The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

Si_Clist

pineapple said:

I keep hearing about wood/log burners but most local people have multifuel stoves as we find them cheaper to run. In this area, it's either that or oil (no gas). We tend to use smokeless ovoids - which give out less emissions than wood or coal. 

It seems that to most folk nowadays, woodburners, logburners and multi-fuel stoves are one and the same thing.  As to the difference in emissions 'twixt solid fuels and wood, I'm not going there except to say one thing.  We burned wood for years in our two stoves, then for various reasons went over to smokeless fuel.  Two winters of that finished off both our flue liners, which cost us £2K to replace.  So we're now back on logs, which also produce wood ash to go the garden as opposed to lots more ash which went into landfill. 

Different strokes, different folks ...

MingVase

I think people might well change their minds about fires if we have prices so high we just cannot afford to turn the heating on at all. Which is going to happen because the standing charge itself is going through the roof.

Any of us who are older can remember real cold, in houses with just one coal fire for the whole house. No double glazing. Chilblains. Numb and sore feet. Sleepless nights in freezing beds with heavy coats on top of the covers to try and get warm, etc. Nobody is going to be picky on emissions and harm to the environment then, too busy thinking of the harm to themseves without heat. I'm not being argumentative here, its just plain common sense.

Effician

Greenglockenspiel said:

- quite a lot of urban areas already have clean air zones where they aren’t allowed. I can see them being fully banned in urban and suburban areas in the future

GreenglockenspielPlease point me to the information that states they are banned in clean air zones as i can't seem to find any.

Si_Clist

Effician said:

GreenglockenspielPlease point me to the information that states they are banned in clean air zones as i can't seem to find any.

That might be because they are not banned in clean air zones.  There's no end of accurate information about this online, but FWIW here's the first one I found just now ...https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51581817#:~:text=Likewise, many people shelled out,, bonfires are still permitted).

poppy811

I live rurally so no gas available.  Very low user of electricity and petrol due to serious ill health.  Very glad to have a woodburner because I am not active and feel the cold.  I have a carbon monoxide monitor ad only burn seasoned wood.  Best I can do. 

Greenglockenspiel

@effician In smoke free areas you can only burn certain fuels in certain appliances. So no open fires and in certain appliances you can only burn seasoned wood or only burn solid fuel https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/cat07/1901291328_Smoke_Control_Web.pdf 

Quite a lot of groups (including the British Heart Foundation) have been lobbying for further restrictions.

For me prepping is about protecting oneself against foreseeable dangers. Sadly there are thousands of deaths in this country every year due to air pollution. According to the Taskforce for Lung Health, 5% of deaths of people aged over 30 are attributed specifically to PM2.5 pollution. 40% of that pollution comes from domestic fuel burning, so it is a significant risk. I had no idea of this myself until a couple of years ago as a nice fire seems so innocuous and was shocked to learn these figures.

Obviously it is better than freezing to death but if a wood burner is necessary I would be using it as little as possible and ventilating rooms to try to get the particles out, maybe even wearing a mask while it is burning - you can get mask filters that can block them. 

Karmacat

MingVase said:

Any of us who are older can remember real cold, in houses with just one coal fire for the whole house. No double glazing. Chilblains. Numb and sore feet. Sleepless nights in freezing beds with heavy coats on top of the covers to try and get warm, etc. Nobody is going to be picky on emissions and harm to the environment then, too busy thinking of the harm to themseves without heat. I'm not being argumentative here, its just plain common sense.

Yep.  One source of heat in the whole house, whatever the source was - electric bar, a Raeburn for a few years, whatever there was. And when we had the Raeburn, the coal/coke had to be brought in from the back yard, an awful lot of the heat disappeared out of the back door.  Neither of my parents had clever ways of doing things like that, both had disrupted childhoods and things just weren't passed on.

Effician

Greenglockenspiel said:

@effician In smoke free areas you can only burn certain fuels in certain appliances. So no open fires and in certain appliances you can only burn seasoned wood or only burn solid fuel https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/cat07/1901291328_Smoke_Control_Web.pdf 

Good, so you knew log burners are allowed in all smoke free zones, why did you imply otherwise ?

Greenglockenspiel said:

The other thing to factor in when considering getting a wood burner is whether you live in an urban or rural area - quite a lot of urban areas already have clean air zones where they aren’t allowed.

Greenglockenspiel

Clearly I was wrong to suggest that they aren’t allowed at all, but there are restrictions and it is very likely that there will be further restrictions in the future, so I still think where you live (urban/rural) is a very relevant consideration. At the beginning of the pandemic we were also banned from bonfires at the allotments, so I think councils have some powers to tackle local air pollution as well.


Does anyone have a solar charger/power bank? I’m thinking they sound like less work than cranking something but not sure how effective they are.

[Deleted User]

We are already at the stage of not using the GCH. We are also very rural so have LPG in a tank. The gas has barely gone down at all as we simply CANNOT afford it. 

My coal man delivered today (100kg smokeless), I use a combination of wood and smokeless. It works for me and my children so as long as we are okay with it that’s fine for me. I did snort tea out of my nose at the idea of wearing a mask whilst it burns - no offence intended at all, but it just amused me because ours is lit at noon and burns until bedtime.