Firelogs? Coal? Briquettes? Logs? Or wha'? (1 Viewer)

pissypants

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You want an open fire for the winter, but what's your preferred medium?
I've been trying firelogs - those sort of compressed woodchip looking things. Handy enough, they throw out a lot of heat, but they're hard enough to light and keep going, and burn pretty fast. On the up side, they burn down to virtually nothing, so are an easy cleanup. What's your preference for a toasty winter hearth?


AAAAAH!




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hmm, I'll have to find a decent way of keeping things dry in Kerry up a hill beside the sea.

lol

Mayo is basically the same sort of thing as Kerry, and we'd get sodden turf dried out. If you get something covered and off the ground, with air able to move through it, on average it's going to dry out.

For the turf once you get it in off the bog you'd just pile it up haphazardly into a long triangle, and then tile the nicer longer ones pointing inwards on the outside of the bank. Then you could kind of quarry the loose turf from within the bank, it was normally fairly dry even though the bank would be uncovered.

If it was really pissing down for weeks you'd have a backup stash in a shed though.
 
It's methane, which long term is awful for global warming. Maybe nobody is making noises about it being banned but it'll have to be banned at some point.

it comes in as methane alright, but it gets turned into CO2 fairly efficiently I'd imagine. Which obiously isn't ideal, but isn't methane any more. (Not arguing here by the way, I'm massively out of the loop with... well, basically everything to do with Ireland at this point.)
 
from what i can see, there was talk of them extending the smoky coal ban (which applies to urban areas) nationwide.
but what happened was at least one of the three main coal distributors (one of which is actually based in ireland) went 'nuh-huh, you can't do that, we'll sue if you ban smoky coal and don't address smoky peat or wood, because unseasoned wood is smoky, etc.'

so the government as a way of kicking the can down the road decided 'well, maybe we'll actually do that so', and floated the idea knowing it'd die an *instant* death, but i have heard rumblings again occasionally about it. because there are valid concerns about burning damp or unseasoned wood (and the only good thing about turf in any way is the smell), the EPA would like to see its use stopped. particulate matter is quite high from its use.

people who burn seasoned hardwood (e.g. me), would be a bit annoyed about this. as far as i'm concerned, done right, it's an environmentally friendly way of doing it. as mentioned, i'm seasoning a load of cherry at the moment which came from about 20m from where i'm sitting, and burning it means i'm burning less gas. the wood would have ended up as CO2 within a few years regardless.
They're banning wet wood in the UK come January. It's a completely unenforceable ban since people can cut down their own trees, but banning the sale of of it in household size amounts will certainly make a dent, and it's clearly the way things will be going here soon enough.


Mayo is basically the same sort of thing as Kerry, and we'd get sodden turf dried out. If you get something covered and off the ground, with air able to move through it, on average it's going to dry out.

For the turf once you get it in off the bog you'd just pile it up haphazardly into a long triangle, and then tile the nicer longer ones pointing inwards on the outside of the bank. Then you could kind of quarry the loose turf from within the bank, it was normally fairly dry even though the bank would be uncovered.

If it was really pissing down for weeks you'd have a backup stash in a shed though.
Ah, trying to avoid turf now, even if it smells lovely when burning, we've gotten a pile of different ecologs to try out and we're using them in combination with the damper local wood we bought and it looks like it'll be a winning combination for this winter anyway.
 
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Ah, trying to avoid turf now, even if it smells lovely when burning, we've gotten a pile of different ecologs to try out and we're using them in combination with the damper local wood we bought and it looks like it'll be a winning combination for this winter anyway.

Oh yeah, I wasn't suggesting turf (although I sort of love the hand cut stuff), I was more saying that if we managed to get turf dried out in Mayo then you should have some hope of drying out wood.
 
I fucking hate turf and I'm glad it's being banned everywhere.

There, I said it.

So many wasted back breaking summer days on the bog, which got worse when I discovered the joys of drinking and hangovers.

I'll never get that time back but at least the midges and clegs can go about their business unmolested now.
 
"A new kiln in town dries firewood for three days before it’s offered for sale."
they seem not to be burning dry wood. i suspect alaska isn't exactly the best climate for seasoning wood.
 

Wood sold in single units under 2 cubic metres in size will be required to have a moisture content of 25 per cent or less moving to 20 per cent within four years.

Our local woodman guy has informed us he has just bought a kiln funnily enough.



I've found that sheltered wood that i've chopped takes a summer to get dry enough to be really efficient, and i've found that I burn close to a cord* in a small stove over winter. If you stick at the stove for an hour to get a good bed of orange wood/warm carbon structure it'll eat up wet logs east enough but require more air and give less heat. Ideal woodshed would be at least twice the size of one years burning so you can be refilling for the next year as you use the current year. I've never used the commercial stuff but if you get dried wood to get the stove up and running you can go 50/50 with wet stuff once its up to temperature..

*a cord is a rediculous unit of measurement for piles of wood.
I'd say we went through at least 3 cord* last winter/spring.



*being that it's a ridiculous measurement I assume the plural is spelt the same way as singular, just to be difficult
 
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Wood sold in single units under 2 cubic metres in size will be required to have a moisture content of 25 per cent or less moving to 20 per cent within four years.

Our local woodman guy has informed us he has just bought a kiln funnily enough.




I'd say we went through at least 3 cord* last winter/spring.



*being that it's a ridiculous measurement I assume the plural is spelt the same way as singular, just to be difficult

Thanks for that - It sounds like they might tighten on wood in a few more iterations over the years.

Got my seasoning shed 1/2 built this year, might put a push on over winter to finish it - it's around 2-3 cord.
 
i'm hoping that this winter we can convince our next door neighbour to take down the ash tree that's growing too close to the back of the house and is compromised.
would be a good year of burning (and turning) in it i think, once seasoned.
 
btw, by compromised, the chap who would be taking it down spotted that at some time in the past, someone had tied a washing line around it (one of the bright orange nylon rope ones) and we don't know when (because the trunk has grown around the rope and it's not visible anymore except where it emerges), so have no idea of how wide the sound part of the trunk is at that constriction.
 
Have bought firewood from various places over the years, and it was mostly either not-dry-enough or imported, neither of which I was happy about

Found these guys last year and am quite happy with them
Surefire Wood, Premium Kiln Dried Firewood, Ireland

Irish-sourced wood, FSC certified, <20% moisture, decent price and free shipping if you buy a pallet
 
Have bought firewood from various places over the years, and it was mostly either not-dry-enough or imported, neither of which I was happy about

Found these guys last year and am quite happy with them
Surefire Wood, Premium Kiln Dried Firewood, Ireland

Irish-sourced wood, FSC certified, <20% moisture, decent price and free shipping if you buy a pallet
Where does it say they source it from Ireland? I'm suspicious of them saying they source them "locally" but with no further info, probably just because i'm super paranoid about these things. It's all a bit of a minefield, the ecoful guys seem similar (they source from Latvia) but i'm not sure what FSC certified is worth at the end of the day. Any further reading you'd recommend on this?



depressing story about all this stuff in the guardian this year

 

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