Preparing for winter II

rising_from_the_ashes

dawnie1972 wrote: »

So what would i be looking at cost wise - i have access to a load of wood pallets at work could i burn just those or would i still need coal etc. I need to get all the ash pan etc as it has nothing just the big grate (i'm in rented accommodation). When the colder weather comes because of where I live i will be getting home from work on the Friday and not moving from my house till the Monday morning.

Rainy-Days wrote: »

Dawnie, I use a combination of wood - for the flame - and coal - for the heat. It's a personal choice thing. With wood it will burn allot quicker and you will get more ash. If you use the thick blocks inbetween the pallets they do take longer to burn, but generally speaking to give it a bit extra oomph in the heat department I would suggest getting some coal to give it a good start.

I also used a combination of wood, coal and paper bricks - if you've access to pallets that's a great start.

Coal prices vary in different areas but certainly if you're wanting to be warm from getting in on a Fri night to leaving on a Mon, the fire would be ideal as once it's lit you should be able to keep it going all weekend (bank it down at night and it will go all night keeping the chill off and be easy to come back to life 1st thing in the morning) - this will be cheaper than using oil for your heating all weekend.

Also have a look out for brick maker, something like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Selections-Paper-Log-Maker/dp/B000MLS09K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316891810&sr=8-2 if you don't use a lot of papers yourself, you may be able to get them from work (ours always ended up in the recycling bin so they were happy for us to take them.

For tools & guard etc, have a look at Free*cycle etc.

Re using in rented accommodation, please check with your landlord but it was certainly not a problem in our cottage - the fire was provided and had to be kept in working order (landlord even had to have the inside rebuilt when a few of the bricks disintegrated).

mcjordi

im with a HA for my house atm and its says nothing about open fires however they wont allow a log burner/woodstove (gits!!!! )

angelaloveschocolate

Tugrin, yes you can retract a bid on ebay. http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/questions/retract-bid.html

tessasmum

toottifrootti wrote: »

tessasmum and anyone eslse I have a very small open fire which I am going to have checked to see if I can use (rented house and empty for years!) I would like to use the fire but my OT and others dont think its a good idea because of various health problems -one being that I could not get down to clean out the fire - I was wondering if a woodburner would be better and easier for me? would it still need cleaned out everyday?
There is gas CH and it seems to be very cosy - i get a lot of sun in the LR during the day so I am wondering if I am wasting money thinking of getting one and should just make do with using the fire when and if I need extra heat. I am at home a lot as unable to work.

what do you ladies think?

toots x

Our expenditure for the woodburner was about £2K because we had to put up a stainless steel flue, as we are in a new build with no chimney, but the woodburner itself cost about £400. There are the installation costs on top of that. I have never rented so I don't know exactly how you stand, but I wouldn't personally be paying that sort of money out in a rented property - if your landlord wanted to install one, that would be different. Perhaps other people who know about renting could comment on that aspect.

Your comment about how long you think it would take to get a fire stoked up - well, our burner gets the room warm pretty quickly! In the really bad weather I would get up and light it at 6.30am for the girls getting up at 7am and the room was fine by then. It is also easy to have it alight, as we used to, for an hour or so, let it out and then relight in the late afternoon for the rest of the day. I know it isn't as convenient as central heating, in that you do walk into a cold house, but it is possible to combine the two so that you minimise your use of the central heating and get the best of both worlds.

We don't clean the woodburner out every day as we just riddle the ash through the grate to the ashpan underneath and then empty that a couple of times a week. We are only really burning wood so there isn't a huge amount. I think when I was a child and my mother used coal there was more stuff to empty out.

Our living room faces north, which is lovely in the hottest days of the summer but it does make it very chilly in the winter, and we really make good use of the woodburner - and we have a source of free pallets, and often get given other wood - but your situation does sound different, and I would love a sunny living room like yours!

Woodburners are work, I have to admit, but we love ours...

toottifrootti

thanks dawnie and thanks tessasmum more food for thought! need to consider this more.

fisrt step will be to get the chimney checked and will takeit fromthere - with a bit of luck it will need relining or something and then the LL can sort it and maybe put in a stove!!

thanks again
tootsx

bluebag

toottifrootti wrote: »

tessasmum and anyone eslse I have a very small open fire which I am going to have checked to see if I can use (rented house and empty for years!) I would like to use the fire but my OT and others dont think its a good idea because of various health problems -one being that I could not get down to clean out the fire - I was wondering if a woodburner would be better and easier for me? would it still need cleaned out everyday?
There is gas CH and it seems to be very cosy - i get a lot of sun in the LR during the day so I am wondering if I am wasting money thinking of getting one and should just make do with using the fire when and if I need extra heat. I am at home a lot as unable to work.

what do you ladies think?

toots x

If it's going to be difficult for you to clean it out and you don't have access to cheap wood, then maybe running the central heating on low all day would work out easier.

I would love a woodburner but I know I could not manage it with my health issues, some you win, some you lose I guess.

dawnie1972

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

I also used a combination of wood, coal and paper bricks - if you've access to pallets that's a great start.

Coal prices vary in different areas but certainly if you're wanting to be warm from getting in on a Fri night to leaving on a Mon, the fire would be ideal as once it's lit you should be able to keep it going all weekend (bank it down at night and it will go all night keeping the chill off and be easy to come back to life 1st thing in the morning) - this will be cheaper than using oil for your heating all weekend.

Also have a look out for brick maker, something like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Selections-Paper-Log-Maker/dp/B000MLS09K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316891810&sr=8-2 if you don't use a lot of papers yourself, you may be able to get them from work (ours always ended up in the recycling bin so they were happy for us to take them.

For tools & guard etc, have a look at Free*cycle etc.

Re using in rented accommodation, please check with your landlord but it was certainly not a problem in our cottage - the fire was provided and had to be kept in working order (landlord even had to have the inside rebuilt when a few of the bricks disintegrated).

Thanks thats really helpful - the paper log maker looks interesting and i can get papers from work (i work on a construction site so there are normally newspapers around). Have posted on freecycle for the ash pan etc but if i have to buy them then so be it. Have looked at the coal prices and locally its £11.50 delivered for a 25kg bag - not sure how long that would last. The good thing is i can stockpile as have two empty out buildings.

tugrin

Thanks angela - what an eejit I am - actually I was outbid by £30 so huge relief - sitting here biting nails praying that someone would add a fiver to the price when bang - huge bidding war!
I MUST stop this stupid behaviour - ebay is EVIL....

maryb

Tugrin, my DD1 is about to go back for her final year but she is doing a four year degree whereas her friends who were doing 3 year degrees all graduated this summer. They all seem to be starting work round about now - I think most places that recruit graduates start them in September because with July and August being holiday months there is no-one around to start the new intake off. So you will probably have her for one last summer even if she gets a temp job to get together the money for a deposit on a flat and a wardrobe to start work in - I'm hoping that will be the case with us as I don't want to lose my eldest baby just yet (even if I do hardly see her or her sister as they are in their rooms all the time they are actually in the house)

Cheapskate

Just spent an hour catching up on this thread - fascinating!

I think I've started a bit late - my only excuse is being a mum to DS19, DS4, DDnearly2 & DH, and assorted carp! :rotfl: I've got a few !kea fleeces - we love 'em here, good for on the bed as extra layers, in front of TV/on computer, etc (want to turn some into door curtains or extra layers in existing curtains), have started my extra-groceries store a few weeks ago, got some snow boots for DD, but lots more to do.

Trolls notwithstanding, it was blinking FREEZING here last winter so I'm taking the advance forecasts seriously - we're having a new boiler and radiators in the next few weeks; think it's money well spent, though. Our boiler's only 11 years old, but has become a liability - knocked off for a week last December and we had ice inside, kids were crying with cold, so we have to replace it! :eek:

This site may be useful to some - all sources of snow shovels in one place! http://www.snowshovels.org.uk/ Going to get one for the car and one for the house.

Also - kmiller - wish I'd been on here before - we've just been to NYC for our 25th anniversary - could have met up!
A xo