logs

[Hilary B]

If you are putting a woodburner in an old house GET THE CHIMNEY LINED!
Unlined flues, plus woodburner (or any kind of fuel-burning stove) leads to chemical damage to the chimney. Not many flues were lined 'when built' before about 1960. Some may have had a liner installed since.
In Spain we have a nice big hearth, some of the cooking gets done on that, burning logs from our own trees (so far just fallen wood and dead branches trimmed from live trees, must start pruning things soon).
Christmas Dinner will be cooked by the log fire.

[Aileen35]

Had a wood burner for the past 9 years, get free wood for it, cant afford to buy wood! The wood burner is a life saver, great in power cuts, and practically part of the family. Lovely

[Comfreyfan]

We get through loads of logs/wood, but we love it! Our local Homebase had some piles of wood outside with signs to 'help yourself', old pallets etc which we decided was worth keeping an eye on.

[peanut]

I have an open fire but have so far used mainly coal......Out of interest, how long do people find a ton or half ton of logs lasts them?

[beefy]

Those that are buying - what sort of prices are you paying.

Wood -
I have a small car trailer 6 foot long , 4 foot wide with sides around 14 inches deep .I can buy sycamore and ash cut and split 6 months ago for £20 to fill the trailer as much as I can get on it.
If I wanted it in the plastic net bags it would be £2.50 /bag.

Coal - 25 kg bag - £6.50 collected along with the logs Or from a different supplier £7.25 / 25kg bag delivered.

With a load of logs and 2 bags of coal I can heat the house well for 8 days .
Therefore £33 will heat the house for 8 days or £4.12 p/day.

[miffy]

We use eco logs which are compressed logs made from wood shavings etc. They are only 7% mositure content so burn really well and have less deposits as a result.
We do have a woodburner and used that alot until recently as it needed maintenance last year and we couldn't afford it and this year the jackdaws have built the mother of all nests in the stack so we can't use it until that is gone.
Also thinking we should also have it lined after hearing some scary stories re chimney fires but will need to wait until next year as it seems soooo expensive to do, so no stove for us this year.

[kentvegplot]

Woodburner in the living room, so at weekends don't put the CH on after the initial 2 hours in the morning, but light the fire.

We're burning old fence posts, and offcuts from apple tree surgery. Lovely smell! Might need to buy the OH a chain saw so he can saw up the rest of the old trees....

[Hilary B]

Unlined chimneys are not a good idea with closed stoves. The chemicals in the smoke are bad for bricks or stone, and the mortar that hlds them together, and in something that will 'slow burn' all night, it gets concentrated just where you don't want it!
ALL fires produce these chemicals, and lining the flue is always desirable, but especially so when it is a slow-burning appliance.