magnetman

Yes hairspray from Woolworths was cheap. We used this in the trains when not tagging. Swan Vestas. I was almost down with the CWE posse CrimeWavE. A nuff carn writer . My tag was ROC might still be around somewhere. Sadly Swan Vestas seem to now be safety matches. I have the aluminium matchbox holders for these from when they were The Smokers Match.

The very odd thing about burning wet wood is that if the fire is going properly and there is no limit to the oxygen supply it actually burns hotter than dry wood. it is a curious thing but this is what happens. Small pieces of wood not large logs. It is possible that there is a default tendency to split green wood into smaller pieces than one does with seer wood so there is more surface area. It is interesting experimenting with wood burners which have proper firebox temperatures above 600 celsius because this is where secondary burn happens.

Or the 80s and early 90s! A friend and I did a lot of experimental petrol burning activities in my garden. My mum was alright with me getting petrol for the Boat and mixing it with two smoke oil but boating got too boring (riverside garden) so we used to do various experiments with the fuel. I will always remember the rower who came past after I had set fire to the petrol can accidentally and then thrown it in the River. He was shouting 'It is going to explode!' but I managed to calm him by pointing out that a 25:1 petrol/oil mix can not explode and we had already established this. He departed. I suppose he thought we were playing with neat petrol. Who'd do a thing like that ?

Nostalgia. Or maybe it should be nosetalgia.

I do have access to a country estate so lots of firewood. One thing which is interesting to note is IF the fire is correctly made and sized for the space being heated one can burn green or seasoned wood without any issues. The flue needs to be part of the stove design and correctly proportioned so that it stays very hot. A flue which is not very hot is the enemy rather than the wood moisture content. Of course most people live in houses and a chimney fire can be incredibly serious. My country estate boat fire has a 70mm flue 2 metres long. We made it from 8 inch box section steel 5mm wall no fire bricks. Heats up fast cools down fast. We put a grate in and it stays in overnight on coal if needed. Its the first fire I have had (I've had about 10 fires on boats) which is happy to burn anything once its hot. Freshly cut maple? No issues as long as the fire is running hot. I think the output is probably around 3-4kW. It is far better than I thought it was going to be. It even runs with the porthole open no smoke in boat.

I wonder if the foam was part of the packaging when sending the windows by post. It could have been to prevent the channel getting dented and someone didn't realise it was meant to be removed when the windows are fitted.

Definitely agree with that. Excel is horrible and sadly it seems to be the most common fuel on the coal boats. Number one for me is wood and number 2 is low volatile coal number 3 is lignite. I have never tried peat but apparently that is alright. The Lignite Union briquettes are interesting because some suppliers sell them as smokeless authorised and some say they are not authorised. They do burn well and have no oil products so the smell is quite natural.

@ditchcrawler posted a picture of a proposed clean air zone which was in Cannock chase. I can't recall the area well as have not been since the late 90s but is this a densely populated urban area? I think not and I also think there is a fair chance smoke control areas will cover the whole country within a few yars. Obviously look after people with a bit of extra money by allowing defra stoves but it is plausible that open fires in houses will gradually be outlawed and not only in towns and cities. I can see it happening. What is the true environmental cost of manufacturing briquetted fuels?

Just trying to make things more interesting. The problem of remotely lighting a fire. which is what the topic is about, does exist.

Is it ordinary house coal or might it be low volatile? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/selling-coal-for-domestic-use-in-england " Enforcement checks Enforcement officers will check that suppliers and retailers are not selling traditional house coal. They may check: traditional house coal is not being displayed for sale in retail outlets and online records at registered coal merchants to confirm that traditional house coal is not being sold records of the types of coal sold (for example, traditional house coal, anthracite, lignite) Fines Coal merchants and retailers could be fined by local authority enforcement officers if unauthorised coal is sold to domestic household customers. Depending on how severe the offence is this could be: a £300 fixed penalty fine (FPN) issued by the local authority a more substantial fine issued by the courts" I think the Columbian and Polish coals may possibly be low volatile semi bituminous rather than bituminous coal which is what house coal is. A quick google suggests that What type of coal is Colombian coal? Colombia's coal exports are a low ash, low sulphur thermal coal, the benchmark calorific value (CV) from Puerto Bolívar being 11,300 Btu/lb. So maybe that does not fall into the house coal category.

I would never be without the wood burner. Its going now and cooked my breakfast. Various different woods in the pleasure garden but obvious access to wood is not always available. Interesting point about the flues. Curiously when this boat had the BS inspection there were no heating appliances. I don't know where they went. Do have CO alarms with the digital display. Heating is only really needed for 6 months so it seems logical to have portable removable appliances particularly on smaller boats.

I wonder if local crack dealers might spot a market opportunity and fill their BMW X5s up with the stuff. Cash only. You might get coal sniffer dogs on the way back across the border. I'd definitely take the risk.

Go for it ! Is the office on the boat ? Its going to need heating. It does make me wonder what businesses might need house coal rather than the briquetted things. Even some of the heritage railways are using briquettes.. Interesting to see the price drop on the eBay link I added. This is now less than £1 per kilo which while still being expensive is coming down so I wonder if everyone thinks it is illegal and nobody is buying it. Columbian doubles, while sounding a bit like contraband, also have brilliant heat output and smells like it is supposed to.

Can buy online from Wales or Ireland no problem I've had columbian doubles delivered to my central London address. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255135402555 https://coalhut.com/colombian-group-2-coal Not cheap ! These people https://thecoalshop.co.uk/house-coal-fuel/ say this " House Coal Fuel Starting May 1st 2023, the UK government has now prohibited the domestic sale of ‘house coal’ (also known as Bituminous coal) in England. You can still purchase house coal in England if you are a working farm or business; you’ll sign a declaration form via email to process the order. So if you have a business name... Steam coal https://www.supaheatfuels.co.uk/steam-raising-coal-13-c.asp (The only one I have tried is via eBay from Ireland so I don't know if the other ones actually deliver).

I've got a Cosy Cabin heater which is similar. Basically a cooker ring in an elaborate stainless steel housing with a one inch flue so that it does not cause condensation. A flued gas heater might be alright. Propane is expensive in this country though Also if importing its worth being cautious about the regulator / jet pressure as it is not the same as here. Another nice but very rare one was the little bulkhead mounted wood burner made by Newport. Very small logs ! Overall wood is the best thing because of availability. Refleks diesel heaters also quite good.

Don't they have moulded in seating 'islands' ? I'm sure I've seen a picture of the inside and it looked awkward to remove the seating.

Massey Shaw is in the dock by the big blue lift bridge. Canary Wharf estate. One of the engines (Gleniffer DH8) is knackered sadly I believe due to water ingress via exhaust. They were talking about putting new units in but this seems criminal however parts for the Gleniffers are hard to find. She had a sister ship I forgot the name. https://masseyshaw.org/

Yes I was. The discussion was about battery installations.

Grantham gas works ? Apparently it was near the canal.