Log burner investment?

Apodemus

silverwhistle said:

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.

I'd go easy on that, blueberries like an acid soil and ash will make it quite alkili!

ariarnia

Apodemus said:

silverwhistle said:

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.

I'd go easy on that, blueberries like an acid soil and ash will make it quite alkili!

if you are a filter coffee drinker or you go past a coffee shop then coffee grounds are great for blueberries and we have no trouble asking in places that make real coffee if we can have have a bag full (the local place uses industrial size food bags just for coffee grounds so nipping in at the end of the day and asking for that days worth is more than we could use for our couple of bushes) 

silverwhistle

Apodemus said:

I'd go easy on that, blueberries like an acid soil and ash will make it quite alkili!

Doh! Thanks for that. I was just thinking what I'll do with the first load of ash of the winter and thought of that. Normally it's easier to put it straight on the home compost bin and I'll continue to do that. It'll balance the rotten citrus peels!

silverwhistle

greyteam1959 said:

@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.

I know about the standing charge, it hurts! Basic answer, warm house (insulated mid-terrace), just me to keep happy, a very large proportion of my hot water from PV and a diverter, electric cooking and back to where we all came in.. a woodburner. :-)

Depending on the weather I hardly use my gas central heating. Pre-covid when I went on skiing holidays I'd have it on very low whilst away (as a frost defence) and then switch it on when I got home to get the house warm again, but the last two years that hasn't happened.

A quick check just this instant: the sun has come out and my immersion is already heating by solar at a rate of ~1.3kW. Should have a hot tank by lunchtime.

Mstty

We haven't been here long enough to do the calculations and really the log burner in the lounge has been out for aesthetics.

As a rough rule of thumb our ASHP running 24/7 at 19oC for the whole house and heating  November to March will use 22.5kwh a day so £987 of electricity at our current price per kwh.

I can't see the log burner in one room beating that for whole house heat and the added hassle of lighting/cleaning out. Happy to be proved wrong.

Don't get me wrong I love it at weekends for aesthetics and who doesn't love a fire at Christmas.

Effician

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Mstty said:

Don't get me wrong I love it at weekends for aesthetics and who doesn't love a fire at Christmas.

To be responsible log burner owner you have to remember a log burner is for life , not just for Christmas.

Mstty

Effician said:

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Mstty said:

Don't get me wrong I love it at weekends for aesthetics and who doesn't love a fire at Christmas.

To be responsible log burner owner you have to remember a log burner is for life , not just for Christmas.

😂😂😂 Very good

mmmmikey

Busy day at the woods on Thursday Left home early, drove to the woods, split enough logs to fill trailer, drove home, stacked logs. Just recovering now ready to repeat 3 more times. Exhausting (at my current level of fitness!) but tremendously satisfying - I felled the trees in February this year and cut logs to length where it felled. Should be seasoned and ready to use by next winter  

On the subject of ash, up until now I've been doing some big landscaping jobs in my garden so it's been easy to scatter it round and lose it. But now the garden is finished and there's a limit to the amount I can put on the beds (not a huge garden). How do you dispose of the ash? I'm guessing it's a question of cooling it so there's no embers and then chuck it in the bin, but how do you do that without making a mess everywhere? Any suggestions welcome....

PennyForThem_2

So I am assuming your council does not have a garden waste recycling scheme i.e. cuttings, weeds, limited thickness wood, lawn mowings, fallen leaves AND WOOD ASH from only burned logs.

Mostly I spread waste ash from my burned logs on my bare/mulched areas but if too much it goes in my green bin for council to collect.

ariarnia

we have a big garden so it snot really a problem for us. oh has sometimes used a little for gritting the drive and path when its very icy. i think you can put it in general waste if you dont have garden waste (just make sure you bag it in an old shopping bag so it doesn't make a mess. or you could maybe see if theres a local allotment near you and they could make use of it? or take it back and dump it in the woods you took the wood from? if you pick up an old style metal bin then you'd only have to worry about getting rid of it a couple of times a winter really.