only have wood to heat our house-no other option 23 November 2022 at 4:13PM in LPG, heating oil, solid & other fuels 17 replies 2.3K views

feral_child

Hi, I'm in North Northumberland and I dont have LPG or oil only have wood to heat the house-do we get £200 pound payment?
 the govt has made buying wood much more difficult and more expensive this year as they can only sell kiln dried
(we used to buy it and dry it for 6months to save money
-no-one burns wet wood, contrary to the media saying its the wood pollution thats tipping us over the edge!? The only renewable resource)
we have to buy tons of it a year and we only put the heating on in the whole house(the rayburn) when the temp inside reaches 9 degrees as it is-
(we do have one log burner and we dont collect benefits)

maisie_cat

The alternative fuel payment does cover wood, we use wood and wood pellets.
As to when it might be paid nobody seems to know.

Sg28

You cant buy unseasoned wood anymore? I always use to buy it direct from estate managers or tree surgeons and season myself for a year. Is this not possible anymore? I haven't had a stove for 5 years since I moved house but getting one installed in the new year

Apodemus

Sg28 said:

You cant buy unseasoned wood anymore? I always use to buy it direct from estate managers or tree surgeons and season myself for a year. Is this not possible anymore? I haven't had a stove for 5 years since I moved house but getting one installed in the new year

The rule only applies (in England) to volumes of less than 2m2, where it has to be certified as "ready to burn", which is defined as less than 20% moisture content.

Ectophile

I'm sure the people who sell kiln dried wood would like you to think that's all you're allowed to buy.

In reality, people can still sell you properly seasoned wood provided that it's below 20% moisture.  Or you can bulk buy logs and cut them up and season them yourself.

Sg28

Apodemus said:

Sg28 said:

You cant buy unseasoned wood anymore? I always use to buy it direct from estate managers or tree surgeons and season myself for a year. Is this not possible anymore? I haven't had a stove for 5 years since I moved house but getting one installed in the new year

The rule only applies (in England) to volumes of less than 2m2, where it has to be certified as "ready to burn", which is defined as less than 20% moisture content.

I remember buying a net bag of "ready to burn" firewood from b&q a few years ago. Split one and checked it with my moisture meter and it was 45%! 

skycatcher

I was able to buy a tonne bag of seasoned wood from our local coal/wood supplier. It was 18% moisture.

Longwalker

Surely you can buy forestry and prep two years ahead?

Ive three years wood drying here at the moment and need to start buying again next year. All wood here is forestry ( soft ) and we can either buy the stripped trees and cut ourselves ( big start up costs ) or buy cut and season ourselves 

Reed_Richards

If you are struggling, there are some log banks in North Northumberland: https://www.breamishvalley.com/northumberland-log-bank/

mmmmikey

Sg28

I remember buying a net bag of "ready to burn" firewood from b&q a few years ago. Split one and checked it with my moisture meter and it was 45%! 

Funny to hear you say that, I had a similar experience with unseasoned logs from B&Q, that became known as the B&Q safety logs on the basis they were inflammable To this day, if anyone puts a log on the fire that doesn't burn someone invariably asks if it's a B&Q safety log

Qyburn

Ectophile said:

I'm sure the people who sell kiln dried wood would like you to think that's all you're allowed to buy.

Kiln dried producers were the main campaigners behind the change in rules.  I have heard that they pressed for the limit to be 15% rather than 20, to make it really difficult for anything but KD to conform. Luckily they didn't get their way in that respect, so nowadays whether you buy kiln dried or air dried, it should be 20%.  Kiln drying makes the process quicker for the supplier, and allows them to claim RHI payments. It doesn't produce a superior product.