DIY Firelighters for Wood Burner

Eldi_Dos

knightstyle said:

One other point, the flue needs sweeping once a year and if there is a house fire the insurance company may want proof of this.
We lived in France and the insurance company said we had to have it done by a professional every year. 

Had a friend who was 94 and he used to bemoan that the only time he had dealings with the law was when he was fined " fifty bob" when he had a chimney fire, apparently if fire brigade were called to a chimney fire it was followed up the next day by visit from local constable and if you could not prove when you had last had chimney swept a fine was issued.

Leon_W

A bit of kindling and a splash of old turps never fails for me.  I keep all the old white spirit I've been using for brush cleaning etc for this purpose. An egg cup full is more than plenty.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Apodemus said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

FreeBear said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Interesting question, there are bricks of fuel made from coffee and DIYing it videos say to mix with wax.

I thought it wouldn’t be good for the stove to burn wax.

Damit. My name gets a mention again...

A mark of respect for sure  

FreeBear said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Interesting question, there are bricks of fuel made from coffee and DIYing it videos say to mix with wax.

I thought it wouldn’t be good for the stove to burn wax.

Wax won't damage the stove itself. What will happen though, is the wax vapours will condense out on the cold liner. As the liner heats up in use, there is a risk that the wax melts again, catches alight, and triggers a chimney fire. If you have been burning damp wood, or any old crappy scraps, there will be a build up of creosote which burns very nicely once there is something to get it going. But then.... You should be having your flue swept on a regular basis to get rid of any creosote deposits.

Sounds as if even with burning dry fuel and sensible flue cleaning burning a fair amount of wax wouldn't be the best idea.

Coffee as fuel will have to stay in the realms of fantasy, for now at least.  

If we are just talking about DIY firelighters, then there is no way you should be "burning a fair amount of wax".  Just a couple of scrapings of wax from an old candle stub 

Sorry I was going off topic slightly, I'd like to make coffee briquettes to burn rather than fire lighters.

Once receipt says 225g of wax to 750g of coffee, if we could get 300kg of coffee a year that would end up being 90kg of wax going in the stove. 

I forgot it also needs treacle (at double the amount of wax). 

Don't know how this company makes them:

https://www.bio-bean.com/coffee-logs/#hero

There are also briquettes made out of bracken of which there is a vast amount of around here but it's supposed to be carcinogenic so I don't fancy messing about with the stuff. 

Ectophile

knightstyle said:

One other point, the flue needs sweeping once a year and if there is a house fire the insurance company may want proof of this.
We lived in France and the insurance company said we had to have it done by a professional every year. 

It's not been a requirement in any house insurance policy I have ever had.