Free Heat - well almost.

Ca1vados

FREE HEATING AND HOT WATER ?

We dump approx. 40 million tonnes of wood a year.

This is sufficient to heat nearly every home in UK.

New wood burning stoves have been developed to be "exempt ", that is, they can be used in smokeless zones. Some can feed heat to ten radiators.

Wood burners can be linked into existing gas and oil heating systems.

New wood pellet stoves are up to 90 % efficient and one charge can last up to 30 hours. BUT you will have to buy the pellets - approx. £50/60 per tonne as opposed to other solid fuel at £250 per tonne.

Check out these sites for starters. Old flues need lining but there is lots of inf. on how to and what to do. It's quite warming actually cutting the wood.

https://www.solidfuel.co.uk

https://www.nef.org.uk/logpile

Just found a kitchen company that burn all the old kitchens to provide heat for the factory - marvelous !!!!

Regards

Calvados

sarymclary

Hi,
I've got a Parkray Cumbria, and I've checked on their website, and it does state this model is multi-fuel. I'm very new to solid fuel heating (2 weeks in and counting..), and am amazed at how expensive it seems to cost to heat with smokeless (or even coal) - a couple of bags a week sets me back £24. I'm heating 7 radiators in a very small house, and whilst it seems relatively cosy (apart from the bathroom which is always freezing - despite a hot radiator), however, I've just moved from a large house with oil central heating, and I thought that was extortionate at £70 p/month, but it was a big house, with lots of radiators (more than double what I have now).
So, I'm wondering how using wood would compare on efficiency, cost, and in terms of waste generated. Smokeless creates a lot of ash, coal leaves a lot of 'coke' chunks. Will wood stay burning overnight, because I hate it when I have to rebuild the fire in my pyjamas, and I get covered in soot. Also, what is the criteria for storing? Obviously I have a coal-bunker at present, but would that be adequate?

Any advice, will be gratefully received (apologies for the pun)!

I'm off to stoke the fire up now....

paul_h

sarymclary wrote:

Hi,
I've got a Parkray Cumbria, and I've checked on their website, and it does state this model is multi-fuel. I'm very new to solid fuel heating (2 weeks in and counting..), and am amazed at how expensive it seems to cost to heat with smokeless (or even coal) - a couple of bags a week sets me back £24. I'm heating 7 radiators in a very small house, and whilst it seems relatively cosy (apart from the bathroom which is always freezing - despite a hot radiator), however, I've just moved from a large house with oil central heating, and I thought that was extortionate at £70 p/month, but it was a big house, with lots of radiators (more than double what I have now).
So, I'm wondering how using wood would compare on efficiency, cost, and in terms of waste generated. Smokeless creates a lot of ash, coal leaves a lot of 'coke' chunks. Will wood stay burning overnight, because I hate it when I have to rebuild the fire in my pyjamas, and I get covered in soot. Also, what is the criteria for storing? Obviously I have a coal-bunker at present, but would that be adequate?

Any advice, will be gratefully received (apologies for the pun)!

I'm off to stoke the fire up now....

I would shop round a bit for coal, I can't live far from you (Notts side of the Trent) and we paid £110 per tonne this winter for washed doubles - £5.50 per bag... Coke is dearer, but bear in mind that coal has a higher energy content by weight.

Burning wood is nice, but it can only make enough heat for hot water - it simply isn't hot enough to run a Central Heating system. The boilers which burn waste wood pellets with an automatic feeder are very good indeed, they are designed for running CH - but installations are very expensive... Grants are available though, as it's classed as renewable energy.

http://www.clear-skies.org/

Oh, and wood ash is very good for the garden.

CalvadosJnr

mmm love the smell of wood burning .... some times wish i had an open fire place, but aswell as being a beautiful feature/talking point/energy saver ... on other hand you've got a real big fire hazard rather than a heater that you can just switch off at the wall.

Pros and Cons

..... a wood burning stove would be the way to go i suppose ... but just not as nice as an open hearth

paul_h

CalvadosJnr wrote:

... on other hand you've got a real big fire hazard rather than a heater that you can just switch off at the wall.

Provided you have your chimney swept regularly and guard your fire properly at night, the risk from a properly installed open fireplace is very small - once you've had solid fuel for a while these things come as second nature.

If you disregard neglect, I would guess more fires are started by faulty electrical appliances...

Stoves and other enclosed boilers are generally around 65% efficient as opposed to about 35% for an open fire, so quite a difference.

sarymclary

paul_h wrote:

I would shop round a bit for coal, I can't live far from you (Notts side of the Trent) and we paid £110 per tonne this winter for washed doubles - £5.50 per bag... Coke is dearer, but bear in mind that coal has a higher energy content by weight.

Thanks Paul,
I've done a bit of trawling on the 'net for info on the 'washed doubles', and I think they might be the smokeless fuel I'm having delivered already, but obviously I'm paying a lot more for it. How did you find out about getting it so cheap? I can't find anywhere to look at prices, and the Solid Fuel website just gives you a list of merchants. Was it just a case of ringing around?

Our coalman hasn't volunteered any info about being able to get it any cheaper, when we enquired. Did you have a tonne delivered? I have found a merchants supplier based in Notts., but doubt they'll deliver direct to the public.
Also, how did you manage to store a tonne?! It looks like I might need to extend the coal bunker at this rate! I've currently got the one that was left at the house I've moved into, and my other half thinks it's a half-tonne bunker; the problem is it's a third full of chopping wood for my kindling (old bunk beds actually - it's good to recycle).
Any info appreciated. :j
Thanks, Sarah

paul_h

sarymclary wrote:

Thanks Paul,
I've done a bit of trawling on the 'net for info on the 'washed doubles', and I think they might be the smokeless fuel I'm having delivered already, but obviously I'm paying a lot more for it. How did you find out about getting it so cheap? I can't find anywhere to look at prices, and the Solid Fuel website just gives you a list of merchants. Was it just a case of ringing around?

'Washed doubles' is also referred to as best house coal, it's not smokeless. The 'doubles' bit refers to the size, so you can also get smokeless types of 'doubles'. Smokeless fuels are quite a bit dearer (around £150 per tonne), and do not produce as much heat as a good coal by weight. Obviously you cannot use coal if you are in a smokeless zone.

We just used the Yellow Pages to find them, look under 'Coal & Solid Fuel Merchants' - our supplier, called Dixon's, always seems to be the cheapest around, and they come all the way (about 35 miles) from Attercliffe, Sheffield. They reckon they deliver to quite a few out here, but I think we're about as far as they go.

sarymclary wrote:

Our coalman hasn't volunteered any info about being able to get it any cheaper, when we enquired. Did you have a tonne delivered? ...

Also, how did you manage to store a tonne?! It looks like I might need to extend the coal bunker at this rate! I've currently got the one that was left at the house I've moved into, and my other half thinks it's a half-tonne bunker; the problem is it's a third full of chopping wood for my kindling (old bunk beds actually - it's good to recycle).

We are lucky enough to have a purpose built coalhouse which will easily take a tonne - but I don't think our coalmen charge much more per if you only have half a tonne (10 bags) delivered...

Firstly, you need to establish what you need - coal is cheapest, but not smokeless. Then, have a ring round!

Coal merchants in Lincolnshire

Have fun! :j

adr0ck

most domestic fires are started by:

washing machines

i read that last night

paul_h

adr0ck wrote:

most domestic fires are started by:

washing machines

i read that last night

I bet tumble dryers aren't far behind... _pale_

jmsuch

Calvados,

Which are the 'exempt' wood burners?

FirstClassMale

We're in the North East of Scotland and I pay £4.50 per 20kg bag collected from the merchant. I'm on the look out for a bunker as our "coalshed" is full of my tools until I can get my new log cabin built. Then the local merchant can deliver and we will save a few quid.

Someone mentioned "best coal" this is otherwise known as grade A. I would strongly advise anyone buying coal not to try to save by buying the grade C stuff as we were left a few bags by the previous owners and it doesn't burn well and produces lots of clinkers whereas grade A almost all turns to ash.