Wood burners and their fuel

[scrumpyjack]

It is worth getting a moisture meter (only £13 on Amazon) to make sure what you burn is dry enough, or perhaps to test wood you are being sold as 'seasoned'.

I fortunately have never had to buy wood as I have a lot of trees and had to have 40 trees felled and chopped a few years ago after a storm. That lot will last me out! Mostly Ash but apple wood is excellent. (I have planted nearly 1,000 trees over the last 35 years here so that's my green credentials!)

[Dod101]

It is worth getting a moisture meter (only £13 on Amazon) to make sure what you burn is dry enough, or perhaps to test wood you are being sold as 'seasoned'.

I fortunately have never had to buy wood as I have a lot of trees and had to have 40 trees felled and chopped a few years ago after a storm. That lot will last me out! Mostly Ash but apple wood is excellent. (I have planted nearly 1,000 trees over the last 35 years here so that's my green credentials!)

Logsforsale kiln dry their logs and they have a got a certificate from Woodsure which is apparently part of HETAS (do not know who they are,) but they help themselves to random samples and test them. They came out at under 20%.

If I were using my own timber I too would have a moisture meter.

Dod

[strowger]

When we first got a woodburner ~10 years ago we tried a few sources of cut/seasoned firewood, and without exception it was delivered soaking wet despite being advertised as "seasoned". If you're getting your wood for free then things are different, but buying firewood we found basically impossible.

The rational solution to this is coal. You get the pretty flame of wood, it takes up far less space, there's no hassle about storing/seasoning, and it's cheaper too. If you want, you can mix coal and smokeless 50/50 and then you get the pretty flames, but also get a fire which stays burning for several hours without intervention.

In almost all circumstances, a gas or oil system will give much cheaper heat than a multifuel stove/woodburner - but if you've decided to have one (us too!) - then coal is generally superior to paying for wood.

[Dod101]

I understand what strowger says about coal although I do not have a coal fire nowadays. It is not exactly environmentally friendly and I think it would be quite difficult to buy where I live. It is also very dirty obviously and needs to be kept under cover, and talking about quality it can vary very much. I would not go back to coal under any circumstances. I do enjoy an open fire though.

My source for logs mentioned on this thread I find very good; I cannot say how reliable because so far I have had only one delivery but it all looks good.

Dod