Ban Woodburning stoves!

A._Badger

rhiwfield wrote: »

Seems to me that the increased use of woodburners IS the topic, an increase that you attribute to self righteous eco-warriors. I wonder if there could be other reasons, such as the oil price spike of $147 in 2008, or the projected 20-60% real increase in electricity prices over the next 8 years, or the prospect of power cuts as generating capacity is lost by 2015. No, it must be those pesky eco-warriors although I was glad of my wood burner when the oil tankers could not get through during the January feeze.

BTW, there is a balance of fuel that will come from logging, and most woodlands do benefit from responsible management. As with any commodity, price is a function of supply and demand.

The fact is that this board is frequently visited by newcomers who labour under the enormous delusion that wood is a cheap source of heat. It isn't. There are no cheap sources of heat these days and, as we have all seen, wood prices have rocketed ths year - which was Cardew's original point.

Driving that increase, as you say, is supply and demand, and driving that demand is not just the mistaken belief that wood is cheap, but the advertising claim from stove makers, retailers, NGOs and others that burning wood is somehow a panacea to our environmental problems (real and imaginary).

Again, it isn't. If enough people burn wood, you get pollution issues (wood fires are banned in parts of California for just this reason). While, if people seriously think the country can grow enough trees to satisfy the demands of a mass switch to wood, they need to get their nice green wellies on and come out here into the countryside to look.

Wood can only ever play a relatively small part in the UK's mix of energy sources. Whatever eco-warriors may wish were the case.

A._Badger

Interesting information, navig8tr, thank you. I removed four large leylandii when I bought my current house and I have left them to stew for a couple of years, with an eye to burning them at some stage. I might have to get the chainsaw out! How long had yours been down before you used them?

savemoney

wood is zero carbon isn't it? Because when trees grow they absorb carbon dioxide but when burnt it releases this carbon dioxide

Its cleaner fuel than coal but coal is just a product of wood/animals that have died millions of years ago

People are jumping on bandwagon of wood being either cheap or green, its neither but greener than most fuels

navig8r

A._Badger wrote: »

Interesting information, navig8tr, thank you. I removed four large leylandii when I bought my current house and I have left them to stew for a couple of years, with an eye to burning them at some stage. I might have to get the chainsaw out! How long had yours been down before you used them?

2 years minimum ,we like to store most species at least that long, oak even longer, before going in the barn. Yours should be about right but the bottom of it may have started to decay if its been on the earth.
g8r

Cardew

navig8r wrote: »

Sorry I have to disagree with leylandii not burning well,in a WB that is.
My Son is a tree surgeon and cuts down tons and tons of them which he gave to us because he thinks they are rubbish.
We are lucky in having a small holding so have plenty of room to store, season and finally burn them which they do superbly.
The only downside is they have a larger volume to weight ratio than hardwoods so one has to make the fire more often.
He has since change his mind on conifir after feeling the heat from our fire so we don't get so much.

g8r

Yes I should have qualified that statement as I have an open fire.

However Google 'burning leylandii' and you will find a lot of adverse comment about burning - particularly oily soot in the chimney.

Pine species generally: (Including the dreaded Leylandii) Burns with a splendid flame, but apt to spit. Needs to be seasoned well and is another oily soot in chimney wood. Smells great and its resinous wood makes great kindling. Best used on an outdoor fire in the cold evening of a day out in the garden!

navig8r

Cardew wrote: »

Yes I should have qualified that statement as I have an open fire.

However Google 'burning leylandii' and you will find a lot of adverse comment about burning - particularly oily soot in the chimney.

Pinus is very different from Cypress in tems of how it burns .Pines have huge amounts of resin which remains after seasoning and can make the wood almost explode . I would now not burn it under any circumstance after nearly blowing the glass out of the stove:eek:
As for soot, I have not noticed an increase but then we do season well which is the key to a warm and happy wood burning experience.
BTW,don't the Scandinavians mostly burn softwoods?
g8r

Cardew

navig8r wrote: »

Pinus is very different from Cypress in tems of how it burns .Pines have huge amounts of resin which remains after seasoning and can make the wood almost explode . I would now not burn it under any circumstance after nearly blowing the glass out of the stove:eek:
As for soot, I have not noticed an increase but then we do season well which is the key to a warm and happy wood burning experience.
BTW,don't the Scandinavians mostly burn softwoods?
g8r

Ok that settles matters!

Out with my chainsaw and rid the area of some monsters!

howardtog

Read this thread with some amusement.Unless you have access to free wood heating with bought wood is a very expensive option. Moreover even with free wood theres work sawing chopping seasoning burning and clearing ash.I have a friend who is a landscape gardener and thus has access to wood. He burns coal because even with free wood the time taken to get it ready costs more than the money he can earn landscape gardenin. Opportunity cost as the economics textbook says.
I also have a sneaky feeling that many log supplier are pushing prices up as gas and electricity rise. Most have their raw material for nothing (its a waste product)and their costs are time and carriage. Perhaps a log supplier could enlighten us.
So like Cardew we compromise...gas CH as background,a 40% efficent Jetmaster fire burning wood.Simply because to sit around a log fire is a simple but greatly enjoyable experience.

A._Badger

I wouldn't disagree with most of that. And as for log suppliers floating their prices, it seems to me that all energy prices are locked together - mostly following oil and natural gas.

There's no reasonable excuse, for example, for the price of a 50kg bag of Maxibrite from my coal merchant having gone up to £20.30 from £17.95 in a matter of weeks.

crphillips

I visited an old guy who blew his stove up from burning connifer.

He had a Franco Belge Montfort.....loaded it up with wood and turned it down. The wood gassified and a while later there was a huge bang and the lid flew off. The lid is held on with two 10mm bolts and it stripped the threads straight out of the casting......we had to re-tap a thread and use bigger bolts to attach it back to the stove. Amazingly it didn't smash the glass!

The guy ended up with burns all over his hands from trying to empty the stove and get the fire outside.

The other issue was that it tarred the flue liner so much that when we fired the stove up again all of the brittle tar broke away from the flue walls, fell down the flue pipe and blocked the rear flue outlet filling the room with smoke. It was installed properly too by using a tee piece with soot catchment area but it filled up around 500mm of the flue.

If burning wood high in resin content use smaller amounts and keep plenty of air supplied to it so there are always flames visible. This way it cannot explode due to the build up of flammable gases and sudden ignition.