Selfsufficientish.com

So who has a Multi Fuel stove and what do you burn in it?

Currently we have a Euroheat Harmony stove and burn Wood, Blazers logs and coal. I am installing our Stanley Range in the next few weeks to so will probably burn the same.

What about you guys?

Nick

We have Clearview 650 and burn anything and everything in it... paper, cardboard, wood, pallets, coal (occasionally).

At the moment it is mostly paper and card board and we can get up a fair heat just from that, certainly enough to give a summertime boost.

we have a woodburner. (one day the woodfired rayburn.. one day)... we burn logs from our hedgings efforts, and a lot of scrap wood. pallets etc. just had chimney sweep again, says to carry on with what we are doing, nice clean burn.

Hello there ,

we've got a Stanley Erin in the living room and a Esse Ironheart in the kitchen ,both connected to a 1000liter water
reservoir.On the roof there's 16m2 of solar boilers.
We started building the system is May 2008 and until now it's made a saving 0f around 70% on the gas bill.

This is necessary because Europe has placed it'self in a humble position of being dependent on the Russian gas supply's.
Now Mr Medledev and Mr Poetin dictate our gas price's , just wait until September , then they'll start argueing with
Georgia and Ukraine again , the gas price's will rocket .

Back to the heating , so we , a family of at least 6 ,and very often lodgers use the system for hot water and heating.
From September till March the Stanley is always burning , we use firewood and anything else the I can find ,wood only though.
The Esse will be used also , this is in the kitchen of 24 m2 , and it radiates 10 kw into the room ,makes it really warm.

I expect unless it's not freezing and we're using the Esse that we'll have the kitchen door open when cooking or baking ,used to do this in Ireland aswell.

We built a specially technical room in the house to accomadate the new heating system , the 1000liter reservoir,theheater,
and then there are 3 contol boxes for the ranges and one for the solar , then there's pipes,and more pipes,three digital
displays so I can read of daily what appliance has made in kwh.Further a big digital display for the solar panels.
This shows 12 different readings of every value ,from the roof panels to the tank temperature .

This time of year we'll have around 1000 liters of water at a temperature of 60c-80c degrees.
On a good summers day the temperature of the panels supplying into the tank will reach 120c degrees.

On a yearly basis the ranges and the solar make a curve ,when in the winter the sun does not produce so much then the ranges
will be working and in the summer it's the other way round ,I've put all the data in Excel ,it makes nice graphs .

The next step is a wind generator ,but that's for the next time ,

regards ,

Paul

Interesting reading. Most people who replied generally burn wood and a bit of coal to keep it in which is what I do too, usually anthracite.

Where I work, a 32 acre private estate which houses a 3kw water turbine, 5kw wind turbine, 20m2 PV solar panels, 5m2 evac tubes. In the main house there is a 100kw Boimass boiler which heats the main house, the office and a seperate small cottage both of the later are converted stables.

There is also a Nobel Range in the main house kitchen, a small wood burner in the office and small cottage and on the estate they have converted another building in to self catering accomadation. They have the use of the water turbine power and soon the power made from the water mill which is still attached. The wind turbine also supplies elec' to all houses.

All houses have oil supply as a backup but isnt needed often. Only on the coldest of days.

I have a tiny multifuel stove in the living room (installed earlier this year). I generally just burn hedge prunings and waste paper plus the odd bone from the kitchen. I do envy you all your Rayburns and the like but sadly not really practical here.

Zoe

Just had a (multi-fuel) wood-burning stove installed, and because of that I’m keen to buy one of these man-powered log splitters: http://www.logsplitter.biz/

I’ve got two questions: first, has anyone here tried one of these machines? Secondly, in order to use the log splitter you need to base it on a large flat log, about 600mm in height and diameter. At the moment, this has me stymied. Where on earth would I get hold of such a thing? Has anyone got any suggestions? Many thanks!

Another query re firewood ... What do people think about using scraps of old wood, such as broken up fencing panels, for kindling in a wood-burning stove? Is it safe, despite not knowing whether, or what with, the wood might have been treated (eg, creosote, etc)? I’ve got a pile of such material, but don’t want to mess up the brand new chimney liner ...

Ooh I wish !! Can't afford either solar or a wood burner - still saving
although we do burn wood or coals in the open grate in winter, which helps reduce the use of propane. Hopefully this years insulation investment will help keep the chill out too

We burn mainly wood on our Charnwood Country 16B Multi-fuel. But we also burn some anthracite when we need a really good, high temperature burn. I can justify burning some coal, at least to myself, as we are situated just outside the South Wales coal field and I have a supply from some old garages that was saved by miners from their monthly allowance (i.e. I know it's local and good quality, clean burning fuel).

Does anyone know where to buy Welsh / British coal, I find most sources are rather vague as to sourcing and I certainly don't want to buy imported coal?

MatC wrote:Just had a (multi-fuel) wood-burning stove installed, and because of that I’m keen to buy one of these man-powered log splitters: http://www.logsplitter.biz/

I’ve got two questions: first, has anyone here tried one of these machines? Secondly, in order to use the log splitter you need to base it on a large flat log, about 600mm in height and diameter. At the moment, this has me stymied. Where on earth would I get hold of such a thing? Has anyone got any suggestions? Many thanks!

Yay!! I have both the 'smart' products. The splitter & the holder as well. I have to say that as a 50yr old woman, these 2 products were simply the best thing I bought when we moved into our place.

Hubby cut down at least 30 trees from our garden - using a hand saw, I was able to chop them & split them all by myself - they were an absolute godsend!

As for the splitter base, I was lucky. The guy at the local shop where I bought mine had chopped a railway sleeper & he let me have that. It's about 18ins long with the hole drilled at one end. You could try & use the base of a large piece of tree trunk? After 3 years the edge is still sharp enough although we have lost the rubber grommit that keeps it tight in the hole, so it wobbles around a bit now, but that's easily fixed for the next winter to come

Great bit of kit!

The only thing I would add to this thread is... if you only have room for a small stove like us.... Then a multi fuel is best as you can use coal/boiler nuts to keep it in at night.

I have a readyfire with a back boiler in the front room which is mostly fired by wood with a few bits of caol over night. Also got a rayburn in the kitchen which runs in the same manner. Not been able to afford my new water tank yet - the one that takes heat from several different sources

Hello there ,

Our house in Ireland had a range in the kitchen , this was the center of the house . Once the fire was burning
the chimney got really warm and seeing that it was adjoining the bedroom and the bathroom it radiated heat
throughout the house . Proves they did think about heating in the previous century .
Also renovated a cottage and found channels in the stone work going from the chimney to other rooms , kind of hot air vent.

regards ,

Paul

We are looking into having a multi fuel stove fitted in our livingroom, but I dont know what to get?
We have an open fire with a log basket and hood at the moment, and i would like to change it to a stove that is relativly inexpensive. Does anyone have any good tips?
Many thanks
Louise.