[grinling]

same here, steel pipe, paper from the neighbours 

[wildwitchy]

We have an open fire & really love it. Most houses i've had, have had open fires. I opened up the chimney in our house as it was boarded up. I bought a  bigger lintel in and extened the opening so the opening could be made bigger for the cast iron basket, a new fire back & did the brick work. Had it tested and swept. We burn coal and wood - any kind of wood. Keep stuff from DIY projects over the year, old fencing. Anything woody and free - pallets are good but hard to break up as they are strong!!

Joiners yards & furnature makers are good sources for off cuts of bits of wood to start fires with. Had bags of wood off them.

[Dopey113]

I have lived in 4 houses with coal open fires in, the last hose I bought (the one I am living in now) I bough the house and in the blink of an eye I put a gas fire in with a back boiler for the central heating....... I love gas!! never have to clean it every morning.... or keep it on all night so it doesn't go out so I dont have to light it again in the morning, I have never had to shove gas in to it... or indeed have a gas bucket to keep it in...... well you get my drift I think 

[arugula]

..... well you get my drift I think  

We certainly do, but you don't get piped gas in the country.


Edit to add:

47 Kg Propane cylinders are now 80 quid a pop!

[mumofstig]

47 Kg Propane cylinders are now 80 quid a pop!

OMG  They've gone up a lot!

[arugula]

47 Kg Propane cylinders are now 80 quid a pop!

OMG  They've gone up a lot!

They've doubled in price in 8 years. I'm still very glad we didn't opt for oil heating! Its why we love our multifuel burner (in which we burn mainly wood) so much, but I did mention that much earlier in this thread. After all that is the topic for this thread, not how convenient gas is in London!

[Goldfinger]

The only 'down side' as such to having a wood burner, is if you see any wood up for grabes (that's free), is to grab it there and then!

There's been some trees took down next to my work, their business signs cannot be seen so down with the trees!

Anyway, spoke to the 'feller', and he said help yourself - saves on hiring more skips, he only needs to get rid of the tops then.  :happy:

So, there was a nice stack cut into 3ft lengths ready for anyone to take, so the next day I went to work with my trailer.....

Whole lot GONE!!    So between 7pm and 7am, someone must have came along with something bigger than a transit tipper - there was that much, and took the lot.

Guess the wood business is really taking off now....

[compostqueen]

Gas fires are all well and good but completely lack any character.  You might as well sit and watch the washing machine 

Log burner chimney clean tomorrow morning so we are all set up for log burner heaven for the next sixth months or so.  Logs cut from our own garden are stacked and matured ready for the off.  We have had fires in the past few weeks but not every night. Soon it will be a nightly ritual.  The good thing about it is that it forces you to sit down and relax.  You just have to flop down on the sofa in front of it as it's so soothing.

[wildwitchy]

That is true compost queen about gas fires, yes they give you heat but boring. We are the only one on our road that has a open fire and passers by always comment on it when its lit. Especially the older generation.

As much as possible, I try to burn wood, as our local coalman, well 20 miles away, puts the coal up by £1.00 per 20kg each year!

Plus I like "open fire" time as its when I do baked potatoes wrapped in foil, baked in the fire - nothing like them.

[Madame Cholet]

i have wood burners in my sitting rooms in the fire place and one in the kitchen which sits on a brick plinth up through single storey roof. I boilwater on it  to cook, wash up, drinks and often cook and warm up bits a pieces too. Along with the solar hot water I spend about £100pa on gas and about the same on electricity in the bedroom only when really cold and get loads of free pallets.

its also great for dried apples ect. I could really tell the difference when I put one in the small lounge after haveing an open fire 4 time the heat from a tiney little burner.

[jamima]

Have  lit ours the past couple of nights. its lovely 

[Trillium]

Fireplaces are romantic and sentimental but truly inefficient. The woodburners are out of the niches and radiate the heat rather than send it up the tube, like my fireplace insert does  I know I use more wood than I need to with my insert versus the freestanding burner I had at my last place.

But one day I'll find the money to replace the insert and we'll be enjoying real heat again, as well as using free cooking heat. 2 days ago we drove down some local back roads and filled my SUV with loads of thick fallen tree branches that we'll cut up later. When fossil fuels become too expensive to freely use I suspect there'll be lots of competition for fallen wood.

[Growster...]

Fireplaces are romantic and sentimental but truly inefficient. The woodburners are out of the niches and radiate the heat rather than send it up the tube, like my fireplace insert does   I know I use more wood than I need to with my insert versus the freestanding burner I had at my last place.

But one day I'll find the money to replace the insert and we'll be enjoying real heat again, as well as using free cooking heat. 2 days ago we drove down some local back roads and filled my SUV with loads of thick fallen tree branches that we'll cut up later. When fossil fuels become too expensive to freely use I suspect there'll be lots of competition for fallen wood.

Nearly there Trills...

Local firms are getting logs for the small machines in private houses to burn constantly.

(PS, do they still do log-rolling in your part of the world...?!)

[Trillium]

When river logs jam up there's still need for the log rollers to go out and sort it, but you don't see it as much as these days floating excavators do most of the work as well as men in boats with chainsaws.  It was a real art and talent and the men had to be very light on their feet a shown in the first minute HERE.


Log rolling contests are still very popular: LINK