Coal v logs in multifuel stove

pineapple

I've always found logs to be expensive in my little Esse multifuel stove and they burn away quite quickly. There again I've never done it properly - ie removing the grate and I've used those expensive little nets of logs from garages and the like. :eek:
Instead I use Excel - but that isn't cheap either.
I did a double take the other day when I heard someone on a radio phone-in talking about how he had dramatically cut the cost of heating by switching to logs. So my question is this - which do you think works out cheaper? - ie burned properly and gettng a whole heap of logs at a time.
For those that use logs, what's your winter heating bill like and for what size house?
Cheers

Williwoodburner

pineapple wrote: »

I've always found logs to be expensive in my little Esse multifuel stove and they burn away quite quickly. There again I've never done it properly - ie removing the grate and I've used those expensive little nets of logs from garages and the like. :eek:
Cheers

Pineapple, you will find that wood does vary greatly, good well seasoned hardwoods such as ash, beech, oak etc will last about twice as long as softwoods such as pine or leylandii.

Hardwoods will need refuelling about every 2 hours, softwoods will only last about an hour or slightly less.
When refuelling you also find that hardwoods leave much better embers in the stove which helps with burn time.
This is because hardwoods are much more dense than softwoods you can tell this by the difference in weight between seasoned hardwood/softwood logs of similar size.

If I were you I wouldnt bother with those nets of logs from garages because they are usually rubbish and expensive.
Find yourself a good local log supplier and try some decent well seasoned hardwood.

Sorry but I cant help with cost per year as we produce our own logs for fuel.
I have however seen builders bags (sometimes called tonne bags) at the roadside for £45.

Hope this helps.

Willie.

DMB79

Best is to buy unseasoned wood, it should be cheaper, in bulk and then season yourself.

But buy by volume, not by weight, otherwise your paying for water !

shegar

I always light my fire with coal , to get a good base then burn logs thereon, and dont poke it, otherwise the you will lose the guts of the fire..............:D

Ectophile

How long a log will last will depend on how big it is. My modest 5kW stove will only take small or split logs, so I assume about 1 log per 1/2 hour.

Once the stove is up to temperature, you can also increase burn time by shutting down the air supply. Check the stove's manual as they are all different, and the best vent to shut may depend on the fuel type.

Buying in bulk is MUCH cheaper. The price will depend on where you live, but the last lot I bought was £65 for a pick-up truck full - and that's a lot of logs.

As a rough guide, bought firewood is slightly more expensive per kilowatt-hour than mains gas. See this site http://www.nottenergy.com/energy_cost_comparison/ for comparisons of different fuels.

Shimmyhill

Logs are only cheaper than Gas if you're not paying for them, buying green wood and seasoning yourself can work to cheaper than gas but it takes time, effort and lots of space - if you could 'price' this again gas is cheaper.

I think a lot of people forget how much they pay for wood and concentrate on the gas bill going down!

Gloomendoom

Ectophile wrote: »

As a rough guide, bought firewood is slightly more expensive per kilowatt-hour than mains gas. See this site http://www.nottenergy.com/energy_cost_comparison/ for comparisons of different fuels.

Surely that comparison with gas only applies if seasoned wood is burnt in a highly efficient dedicated central heating boiler? Do normal wood burning room stoves run at 85% efficiency?

Ectophile

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Surely that comparison with gas only applies if seasoned wood is burnt in a highly efficient dedicated central heating boiler? Do normal wood burning room stoves run at 85% efficiency?

My Stovax stove claims to be 80% efficient when burning wood, and 85% efficient on smokeless fuel briquettes.

If it's any use, it also says you need 1.5Kg of wood or 0.7Kg briquettes per hour to keep it going.