Log Burners

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Brocakat

I beleive there is a drawback with Woodburners as I believe most of them are designed to burn - Hardwoods. e.g. Oak/Ash/Beech .

But for most folk considering one, it appears thast most wood-to-buy-for burning is
off-cuts of Spruce,Firs, Cypress. The resin-containing Softwoods.

Now, here's the nub/rub:- I have heard that the resin is not combusted properly very often or if-at-all , and can build-up,and build-up, etc etc in the chimney/stove-pipe & eventually either 'gum-up-the-works' or simply self-ignire when reaching a certin level of deposit. A frightening thought !

So, have I been misinformed, and can a 'typical' (whatever THAT means!) woodburner stove burn ANYy wood (s), hard & soft, resinous or not ?

this has already been debated higher up, and the gist is that its partly misinformation - any wood can be burnt - so long as it is seasoned properly - burning most woods in the green is not a good idea and will lead to excess soot build up

[muldonach]

Originally Posted by nightshade

The baseline is there will be no timber left safe anywhere for beetles, etc. to develop in. So as your log burners snap and fizzle through tons of timber just remember the fizzle could be the larvae of insects so necessary to maintain a balanced ecology. Save Carbon ruin the ecology.

Things are not quite so black and white, tree felling on a commercial scale produces a lot of brash which is normally left on site, although there are trials and pilot projects to bale brash and de-stump the sites for biomass.

However deadwood is normally left standing unless it is actually in the way of a machine or posing a public danger in which case it is randomly cut and piled.

In our case all brash is left in the wood, randomly piled out of the way to rot down and provide exactly the habitat you are advocating.

Bear in mind also that thinning or coppicing will actually enhance biodiversity by modifying the age structure of the wood and allowing different light levels down to the woodland floor.

Again, we vary the thinning intensity from 25% - 100% on a random basis for that reason.

Also be aware that the latest fashion - especially in wales if I understand correctly - is to move to continous cover forestry, which will again produce a varied age forest.

The use of woodfuel is beneficial to our woodlands, always provided that discretion is exercised.

Regards
mac

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by muldonach

Also be aware that the latest fashion - especially in wales if I understand correctly - is to move to continous cover forestry, which will again produce a varied age forest.

Apparently the Welsh Assembly forest strategy is to have over 50% of its forests under Continuous Cover Forestry within the next 20 years.

I can why it may be a preferred system of management for semi-natural woodland, but I do wonder about how appropriate it is for those conifer plantations on former heathland/moorland. I hope that won't adversely affect the nightjar populations, as over 50% of the UK breeding population is in forestry plantations, and it is the clearfelled areas/young plantations that they use.

[bigdave60dog]

Just goes to show that you will never please everyone.
Dave

[Brocakat]

Originally Posted by eeyore

........."this has already been debated higher up,............."

Hi, Eeeyore.....by the above, I assume you mean in a previous WAB thread (?)

If so - could you remember approx. when, - so I can trawl though the archives ?

That would be appreciated.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Brocakat

Hi, Eeeyore.....by the above, I assume you mean in a previous WAB thread (?)

If so - could you remember approx. when, - so I can trawl though the archives ?

That would be appreciated.

nope higher up as in higher up(ie earlier on) this thread, see post #113 by "sawsicksteve" and the succeeding ones

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by eeyore

nope higher up as in higher up(ie earlier on) this thread, see post #113 by "sawsicksteve" and the succeeding ones

... although, of course, there are two ways of sorting your message lists - in my case it would be 'lower down'!

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by bigdave60dog

Just goes to show that you will never please everyone.
Dave

Which is why we should always be a bit wary of 'fashionable' policy ... we don't necessarily want everyone to jump on the bandwagon, which is often what happens, especially if politicians are involved , at least until the full implications are understood.

Same with wood fuelled heating. There has been a fashion for some planning authorities to demand wood fuelled heating in some rural areas so that they can tick some sustainability boxes. This would be fine if wood pellet boilers were not so expensive here (they start at £5,000) and the supply and quality of wood pellets was reliable. I looked into it for my house which is not on mains gas (and which had had all its heating ripped out by the previous occupant), but rejected it for those reasons. This seems to me to be the most controllable and convenient type of wood fuelled heating - popular in Germany etc where it is much cheaper, and the fuel is readily available. Almost as convenient and controllable as gas central heating ... timers, thermostats switch it on and off to your programme, it has an automatic feed, ash needs removing only once in a while. No getting up early to get the fire going, no need to brave the elements bringing in the wood, chopping it, storing it, trying to keep it dryish, no struggling to maintain the fire if you are old, infirm, or just have the flu .... bliss by comparison, unless you need to release your demons through the daily swinging of the axe.

Interestingly, my neighbours who had lived for decades with wood and coal fuelled central heating (stove with back boiler), as soon as they were able to buy their homes put in an oil fired boiler straight away, for the convenience and warmth . They have kept a wood burning stove as back up for when the power fails, but not as their main source of heating.

Oh, and yes, I went for oil fired central heating in the end. I do have a multi-fuel stove as well, only it doesn't work properly, thanks to the installer . I gave up using it last winter despite having no other heating except a plug in electric radiator, because it gave off no useful heat, gobbled up the wood, needed sitting over to try to keep it burning at all. I need to find a non-cowboy installer to sort it out. Unfortunately due to building control rules we are pretty much restricted to using HETAS installers, and at the moment there aren't many locally here, so they are taking advantage of the opportunity to rip us off.

[Brocakat]

Sheffield Lass - Try a big firm with 'local' contacts they can reccomend - like 'Drake & Skull'.

And heck-fire, I know Scarborough isn't 10 minues from Sheffield - but Heating contractors from the former 'City of Steel' should be relatively easy to find , to go to
your neck-of-the-woods.

Now, if you were in the West Country, I could then understand........

[APC]

The woodland that I work at is getting joined into a Woodland Management Scheme agreement with thinnings being one of the prescribed pieces of work. Away from the tracks, we like to ringbark a few to keep up the standing deadwood component. Much of the rest, anything down to around 3inch in diameter is extracted for firewood or fencing materials. We cannot leave much in the way of deadwood on the ground as it is a heavily used site and deadwood on the ground attracts a hell of a lot of fires. Weirdly though, if we stack the brash as deadhedges, it doesn't move or get burnt whereas randomly left piles get pushed up and torched.

check out Arbtalk.co.uk firewood section, for plenty of discussion about logs, burners and all the ins and outs of the firewood business.

ps: bumming logs from woodlands that aren't your own, from log piles in commercially managed woodlands is theft. Don't do it!