Don't overestimate your wood pile

[Yorkshire Andy]

Take care putting loose saw dust / shavings on your burner...

in the right conditions (decent chimney draw and good air supply) the convectional current + draw can "aerosol" the dust and become explosive... Saw some photos of a Large wood burner used by a joiners shop for heating and it Blew the big cast door off the stove half way across the workshop


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-TWN1omB6I

[grenfell]

Yes I've seen that. To be fair when I said sawdust I actually mean more of the stuff that comes out of a power planer rather than actual dust. There's a bit of dust but not much really , perhaps I should be more specific . I tend to fill small boxes with that and shavings as a starter more than anything else. I tend to get rid of most of my wood waste in an old barbecue , there being far to much for the Woodburner but not wanting to waste all the potential ash for the garden . I have noticed that the planer chipping don't burn well in a large amount as the surface of the pile burns and chars but leaves the rest untouched so it needs constant raking through. Funnily enough we tried using straw on a bread oven ( the domed type) during a re-enactment and found the same thing , a large mass just doesn't burn , it needs a constant feeding of small amounts. To compound the problem it's a very "untidy" fuel and try as one can it's impossible to stop the floor ending up littered with straw. We knew that using straw was banned in London and other cities and we could see why , the potential for the fire spreading is obvious and that problem would be exactly the same if anyone tried using loose shavings and chippings in a woodburner.

[preparedsurrey]

Between 60 and 120 for a builders bag delivered round here. Luckily I take all my off cuts home and cut up any scrap timber from work so we have never bought any.

I did experiment with cardboard carpet tubes stuffed with sawdust soaked in old engine oil, they burned ok but it was too much of a faf making them up.

[Medusa]

We have an oil fired central heating boiler and are currently paying £280 for 700ltrs. We usually get through around 1000 ltrs a year. This heats our water and is usually on for 3-4 hours each day in winter, sometimes more. In summer it's on for 2 hours water only. The rest of the time we heat the house with 2 log burners using mostly "free" wood. Usually this is pallet wood or bits of trees which people give us if we shift them. We bought a tonne bag of logs a few years ago when supplies were short but it was soaking wet and useless until the following season. We have an 8 x 6ft cabin which is full of cut and dried wood each year and a new addition this year of a 1200 ltr garden storage box which was also full but we still ran out. We usually end up cutting additional wood in January each year on fine days. Yes I agree with the comment that sometimes it seems a lot of hard work but I do enjoy being outside with the axe and/or chopsaw and knowing that we have managed to halve our oil costs makes it worthwhile. In an ideal situation we would have more wood storage space and back boilers connected to the log burners.

[jansman]

We have an oil fired central heating boiler and are currently paying £280 for 700ltrs. We usually get through around 1000 ltrs a year. This heats our water and is usually on for 3-4 hours each day in winter, sometimes more. In summer it's on for 2 hours water only. The rest of the time we heat the house with 2 log burners using mostly "free" wood. Usually this is pallet wood or bits of trees which people give us if we shift them. We bought a tonne bag of logs a few years ago when supplies were short but it was soaking wet and useless until the following season. We have an 8 x 6ft cabin which is full of cut and dried wood each year and a new addition this year of a 1200 ltr garden storage box which was also full but we still ran out. We usually end up cutting additional wood in January each year on fine days. Yes I agree with the comment that sometimes it seems a lot of hard work but I do enjoy being outside with the axe and/or chopsaw and knowing that we have managed to halve our oil costs makes it worthwhile. In an ideal situation we would have more wood storage space and back boilers connected to the log burners.

I get it.Our primary heating is solid fuel and we would not be without it.Our wood is pretty much free as I am a resourceful chap.If I had to buy it,it would not be viable.We use £240 in coal for a whole year on top of that,so the stoves really pack a punch.

We had problems with our gas heating in the Autumn.We never really used it tbh,except when really cold.Anyhow,that boiler( only a couple of years or so old ) packed up.Importantly it heated our water. Well,it turned out that it was already obsolete ( don't start me off!) And could not be fixed.

So,we said we had better replace it.Not cheap.However,our Victorian cottage was purchased in 1989.The builder who renovated it laid all the heating and gas pipes under a concrete screed.New regulations state that they too are obsolete! Cannot fit boiler without all new piping.In a house like this with small rooms and no straight runs its an impossible task.And VERY VERY expensive. To do it without piping on the walls and ripping the house apart was gonna be in the region of £3000.Plus about £2500 for the boiler.Then decoration and new carpetiAnd we would have to move out.No way!

So I got the Plumber to remove the system.He was incredulous at the suggestion. I told him we were going electric.I had an immersion heater and digital timer fitted for £180 ,and infra red heating panels for £900 throughout. Our plumber got it! He's an intelligent bloke and is aware of this emerging technology. If a panel goes wrong,its stand- alone and costs bugger all to sort.And it works.

Family said,"what if there's a power cut ?". Well your gas heating won't work either!!!
So we now have a power mix that is sustainable. Sustainable as regards the solid fuel and sustainable as regards fixing the water and back up heating in financial way.

I don't know about you, but gas heating boilers have to be THE elephant in the room for any home owner.So damned expensive, and so temperamental. We have eliminated that.The wood heating remain core,as it has for the last 15 years,with efficient electric heating as back up.Keeping the wood pile stacked is a pleasure as it keeps me both fit and free of the 'Man'.

[sethorly]

Thanks for sharing jansman, I'm going to look into that.

[DustyDog]

I am lucky enough at the moment to be able to store lots of wood, i buy a half artic load of corded wood, i.e around 12-14 tons, which i chainsaw, split with an axe and put into one of my 3 log stores, this lasts around 18 months, depending on how cold it is of course, but as Britcit has stated, this can quickly get depleted, so even with the amount of wood i can carry (i reckon i can have up to about 20 tons) you can burn through it before you know it, you can never have enough wood.

[pseudonym]

Dusty, I wish I had the room