Batten Down The Hatches: Winter 2012/13 Chat

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Piltdownpaul

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Well the snow has stopped and its brightening up a bit. Its been going all night, only fine stuff but its laid another inch down, so i've been informed.......IMG_7364.JPG

"Misty" apprentice geologist and meterologist.
 

Channel Hopper

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martin-f said:
i thought it was a dish you were trying to line up :-hide
And what would the ostriches drink then ? The Latvian peninsula of the Serengeti doesn't have many freshwater streams you know
 

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Some disconcerting news about next weekend and -more - snow arriving from the arctic circle.
 

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This is one of those times when those of us who depend upon Kerosene for heating get a bit twitched: Unlike Mains Gas or Elastictrickery, the fuel needs to be bought - and paid for - in bulk (At least 500 lt at a time, costing upwards of 350 sovs). So, one budgets the dosh and monitors consumption, aiming to finish winter with perhaps 100 lt left in the tank to fulfil Hot Water needs during the Summer.

Unfortunately, this extended cold snap is depleting the stock rather rapidly and I guess we won't be alone here at Tivu Castle in not having budgeted to replenish until September or October.

Ergo, I am heating only the Bathroom (where the system bypass is) and the Kitchen at present, and relying upon a portable Propane Heater for warming the living room in the evening.
 

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my last bill came in at just under 500 pound and the next one will be the same, i installed a real fire when i first moved in at the end of the summer if you could call it one :-(, but did not have the time to stock up on wood,

i will make sure i am stocked up for next winter and enjoy some nice cold nights by the fire :-)
 

sonnetpete

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Funnily enough I've just been calculating weekly heating costs here.

I run a Rayburn which provides ground floor background heat, cooking facilities and has a backboiler which feeds four radiators and a towel rail in the bathroom. The Rayburn has run totally on anthracite even though it is dual fuel and will happily burn wood of a suitable size. I have a log burner in the lounge which does get lit early if it is very cold but usually it's about 5pm through to bedtime.

My anthracite consumption is a little difficult to calculate as there is still some of the 2 tonnes (at €1100 delivered) I bought in the Autumn left. However, I think it will work out in excess of €40 a week. On the other hand I still have about 7 weeks of firewood left, which surprised me with a consumption figure of €16 a week. When I had the wood delivered my supplier mentioned he had ready cut logs to fit the Rayburn available. I think I'll be going down this route next Winter, using wood during the day and topping up with anthracite for over night. (it runs 24/7 and has been on since 26th of October) Offhand I think I could cut the Rayburn running costs in half at least.
 

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i metal detect as a hobby, and have the right to remove all dead wood from 5 farms, so every time i am out i am going to fill the car up with wood, i am sometimes out 4/5 days a week so it should not take me long to get a stock up,

i only have the fire in the picture below but it does warm the downstairs and air the upstairs when light

@rimaNTSS thats nice stock of logs you have there m8 :-).
 

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sonnetpete

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@martin-f : this was my pile of firewood after spending all day stacking it.....

All in....and so was I.JPG
 

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martin-f said:
@rimaNTSS thats nice stock of logs you have there m8 :-).
This is not only wood storage I have. My father-in-law has some forest, therefore it is quiet cheap for me to heat my house and also get hot water. That is also good to have some physical exercises preparing wood. Have also made heating more or less automated - 1,5 tonnes of water work as energy accumulator, so, even during the coldest times like -20*C, I burn wood only once a day. At spring once in 2-3 days, and at summer time once in 7-10 days, just to get enough hot water.
 

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Vaucluse, France. Was a bit chilly overnight when we first arrived on Saturday but a couple of evenings of this sorted things out.
 

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Kveys

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From todays newspaper:

Some British guy sent note to finnish London embassy->

"Dear Sir/Madam/Ms,

According to reports in today's newspapers, the foul weather that we are experiencing in the UK is coming directly from Finland.

I respectfully request that you stop this unfriendly behaviour immediately. It is playing havoc with my plans for the garden, not to mention the heating bills.

I shall expect an improvement very soon, and will not accept any excuses! Thank you".
 

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Kveys said:
From todays newspaper:

Some British guy sent note to finnish London embassy->

"Dear Sir/Madam/Ms,

According to reports in today's newspapers, the foul weather that we are experiencing in the UK is coming directly from Finland.

I respectfully request that you stop this unfriendly behaviour immediately. It is playing havoc with my plans for the garden, not to mention the heating bills.

I shall expect an improvement very soon, and will not accept any excuses! Thank you".
:-lmao
 

2cvbloke

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martin-f said:
i only have the fire in the picture below but it does warm the downstairs and air the upstairs when light
Nice fireplace that, I do like old cast iron open fireplaces, but they are terrible for making a house cold as they suck all the warm air up and out the chimney, and that air gets replaced with cold air from outdoors, so, it's not a great solution, especially in our house where we just seem to have a river of icy cold air flowing from the kitchen & bathroom through the dining room and into the living room cos of the (currently unused) open fire... :-doh!

I'd love to have a wood burning stove though, you can control the airflow in those so you don't get so much cold air bring pulled through gaps in doors and through badly-placed air vents fitted by gas engineers who couldn't understand basic physics... :-rofl2

And as for stocking up on wood, there is a wood-based alternative, Wood briquettes, the cheap things from leading DIY stores and garden centres aren't worth messing about with as they just fall apart, but the fella that runs this website sells some properly-made, highly-compressed (so much so that they occasionally catch fire in their briquette machinery!! O-Ha ) and long burning, and unlike wood they can be burnt right away, no chemical binders are used (unlike cheaper things), no additives or preservatives, just waste sawdust compressed 'til the natural cellulose melts to form the logs:

http://www.greenfires.co.uk/
(click the "Firewood Briquettes" link at the top of the page)

You can even turn them into charcoal if you have the know how to make it, so can use them for BBQs in the summer too... :lol:
 

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I am seriously going to have to have a look at one of these wood burners my Gas just came in at around £130 just for the month and its going up, Crazy absolutely Crazy
 

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thankyou 2cvbloke,
its not that bad tbh i shut the damper up when not in use, i have also installed a cast rad thats on when the fire is not lit and that chucks some heat out,

thanks for the links i will take a look,
 

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hexah

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martin-f said:
i metal detect as a hobby, and have the right to remove all dead wood from 5 farms, so every time i am out i am going to fill the car up with wood, i am sometimes out 4/5 days a week so it should not take me long to get a stock up,
If I was doing it I would be inclined to leave some of the dead wood for the insects or there might not be enough polinators around.

Still you are very lucky with that arrangement.

My wood pile takes up a fair amount of the shed. Must get round to stacking it properly!
 

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I recorded BBC Look North Yorkshire lunchtime news today, its outside of my region but I was hoping to catch Paul Hudson in case he said anything interesting about the weather.

He compared the drifting to March 1979, showed a bit of archive footage, and talked about the Scandi high and the dastardly jet stream. There should be more in tonights 18.30 edition (10802 H 22000).


I suppose we can now look forward to a southerly jetstream and isolated snow flurries over the summer.

:-cry1
 

sonnetpete

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@2CV.......

I have a steel register plate in the chimney to cut down on the drafts. However, this is a an old farm house from the 1900's so drafts are inevitable. It's an interesting site for the briquettes. Going on the figures he quotes, a pallet (cost £385) would last about 166 days. My firewood cost me €382 and will last about 175 days. I have no doubt the briquettes will burn more efficiently but my logs are all cut to 50cm and fill the log burner and I think there'd be a temptation to throw more briquettes on to fill up the firebox. I've tried compressed Irish peat (no relation to me or a patch on compressed peasants) and though they can burn all night they never show a flame. To me, you should be able to see flames on a fire.

Log burner.JPG
 

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hexah said:
If I was doing it I would be inclined to leave some of the dead wood for the insects or there might not be enough polinators around.

Still you are very lucky with that arrangement.

My wood pile takes up a fair amount of the shed. Must get round to stacking it properly!
theres miles of woodland hexah i could never get it all, they even have people in to cut down good trees, i do love my wildlife and dont take all the dead wood from one spot :-)
 

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sonnetpete said:
To me, you should be able to see flames on a fire.
That's actually the least efficient form of heating in a fire, because the red embers from the carbon burning away is the key, the flame is just from gassing off and said gasses burning away leaving the carbon, just like how lumpwood charcoal doesn't burn with much flame, and how properly made smokeless coal or coke (the de-gassed coal stuff, not the fizzy drink or illegal white powder!!) burns with little flame... :)

But yes, flames are lovely to watch, which is why I love wood fires over coal-based fires, that and wood burning smells so much nicer when you step outside and catch a whiff of the smoke... :D
 
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