Log burner

[SH]

In the true spirit of DiY power tools for log cutting & splitting..... a video for your delectation.

[Chris Green]

A Hy-Crack is what I thought it was! :-)

The vertical tractor hydraulic spliter was also basically limited by what one could lift onto it (though as it was on the 3-point hitch one could lower it). Lengths too long to put vertically under the blade could be split by laying them sideways.

[Ponyface]

ban the damn things I say, the smell from them is a pain in the arse.

[Bev]

Now I'm jealous.

[Vir Campestris]

I've never felt the need. I use a handkerchief so I don't burn my fingers on the door handle, I have tongs for occasional use - such as when things move - and I don't empty the ash until it's cold in the morning.

Andy

[Jeff Layman]

+1

Except that I don't need anything heatproof to open the door as the handle is removable. Once the door is locked, the handle can be placed on the hearth or log basket.

[Tim Streater]

Handle on ours gets very hot. And a log can't be placed without a glove, which cuts out radiant heat. Or two gloves for a heavy log. You may be Mr. Asbestos but I'm not.

[SteveW]

We don't have a woodburner, but have spent many weeks holidaying (over Christmas) in a house that does. The handle for the door was removable, so it didn't get hot. Once opened it was easy enough to place an additional piece by hand and then adjust things with tongs.

[The Natural Philosopher]

It bloody well can. And anyway they don't need placing once the stove is lit. Just chuck em in. Its not an Artistic Installation, it's a stove!

which

[Tim Streater]

Our stove is not that big physically, and can get very hot. You can bung the logs in but that risks damaging the firebricks in the long run, as well as risking displacing red hot embers out of the stove. It's an Esse 100 - which we've had ten years now and are very satisfied with.

[alan_m]

Once you have a bed of hot charcoal like burnt wood then chucking in will work but the ease of doing so may also depend on the size of your log burner and the size of the logs. The log burners I've had experience of have had internal dimensions of approx 1.5x the length of the logs. Logs purchased in bulk and all have been the same length.

Often when introducing the second/third lot of logs to get to the burning bed requires the logs to be placed a bit more precisely than just randomly chucking them on. Welding gauntlets are cheap and allows you put your hand in the burning fire to place a log.

For some people it is an artistic installation or they wouldn't need to sell electric fires with a flame effect or those inefficient gas flame effect fires that used to send most of the heat up the chimney/flue :)

[Tim Streater]

We tune the vents on ours so that the glass doesn't soot up at all and so we get most of the heat. Being able to watch a burning fire and know that we're getting most of the heat is very relaxing.

[Mike Rogers]

I've used woodburning stoves for forty years and have never needed a glove. Just chuck em in and they burn!

I've had stoves with removable handles and stoves with fixed handles, never have I needed a glove to open one, just be quick if its a bit hot!

Mike

[The Natural Philosopher]

Blimey. not sure mine has firebricks.

Ive had it 30 years, in two different houses...

[The Natural Philosopher]

Doesnt matter how I tune the vents mine always soots up Most of the heat is convection off the stove sides and roof.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I will say that when mine is hot, it is a bit too hot, but I have a pile of 'odd' socks hopefully awaiting their soulmates in some future wash, because my stove is in the bedroom. Mostly I don't run the stove very hot anyway - the goal is a low long heat. It gets filled with tree parts and curl up and go to sleep. It stays warm hours after its gone out anyway.

[alan_m]

Friends of mine fitted a modern log burner last week and it uses an air-wash system to keep the glass (almost) clean*. It also has some other air pre-heat and circulation methods for increased efficiency and to lower emissions. For optimum efficiency the manufacturer recommends that the logs in the burner are placed below a set of air holes in the rear fire brick, hence placing logs with more precision than just chucking them in. The holes are approx 30% down from the top of the internal space.

What was almost instantly noticeable with the new burner was the increase of heat coming from the front of the burner. Over last week the consumption of logs has about halved and at one point with the burner fully loaded and the vents fully open a very large room reached 24 degrees C in a short time. The unit is rated at 8kW with wood and 10kW coal but can be throttled well back.

The old burner of probably 20+ years of age had a fixed metal door handle which got very hot needing gloves to open. Compared to the new unit it took a relatively long time to heat the body and radiated a lot of heat to the sides and back of the unit heating the 5 x 3 foot old fireplace opening to a fairly high temperature before the heat got to the rest of the room. Judging by the reduction in fuel consumption it was probably very inefficient, although the heat going up the old chimney stack heated the bedrooms (old chimney stack lined with a flue and used for the new burner).

*It doesn't stay clean if a fair proportion of the log is touching the glass and the air flow to the glass is blocked.

[Martin Brown]

That is the old style. The new ones have a vent that creates a wash of air over the glass and burns off any soot that tries to form. If you get the conditions horribly wrong it can soot or tar up but your *really* have to work hard to do that. Wet wood burned slowly will do it.

Mine can be closed down for overnight in a fashion where the flames become diffusion limited and take on a very curious character before dying down. In that dormant state the embers can remain hot under a layer of ash for many hours. The transition is fast enough not to allow much sooting up of the door glass.

[Rod Speed]

Never bothered with that approach myself and never ever used gloves.

Never needed to do that.

Nope.

That's a different thing entirely.

Ditto.