Advice about solid fuel please!

pinkbubble

Hi everyone, we're moving into a new (council) house in a couple of weeks... am going to have to figure out the solid fuel burner, it heats the radiators and hot water - I have a feeling that I'm Really going to miss my ghc combi boiler... but hey at least I can toast marshmellows now. Does anyone know, which fuel is the cheapest, I think it's a multi fuel burner (they havn't got back to me yet) so if it is, would wood (haha) or coal be best?
Also how much does a bag cost, and how many would an average family use weekly when it's cold weather... I have 3 small children so I would have thought it'd be on practically the whole time we'll be awake? So I guess in the winter I'll have to run down in the morning before the kids get up and light the fire... rustic. How long does it take to get the house warm from lighting the fire?
And (finally) should I buy coal all year round? I thought of buying a bag every week to stock up. I don't know how big the bags are yet but there are two big coal bin-type of things in the garden that I could start to stock up?
Sorry for all the questions!!

alyth

Pinkbubble, I'm in exactly the same situation as you - I'm about to move into a rented cottage where the only source of heating is a solid fire with a back burner. I've lived with coal fires for years so I'm used to them, it's a pain having to clean them out each day, but you do get used to it.

from memory a bag of coal is about £3 - I'm out in the sticks so I can burn decent coal, when I lived in London you could only burn smokeless and it didn't seem to last that long.

I would stock up, I'm figuring that the price of coal will have risen as I haven't bought any for 18 months - I have real heating in this house! I would stockpile, that way it spreads the price of the coal throughout the whole year, rather than having to get a big supply in when it starts to get cold.

I would check that you have an immersion heater for your hot water though - otherwise it may be a struggle for you keeping the fire going and getting enough hot water. can't answer your question about how quickly the house heats up but I'd be interested to hear other responses!

pinkbubble

Hiya Alyth

clean them out each day!!!! :eek:

hmm, I'm in the sticks too, there isn't even any gas in this little village lol, so hopefuly our coal will be good too.

Yep I think I will deff stockpile then, plus send the kids out to forrage for small logs, sticks and twigs :rotfl: as I don't want to be cold this winter!

I think I'll do a test when I first move in - see how much coal it takes to burn from when we get up at 6, till when I go to bed, then work out how much we'll need to survive the winter.

I thought of another question - Do you have to put the fire out before you go up to bed at night? And where is the best place to fit a smoke alarm, I'll be paranoid about chimney fires...

pinkbubble

Oh I do have an immersion heater, I've posted in the other forum for advice on that too! Am having daymares of huuuge heating bills!!

alyth

Pink, i gotta be honest and say i don't envy you with that as your only form of heating with 3 kids! I'm the same, there's no gas up here, it's oil or coal mostly.

I lived in a very large house without heating for 4 years - the only form of heating was coal fires, so I'm used to it - however, many a night I came in from work and there was ice on the inside of the window, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get a fire to light! Get good kindling, I found some newspapers light better than others for some reason, the Times was never very good!

Actually, you've just reminded me, I'll have to get the chimney swept when I move in - dammit, that's another expense I hadn't budgeted for! I've always found, and I hope someone will correct me if I am wrong, that you can only really keep a fire going for so long - if you light it in the morning, you end up putting so much coal on it over the course of the day, that by the evening you have to try and clean out the grate. I find a fire will just burnt itself out over the night, my aunt has some story she tells me about throwing someone on it and being able to relight it the next morning, but I can't work out what she's talking about!

I guess you'll have to watch for sparks spitting out of the fire (I'm assuming it's an open fire) but other than that, to be honest as long as you get the chimneys swept every six months you should be okay.

Good luck, sounds as if we'll be moving about the same time!

bagpuss_fan

Hi, buying coal by the bag is SOOOO expensive. We buy 10 sacks at a time from our local coal man, and it's about £90 for the medium grade (he does 3 different grades), I think most of the garages sell the cheap one!

Also, I'm going to get a "paper log maker" i've been hording newspapers for weeks now, just haven't got round to getting the machine! Apparently the blocks burn for 3 hours each!!

alyth

Bagpuss, do those log maker things actually work -I've seen them around for ages, I buy loads of newspapers and just recycle them, I'd be interested to know if they actually generate any heat!

pinkbubble

Hmm I can see it might be really costly. As a single mum on incomme support it's a bit of a worry really, specialy as I'm in a fair bit of debt. Luckily I have the kids dad, (my ex hub) and I know he'll buy me coal, lol, but I've just googled for a bit of info and is seems I might be in 'fuel poverty' !

It's a stove-type of thing - I don't thing it's literaly an open fire, it has doors and os fixed on to the wall. Hoping is IS multi fuel cos then I can buy whatever is on offer or something.
Ooh the newspaper logs sound good.
We'll have to meet up on here and share tips!
We could offer free local furniture removal services! Plenty of old wardrobes to burn, haha!

dekh

If you have somewhere to store it get the coal delivered in 50KG sacks or by the tonne. Don't but it from a garage.

Ask your neighbours where they get theirs. Find your local coal merchant or try CPL distribution, you can get on line prices from them to compare.

If you are in the sticks you might be able to source logs/wood cheaper or free. It burns much quicker but creates much less ash, and if you can get it free...

A._Badger

As far as I'm aware, most coal merchants still have a cheapr rate for coal bought during the summer - so don't buy now!

And never buy from a garage. Your local coal merchant will almost always be cheaper and if he isn't, you might find a better deal at a local farm shop or similar.

pinkbubble

Yes I will def shop around for the best price, and I will ask my neighbours who seem nice. The village is off the gas grid, so everyone is in the same situ, so hopefully ppl will have had years of experience to offer me!
Someone on my other thread suggested burning wood in the autumn and when it's not too cold, as it's cheaper but lasts shorter and doesn't kick out as much heat, and coal when it's really cold. Sounds like good advice.