Fire fuel

gaeilgegrinds

Huge fan of fires, love sitting there correcting or reading all warmed up by it. What fuel do ye find the most economic? I find some of those log things barely let out any heat? We're bulk buying before Wednesday!

biko

I prefer wood, nice crackling fire and good heat (make sure to have a spark guard or you'll have tiny burn marks in the carpet).
For economy I'd guess coal.

CamperMan

I use logs mixed with nugget coal... you can't beat an open fire

mikom

gaeilgegrinds wrote: »

Huge fan of fires, love sitting there correcting or reading all warmed up by it. What fuel do ye find the most economic?

A member of the green party on a pyre.

bonzodog2

Open fires are nice. Stoves are more economical IMO. Wood is more sustainable than coal.

biko

http://www.brasan.nu/
Sound on. Click fire for full screen.

Madame Razz

Start it with a fire log and then top it up with coal and briquettes. Always lasts the night. Do find the Bord na Mona firelogs are the best tho.

Would imagine that coal and slack are the most economical but I don't really have time to faff about with firemaking so I reach for the firelog everytime.

snubbleste

There is a 50c/€1 voucher here for Firelog/Firepak
http://www.inforthenight.ie/Competitions

bonzodog2

Slightly off-topic....bought some BordNaMona[I think] briquettes the other day and noticed that where they used to have B_N_M impressed on each one, these had X_X_X. Maybe they weren't BNM ones tho, they had the same green plastic strip

ScumLord

Coal is yer only man for a good hot fire, Turf is shyte.

Fracture

the furniture is always good for a good fire, nice and warm too.

if you have already burnt all ur furniture you can use coal or sticks i guess.

bonzodog2

Fracture wrote: »

the furniture is always good for a good fire, nice and warm too.

if you have already burnt all ur furniture you can use coal or sticks i guess.

Don't forget the floorboards(.ie) if you're stuck! ;-)

Mrs OBumble

Ahh, shure'n your neighbours don't be needing that fence ...

pdiddy

i prefer broken up pallets myself

mossfort

pdiddy wrote: »

i prefer broken up pallets myself

i used to see the pikeys smashing them to bits for firewood.

bonzodog2

pallets and any old kind of sticks work well................

mattcullen

Just got a multi fuel stove and am wondering the same thing. Was planning on burning wood but its hard to find well seasoned wood. Anyone know of a good source?
The wood briquettes burn really well but are expensive.
I think I'll forget my leanings towards using a more sustainable fuel and try out briquettes or coal if more economical. Anyone have experience of using these in stoves?

ttm

mattcullen wrote: »

Just got a multi fuel stove and am wondering the same thing. Was planning on burning wood but its hard to find well seasoned wood. Anyone know of a good source?
The wood briquettes burn really well but are expensive.
I think I'll forget my leanings towards using a more sustainable fuel and try out briquettes or coal if more economical. Anyone have experience of using these in stoves?

Rule 1 of Coal burning coal on a Multifuel stove DO NOT USE POLISH COAL of any type.

bonzodog2

Just a note: coal works best on a grate, with a good flow of air from below. Turf/Briquettes aren't so fussy, will work on a bed of ash OK

gaeilgegrinds

Not going up until May so I'm ok using anything now! I think a mix is the best really.

MayoForSam

We got a new solid fuel stove about a month ago (replaced an oil stove).

Burning turf and coal, great heat out of it, puts the oil stove to shame.

Nice big window on the front makes it very nice to look at too (just needs cleaning once a week).

ScumLord

ttm wrote: »

Rule 1 of Coal burning coal on a Multifuel stove DO NOT USE POLISH COAL of any type.

Why? Never had any problems with Polish coal. As long as you don't use that completely useless cozyglow shyte.


Man I miss fires and heating in general. It must be so nice not to fall asleep shivering.

ttm

ScumLord wrote: »

Why? Never had any problems with Polish coal. As long as you don't use that completely useless cozyglow shyte.


Man I miss fires and heating in general. It must be so nice not to fall asleep shivering.

Why anyone uses Polish Coal beats me? Its the cheapest nastiest dirtiest grade of coal you can get to burn domestically. Its fine on an open fire but because a Multifuel Stove does not waste as much heat up the chimney the chimney stays a lot colder and all that smokey crap that Polish Coal produces sticks to the inside so at the very least you should be sweepig more often.

Natural fires are great except when its pissing it down and the fuel is outside

ScumLord

ttm wrote: »

Why anyone uses Polish Coal beats me? Its the cheapest nastiest dirtiest grade of coal you can get to burn domestically. Its fine on an open fire but because a Multifuel Stove does not waste as much heat up the chimney the chimney stays a lot colder and all that smokey crap that Polish Coal produces sticks to the inside so at the very least you should be sweepig more often.

Natural fires are great except when its pissing it down and the fuel is outside

Natural gas isn't as easy to use as coal you need to have a setup for it but it is a much, much better fuel.

I didn't know Polish coal was that bad, we only have the option of that and cozy glow, what is good coal?

ttm

ScumLord wrote: »

Natural gas isn't as easy to use as coal you need to have a setup for it but it is a much, much better fuel.

I didn't know Polish coal was that bad, we only have the option of that and cozy glow, what is good coal?

I got low on wood last year and started burning coal. Wherever you go to buy it the cheapest coal is out front, but if you want antracite or smokeless coal most places stock it but not on display. Local Glambia has tons of Polish Coal out front but the antracite and smokeless coal are deep in the warehouse. Anyway I bought a few bags of Polish Coal and found I had way more cleaning up around the stove to do afterwards. I like antracite but its a bit slow burning so I use that with a few logs when we want more heat.

teepee

One ton of losse briquettes in Attymon for around 200 notes , great value . lot of work collecting them put its worth it .

Jungo

BNM briquttes Barna 1 tonne around 290 euro. all bales and no waste product or broken bits. Coal for the range or aga only has to be anthracite be careful do not burn on an open fire as it gives off a gas. Exobrite for stoves, the guy delivers too.

ScumLord

ttm wrote: »

I got low on wood last year and started burning coal. Wherever you go to buy it the cheapest coal is out front, but if you want antracite or smokeless coal most places stock it but not on display. Local Glambia has tons of Polish Coal out front but the antracite and smokeless coal are deep in the warehouse. Anyway I bought a few bags of Polish Coal and found I had way more cleaning up around the stove to do afterwards. I like antracite but its a bit slow burning so I use that with a few logs when we want more heat.

I'm not a big fan of the smokeless coal, I want choo choo train coal that will burn a hole through the grate. Polish coal does just that, two melted fireplaces at the home house.

demanufactured

Cosy Glo, CalCo and Union nuggets are all good for open fires.

Texan coal is good too.

Polish coal is pure shyte and shuoldnt be used anywhere.

Fey!

Texaco at the docks sells 10 bales of briquettes (not BNM) for €30.

There's a note on Firelogs (or maybe it's Firepacks) saying not to use them in a closed stove. Don't know why.

ttm

Fey! wrote: »

There's a note on Firelogs (or maybe it's Firepacks) saying not to use them in a closed stove. Don't know why.

Can't remember which either but its a "heat" thing, open fire and the chimney takes most of the heat anyway but in a closed stove you're getting 60-80% of the heat out of the fuel and some fuels burn too quickly and too hot for a closed stove.

Theres a warning on the ecoflame wood briquettes to use no more than 5 in a closed stove. Its very easy even with 5 ecoflame briquettes to get a wood burner far tooooooo hot if you leave the air vents wide open.