[Growster...]

Just had a delivery of ten bags of coal by Andrew (you may know him from Corralls, Mum - fabulous chap), and the cost has gone up to over £165.00! And it's 7.30pm!

Gulp...:0~

Andrew seems too work twelve hour days, and when I used to phone an order to their Chartham (Canterbury) office, I always gave him a nod of appreciation, and the lady there agreed, as he works his socks off, with immaculate paperwork and delivery tidiness too!

Hopefully he'll do the next lot before the seasonal lot, as a bottle awaits him for being such a great chap!

[rowlandwells]

talking of coal we bought 20 bags of smokeless the other year expecting to use it through the winter months then I had so much wood given me from both my hedge cutting that was free and a couple of trees that where cut down near our house I gave the lads twenty quid each for cutting up the butt and apart from carting it all home with our tractor and trailer and staking it away tidy that took several days to do it was all good fun

so her we are enough wood to last us many years to burn on the wood burner I just have to cut it up in lengths with our chain saw and keep it dry cutting wood on a cold winters day nothing better to pass the time of day 

apart from the cost of the chain saw and the odd new chain and chain oil and fuel its a good way of keeping warm and most cost effective me thinks

[Goosegirl]

In our cottage we had no central heating (long story) but had a coal fire which was lovely except when it occasionally and unexplainably went out overnight. We used to get a mega load once a year and perhaps a top-up if needed and we kept it in a boarded-off area of the garage. It was a dirty job filling the coal and slack in buckets which we stored in our small front porch, and emptying the hot ashes especially when it was windy! In our new home we have a gas look-a-like one which is quite realistic and a heck of a lot cleaner to use. You just have to remember not to chuck anything on it. 

[Growster...]

You probably know this, Rowland, but we bought a 'Log Wood Grenade' from Screwfix some years ago, and it's a fabulous way to split logs, using a club hammer!

They're on Amazon for less than a tenner!

[Growster...]

Yes Goosey, it is a chore emptying ashes, then filling the coal bucket and wood basket each day, and cutting the kindling,but the general effect makes it worthwhile - according to Mrs Growster!

[mumofstig]

I miss using my stove, I can't get down to clean it out anymore 
I have one of those electric 'coal' fires it looks ok from a distance, but makes a whirring noise, which drives me crackers if I'm just sitting quietly reading a book 
I used to be able to say that having the central heating on didn't cost any than more buying smokeless fuel - but with the price rises this year  I doubt I'll still be able to say that.

[Growster...]

Yes, the whirring would get me as well Mum!

And when the red bulb sometimes get's bust, the looks you get when you want to buy a replacement...;0)

[Goosegirl]

Our gas fire  doesn't have a whirry thing or a red bulb. It lights using a piezo-electric thingy which lights a little pilot light then you turn a knob to increase the flames. The "coals" are made of ceramic covered with a black substance and look just like anthracite.

[rowlandwells]

We bought a log splitter to fit on a tractor it cost around £500 at the time but i thought well it going to save all that axe swinging so I set two and fixed it to the only tractor that had a hydraulic fitment

so its all singing and dancing he says I wish the damn hydraulics packed up before I could split one log so its a job on my to do list  well I've only had the splitter 3 years and every time i decide to sort the hydraulics out another job come up like planting the allotments or cutting wood up

but I know I will eventually get round to fixing the hydraulics on the tractor I will  and then its log splitting all the way  by the way I did buy a Canadian axe that's very good at splitting logs and believe me you know you've  used it after about an hour with that your muscle's are saying give us a rest

but after all that I love sitting by a real log fire because it seems more homely than a gas or electric heater but there's  only one room with a log burner the rest of the house has central heating so keep the home fires burning I say

[Growster...]

We still have the original night storage heaters, which had been installed before we moved here (the original owner worked for the electricity board), and while they're dated and a bit plain, they do work pretty well, and we don't need them all on as since the cavity wall inulation went in,we use far fewer at a time!

We never use the boost on them, as a small electric blower heater is plenty enough for a few minutes, while the fire gets going! But it's no good trying to sit around a storage heater, the curtains get in the way...

[jezza]

Hello we have coal fired central heating ,the council want to put in air sourced heat pumps, £40 a week to run them and the maximum temperature is 55 degrees smokeless coal costs us £75 every 2 to 3 weeks we use a 3 gallon bucket of Phurnacite a day,we provide the coal man with his Sunday dinner and a sponge cake every week,we do get our coal a little bit cheaper  remember using chainsaws keep safe    jezza

[rowlandwells]

I must say I am getting bit fed up with these cretins saying you must have this clap trap we have  only just had a new gas combi boiler fitted that was quite expensive now there telling me we need an air sourced  heat pump to put it lightly on your bike Il leave it up to your imagination what I mite have said   

£40 quid a week Jezza there having a laugh  I'm keeping our Gas boiler and still using my log fir with good old English tree wood that's been stored and dried if its one thing I can't stand is being told by someone  trying to tell what should or shouldn't  do they will be  be telling me next I need to buy an Electric car sorry folks I'm keeping my 20year old Skoda as long as its well serviced  and passes the MOT each year

and yes Jez I have been using a chain saw for some years now and one must always remember to treat that piece of equipment with respect because if not it could have life changing consequences but thanks for your advise duly noted

and don't forget to keep giving that coalman a nice piece of roast beef and Yorkshire pud for his Sunday lunch not forgetting the sponge  cake with real home made jam I hope

[Growster...]

Our coalman - Andrew - is a great bloke, and we always pop him a bottle at Christmas, because he helps us so much, by storing full bags on top of the bunker, so that I can just cut a small area and the coal pours into the scuttle as easy as pie!

I doubt very much that we'll ever use anything but coal and wood - we're country folk, so take life as it comes! And we still can't understand why we can't get gas connected, but by now, it really isn't worth the cost or the hassle! Forget heat pumps, we're next to a graveyard for God's sake!

Might have a kindling day soon, when I set up the Workmate and reduce every bit of scrap wood around The Turrets to reasonable lengths with a buzz saw, chop them with a machete, then fill several compost bags with the stuff!

[Aunt Sally]

Might have a kindling day soon, when I set up the Workmate and reduce every bit of scrap wood around The Turrets to reasonable lengths with a buzz saw, chop them with a machete, then fill several compost bags with the stuff!

That’s Wozel’s favourite job too.