Thursday 20 February 2014

Woodland Warmth.



I burn about a wheelbarrow-full of oak and chestnut every day.

Those who heat themselves, and cook, with wood will know that one gets through a helluva lot of it.

I don't have the cooker fired-up every day; I keep that for really cold weather, baking, or for when I fancy a slow-cooked stew. But our sitting room wood-burner is alight every day in winter. Sometimes all day and night, on other days (like today) just in the late afternoon/evening.

Chestnut renews itself in about 15-20 years, but fell-able oak takes maybe 40-50 years. There's no shortage of woodland in France, but even our small household gets through a fair bit.

Cutting, and bringing in, the wood takes just a few minutes each day (thanks to Husqvarna), and I enjoy the discipline of 'having' to do it. I do keep a little pile in reserve, but that's for emergencies only.

Now all I need is a splash of white spirit, a match, and we're in business!



17 comments:

  1. We have a log burner - our winter stash of logs is going down rapidly but I don't light it till late afternoon - it has been so mild here there has been no need to keep it going.

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  2. We have an open fire with a back boiler for hot water. We light this at night. We are searching for a log burner with back boiler, which has room on top for a kettle or cooking pot. Fuel lasts longer in a log burner, so we are hoping to save all ways round. Plus we will probably keep it alight longer.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, a Clearview Pioneer 400 will do this for you. Very good stoves.

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  3. We just click on the central heating for instant warmth! But I do look forward to getting back to the countryside and our log burner. Hopefully though we won't have to run it as long as we did last Spring.

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  4. Hopefully, all being well, I shall be moving into a 1850's stone walled property in the village before too long which has one fireplace already in use and one that requires a gas fire removing and reusing as a real fire. Considering the log burner option for this one but would like to keep it in keeping with the house.

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  5. I light mine early in the morning. A drop of paraffin and a few sticks and a match and it's away. Can't live without it.

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  6. We rural dwellers are lucky to still be able to have fires. I suppose it won't be long before the powers that stop this. It's good to see so much of the recent storm fallen Irish trees being cut up for firewood instead of just being dumped in landfill sites.

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  7. Wow I really thought you would burn more than that.

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  8. Nothing like a crackling fire to sit by in cold weather! We only have wood fires when we go camping. Our fireplace at home has gas logs.

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  9. The way that reads it sounds like you are burning green wood. Or do you cut one year and season for the next? Around here folks mostly burn oak, ash and poplar. Heating a mid size house here with wood will easily go through 4 to 5 cords a season. Regrettably my humble house only has one chimney and that has the boiler hooked up to it so for safety reasons I can't hook a wood burning stove to it as well. One of my future projects is a kitchen remodel that hopefully can provide wall space for new chimney and a wood stove.

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    Replies
    1. We usually leave it for 3 years. We have about 20 cubic metres in stock.

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    2. Over here the standard measure for firewood is a Cord. Sound like you have about 8 cords. A Cord is 4 x 4 x 8 feet, cut, split and stacked.

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  10. Menagerie Manor has gas…….well that is gas heat but in the parlor there is a lovely big old fireplace that we keep a fire lit in the evenings.
    Our summer cabin has a wonderful log burner that heats the entire place and since it is in the middle of a great forest we have plenty of fuel. I love the smell of wood smoke it is a very comforting smell.

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  11. We depend on our solid fuel Rayburn more than ever now. Electricity prices have gone through the roof. We ran out of logs this year, but my wonderful brother-in-law has helped us a lot. The recent high winds, brought five trees down on his farm so he's shared some of his logs with us. We are having to dry them in the Rayburn oven a few at a time, but at least we're keeping warm.

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  12. white spirit to light the fire? what about kindling?

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  13. My neighbor heats and cooks with wood and now has about 5 years worth of wood in piles set up. It's very impressive.

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