Woodburners do you agree with this?

SG27

Towser wrote: »

We have gas central heating, but of course when the woodburner is on it does
not need to work so hard.
/QUOTE]

I think this would ideal. Though the potential to save money is there I was just wondering how people do it. Not many people have spilled the beans.

I was in debt as a student which was a very scary time as I was brought up in a strictly credit way.

Now that I have worked out my SOA (not in debt except mortgage)and budget I can see the largest part of my budget is spent on fuel, council tax and food. Hubby pays mortgage. I now shop at Aldi, can do nothing about the council tax and really working hard to reduce my fuel bill as the potential to make savings are there.

The woodburner came with the house 135sqm compared to average 90sqm. However we have the heating on as much as we like but still end up with the average combined bills of around £1400 per year. So we are not doing too badly. But it's the potential....

So far the only way out I can see is to buy from ebay at a good price whenever it is local rather than going to the local wood/coal merchant.

I want to find a tree surgeon who gives away wood. I will go to the local recycling plant for free kindling. Definitely do voluntary nature conservation work for free wood too.

We have only been in our house for a year (it came with a woodburner too) but it's a drafty old cottage so not very efficient. We put the heating on in the morning for about 15 minutes to dry our tails on the towel rail. The rest of the time we use the woodburner. Although I expect we will we run out before winter is over and go back to fill time gas. Unless I can find some more free wood to top up with.

Towser

FIREWOOD - LOGS - APROX 200 CUBIC METRES MIXED CORDWOOD


tree surgeons mixed timber , mostly softwood and some hardwood

It's on ebay at the moment. Has anybody else seen it? I am obsessed with it as it would keep us going for a few years. The trouble is my hubby says while I might be stretching our budget I am also stretching his sanity! He just does not want that much in one go. But anyway I have pressed on and found a quote for a grab lorry for £150 per day also on ebay which I shall have to factor into the price as well. The quality of the wood is not that great either by the looks of it being mostly softwood. I just don't like the fact not knowing where my next lot of wood is coming from. It would make me feel secure knowing I have a huge pile of wood outside. LOL,
Whos crazier hubby not wanting such a huge lot or me wanting security so that I can heat the house till my hearts content. On top of that we live in a house where things are constantly going wrong. Yesterday the back boiler was gurgling for hours until one of the taps could not take the pressure any longer and so released All of the hot water. I got the blame of course because I don't use the woodburner in the correct way apparently although the temperature was spot on. Now my neurotic hubby wants me to call an engineer out to teach us how to operate the damn thing. Is that money well spent?

Gloomendoom

That is cordwood. It won't become firewood without a lot of effort from you.

By the time you have paid for the wood, a lorry, a decent chainsaw (not a B&Q Chinese special,) protective gear and possibly a training course, you won't have much change out of £2k.

Plus, all sorts of wildlife like living in big woodpiles.

Greenfires

I would honestly suggest leaving it alone. For a start, it's likely to be full of all sorts of knarly lumps that would be very difficult to split. Otherwise, the seller would have chunked it up and flogged it as logs.There is also a fair amount of big stuff in it that you'd have a job getting through without a hydraulic splitter, and I don't mean one of those dinky little machine mart things - same goes for the chainsaw - a B&Q £80 special isn't going to deal with half of it. If there is 200m3 there - how much more volume do you think you're going to add to it once it's processed into logs? Finally - I really think you'd be lucky to get that lot shifted anywhere for £150, never mind what the ebay advert says!

Dieselman

In my 2 bedroom home the stove will heat the upstairs rooms when i leave the door open like i did last night, The temp got to 26c was a bit hot for the room.

Went upstairs and coming back down the heat hits you in the face a nice feeling the central heating was not on.

I bought 3x large one ton sacks to get me going and raided skips and dump sites for free wood, plus builders off cuts stored loads this year, i enjoy scavaging so all in all is it cheaper than gas i doubt it but i enjoy it.:D

Towser

Gloomendoom and Greenfires the ebayer has told me to look elsewhere so you are absolutely correct of course.

I still have not given up on a car load for free though LOL

Dieselman I am enjoying the challenge too in fact the whole thing.

Elsewhere

Fly tipping can be a good source of free wood - you need to make sure no-one thinks you have dumped it however. :eek:

We once got a truck load of oak logs someone had dumped in a lane on the outskirts of Slough...

Also Freecycle is worth checking - or even putting in a "wanted" post.

PaulF81

We installed ours ourselves, as we had an existing chimney in good condition. Although the existing was fine, I like the extra draw and the ease of DIY cleaning. Cost to do it myself was around 600, including second hand 10Kw stove.

Not out of reach if you are a competent DIYer and stick to the regs.

As for wood, if you have the space (we have an acre smallholding) get a fresh cut bulk load delivered and it will last around 4-5 years depending on usage. you need the storage space though!

MonsterMonster

If the actual pile of wood is anything like the picture from 2000 (?) it would be a bit damp and mushy at the bottom judging from the puddles and mud. Personally I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole considering the haulage costs and herculean effort and cost in processing that lot. After all that you'd need a damn sight more than 200m3 to store the resulting split wood!