Wood burners

[Ganymede]

I think a woodstove is better than an open fire - more efficient so you use less wood, creates less smoke and mess, you can keep it in overnight even without coal if you're clever/lucky/have the right weather, you can keep a kettle hot on top so there is always water for tea/pasta/soup/cooking the veg, you can simmer a pan on it, you can warm your plates on it, it looks beautiful with a glass front (which you can always open, though we've found we never feel the need), you can have that magic fan thing on it as shown upthread.... oh I love them. Go @Cuchilo!

I have this one in the kitchen, a Clearview Pioneer Oven Stove:

which has a small firebox but because the stove is large it acts like a big radiator. The sides even have a convection arrangement. Alas no back-boiler! The "oven" bit has no door (I bet that would take it into some category of kitchen appliance which would mean loads of regulations) but if you put a pieced of stout tin-foil over the gap you can get the oven temperature up to 200 + degrees C and bake things. The oven isn't huge, it's a bit of a "feature", but v. useful, esp with added metal trivets which people buy you for Christmas.

NB!!! You won't get one in time for Christmas now! But there will be discounts in the Spring!

 

[coffeejo]

*sigh*

You lot are making me sooo jealous.

*glares at landlord*

 

[raleighnut]

I think a woodstove is better than an open fire - more efficient so you use less wood, creates less smoke and mess, you can keep it in overnight even without coal if you're clever/lucky/have the right weather, you can keep a kettle hot on top so there is always water for tea/pasta/soup/cooking the veg, you can simmer a pan on it, you can warm your plates on it, it looks beautiful with a glass front (which you can always open, though we've found we never feel the need), you can have that magic fan thing on it as shown upthread.... oh I love them. Go @Cuchilo!

I have this one in the kitchen, a Clearview Pioneer Oven Stove:

View attachment 74573

which has a small firebox but because the stove is large it acts like a big radiator. The sides even have a convection arrangement. Alas no back-boiler! The "oven" bit has no door (I bet that would take it into some category of kitchen appliance which would mean loads of regulations) but if you put a pieced of stout tin-foil over the gap you can get the oven temperature up to 200 + degrees C and bake things. The oven isn't huge, it's a bit of a "feature", but v. useful, esp with added metal trivets which people buy you for Christmas.

NB!!! You won't get one in time for Christmas now! But there will be discounts in the Spring!

Be good for pizza's up there.

 

[Ganymede]

*sigh*

You lot are making me sooo jealous.

*glares at landlord*

Soz....

I have this one in a cabin in the garden too:

It is teeny weeny (22cm) and has a huge tall flue which acts like a radiator itself. You have to chop the wood small or use stuff you gather outside. I'm a wood-FIEND.

 

[coffeejo]

Soz....

I have this one in a cabin in the garden too:
View attachment 74574
It is teeny weeny (22cm) and has a huge tall flue which acts like a radiator itself. You have to chop the wood small or use stuff you gather outside. I'm a wood-FIEND.

Hmph!

 

[Ganymede]

Hmph!

 

[dan_bo]

*sigh*

You lot are making me sooo jealous.

*glares at landlord*

Simple solution

Thank me later

 

[Globalti]

They say that firewood warms you three times; the first when you cut it down, the second when you split it and stack it and the third when you burn it.

Wood splitting entered a new dimension of destructive fun when I treated myself to a splitting maul. It's certainly good all-over exercise. Hit a log right and the pieces can fly off with spectacular energy.

 

[Crackle]

And back to the op...

Reading around, it seems that wood burning stoves produce particulates (same as diesel) which can on occasion, be comparable to the effect on air quality of traffic volumes. If you're going to get one, get a modern one, which appears on the approved list http://smokecontrol.defra.gov.uk/appliances.php?country=e in fact in smokeless areas, you can only get one like that. Modern stoves produce 14mg of particulates per cubic metre of air compared to an older stove which produces a 100mg. I'll post a link if I find a decent article.

I have noticed when I go out at night sometimes, that you can smell them burning, which even a few years ago, didn't happen.

 

[Globalti]

They are certainly going through a revival. We sometimes burn peat on ours; the smell is gorgeous but you have to step outside to appreciate it.

I'm wondering why wood-burning stoves are supposed to burn cleaner than an open fire. Is it because combustion temperatures are generally higher so you get cleaner burn? I know that one piece of advice we received was always to err on the side of a smaller stove so that you are burning it harder and therefore hotter and cleaner. Nothing looks worse than a big stove all shut down with tarred up glass.

 

[hopless500]

This is ours...absolutely love it

 

[Ganymede]

They say that firewood warms you three times; the first when you cut it down, the second when you split it and stack it and the third when you burn it.

Wood splitting entered a new dimension of destructive fun when I treated myself to a splitting maul. It's certainly good all-over exercise. Hit a log right and the pieces can fly off with spectacular energy.

I got one of those but they are heavy - I now prefer to use a small hatchet, position it carefully across the centre of the log, and whack it with a big home-made mallet. Works very well - I learned the technique doing green wood turning and it's a lot easier on the shoulders!

 

[hopless500]

We have one of these things but it's bloody hard work. I like the idea of the axe and mallet. I'm a bit wayward with an axe by itself

 

[Globalti]

I started with an axe and lump hammer but the loud ringing noise has damaged my ears and given me tinnitus. A nice big maul delivers a huge amount of energy at a concentrated point and is far more efficient. It doesn't have to be heavy if you lift it near the head then transfer that hand to the end and allow the maul to come over under its own momentum like a felling axe. If you've read the grain right the log is almost blown apart by the impact. Stay away from plate glass windows!

 

[raleighnut]

I use a small axe to split wood, its not so much the sharpness (though that helps) but the shockwave that does the job in splitting...............ie hit the wood like you mean it.