Wanted Log burner.

Glam

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
Right, I have searched, but couldn't find a specific threead to the subject. If there is one I apologise for starting another.

I'm thinking of having the gas fire taken out and having a log burner in its place. Does anyone have any experience with these things? I know it has to be to HETAS standard or whatever, don't need that row again!
Any recommendations of fitters etc?
 
Lucy

Lucy

Well-Known Forumite
We've used Stafford Fireplaces on Gaol Road a couple of times and always has great service.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Purely out of curiosity, is the reason for this aesthetic or financial? I'd love a log burner but I'm way too lazy to deal with the mess, plus having a small free roaming goblin means sticking to central heating seems easier!
 
Glam

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
tek-monkey said:
Purely out of curiosity, is the reason for this aesthetic or financial? I'd love a log burner but I'm way too lazy to deal with the mess, plus having a small free roaming goblin means sticking to central heating seems easier!
Click to expand...
Financial babb. Apart from the initial outlay, the burner itself, chimney being sorted for stuff etc. I have a nephew who can get me the wood whenever I want some. I'm hoping to get the garden sorted once and for all this year, and will be buying a much larger shed, where the wood can be stored.
I must admit, the mess is not endearing to me either.
If my kids were toddlers, there's no way we would have considered owt like this. Mine could undo the fireguard from an early age.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Glam said:
Financial babb. Apart from the initial outlay, the burner itself, chimney being sorted for stuff etc. I have a nephew who can get me the wood whenever I want some. I'm hoping to get the garden sorted once and for all this year, and will be buying a much larger shed, where the wood can be stored.
I must admit, the mess is not endearing to me either.
If my kids were toddlers, there's no way we would have considered owt like this. Mine could undo the fireguard from an early age.
Click to expand...
You do need to consider the storage of the wood carefully - and the access for delivering it.

If you're burning 'nice' wood, then the mess isn't a huge issue. I take ash out here after four or five days and could probably easily go a week, if not more.

If you can arrange the wood pile so that you can get at the old stuff and not just shove the new in front of it and use that, then that is worth sacrificing a bit of space for. And get as much solar input into the wood as you can - time and a small amount of additional heat will be a great benefit.

The lack of a timer function can be an issue - the fire won't start until you light it...

If you're going to get wood delivered in similar-sized loads, then it can be useful to be able to tell where one loads ends, so you get a better idea of how long it lasts.
 
Glam

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
Gramaisc said:
You do need to consider the storage of the wood carefully - and the access for delivering it.

If you're burning 'nice' wood, then the mess isn't a huge issue. I take ash out here after four or five days and could probably easily go a week, if not more.

If you can arrange the wood pile so that you can get at the old stuff and not just shove the new in front of it and use that, then that is worth sacrificing a bit of space for. And get as much solar input into the wood as you can - time and a small amount of additional heat will be a great benefit.

The lack of a timer function can be an issue - the fire won't start until you light it...

If you're going to get wood delivered in similar-sized loads, then it can be useful to be able to tell where one loads ends, so you get a better idea of how long it lasts.
Click to expand...
I can get a delivery whenever I want. He'll get it for me 'as and when' as he does for his mum. Hers is stored in a massive cow shed and I will be able to have access to that 24/7 if I want.
Do I still have to be careful with the wood burnt? I assume with the doors closed I wouldn't get all the spitting that you get with the ''wrong sort''?
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Glam said:
I can get a delivery whenever I want. He'll get it for me 'as and when' as he does for his mum. Hers is stored in a massive cow shed and I will be able to have access to that 24/7 if I want.
Do I still have to be careful with the wood burnt? I assume with the doors closed I wouldn't get all the spitting that you get with the ''wrong sort''?
Click to expand...
It will depend on the type of wood and the dryness of it. Spitting won't matter much, except when the door is open. I get the odd excitable bit, but it is of no consequence, really.

It's not so much about the wood just arriving, but, if you're storing it in the back garden, then it will have to be transferred there from the front of the house.

It is nice to be able to have a daysworth of wood in the house, so that you don't have to nip out in the rain when you run out. How you're going to carry the fuel through the house is worth considering, so you don't end up with bits everywhere - not really an issue for me, but it can be a problem in a more domesticated setting.

There are logistical issues to all this, and it can be made easy, or difficult. The system I'm running here is fairly easy now, but it's largely a matter of luck about where things 'had to be', they just happen to be in reasonable places. There will eventually be a 'cold' woodshed under the porch of the main Shed. Fires will be started with the 'baked' wood and then continue with the air-dried wood from there - but, that won't happen this week.

If you have a gas supply, it might be worth considering a gas poker point by the fire - it will make starting it rather easier and faster - and it will start a fire with bigger lumps, avoiding splitting stuff for tinder.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
It's blue bin here on Monday and I'm considering finally getting rid of the pile of paper and cardboard that I have been saving carefully for a long while, to use in starting the fire, as I don't really use it at all now, and it is actually just 'in the way' now.

On the 'kilned' wood in the greenhouse, the bark will easily flake off as logs are selected for incineration, and I find that keeping a small stash of that is adequate for fire-starting purposes. It's in a small metal bucket and it can be gently heated by the stove, for extra desiccation.

I've been monitoring the consumption, which has been a bit better than I expected, as I haven't been frugal with the wood through the winter. The logs are generally 8" to 9" long and are stacked in two rows in the greenhouse. It took 33 days right through the January cold spell to burn a section 8' long by 2'6" high. About a cubic foot per day, but a lot of that storage volume is air, of course.
 
dirtboxin

dirtboxin

Well-Known Forumite
Iv had a log burner for years running the central heating bought mine new off eBay. Have just had it decommisioned as I got a fully funded grant for internal wall insulation and an air heat pump heating system installed. I can still use the log burner even though it's no longer connected to the rads but now it no longer heats the water the heat that comes from it is rediculous . Slightly off topic the air heat pump iv had installed is brilliant it costs me £3 a day to in Lecky to keep the house warm.
 
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