Roy Clarke

Thanks for the pie Nicole, it does allow me to do a few things, but the only part of the forum that is remotely comfortable in my opinion is the reply box. I just can’t understand why the new view is thought to be so good. The old list of threads/topics was easy to scan through, now the “list” looks like a scrapbook with pieces of paper dotted about on the page, albeit neatly arranged.

I’m afraid this isn’t for me, it seems more like “Pauls Pages” rather than “Permies Forum” so I won’t be visiting much in future (if at all). I suppose the simple comment is content is there, but overshadowed by the bling, even with the wood grain gone, the overall brown style is soooo depressing.

raven ranson, I couldn’t find all the spiffy tools you mentioned, nor how to turn off the wood effect.

i was quite happy with the old view, it was functional and simple. The new view seems to be change for the sake of change. I find the wall to wall wood and the creamy colours depressing. I like wood, I like greenwood working, I like my woodburner, I like wood tools, bowls, spoons I like trees, but wall to wall tea stains on the screen I would like to get rid of. If I have no choice, and I have to put up with the view of the world dictated by paul wheaton, then I do have a choice, and sadly I will not visit the forum. Why the changes have been inflicted I don’t understand, If did understand then I probably would accept them anyway. I would liken it to the sort of change inflicted by climate change supporters who refuse to debate the science and just claim “consensus”. People might not agree, but that is the way it appears to me.  I have been attacked on other forums for questioning someones position so I am used to the unnecessarily hostile responses. Hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised with the responses on permies.com.

So the question is, how do I set up what preferences to get as near the old view as possible?

Here is a link to a specialist heater forum which will provide you with a large amount of background for ideas.

http://donkey32.proboards.com/

I agree with Eric. The flue is the engine for your stove. The guide rule is, no more than two 45º and no nearer to the horizontal than 45º, though this often gets pushed a bit. However, the idea of going round the soffit is not a good one.

Travis makes many good points. With your equipment, do it for your self and enjoy doing it. It’s often cheaper, when you cost your time and wear on equipment to buy in processed logs, and even then you have to stack and season them. Wood is very hard on machines, it wrecks everything. Secondhand woodland machinery is low cost, because it’s often at the end of its life. If you want to deliver firewood to people and make enough to live on, yoiu will probably have to buy in trees by the load, then use a processor to produce the logs. Any other way will mean you are worn out as well as the equipment.

From your figures it looks like you can produce 3.4 cuft/hr. If you are trying to run a business you need to think of £40 an hour in the UK, so I will be generous and say you need $30 an hour in the US. That means roughly $10/cuft. That’s a couple of net bags of logs. That’s a lot of work given 14 hour days and two of you.

Next is the risks. According to your sound track it seems you don’t have much in the way of safety gear. That’s possily ok when you start fresh in the morning, with perfect weather, and well behaved machinery. The problems arises when the weather is not good, and you get tired, and the machinery is being a pain. Then accidents happen.

A good example at 7mim 40s    This a tame one, plenty of gore available on youtube if anyone needs convincing. A guy I knew on another forum got caught when cross cutting at home. The saw kicked back and got his throat. He died. It can happen to anyone. Is it worth the risk?

I would burn wood in a wood stove. It has the right structure and will leave minimal ash. Compressed paper will have impurities (not many maybe) and some of those may be things that don’t burn well and are emmitted to atmosphere. Raspberry canes (if completely dry) and pine cones are good for starting the fires but they burn too quickly. You will keep warm though having to visit the stove frequently. You could use compressed sawdust/woodchip blocks, but even they burn away quickly. They provide a fair amount of heat, but really dry logs are the best way to go. If you have a batch rocket stove you could burn more materials as they have a fiecer fire and higher temperature so can burn the impurities, though it is not controlled so you can’t be sure of correct combustion.

90º bends are not recommended, especially two of them. This is a case where you need a teacher alongside to understand where the problems are. If you can post several photos that will help.

I agree with Glen. The cement is likely to crack. A better method is to remove the pipe if possible to clean up, then get something like 1/4” glass rope and push it down into the socket round the pipe. (Wear a mask, the tiny glass bits that come off it are not the best thing to breathe). Once the glass rope is in place, to most of the depth of the spigot, smear some ceramic fibre paste over the top. The paste will stand over 2000ºF and is soft and flexible so it won’t crack.

Frustrating that you can get things made relatively easily in the US. Does anyone know a manufacturer of riser sleeves in the UK?

This will give you more to think about https://permies.com/t/72030/Affordable-add-mass-existing-woodstove