Anyone use a wood burner?

[Velma's Dad]

Run the whole house on wood. Rayburn in the kitchen and Hunter with a back boiler in the lounge both linked to a thermal store for rads / hot water. Jotul and Aga woodburners in 2 other rooms. Solar thermal for hot water in the summer (panels linked to thermal store). Keeps me busy!

We have a house in SW Scotland that previous owners used to run largely on wood - incl. kitchen wood-burner Rayburn with back boiler. We couldn't work with that for occasional use, but no doubt excellent if you get organised around it and have a fairly predictable routine.

What do you do for hot water and cooking in summer?

Our Scottish place also has an Aga stove in the sitting room, I have to say I don't find it that great although as usual the flue is probably the biggest factor so I may be being unfair to the stove itself. (The flue runs through a very heavy masonry chimney stack and takes quite a while to warm up.)

 

[SusiBus]

I'd never considered that we import firewood from Lithuania, but then again I think we used to import coal from Australia. I don't know how these things stack up when considering our carbon footprint.

I feel a little bit guilty these days because we've had an "open fire " in our house for 45 years. In my defence though, all the wood is sustainably sourced only from Watford, hence doesn't result in any carbon emissions from the transport side.

 

[Elmo3]

We have a house in SW Scotland that previous owners used to run largely on wood - incl. kitchen wood-burner Rayburn with back boiler. We couldn't work with that for occasional use, but no doubt excellent if you get organised around it and have a fairly predictable routine.

What do you do for hot water and cooking in summer?

Our Scottish place also has an Aga stove in the sitting room, I have to say I don't find it that great although as usual the flue is probably the biggest factor so I may be being unfair to the stove itself. (The flue runs through a very heavy masonry chimney stack and takes quite a while to warm up.)

The solar thermal is excellent, it doesn’t need bright sunshine to supply hot water. If it’s not cold enough to light a fire and a very dull day, the thermal store has immersions as a backup (hate using it!). We generally cook with other ovens (electric) as the Rayburn is usually just ticking over. Great for casseroles etc but not hot enough for a lot of things unless you really crank it up. It’s a lovely thing to have.

 

[subthree]

They use sustainable wood from Lithuania,

I have only recently become aware that most kiln dried wood comes from Lithuania, so my delivery tomorrow is coming from Herefordshire instead. We have only had our burner 15 months but I'm not too comfortable if it has been driven 1,500 miles across Europe. Anyone else got any thoughts on this?

 

[Elmo3]

I have only recently become aware that most kiln dried wood comes from Lithuania, so my delivery tomorrow is coming from Herefordshire instead. We have only had our burner 15 months but I'm not too comfortable if it has been driven 1,500 miles across Europe. Anyone else got any thoughts on this?

Seems absolutely crazy to import firewood to me. If you haven’t got your own wood source, get to know a local tree surgeon.

 

[Velma's Dad]

I have only recently become aware that most kiln dried wood comes from Lithuania, so my delivery tomorrow is coming from Herefordshire instead. We have only had our burner 15 months but I'm not too comfortable if it has been driven 1,500 miles across Europe. Anyone else got any thoughts on this?

I remembered reading somewhere that kiln drying uses a tonne of (wood) fuel for every four tonnes dried, but is economical for the producer as they get a green subsidy for the firing of the kiln/dryer that they wouldn't get if the just air-dried the wood. Bonkers, but not sure if that's still the case.

You can do the maths on the emissions from the trucking part of it, at maybe 50g per tonne/km so maybe 1 tonne of CO2 per tonne of wood transported from Lithuania. So it doesn't look very attractive, no.

 

[subthree]

Seems absolutely crazy to import firewood to me. If you haven’t got your own wood source, get to know a local tree surgeon.

Luckily my brother is a self-employed tree surgeon! I have plenty of wood seasoning under cover but this summer I am going to try a solar kiln (aka our conservatory!) to get the moisture content down.

I found a local timber merchant, the first load was excellent but I only found out afterwards that it had been trucked half way across Europe. The second load they had seasoned themselves but does not have a low enough moisture content to burn well.

 

[andyinluton]

I was involved a couple of years back in putting a wood pellet burning boiler into a Southwark school. I could not see the logic in having HGVS transporting wood round London instead using gas.

 

[Elmo3]

I was involved a couple of years back in putting a wood pellet burning boiler into a Southwark school. I could not see the logic in having HGVS transporting wood round London instead using gas.

Totally agree. No doubt to do with some sort of ‘green’ grant. If you‘ve got mains gas, burning wood to heat a building is ridiculous.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

We get ours from our tree surgeon. Good business for him...charges us to cut the trees, then sells it back to us a year or so later!

 

[2into1]

My understanding is that kiln drying is often fuelled using the small branches that are uneconomical to sell. But I may have had the wool pulled over my eyes!

 

[Velma's Dad]

My understanding is that kiln drying is often fuelled using the small branches that are uneconomical to sell. But I may have had the wool pulled over my eyes!

That sounds feasible, especially if it's brash that's been pelletised.

 

[vmaxkiddy]

I'd never considered that we import firewood from Lithuania, but then again I think we used to import coal from Australia. I don't know how these things stack up when considering our carbon footprint.

I feel a little bit guilty these days because we've had an "open fire " in our house for 45 years. In my defence though, all the wood is sustainably sourced only from Watford, hence doesn't result in any carbon emissions from the transport side.

Drax power station imports wood pellets mainly from the US.

Responsible Sourcing - Drax Global

A policy for biomass sourcing from sustainable forests.

www.drax.com

 

[Wildcamper]

I can't get my head around the idea that importing wood fuel is a sustainable activity. What about all the marine/bunker fuel used and all the other fossil fuels used getting the wood from forest to user, even if that wood comes from wood waste.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

I can't get my head around the idea that importing wood fuel is a sustainable activity. What about all the marine/bunker fuel used and all the other fossil fuels used getting the wood from forest to user, even if that wood comes from wood waste.

Freight rates are too low for many carriers due to the sheer bulk/low weight. After shipping the pellets must be dry stored so need large covered storage facility; Hence it only makes sense if the power station is next to the source; EDF Trading closed their biomass desk around years ago (physical shipping & trading), as created political issues in France but looks like they are being forced to reconsider. Article below from 2019, but is a good read:

France struggling to choose between being a climate leader and burning biomass

The French Government is expected to decide in March 2019 whether to convert the Cordemais coal plant to run on bioenergy. France pledged to close its c...

www.fern.org

 

[Bellcrew]

Freight rates are too low for many carriers due to the sheer bulk/low weight. After shipping the pellets must be dry stored so need large covered storage facility; Hence it only makes sense if the power station is next to the source; EDF Trading closed their biomass desk around years ago (physical shipping & trading), as created political issues in France but looks like they are being forced to reconsider. Article below from 2019, but is a good read:

France struggling to choose between being a climate leader and burning biomass

The French Government is expected to decide in March 2019 whether to convert the Cordemais coal plant to run on bioenergy. France pledged to close its c...

www.fern.org

Spelling out the coal exit – Germany’s phase-out plan
Coal Climate & CO2

Germany has passed legislation to end coal-fired power generation by 2038 at the latest and agreed on a shutdown schedule for individual lignite power plants as well as compensation payments for operators. For hard coal, meanwhile, the coal exit law foresees auctions for plant operators to take capacity off the grid according to the government's timetable. (UPDATES Parliament adopts coal exit law on 3 July)
Compensation due to the companies and workers involved comes to nearly 10 billion euros, at todays prices.
Presumably India and China will take up the slack in the production of CO2.

 

[Elmo3]

I can just imagine some bod from the council turning up with a clipboard and moisture meter to examine the wood stores and test what is being put in the woodburner!

Clean air: Coal burning ban and wet wood restrictions planned

A new clean air law could see burning house coal banned in Wales, and stricter rules on using wood fires.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Velma's Dad]

I can just imagine some bod from the council turning up with a clipboard and moisture meter to examine the wood stores and test what is being put in the woodburner!

Clean air: Coal burning ban and wet wood restrictions planned

A new clean air law could see burning house coal banned in Wales, and stricter rules on using wood fires.

www.bbc.co.uk

Anyone who puts unseasoned wood in their stove is bonkers, it will corrode the inside of the flue and chimney liner. So the issue should be self-correcting...

 

[paolino]

2 Stube....

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Not a bad deal.

 

[WelshGas]

Not a bad deal.

My son in law has 3 of those fans on his woodburner and they make a significant difference to the all round room temperature and no running costs.

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

My son in law has 3 of those fans on his woodburner and they make a significant difference to the all round room temperature and no running costs.

Agreed, I have a couple.

 

[Karlos]

Agreed, I have a couple.

Ours made a big difference.

 

[GrahamB]

Good night for a burn up...

 

[Lightning]

Wood burning at home now biggest cause of UK particle pollution

Fires used by just 8% of population but cause triple the particle pollution of traffic, data shows

www.theguardian.com