What can you burn on your open fire

Candy53

We had a coal fire for over 20 years, and we burned anything on it, except for wood with creosote or paint on it. And swept the chimney twice a year.

Candy

highrisklowreturn

All of which goes to prove you can burn everything and anything in them. I went on the cs30 chainsaw course the other week and apparently, according to the instructors, under H/E law, I need to complete several other course before I can legal fell a tree. These courses would costs circa another 3k in total and for what? How many people do you hear about killing themselves with chainsaws every year in the UK, two or three?

I'm getting a stove soon and all this sh 1 t about don't burn unseasoned wood 'cause you'll get a chimney fire, it's total balls, what are the odds of it happening for the extra costs involved?

Ben84

A._Badger wrote: »

Do you drive a car? Use a bus or a train?

In order, no, yes and yes. So, I'm fully aware that I create some local pollution by riding on the bus and train. However, my street doesn't have a bus stop for a clean smoke free bus and another stop right next to it for a dirty smog generating bus, it simply has one stop for the city bus service. In contrast, how we heat the houses on this street is a largely free choice with a range of high to low polluting sources readily available. Choosing a high polluting source is an extra and perhaps unwelcome impact on local air quality and consideration of how much it may affect others is important.

A._Badger

Ben84 wrote: »

In order, no, yes and yes. So, I'm fully aware that I create some local pollution by riding on the bus and train. However, my street doesn't have a bus stop for a clean smoke free bus and another stop right next to it for a dirty smog generating bus, it simply has one stop for the city bus service. In contrast, how we heat the houses on this street is a largely free choice with a range of high to low polluting sources readily available. Choosing a high polluting source is an extra and perhaps unwelcome impact on local air quality and consideration of how much it may affect others is important.

Nothing we do is without consequences. Wrapping the world in cotton wool for the sake of tiny minorities is unreasonable. If you have peculiar health issues it is your responsibility to choose somewhere suitable to live.

Moneysava_wannaB

Ben84 wrote: »

So, if you have neighbors I think the best cheap stuff to burn is gas.

Sadly we're not all connected the mains gas and its not cheap

Ben84

Moneysava_wannaB wrote: »

Sadly we're not all connected the mains gas and its not cheap

Are you sure wood is cheaper per kWh than gas? There is a large lack of information about the cost per kWh from solid fuel. The cost per kWh that I've worked in every case so far (with the exception of free wood which seems very limited in supply) has found it to be more expensive than gas, sometimes quite significantly. Open fires are also very inefficient, much less than gas appliances, so the actual cost of a kWh of heating to the house using wood or coal in an open fire is normally very expensive. So, from this my suggestion that gas is a good cheap thing to burn was entirely serious. From what I've calculated it might not even be unreasonable to say the OP might save money by plugging in an electric fire instead.

But what if there's no gas, I know not everyone has it. There are clean burn wood stoves available - some are suitable for smokeless zones even, so they do burn the wood cleanly. They're also much more efficient. There's also fuel oil, electric, LPG, passive solar, heat pumps/geothermal, district heating and many other options to explore. Open fires and poorly designed stoves are bottom of the pile for smoke emissions and fuel efficiency, there's really many good reasons to avoid using them.

Ben84

A._Badger wrote: »

Nothing we do is without consequences. Wrapping the world in cotton wool for the sake of tiny minorities is unreasonable. If you have peculiar health issues it is your responsibility to choose somewhere suitable to live.

To be fair, this isn't about a tiny peculiar minority. Most everyone prefers clean air. Smoke is a waste product and unfortunately the only practical disposal method is dumping it in to the surrounding air that everyone else is breathing too. Times change and with the introduction of so many cleaner fuels or ways to burn fuels, many people don't accept that anyone's house needs to be emitting large volumes of smoke any more. It has become antisocial in areas with neighbors close by. When I see a house in the middle of a terrace with thick smoke pouring out the chimney I just wonder why the residents of that house think it's acceptable any more.

pauletruth

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

All of which goes to prove you can burn everything and anything in them. I went on the cs30 chainsaw course the other week and apparently, according to the instructors, under H/E law, I need to complete several other course before I can legal fell a tree. These courses would costs circa another 3k in total and for what? How many people do you hear about killing themselves with chainsaws every year in the UK, two or three?

I'm getting a stove soon and all this sh 1 t about don't burn unseasoned wood 'cause you'll get a chimney fire, it's total balls, what are the odds of it happening for the extra costs involved?

3 grand for using a chain saw that does sound extreme.
however chimney fires are a real risk. we burn peat and cut up pallets and coal. if your not careful about keeping your chimney clean there is a good chance that it will catch.
we have had one we were lucky that it burnt it self out but knowing your nearest fire engine is 30 minutes away and your stood at the fire with a sprayer cooling the falling rubbish and hearing the roaring in the chimney then you will know that its the best investment to buy a set of rods and brush.

if your unlucky to have a bad one it can cause a massive amount of damage.

P-J-D_2

Ben84 wrote: »

Open fires and solid fuel burning is bad for the air quality. Despite the popularity of open fires, even now, there are many smokeless zones because of smog and smoke build up when many are used at once. They are not sending just clean air up the chimney. In most areas which haven't gone smokeless their effects are much more diluted as less people rely on them, but diluted pollution is still pollution and weather conditions can allow it to build up in the surrounding area. The trouble is different people are affected at different limits. If you have neighbors anywhere near by then I think it important to consider that some of them are very likely to have asthma or possibly even something like lung disease. At the most extreme I have been briefly hospitalised because my neighbor's wood burning affected my asthma - despite their protests it was just a little bit of smoke.

Suggestions like burning everything and anything do make me cringe. Everyone needs to breathe air and people with wood burners and open fires in populated areas do tend to produce more than their fair share of pollution already, so swapping to really dirty stuff like painted/creosoted wood or composite wood and particle board that is full of glue is not a great idea.

Well within a mile radius I do have one human neighbour, several hundred neighbours with four legs and wooly jumpers on. Per the original question I'm sensitive to health issues and how they affect others, however one must survive.

Ben84 wrote: »

So, if you have neighbors I think the best cheap stuff to burn is gas.

Believe it or not, I cannot put gas on my open fire.

P-J-D_2

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

All of which goes to prove you can burn everything and anything in them. I went on the cs30 chainsaw course the other week and apparently, according to the instructors, under H/E law, I need to complete several other course before I can legal fell a tree. These courses would costs circa another 3k in total and for what? How many people do you hear about killing themselves with chainsaws every year in the UK, two or three?

I know one tree surgeon. Qualified, worked professionally for years. He went right through his left arm, luckily the doctors were able to stitch it back on. One mistake is all it takes, one gust of wind.. etc

Deaths by chainsaw is rare. Accidents with chainsaws are very common.