New Logmaker !

beer2006

Oh yeah, I'd like to add, don't believe the video, if you used the amount of stuff he puts in it and pushed it down that lightly, it would last about 1 minute.

beer2006

Just read a review on ciao
http://www.ciao.co.uk/The_Famous_Log_Maker__Review_5613872
for the older type of wet log maker, hardly sounds promising does it? I wonder if there are different makes and qualitys of this type?
This does seem the way to go, apparently once you soak the newpapers for long enough, the fibres revert back to being more wood like.

annscullamus

I am sad you expected so much from such a simple piece of equipment. It does make ash, it does only burn for 15 - 20 mins, but it is all FREE heat. I use them as a supplement to save on coal and logs when the fire is going. It is also quite a good work out when you make them, and rather theraputic. I do hope this will not put off people from getting one, clearing their bins, and having some free heat.

beer2006

Don't be sad, I'm only telling it the way I see it, Its not exactly free as you have to pay £20 for the logmaker.
I've done some more experiments in the last couple of days, including really trying to have a complete fire just from these logs. I hoped to get the woodburner up to a good temp and then just leave it and get the heat from it,
It didn't really happen, went OK for 10-15mins then just choked itself.

OK the other way, I've tried using less of the logs at night, the best way seems to be using 1 log an hour or something, And although you do get heat out of the log, I still feel for me they don't work very well. I tried a fire without any of the logmaker logs (first one) and it burned much better'hotter and clearer because it didn't have loads of ash.

I yet haven't tried making one with twigs and garden waste as its still all very wet outside. These may work better.

I'm not trying to have a go at any piece of equipment, I'm telling it the way I see it, thats partly what this site is about. So people looking to buy this piece of kit can see what people think of it.

I found an idea on another site to use a fruit press as a newspaper pulp press and I have one of those, so I've tried that and got a quite small pulp brickette thing drying. Let you know how it goes.

Nomoneytosave

Would you be able to use these logs in a smokeless zone? I'm guessing I'm in a smokeless zone although I'm not sure if these exist any more! I've been burning wood and coal on our open fire since our boiler gave up last week!

Thanks.

bigpaws23

the person asking about the old style briquette maker - my friend bought one and it has been a disaster - the drying time was WEEKS, even in a really hot summer and I'm not sure they ever dried properly.

Now, this could have been a mistake in the way he used it, so I can 't comment on that, but in desperation, he ended up drying them in the oven :rotfl: that kind of defeats the object for me, but there you go!

You need lots of room to store them, away from damp obviously and room enough to leave room between them for air to circulate.

HTH
Bigpaws x

pipjes

we bought one of these a couple of years back as we had an open fire and witrh storage heaters(£££££££) we needed the fire. but no matter how many diffrent ways we tried to use it was pretty useless. just smoked gave off lots of ash and hardly any warmth. which is an utter shame, as i think i paid over £30 for it then and not just that what a fantastic "idea" altho it hasnt quite worked. our log maker is now sitting in our shed, and we gets lots of our logs from freecyclers.

beer2006

I gave our dry logmaker away on freecycle in the end, just too much ash, much better to go for a walk and pick up a few sticks, they burn better..

The fruit press pulp brickette I made, went ok actually, dryed it around the woodburner for a while, it burnt really well, with no ash. Quite if I could get organised enough and as someone else said, have enough space to keep the hundreds needed dry through the winter, is another matter. Lets see how desperate I become with wood atm I have loads from free places, so I've given up on subsitutes.

Poppycat

I am thinking of getting rid of our coal fire only just moved house with one in, but despite our best efforts even win coal or logs theres hardly any warmth. Glad I never bought a log maker now I would be cheesed off spending all that dosh for something that doesnt work very well

On a look out for a living flame fire for our fireplace as we have a fairly new fireplace/coal fire. I loved my old living flame fire cheap to run and bags of heat

beer2006

Generally you don't get alot of heat out of open fires the way you do in say a woodburner.