Rayburn fodder (sticks)

[wood troll]

Hi James

After all the plumbing, piping, transport etc it has probably come in at under 4.5k, but I have done all the work myself!

Combining it with an existing heating system is not such a problem if you remember that it needs a gravity heat dump radiator so that the boiler does not overheat. (If you have a look at the Rayburn suggestion for the heating system it is a lot easier to understand.... http://www.rayburn-web.co.uk/raytech/chtg2.htm).

The technical pages on the Rayburn site answer most questions so it is probably a good staring place ...this is for the 345w which is the wood only burning model we have... http://www.rayburn-web.co.uk/raytech/default.htm.

There are other wood burning stoves so have a look at the main site for them... http://rayburn-web.co.uk/index.asp

Have fun

wood troll

[DaveTaz]

We have the 345W also. In UK, solid fuel appliances must conform to building Regulations and have to be installed by HETAS registered fitters/engineers

We kept our rads but installed new tank (thermal store) which runs central heating and hot water on demand under mains pressure. The tank has thermostats fitted so when it gets to 85 degrees c the central heating kicks in and acts as heat dump to prevent over heating of the tank/water.

The Rayburn was just under £4k, new thermal store (or accumulator) was about £2k, various other pipe work, stainless steel twin walled flue (£100/metre), total bill just under£9K

[lesthetreenut]

Some folk sell hazel spars under contract to thatchers. Find a local thatcher to find out more. Cut the sticks, split the sticks, sharpen the sticks with a billhook at 3 cuts to each end at a rate of 800 a day. Yes, OK, burn the stuff then - lol. You can use strips of hazel bark to bind faggots of any sticks but they have to be small enought to fit the openings of peoples' fires.

You can grow kindling like willow to provide a satisfying amount of biomass a year starting with twigs in trenches. You can also grow ash which isn;t as quick but is soooo much better to burn. Biomass is a word often used to include leaves and stuff that is wet to feed huge energy burners but you need to store everything.

Oak billets are stripped of their bark, which is sold for dyeing or tanning, then the wood is used to make charcoal. Maybe you are missing a trick and coppiced oak grows straight and you can also crop staves, etc

The Outdoorsmans Bookstore should still sell The Book of Homemade Power which tells you how to cut and store chords of wood with hand tools along with many other things. I havent checked but googling the burning qualities of wood should give you a top ten from ash to pine. If not, ask older Scouts - lol.

lesthetreenut