Having invested in a proper fire I am trying to compare different suppliers of logs.
Is a "load" normally ~ a ton?
How many 8" logs (all other things being average) would one expect in a load (roughly, obviously)?
TIA
Well in these parts, you knock on the door of the site office at the local woods and order either a "load" or a "half load" of logs. A load being the entire contents of a tipping flat bed transit based lorry.
I would guestimate a full load at being 3 to 4 cu meters of logs. Don't know how that translates to weight.... Its quite good value however - I find a half load will last us the whole winter and only costs 25 quid. (although in our case the log fire is in addition to the central heating and is only for heating one room)
Well, thanks for the info. We have the same requirements as you (as in brackets at the end). I suspect we live in different parts of the country if a half load is £25 to you :-( unless you live down south and no something I don't!
Yup - down south (east).... in fact a few miles outside Southend so that ought to be south enough for you ;-)
What sort of prices are you being quoted then?
Well, the only actual quote is from the jolly nice place with the managed woodlands, guaranteed seasoned hardwood, choose your wood even, nice smelling fircones for kindling for Christmas (and, it has to be said, excellent customer service)
Bob,
I used to live in Wytham near Oxford and I got logs from the Young Farmers. They did a charity thing every year selling wood by the sack (~10 logs) The wood was donated from some estate woodland and the money went to Sobel House (not the YF.) I can't remember the cost now but it might be worth contacting the local YF.
Colin
I would say the load I got was 90% assorted hardwoods and no pine cones! This year I noted they have nicely split all the logs into fireplace sized lumps - in previous years a little axe work was required on the larger logs
Seldom retail, wholesale tends to be in tonnes and lots of 25tonnes (green) delivered hardwood ~GBP28/tonne.
It's a bit risky buying by the log, it depends how small they are split. The chap I work for sell dumpy bags (0.7m3) at GBP30 ex yard, they weigh about 300kg but about 40% of this is water, with the notable exception of ash, I know as I put them through the firewood dryer and re weighed them (plus took a small sample down to oven dry).
In general split hardwood logs jumbled into a container occupy less than 50% of the space, the rest is air in between. Also, but this last summer may prove the exception, very little drying takes place in cordwood after the first few weeks of felling. The bark keeps moisture in and the moisture takes a while to diffuse out of the ends. Most firewood merchants store wood in the cord and process it just prior to delivery.
Weight for weight when dried to similar moisture contents softwood has the edge on calorific value, however it starts much wetter and is more bulky.
I still have the A3 fact sheet (4 sides A4) produced by the Forestry Commission (1985) I could send in exchange for a modest donation to red cross or medecin sans frontiers to cover postage.
AJH
"Bob Mannix" wrote | "John Rumm" wrote | > > a half load is £25 to you :-( unless you live down south and no | > > something I don't! | > What sort of prices are you being quoted then? | Well, the only actual quote is from the jolly nice place with the managed | woodlands, guaranteed seasoned hardwood, choose your wood even,
FFS is this for burning on the grate or turning into fruitbowls or banisters :-)
Owain
Burning on the grate, I'm afraid! I had a supplier recommended as well and he turned out to be £52 a half load so it looks like the price is determined by the area. I have ordered from him. Fortunately it's not our main form of heating! I can always go somewhere else next time.
Thanks for all the replies
I'll probably be OK thanks, but I'll stick a couple of quid in in exchange for your words next time I see a collecting box.
Bob Mannix
That's generosity, if all my postings on usenet were so rewarded......
As I see you are using an open grate watch out for larch and sweet chestnut in particular, they spit embers into the room, as do a lot of conifers to some extent.
Hardwoods to avoid for poor burning (mostly simply high moisture content) poplar, willow, elm, holm oak and turkey oak.
When I started selling firewood I was determined to give good value for money, so I carefully worked out the likely heating value and pitched my price to be equivalent to coal. I could never understand why people continued to buy from other merchants who offered worse value. It took me a while to realise it was "luxury" being sold and people bought on the perceived price of "a load". My logs were dry, many people used coal as the base with logs on to, dry logs burned too fast and didn't sizzle.
I suspect in a centrally heated house the chimney effect of the open fire evacuates more heat from the house than it contributes.
AJH
Mmm. Willow seems a bad spitter as well.
I am finding blackthon quite poor unless got up to really high temperatures.
Yes, but things are changing a bit now - around here we use wood fires as very much serious heat sources, although central heating is available as well.
No, I don't find that. Particularly in my house where underfloor vents feed the fire directly with icy cold air for burning.
I would say that having the open fire both slightly ventilates the room and draws out hot steamy air, and adds between 3 and 5Kw to the heating of the room at full crack.
Andrew, do you still sell firewood and where in the country are you?
N
...but if well dried/seasoned are OK. We have been burning lots of aspen (=poplar) over the past couple of years simply because we had some large aspens felled. Now, after two years or so and especially after this years hot dry summer, it burns well.
In article , Andrew Heggie Hardwoods to avoid for poor burning (mostly simply high moisture
I cut down a few large willow trees (not weeping willow) a few years ago and they seem to have seasoned into quite an acceptable wood for the woodburner. Weeping willow seasons ok to a low moisture, but feels quite light, and without much calorific value.
Would you consider willow a hard wood ? I agree with the high moisture content but once dried willow burns well. IMO hawthorn and apple are best for burning but I have had a load of oak drying out all summer and it is burning fantastically. shame I only have 2 weeks supply left then out with saw to chop a load of elder. By the way has any one ever burnt conker ?
One of the best woods we have ever burnt was ELM !! This was dry though, but burnt long and hot with little ash.
Are these to be avoided woods bad only when wet ? and which are the good ones then when wet / recently cut and logged ?
Nick
It's a minor species so I do not have a lot of experience with it. It is often of small dimension and thus not split. Round logs take a bit more for the fire to take a hold (vertices heat up quickly to catch fire).
If you're happy with this I'm not tempted to dissuade you. It would make an interesting maths problem involving the temperature difference between room, flue gases and outside, mass flow of combustion products, draught of chimbly and radiant energy through about pi steradian?? from the hearth...
Still, I'm no numbersmith
AJH
Yup, some days I lob 58 tonnes onto the transport ;-)
NW Surrey
AJH
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