shearing at the root collar, and trunk shattering). In Eire the recommendations are to deal with ash removal as if it was ‘foot and mouth’, with vehicles and equipment being disinfected. Much of the felled ash is not suitable for burning as fuel because the fungal spores could infect other ash; subsequently, they are burnt where they are felled.
Thanks for taking the time to photograph the stove, it looks like a really good option for us.
Like your hut decor too, ours is still natural pine but the other half keeps threatening to get the paint brushes out.
Do you have any music in there? At the moment we’ve only got an Echo streaming Amazon Music but something better may be in the offing soon as we’d like to stream Tidal.
Just a Roberts Radio. I do have high speed broadband to it so I suppose I could upgrade the listening experience! It’s mostly used as a home office and has a daybed too - all in the interests of a days work of course!
Our installer really knew what he was doing and said that he’s seen some horrors in the past with single skinned flues installed through wooden roof spaces.
That Hobbit does get warm though!
Popped in to a local fireplace installer today and was pleased to see they sold the Hobbit SE so was able to compare it with a few others in my price range. Log size is a consideration and having already processed a fair bit the thought of having to cut nearly every log in half to get it to fit in the Hobbit is probably a step too far.
I’m getting quotes for both supply and a complete install of the stove and flue. Do you mind giving me a rough idea of what your fitter charged please?
