Coal fireplace - convert to wood burning?

hethmar

Renovation man, have a sweep in and ask him what he thinks of the condition of the liners. There are various qualities, some people bung in the totally wrong sort because they dont realise they shouldnt use them with wood or solid fuel.

Stainless steel linings for wood burners are either 10 year or 25 year warranties. You should have a data plate by the utilities box normally giving details on the chimney lined, what lining was used, the installer and the date. This has been required for about 10 years now so if you havent got a data plate, then the lining is probably suspect.

Get a NACS sweep in to check them for you.

suisidevw

Agree, logs are not cheap! Luckily I have a free supply and just split them myself. We use Gas CH and just use the open fire for 'cosy' evenings and for atmospher, it's awesome but if we had put in a stove at a cost of a couple of thousand I'd be gutted. Luckily I put in an open fire at a much lower cost.

RenovationMan

Has anyone used one of those machines that turns newspapers into paper mache style logs? I travel by rail and can therefore get my hands on loads of free newspapers every day. Do they burn ok? Is it worth buying?

suisidevw

This has been on here a few times recently and they are known to be pretty darn bad. Burn super quick and make a tonne of ash! Worth avoiding was the concensus.

Gloomendoom

RenovationMan wrote: »

Has anyone used one of those machines that turns newspapers into paper mache style logs? I travel by rail and can therefore get my hands on loads of free newspapers every day. Do they burn ok? Is it worth buying?

I know someone who bought one if those papier mache log presses. It took him ages to make the logs... and then they didn't burn very well.

Newspaper, or any paper based product, usually contains a lot of filler to give it a smooth surface. The filler is rather like talcum powder. That is why you get a lot of ash.


You would be better off collecting cow pats.

hethmar

LOL, just imagining Renovation Man taking a sack with him every morning to work