Open fire in a smoke-control area

[Mentalguy2k8]

OK so we've established (with neighbour's help) that the chimney is clear, now I've found out that she's in a smoke-control-area FFS....

There's a list of "authorised" fuels here:

'm assuming that anything not on the list is prohibited, like logs from the garden etc., but according to the local regs, I can still burn them on the bonfire!?!?

OK, so basically it's anthracite or some smokeless coal/briquette stuff. Which is the best fuel for keeping the fire nice and warm for the longest time, without having to keep refilling? And does anyone have any special ways of setting it all up for best results/least hassle?

[The Natural Philosopher]

I cant remember a conviction for burn8ing smoky fuel since the 60s....

Lots of people DO...

[Steve Firth]

I find that Coalite burns away to nothing far too quickly, anthracite briquettes work well in the multifuel stove and in our open grate, though fortunately we're not in a smoke control zone and can use logs which is what we mostly use unless we want the fire to burn for a long time without much attention.

The briquettes make a lot of ash.

[Onetap]

Until a neighbour complains and the local authority impose a nuisance order, or whatever they call them. Get a supply of smokeless fuel and burn the wood until the council call, then show them the smokeless stuff.

She could burn wood in an 'approved appliance', basically a stove with secondary air supply; list on Hetas site. They're much more efficient. Some open fires have a negative efficiency, they blow more heat up the chimney than they emit into the room.

There's not much you can adjust on an open fire.

[Andy Champ]

When I asked my council they said that they weren't sure if I was in a smokeless zone, and in any case they don't enforce it...

Andy

[Gordon Henderson]

I don't think I'm in a smokeless zone, but when I burn coal on the multi-fuel stove I have, it's anthracite (small). Local merchant has it for £10 a 25Kg bag. (Stove maker doesn't recommend anything other than anthracite though)

However when it comes to lighting it, you might as well practice with beach pebbles... Good firelighters, some dry wood kindling and let that get hot before slowly adding the coal...

Gordon

[Tim Watts]

On Thursday 24 January 2013 21:48 Gordon Henderson wrote in uk.d-i-y:

I found the same with anthracite.

Get some Phurnacite - which is anthracite dust in "egg" form - a manufactured fuel.

It lights, even if damp and cold, with one strip of good lighters (a 15cm x

3cm x 3cm cuboid) and nothing else. Break strip into 2 and arrange side by side to form a dense reactangle in the middle of the grate.

Even if you just keep to to kick off and add anthracite later. It does slumber well though, so I use nothing else these days.

[Brian Gaff]

May be a silly question but how come you can burn logs in the garden but not in the fire?

Brian

[Bill Wright]

After dark you burn what you like.

Bill

[Andy Dingley]

If I can't light the coal, even wet, with either half a firelighter (2x2x3 max) or a couple of sticks, then I fear the angry spirit of Baden Powell is going to haunt me

A whole strip of firelighters isn't an ignition source, it's fuel.

[Frank Erskine]

Smoke control regulations are concerned with chimneys. It's probably assumed that garden "bonfires" are only occasional rather than a daily occurrence. Clearly it's OK to pollute at a low level so as to contaminate the contents of your neighbours' washing lines; smoke some 30' higher is much more of a nuisance...

I'm involved with a steam-engined museum with a 180' tall chimney and we are apparently (I hope!) exempt from smoke regulation. We burn real coal and quite a lot of wood.

[S Viemeister]

max) or a couple of sticks, then I fear the angry spirit of Baden Powell is going to haunt me

I've been using dried pampas grass. Works every time.

[Dave Liquorice]

Just the sheer number of chimneys, the normal 1930's 3 bed semi has 8... I don't remember the two upstairs ever being used in the semi I was dragged up in but the two downstairs were.

With the advent of gas and the Clean Air Acts people have forgotten, or never experienced, how fithy the air was and the smogs that came with it. There is no mains gas in Middleton-in-Teesdale, the pall of smoke that hangs over the town on a still winters day is something that most places no longer have. Seen similar in China where the principle heating fuel is coal.

[Dave Liquorice]

You'll need more than a couple of sticks to get anthracite going. It can be hard to light but is the best stuff to burn, burns slow with lots of heat and very little ash.

Never used firelighters meself, just a few sheets of screwed up newspaper(*), a dozen or so bits of kindling, few small bits of coal, set any aircontrols/flue dampers to make the fire draw, light and keep an eye on it. Once the coal starts to go slowly add more until you have the desired size.

(*)The insides CPC flyers are good but not the glossy covers. Screwfix, Toolstation, Wickes, Machine Mart, etc cataloges are OK at a push but not good, just that little bit too glossy.

[Dave Liquorice]

Top quality British anthracite, if you can get it... I forget the names given to the different sized coals, I think an ordinary domestic grate needs bits not much bigger than a clenched fist, they might be "nuts", or are nuts smaller?

'd go for "Large nuts", if it's a bit big you can always hit it 'wiv an 'ammer. B-)

Curiously the CMF only recomend "smokeless ovoids" for open fires in smoke control areas and only recomend anthracite if enclosed burners (stoves, cookers, etc). I suspect this maybe down to anthracite being hard to light and decent air flow.

And does anyone have any special ways of setting it all up for best

Doesn't your Mum know, shouldn't she be teaching you? Maybe she is too young to have been brought up with open fires.

A real fire is hassle full stop, but there is something very comforting about a real fire in winter with the weather battering at the windows.

[polygonum]

Or am I thinking about getting a cup of coffee?

[RobertL]

Not just that: it applies to chimneys on buildings only. If you live on a = boat you aren't bound by the rules AFAIK. this caused some friction in Cam= bridge where houseboaters (of whom I was one) were allowed to burn any old = coal (cheaper) but a house adjacent to the river had to stick to smokeless.

Robert

Robert

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Brian Gaff writes

Carbon neutral?

Agricultural exemptions..

Under the *waste regulations* (EA site) I can burn up to ten tons (might be 20 now) of plant tissue (wood waste) in any 24 hour period. This must be at the site of production.

I guess it is assumed domestic bonfires will only burn tree and hedge trimmings produced on site.

[Tim Watts]

On Friday 25 January 2013 01:27 Andy Dingley wrote in uk.d-i-y:

But it works :) I learnt that skimping usually means raking back the coals and putting more lighters in which uses *more*. I'm too busy/disorganised to keep a stock of kindling wood...

And when I light up for half a week at a time, I'm not too bothered - a packet of lighters still lasts a month at £1.65 :)

[Tim Watts]

On Friday 25 January 2013 09:21 Dave Liquorice wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Large nuts are not that large - and are pretty good for a small stove.

Small nuts are too small unles syou want to run a forge.

Yes. And because it heats the masonry of the chimney (unless you have an insulated flue) and the walls nearby, it provides a more buffered heat source. Fire goes out, house cools more gradually.