Wood burner in a smallish room

Ader1

silverwhistle wrote: »

Until aged parent arrived for Christmas I hadn't had my gas central heating on this season as the woodburner in my small lounge had been enough to warm the fabric of my 3 bedroom terrace. Two doors from the loung to hall and dining room, and I open them once the lounge is warm enough. I'm considering getting a little fan to move the heat. I've also boiled a few kettles on the top..

I don't like a warm bedroom and if I'm in the kitchen enough heat gets there and in any case am active.

I've bought no wood apart from some briquettes and have scavenged (legally) the rest. It's more work but prepping wood saves me the cost of the gym and the heat is so satisfying, particularly with the current grotty weather.

What kind of wood do you legally scavange? Pallets etc? I heard you've got to make sure the wood is dry or it will clog up your chimney etc......

Ectophile

Ader1 wrote: »

What kind of wood do you legally scavange? Pallets etc? I heard you've got to make sure the wood is dry or it will clog up your chimney etc......

That all depends on who you know and what you do. You aren't supposed to just raid public open spaces for firewood.

In my case, some of my wood comes from relatives who have been pruning or removing trees in their gardens.

A fair bit also comes from doing nature conservation work on weekends, which sometimes includes felling trees where they are not wanted. In many cases, the land-owner or reserve manager doesn't mind if spare wood goes in the back of the car, rather than being stacked and left to rot.

Freshly cut wood needs to season for at least a year (and preferably two) in a dry and well ventilated place before it is ready to use. Green wood is very difficult to burn, and even if you somehow manage it, it clogs up your stove and flue with brown tarry deposits.
You need to work out how you're going to store all the wood if you're going to season your own firewood.

People do offer free pallets to take away. Make sure that they are not chemically treated, as some are. Even then, the wood is low quality and burns rapidly, so it's best used for kindling. You really want decent chunks of wood.

Some people scrounge offcuts of wood from joinery companies, but that's a case of knowing the right people.

littlerock

Just been staying in rented cottage which had oil fired ch and a small log burning cast iron stove in front room as well. Stove did not give out that much heat to be honest more for effect but looked nice and burned nicely. It was a Hunter.