Log burner investment?

thriftytracey

I had to stop my husband from piling on logs, that's the danger so you are sitting in a sauna.  You need to judge when to stop adding a log.  Notice, just one log at a time.  When it gets to about 8.30pm, we don't add any more wood and the room keeps warm until bedtime - about 10pm for us.  Only drops a degree or two at max.  You need to adjust it the timings according to external temperature.

Petriix

Call me weird but I only ever burn the minimum amount of fuel to achieve the minimum comfort temperature. The door remains firmly closed and the stove is just kept ticking over. It works really well and a very small amount of wood goes a long way. 

ariarnia

Petriix said:

Call me weird but I only ever burn the minimum amount of fuel to achieve the minimum comfort temperature. The door remains firmly closed and the stove is just kept ticking over. It works really well and a very small amount of wood goes a long way. 

theres nothing wrong with not running your stove at max capacity. you might have a stove thats too big for the room its in maybe or have really good insulation so are happy with a lower temp for longer like turning down the flow on your boiler? but if your logs arent burning properly (there smouldering for ages) and its below a cirtain temp (i'm sure someone else knows temp i just know its between the markings on our stove meter) then your risking a few things. inefficient burning means more risk of carbon monoxide and more soot in your chimney and the air. soot (smoke with bits in) is basically unburned wood (so wasted kw) and lots in your chimney means your more likely to have a chimney fire. it also is bad for the environment and asthmatics and might mean your neighbours complain about the smell/smoke. not saying thats you at all. just that there's a point where not burning your stove hot 'enough' can be wasteful and cause problems. 

dunstonh

Call me weird but I only ever burn the minimum amount of fuel to achieve the minimum comfort temperature. The door remains firmly closed and the stove is just kept ticking over. It works really well and a very small amount of wood goes a long way. 

Once running, we use one log at a time.  One lasts about and hour to 90s minutes.   Ours are 8kW burners and with one log burning, that is plenty to get the room into the 20s.  It could be that different posters here have different levels of efficiency.  We burn with a low level of air so we get a slow flame with plenty of secondary burn but not too low that it charcoals.   Some older burners cannot manage that and they will generate less heat unless they got filled with multiple logs to force the temperature up.

Ally_E.

Deleted_User said:

Ally_E. said:

ariarnia said:

Ally_E. said:

How do those of you who heat the room with the burner to 28C tolerate it? During the 40C heatwave our living room topped out at 28C and I was desperate for the night to come and cool it down. 

it depends what you mean. we run the burner hot from about 4pm and aim to stay about 180-200c according to the meter on the pipe but it takes a while to heat the hole room not just the space directly around the burner. so it can be very hot by the stove but much less back over by the sofa area. so people can choose who close they sit depending on how cold they are.

and if we keep the lounge curtain open then a lot of the heat goes out in to the hall and kitchen (and a little bit up the stairs) which also slows down the heat building up in the lounge and keeps the chill out. then when we've eaten at about 6 or so then we will slow down or stop putting on logs and pull across the curtain to keep the heat in the lounge. the fire is normally mostly out by 10ish but the room will stay warm until the early hours/next morning  

it is important thou that you do burn your stove hot enough that the wood or whatever you burn can burn completely. its good for you because you get less ash and less wasted heat but also your flu doesn't get all dirtied up so you have to get it swept less often and you have less chance of a chimney fire. and its better for your neighbors and the enviroment because theres less dust and ash going up the chimny as dirty smoke. 

It's more of a reply to those who said keeping living room at 19-20 while using the woodburner is too low. I normally need to use about 4 medium sized logs to get to 20C temp from 16C

That has to be down to size of room and/or insulation.

I have a 3kw stove in a room that's 12 foot by 18 foot - it's a 20 year old bungalow with good insulation. No high ceilings.

If I were to shut the door of the lounge I'd get from 16 to 20 within half an hour (I think - from memory!!). I would be forced to open the door within 45 minutes as it would be climbing up well into the 20's. Even with all the doors in the house open I couldn't keep my lounge below about 22 degrees once the fire is up and running.

I bet you're in a big, old house with huge high ceilings?

You can control the burn with the amount of logs you put it at a time and the air flow of the woodburner. I find it's wasteful to have it going full pelt and modulate the burn to be slow. 4 logs used through the evening on normal days and maybe 5-6 on very cold nights. 

MuckChucker

I find the latent heat of the unit with the fire more of less out is enough to keep the room comfortable. If the fan is still spinning, there's still heat to use

silverwhistle

As I type there's a saucepan of mushrooms cooking away on the stove top - glad I got a flat top one. It's not really cold here but I needed cheering up after some hospital visiting.

I've never bought any logs (apart from a disastrous trial of a small net from a supermarket as an experiment) although I do buy a few briquettes and use half a one when starting the fire. The rest is all sourced free: last month a boot load from less than half a mile away, tree surgeon's remedial work on dead wood and amazingly ready to burn. I'd never burned Monterrey Pine before but it's lovely.

The chimney sweep told me not to bother calling him for a year as I burn so clean. The pollution monitor in my lounge goes to red regularly when I cook in the adjacent kitchen but a handful of times from the operation of stove itself. Ash is really not a problem: when I do need to remove it it goes on the compost bin or the blueberry bed at the allotment.

My gas bill, mainly for hot water when the PV is not producing a surplus, and for heating on a few very cold days is currently estimated as around £152 a year in a three bed terrace, although that might change a bit if we have a cold winter or my sister visits from sunnier climes! I'm not too bothered about being warm in the bedroom as that's what duvets are for..

The lounge warms, the door to the dining room is opened, then to the hall where it moves to the kitchen with the help of stove top fans. I keep warm getting the wood and then burning it. The bottom line is that my energy company direct debit payments are currently suspended as the government assistance more than covers it. I'll be passing some of it on to people who need it more than I do.

Edit: to the question of suitable splitting axes I'd suggest a Fiskars which are widely available. A Gransfors Bruk would be lovely, but those are for richer people than me, or with a big demand for wood!

mmmmikey

+1 for the Fiskars axe - off to the woods to use mine tomorrow

greyteam1959

@silverwhistle
How do you get a gas bill of £152 a year ?
The standing charge is going to be around that figure with no gas usage at all.

Ally_E.

Deleted_User said:

Ally_E. said:

Deleted_User said:

Ally_E. said:

ariarnia said:

Ally_E. said:

How do those of you who heat the room with the burner to 28C tolerate it? During the 40C heatwave our living room topped out at 28C and I was desperate for the night to come and cool it down. 

it depends what you mean. we run the burner hot from about 4pm and aim to stay about 180-200c according to the meter on the pipe but it takes a while to heat the hole room not just the space directly around the burner. so it can be very hot by the stove but much less back over by the sofa area. so people can choose who close they sit depending on how cold they are.

and if we keep the lounge curtain open then a lot of the heat goes out in to the hall and kitchen (and a little bit up the stairs) which also slows down the heat building up in the lounge and keeps the chill out. then when we've eaten at about 6 or so then we will slow down or stop putting on logs and pull across the curtain to keep the heat in the lounge. the fire is normally mostly out by 10ish but the room will stay warm until the early hours/next morning  

it is important thou that you do burn your stove hot enough that the wood or whatever you burn can burn completely. its good for you because you get less ash and less wasted heat but also your flu doesn't get all dirtied up so you have to get it swept less often and you have less chance of a chimney fire. and its better for your neighbors and the enviroment because theres less dust and ash going up the chimny as dirty smoke. 

It's more of a reply to those who said keeping living room at 19-20 while using the woodburner is too low. I normally need to use about 4 medium sized logs to get to 20C temp from 16C

That has to be down to size of room and/or insulation.

I have a 3kw stove in a room that's 12 foot by 18 foot - it's a 20 year old bungalow with good insulation. No high ceilings.

If I were to shut the door of the lounge I'd get from 16 to 20 within half an hour (I think - from memory!!). I would be forced to open the door within 45 minutes as it would be climbing up well into the 20's. Even with all the doors in the house open I couldn't keep my lounge below about 22 degrees once the fire is up and running.

I bet you're in a big, old house with huge high ceilings?

You can control the burn with the amount of logs you put it at a time and the air flow of the woodburner. I find it's wasteful to have it going full pelt and modulate the burn to be slow. 4 logs used through the evening on normal days and maybe 5-6 on very cold nights. 

You can't really get more than a couple of small logs into mine. It's tiny!!

I start with 2 logs and when they are almost done, add 1 log at a time. I get to look at the pretty flame for longer and the room doesn't get boiling hot too quickly.