Sent fire wood delivery back...

paulalde

Hi everyone

I'm wondering if anyone is experienced when it comes to buying seasoned fire wood from dealers? We've never bought wood before so as stocks were running low I ordered some locally from a company that are well established.

On their website they promise 18 month seasoned hardwood reading 15-25% moisture. Now don't get me wrong I didn't expect any of it to turn up at 15%, but I tested maybe 20 or so logs and 90% of them were in the 29-31% range.

The company are not the cheapest and I don't want wood I can't burn so I ended up turning it away.

I've not been foolish here have I?

Greenfires

How did you test them?

A._Badger

paulalde wrote: »

Hi everyone

I'm wondering if anyone is experienced when it comes to buying seasoned fire wood from dealers? We've never bought wood before so as stocks were running low I ordered some locally from a company that are well established.

On their website they promise 18 month seasoned hardwood reading 15-25% moisture. Now don't get me wrong I didn't expect any of it to turn up at 15%, but I tested maybe 20 or so logs and 90% of them were in the 29-31% range.

The company are not the cheapest and I don't want wood I can't burn so I ended up turning it away.

I've not been foolish here have I?

I'm not surprised to hear this. I am fairly experienced at buying logs but since I last moved (around eight years ago) I have been unable to find a local log supplier I can trust to sell me decent quality seasoned wood.

I've lost count of the times one of them has looked me in the eye while telling me 'you can burn ash when it's green' (not advisable) and the latest supplier I tried not only makes a big deal in his advertising about how ethical he is and how his wood is properly seasoned but actually had the effrontery to get the hump when I metered some of the logs he'd sold me and pointed out that they were in the 35% range.

All you can do is keep shopping around until you find a reliable supplier then stick with him. I hope it takes you less time than it is taking me!

Greenfires

The only reason I asked about how you tested them is that I've known plenty of people who stick the probes of the meter into the outside, or the end grain of the log. I've even seen this on a firewood merchant's site demonstrating his seasoned logs!

Given the amount of rain we've had in the past few weeks, most "dry" firewood is quite likely to be "wet" if you measure it like this. The way to do it is to split a log and take a reading on the freshly exposed face.

Apologies if I'm preaching to the choir - but I've seen this a lot!

martinthebandit

I took a risk and had a pallet load of Ash delivered from here http://www.whitehorseenergy.co.uk/Firewood
and was very impressed both with the speed of delivery, how it was packed, the amount of logs and, most important, with the quality, have to say I will be using them again.

Oh and stick this code in RobMar22099 for a 5% discount


Disclaimer - if you use that code I will also get £20 off my next order, which will be nice (but not nice enough to make me recommend them if the wood was crap)

Jonty37

I have been buying wood for years and sometimes I have wondered if I have received a bad load, I never considered testing the wood, I am going to do this in the future, thanks for the tip.

SG27

I have a guy who sells "seasoned ready to burn logs" my meter reads overload when testing split logs which means 50%+ they are basically freshly cut and it's quite obvious even without testing! But it's cheap so I but a year in advance. I also have a very reliable supplier but more expensive.

redlady_1

martinthebandit wrote: »

I took a risk and had a pallet load of Ash delivered from here http://www.whitehorseenergy.co.uk/Firewood
and was very impressed both with the speed of delivery, how it was packed, the amount of logs and, most important, with the quality, have to say I will be using them again.

Oh and stick this code in RobMar22099 for a 5% discount


Disclaimer - if you use that code I will also get £20 off my next order, which will be nice (but not nice enough to make me recommend them if the wood was crap)

I have just ordered a load from them and found that apart from a very quick dispatch they are well wrapped on a pallet. They are definitely dry as my stoves are not getting tar all over the glass. I will decide whether to order again once I know how long half a pallet will last in comparison to my usual supplier.

martinthebandit

redlady_1 wrote: »

I have just ordered a load from them and found that apart from a very quick dispatch they are well wrapped on a pallet. They are definitely dry as my stoves are not getting tar all over the glass. I will decide whether to order again once I know how long half a pallet will last in comparison to my usual supplier.

Ah glad it's not just me who thinks its good stuff.

Parisno

I placed an order with White Horse back in September, delivery was great, 2 pallets a full one of dried Ash and a half of Excel briquettes, placed in my garage by the very helpful driver. Both products top notch, I don’t have a meter but the Ash was really dry, easy to light and tar free, also very impressed with the briquettes, would definitely buy both from the same supplier again. Shame the 5% code above won’t work for me, must be a first order code

Has anyone tried Bio Blaze from the luxury Wood Co, they are on special at the moment £209 for a full pallet, considering getting these as stocks are getting a bit low.

savemoney

I bought a large load of them in summer for £200. There not the best wood briquettes in fact they are one worse ones I have had. in 2014 for winter 2014/15 I got some different briquettes from them and they were much better but don't stock them now.

They made of of fine sawdust like most wood briquettes they not as dense as some I have tried and they easy to break up. They don't last as long either and don't like being stored near a damp wall even when not touching it.

Some of the best one's are made by Verdo you can buy small amounts and home bargains cheaper than you can in bulk and they last longer.

I made a post about them here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=69833999&postcount=7

Parisno wrote: »

Has anyone tried Bio Blaze from the luxury Wood Co, they are on special at the moment £209 for a full pallet, considering getting these as stocks are getting a bit low.