HAVING A WOODBURNER?

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barboo
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HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by barboo »

You can really save big time by burning wood,
We have a wood burning heater in our main lounge and this is how you save by burning wood but you can't by heating your home using any other forms of fuel,
Look at it this way,

By buying logs etc "now" at todays prices you can save money if you have the means to store your wood for the years ahead.

ie if you can buy enough wood "now" at todays prices to burn for next year or even the years after you'll then be burning wood in lets say 3 years time "or even longer at todays paid price,
Heating fuel never go's down in price only up,
Now the likes of the gas or oil :electricity supplier wont offer you thier fuel in three years time at todays prices if you offered them money in advance,
"I dont think even they know what they'll be charging in three years.

So by buying now and storing the wood you can make a really good saving.
The french country people do this all the time and its common to see wood stored for years to come.
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manda
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by manda »

Absolutely agree ...we buy a truck and trailer load of wood ...especially recently it has been very cheap here in NZ after we had a major storm that went up the South Island and took out large swathes of forestry blocks... so the price of wood has dropped recently.That being said my hubby is an arborist so we often get wood free (which we like even more )t' )
This lot was when Raven (one of the other Lane members) came to visit....he gave us a hand to start on this lot ...
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Our main source of heat in our house is a woodburner (as is common in a lot of older NZ properties)..we have a heat pump too but don't tend to use that because the electricity bills shoot sky high... although high electricity prices seems to be a global thing :?
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barboo
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by barboo »

manda wrote:Absolutely agree ...we buy a truck and trailer load of wood ...especially recently it has been very cheap here in NZ after we had a major storm that went up the South Island and took out large swathes of forestry blocks... so the price of wood has dropped recently.That being said my hubby is an arborist so we often get wood free (which we like even more )t' )
This lot was when Raven (one of the other Lane members) came to visit....he gave us a hand to start on this lot ...
Image

Our main source of heat in our house is a woodburner (as is common in a lot of older NZ properties)..we have a heat pump too but don't tend to use that because the electricity bills shoot sky high... although high electricity prices seems to be a global thing :?


Hi manda,
It's good to know at least one more member knows the savings to be had by heating /cooking this way.
It's the one way you can plan ahead and save.
Nice talking to you.
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Mo
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by Mo »

Strangely enough our Calor gas supplier DID offer us a 'pay now, get it later' plan one year, at a time when gas prices were rising. Can't remember how long in advance you paid.
We keep a stock of logs (apple prunings etc.) as an emergency fall-back, if the power lines are down. An open fire needs looking after, but warms several rooms as the chimney keeps the heat overnight.

Living where we do power cuts are not rare - on one occasion we could see the lines twisted together by wind, but though we phoned them it took all day to repair (they had our postcode wrong so were going to the wrong Mill Lane). Last year we had the same line down and almost starting a fire in the rubber chippings of my daughter's ménage - big drama with fire brigade, and road closed and no electricity all morning.
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Sara
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by Sara »

I thnik quite a lot of laners use wood as thier main heating source. I certainly do )t'

Although this winter we will be burning the last dregs of last years wood, and wood collected from the ground in the woods.... Still forgaing for fallen wood now to dry for next year )t'
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jannie
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by jannie »

Yes a lot of Laners use woodburners. )t' We have a corner of our friends barn that we use to season our logs and he delivered 3 tons to us yesterday ..now all stacked in the store ready for the cold weather. We always have a kettle on top of the woodburner and cook on it too ..great for stews and curries The ash is a bonus for putting in the chooks dust bathing area to keep them free from bugs and also good for sprinkling around fruit trees. )t'
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Richard
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by Richard »

Agreed there are quite a few of us, I use my trusty rusty 1948 Rayburn for heating up downstairs and doing slow cooking on.

I burn Taybrite with wood I collect down the Lane.

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fabindia
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by fabindia »

We replaced two open fires with multi-fuel stoves a couple of years back. Like Richard, we use a combination of smokeless fuel with our own wood from tress I felled a couple years back.
We also have central heating, Mrs Fab must have reptilian blood and is always cold, so we have the house like a hot-house.
Michael
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by Freeranger »

We have a gassifying wood boiler for heat and for hot water when we implement phase 2, and have a donated old burner to fit indoors during our cottage renovation project. We get a lot of our wood for free, but it was more marginal when we were buying logs. The price does fluctuate between years, and we were paying a lot more than some other laners had to. You can cut the price down depending on how much you're prepared or able to do yourself - if you buy it in 2-3m lengths and cut them down, it's much cheaper than buying logs.
ClareM
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by ClareM »

I like the idea of using the ash for the chooks to dustbathe in.....do you need to sieve it / prepare it in any way or just cool & add to their dustbathing area?
jannie
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by jannie »

ClareM wrote:I like the idea of using the ash for the chooks to dustbathe in.....do you need to sieve it / prepare it in any way or just cool & add to their dustbathing area?



Just cool and add. )t'
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silverback
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by silverback »

Wood burner everytime )t' , great source of cosy heat, we never have the heating on upstairs as the burner heats the whole house, Jan only uses the radiators during winter months to help dry clothes! )t'
We get our logs from the owner or our shooting ground, we usually help cut, split and stack the trees/logs, and in return we only pay half normal price for a load.

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HazellB
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by HazellB »

Logs have dropped in price in recent years )t'

I used to see them at £5 a sack in farm gateways and now they're £3 thanks to so many people selling them. The ton bags that sell through York's Farmers' Market auction were reserved at £80 three years ago yet are now down to £45 thanks again to competition.

It's moot for us though - we grow our own for free.
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by Totally Scrambled »

In a way I would love a wood burner but would feel guilty fitting one as we would have to rip out the original Victorian cast iron fireplace in the sitting room in order to do it.
We do burn our own logs in the fireplace but as it is open it is not as efficient as a log burner and needs more attention to keep it going.
I have thought about putting one in the kitchen as our cooker sits in the hearth of a chimney breast but it would cost a pretty penny to re-route all the gas pipes for the boiler and cooker. Thought about siting it elsewhere in the kitchen but would need professional advice about where to put it and local companies want £100 upfront just to come round and look before they say yes or no }hairout{
Dom
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Re: HAVING A WOODBURNER?

Post by Freeranger »

Dom, there's no reason why you shouldn't if the room's big enough. We had to look at this for doing up our house-wreck, so can give you info if it's of interest, then at least you'd be not risking your £100 to have someone do the final OK. PM if you want.
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