Heat in the home

Use this board for general non-cycling-related chat, or to introduce yourself to the forum.

My central heating is set for what range?

I don't have central heating
8
13%
below 18
22
37%
18-20
23
38%
21-22
2
3%
23-25
2
3%
25-plus
3
5%
 
Total votes: 60

Psamathe
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Re: Heat in the home

Post by Psamathe »

Mick F wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 4:44pm ....
You can buy anything you want. No laws about that.
....
No you can't (e.g. various recreational drugs, prescription medication, etc.). In the case of firewood https://www.gov.uk/guidance/selling-woo ... in-england

Ian
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Mick F
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Re: Heat in the home

Post by Mick F »

I wasn't suggesting Anything, but general stuff, not drugs! :D
I should have been more precise.

As for wood, yes, the law is clear, but it's not very clear, as in the scenario I described.
You can buy cut wood legally, so long as it's not sold as "domestic firewood".

Logs is logs. It's what you do with them that is the issue here.
You can quite legally buy a tractor-load of logs, and the farmer can quite legally sell them.
Mick F. Cornwall
francovendee
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Joined: 5 May 2009, 6:32am

Re: Heat in the home

Post by francovendee »

Mick F wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 4:44pm You could well be correct regarding what and where he keeps the logs.

Is it illegal to sell them though?
Somehow, I very much doubt it.

You can buy anything you want. No laws about that.
It's what you do with it afterwards that's the issue here.

Just say you buy a freshly felled tree, and ask the person to log it up for you and barrow it to your home.
You get the (wet sappy) logs home and dry them yourself.

Come here, and pay me a few quid, and you can cut one of our trees down, log it up, and take it home.
In fact, I would welcome it! :D
I'd be round like a shot if I lived nearby.
We always thought the French measured their wealth by the size of their woodpile.
I must have upwards of 25 cube metres here. Spread over 3 sheds. By French standards I'm poor. :D
I never turn down an offer of free wood.
My wife's friend recently had a wood pellet stove installed to help cut down the electric bills.
The pellets are sold in 15Kg bags and she bought a pallet of pellets, just over a tonne in weight. They were on offer and she paid just under 800€ without delivery.
She bangs on about it being 'greener' but I can't see how. The pellets have to be processed and dried, all this must use energy.
I've questioned her claim and she gets very defensive about it.
I think it cost her 6000€ to buy and get it installed.
A really efficient modern wood stove would cost a lot less.
francovendee
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Re: Heat in the home

Post by francovendee »

[img]
IMG_20211202_195422.jpg
/img]

Our cat seems quite comfortable!
One more log on this evening and then it's time for bed.
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Mick F
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Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall

Re: Heat in the home

Post by Mick F »

:D :D
Wonderful!

I mean it, come to the valley and take a tree down. We have far too many of them, and if you do, in the next few years, there'll be another two taking its place.

Remember the October Gales of 1988?
Michael Fish said there wasn't a hurricane coming?
Yes, it hit southern England, but here in Devon and Cornwall nothing happened until the following year Feb(?) 1989.
Trees down, road and rail disruptions ........... but it didn't make the national news if my memory serves me correctly.

Just here at Gulworthy Cross, all the trees were blown over. Blocked the A390 for a day or three.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-59503256
Trees have grown back. That shot on Google Streetview is 2017 ............ 28 years later.

BTW, that's not me on the bike! :wink:
Mick F. Cornwall
francovendee
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Re: Heat in the home

Post by francovendee »

I well remember that storm, it uprooted a dozen apple trees in my garden.
We were told millions of trees in France were blown down, blocking many roads. For days all you could hear was the sound of chainsaws as everyone took the opportunity for some free wood.
I have a very old Chestnut tree close to my boundary. It's diseased and would probably provide half a years logs. I keep looking at it but feel it's too dangerous for me to try taking it down.
I keep hoping a storm will do it for me.
pwa
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Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Heat in the home

Post by pwa »

The problem with getting your fuel from trees you fell yourself is that you need the space to season (dry) it over the year or more it will require to become truly dry. And only dry wood burns really well. I have always tried to use only dry wood but occasionally I have burned wood that is damp in the core, and it doesn't burn nearly as well. Dry wood is superior, even before you factor in the need to be a good neighbour by not sending out plumes of smoke. I no longer dry my own wood, instead having it delivered (£30 a metre bag) already bone dry, so my wood store only needs to be big enough to get us to Spring 2022. We had six cubic metres delivered, to add to about one cubic metre left from last winter, and that will give us a fire each night over the winter.
francovendee
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Re: Heat in the home

Post by francovendee »

Anything we burn is at least 3 years old. First year in the open with a cover over the top. Second and third years kept in the sheds.
Space here isn't a problem but if it was I'd have to buy less.
Even wood bought from the farmer I leave at least a year. I know he stores it in a huge barn for two years before selling it.
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al_yrpal
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Re: Heat in the home

Post by al_yrpal »

Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
francovendee
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Re: Heat in the home

Post by francovendee »

al_yrpal wrote: 3 Dec 2021, 8:21am Hrmmmm... Watch your health!

https://www.advertiserandtimes.co.uk/ne ... s-9228589/

Al
The NM avertiser!

I lived in New Milton in the 80's and we'll remember the two papers. I even made the front page for challenging a parking offence.
The press was in a ramshackle wooden building and the owner was very contrary and wanted his views in the paper's editorial s and content. Very much a local rag.
The owner leaned so far to the right he almost had his nose on the ground.
I'm sure it's now in different ownership but the original owner refused all attempts to buy him out.
The area the paper covers is packed with colonel blimps and at a planning committee I realized how out of touch with the real world they were. Sat on fat pensions and reluctant to allow our planning application for a new factory on a disused gravel pit that would have provided jobs. We won the appeal.
We really ought to meet for a pint and a chat someday. :)
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Mick F
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Re: Heat in the home

Post by Mick F »

francovendee wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 7:46pm I have a very old Chestnut tree close to my boundary. It's diseased and would probably provide half a years logs.
There's a reason why they make fencing and fence posts from chestnut.
It is very rot-proof, and my feeble brain would suggest that if it doesn't rot, it won't burn.

This is a fact as far as we're concerned as we were given loads of chestnut and I logged it up and dried it out. Rubbish firewood, and we described it as trying to burn asbestos .......................... so don't bother with it ................ in our humble opinions.
Mick F. Cornwall
Jdsk
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Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: Heat in the home

Post by Jdsk »

Mick F wrote: 3 Dec 2021, 9:04am
francovendee wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 7:46pm I have a very old Chestnut tree close to my boundary. It's diseased and would probably provide half a years logs.
There's a reason why they make fencing and fence posts from chestnut.
It is very rot-proof, and my feeble brain would suggest that if it doesn't rot, it won't burn.
Cue the mnemonic poetry about suitability of types of wood for burning?

Jonathan

PS: There's a lot of different trees called "chestnut".
francovendee
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Joined: 5 May 2009, 6:32am

Re: Heat in the home

Post by francovendee »

Mick F wrote: 3 Dec 2021, 9:04am
francovendee wrote: 2 Dec 2021, 7:46pm I have a very old Chestnut tree close to my boundary. It's diseased and would probably provide half a years logs.
There's a reason why they make fencing and fence posts from chestnut.
It is very rot-proof, and my feeble brain would suggest that if it doesn't rot, it won't burn.

This is a fact as far as we're concerned as we were given loads of chestnut and I logged it up and dried it out. Rubbish firewood, and we described it as trying to burn asbestos .......................... so don't bother with it ................ in our humble opinions.
Thanks, that ensures I'll not be chopping it down. Mind you if it did fall down I might try burning some.
Oddly enough Ash, despite an impression that the name suggests it smoulders rather then burns is misleading.
It burns very well and I prefer it to Oak.
Pebble
Posts: 1930
Joined: 7 Jun 2020, 11:59pm

Re: Heat in the home

Post by Pebble »

Problem with Chestnut is, it is hopeless on an open fire, sparks too much, you would need the fire guard up all night. I would have thought it would be fine for stoves if well seasoned, Horse Chestnut burns well. not as good as Oak or Ash but gives off good heat. Our pile for this winter is Ash, Rowan & Silver Birch.
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simonineaston
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Re: Heat in the home

Post by simonineaston »

Any folks as has any interest at all in wood and timber, they being two very different things I learn, could do a lot worse than read Trees & Woodland in the British Landscape, by Oliver Rackham. Here on Amazon, available as an e-book for under a fiver :-)
Review
A masterly account...of supreme interest...a classic of recorded field work and meticulous scholarship ― Country Life
As an aid to understanding the landscape I haven't found its equal ― New Scientist
Have you ever thought about how trees are represented in landscape paintings? Even country-loving Gainsborough could hardly paint them in such a way that individual species can be identified by Dr Rackham ― Daily Telegraph
This is the book that felled the romantic cliche of sylvan England ... There are heroes in this book as much as in any history but they are ancient oaks and beeches and hornbeams. Besides, how could anyone not want to read a book with a section on "What nettles say"? -- Simon Schama
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
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