Heat logs?

[George and Dragon]

4 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

A fire-lighting tip I read in a mid-1920's home encyclopaedia ( Enquire Within On Everything) is to fill the grate with coal and then  make a small fire from firewood on top of the coal. Not only go you get heat from the burning wood straight away, but the gasses driven off from the coal as it heats up, ignite rather than passing up the chimney as unburnt smoke.

 

4 hours ago, MtB said:

Good point. There is a very long and very old thread on here where much the same suggestion was made by several posters IIRC. ISTR doing it this way myself for a while after but then forgot about the method. Must try it again.

 

But like most threads on here there was a great deal of disagreement, mostly from people who maintain their way is the only way that should be allowed!

I was given similar advice last month by someone who has their own wood burning stove business; I wasn't specifically asking about solid fuel, more a question of how to minimise the amount of tar deposited in the cold flue. I've been using it since, we shall have to await the annual visit of the sweep to see if it makes any difference.

[ditchcrawler]

6 hours ago, Tony1 said:

Thanks chaps- so it seems these things might actually be some use, but you need to get the right ones... 

 

Birch Firewood Value Bundle (lektowoodfuels.co.uk)

 

2 hours ago, tree monkey said:

I have 3 paraffin lamps, the hurricane type rather than the unpleasant brass things and they seem to do me for those slightly chilly evenings, it's possibly psychosomatic but as long as I don't actually think I'm cold that will do me

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

49 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

That said, I have heard of van dwellers using arrays of candles as a heat source- so perhaps in a small space it really does take enough of the chill away to do a job.

Ain’t there some way of using candle lights and a plant pot?

Put the candle lights on the saucer and put a turned up plant pot over the them?

Can’t remember, never tried it.

Oh, the plant pot has to be slightly raised, resting on something to allow air under so the candles don’t go out, and heat comes out the 3 little holes on top, or what is (was) the bottom. 

Can’t remember. 
Maybe I dreamt it, 🤷‍♀️

Sounds like bollocks. 
 

 

[ditchcrawler]

6 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Ain’t there some way of using candle lights and a plant pot?

Put the candle lights on the saucer and put a turned up plant pot over the them?

Can’t remember, never tried it.

Oh, the plant pot has to be slightly raised, resting on something to allow air under so the candles don’t go out, and heat comes out the 3 little holes on top, or what is (was) the bottom. 

Can’t remember. 
Maybe I dreamt it, 🤷‍♀️

Sounds like bollocks. 
 

 

I doubt it would work with LED tee lights but they wont kill you with CO poisoning 

[GUMPY]

13 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Ain’t there some way of using candle lights and a plant pot?

Put the candle lights on the saucer and put a turned up plant pot over the them?

Can’t remember, never tried it.

Oh, the plant pot has to be slightly raised, resting on something to allow air under so the candles don’t go out, and heat comes out the 3 little holes on top, or what is (was) the bottom. 

Can’t remember. 
Maybe I dreamt it, 🤷‍♀️

Sounds like bollocks. 
 

 

Dylan Winter of KTL fame used to do this on his small sailing boat 

[Tony1]

36 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Birch Firewood Value Bundle (lektowoodfuels.co.uk)

 

 

 

If they live up to the ads, those heat logs look good at about a quid each, but its logistics. 

My home address (for deliveries of product like this) will soon be 30 miles from the boat, and I no longer have a car. 

I'm after something I can pick up locally in popular shops in say a retail park, as and when needed. 

 

[GUMPY]

4 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

If they live up to the ads, those heat logs look good at about a quid each, but its logistics. 

My home address (for deliveries of product like this) will soon be 30 miles from the boat, and I no longer have a car. 

I'm after something I can pick up locally in popular shops in say a retail park, as and when needed. 

 

We used to get friendly with a local publican and then get stuff delivered to the pub.

[Tony1]

2 minutes ago, Loddon said:

We used to get friendly with a local publican and then get stuff delivered to the pub.

 

Perhaps those were friendlier and more innocent times? 

I'm certainly not averse to a PR mission with the objective of securing the pubs address as a delivery point- in fact it would be an enjoyable challenge to spend enough time in the boozer that I could sweet talk the manager into receiving deliveries for me, but in the more urban areas like Ellesmere Port or Chester, or in the chain owned pubs, I wonder if the pub managers have become a different breed in the last couple of decades, and I would worry that the staff in some areas might not be as trustworthy as you might hope. I would never have anything of real value delivered to a local pub around here. 

It sounds to me more like a fall back/emergency type plan than something I would want to pull off every couple of weeks. 

Its less fun and less romantic to buy heat logs in B+M, but it guarantees I'll get them when I want them. 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Personally I’d save me money and scavenge some wood.

Ellesmere is a good place to scavenge.

Lots of planks and bits n bobs end their journey there.

 

I always have an eye out for wood when doing a flight of locks.

Not only are you doing everyone a favour pulling planks out from locks, they quickly dry enough to cut in to small pieces for the stove.

Store them away tidy for that damp and chilly afternoon. 
Jobs a good ‘en 👍

[Tony1]

6 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Personally I’d save me money and scavenge some wood.

Ellesmere is a good place to scavenge.

Lots of planks and bits n bobs end their journey there.

 

I always have an eye out for wood when doing a flight of locks.

Not only are you doing everyone a favour pulling planks out from locks, they quickly dry enough to cut in to small pieces for the stove.

Store them away tidy for that damp and chilly afternoon. 
Jobs a good ‘en 👍

 

That sounds like a great idea and will suit many people but I'm struggling for storage space. The roof is full of panels, and the cratch is full of coal and various bits of hardware, bike, trolley, folding cart, you name it- its all in there.

The idea of adding a wood storage box in there is not going to work, in my case. It has to be fairly compact. 

I do have the CH for the odd 30-60 mins of warmth, so thats most mornings covered. I'm thinking of those days where you know it'll be chilly all morning, but the afternoon will be warm. 

I dont like running the Eberspacher CH for more than 2 hours each day, what with all the stories I've heard about how unreliable they are. 

 

 

[GUMPY]

29 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

I'm certainly not averse to a PR mission with the objective of securing the pubs address as a delivery point- in fact it would be an enjoyable challenge to spend enough time in the boozer that I could sweet talk the manager into receiving deliveries for me, but in the more urban areas like Ellesmere Port or Chester, or in the chain owned pubs, I wonder if the pub managers have become a different breed in the last couple of decades, and I would worry that the staff in some areas might not be as trustworthy as you might hope. I would never have anything of real value delivered to a local pub around here. 

Never did it with a manager,  always the licencee or owner. We also never stopped in town so it was always village boozers I guess that's the difference.

[ditchcrawler]

44 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

Perhaps those were friendlier and more innocent times? 

I'm certainly not averse to a PR mission with the objective of securing the pubs address as a delivery point- in fact it would be an enjoyable challenge to spend enough time in the boozer that I could sweet talk the manager into receiving deliveries for me, but in the more urban areas like Ellesmere Port or Chester, or in the chain owned pubs, I wonder if the pub managers have become a different breed in the last couple of decades, and I would worry that the staff in some areas might not be as trustworthy as you might hope. I would never have anything of real value delivered to a local pub around here. 

It sounds to me more like a fall back/emergency type plan than something I would want to pull off every couple of weeks. 

Its less fun and less romantic to buy heat logs in B+M, but it guarantees I'll get them when I want them. 

 

I left a boat engine on trailer at a pub once while I was away on the boat.

 

[Tony1]

5 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Never did it with a manager,  always the licencee or owner. We also never stopped in town so it was always village boozers I guess that's the difference.

 

For my first year I felt the same, and never moored within at least a mile of any built up area if reasonably possible. 

But I've found that since I retired fully, I quite like having a look around the towns I pass, provided the moorings are safe. 

Chester basin had full and open public access and is in a town centre, but for whatever reason I was never bothered once in two weeks. The worst it got was the odd noisy youngsters/students walking past after a skinfull.

Ellesmere port could hardly be safer, with gated access as a museum, and Nantwich had so many boaters that there was safety in numbers, and if there were any local yobs they'd probably think twice before bothering anyone.

Even the basin with public access in Manchester is apparently safe (Castlefields?), so I am gradually changing my approach and mooring closer to urban areas, or even within them.  

There's a lot to be said for having a Waitrose just half a mile away, and 25 pubs within a mile radius 😀

 

[ditchcrawler]

1 minute ago, Tony1 said:

 

Ellesmere port could hardly be safer, with gated access as a museum,  

 

The kids were climbing all over the place when I was there

[Tony1]

4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

The kids were climbing all over the place when I was there

 

Maybe summer is different, but in my visit it was very rare any visitors actually came down into the basin and the moorings, and when they did I never saw them touch my boat.

 

[ditchcrawler]

4 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

Maybe summer is different, but in my visit it was very rare any visitors actually came down into the basin and the moorings, and when they did I never saw them touch my boat.

 

This was in the evening when it was closed and locked.

 

[Tony1]

4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

This was in the evening when it was closed and locked.

 

 

Unlucky. Nowhere is 100% safe

 

[Cheese]

1 hour ago, Goliath said:

...Not only are you doing everyone a favour pulling planks out from locks, .....

No wonder there are so many leaks on the network!

[Ronaldo47]

Many years ago we visited the Walsingham shrine in the Autumn.  The Slipper Chapel was full of candles and the heat was bordering on oppressive.

[BlueStringPudding]

On 12/03/2022 at 16:19, Tony1 said:

 

I admire your fortitude my dear mr monkey, but I'm not salesman enough to push the case for psychosomatic heaters to those wily devils on the Heat Procurement Committee. 

 

 

😃 It's surprisingly easy to to not think one is cold, and to believe the psychosomatic effects of paraffin lamps are accountable for that, when one's boat is actually tropically sweltering at all times (Mr Monkey) 🐒🌡🔥😉

Edited March 13, 2022 by BlueStringPudding

[MtB]

3 hours ago, BlueStringPudding said:

 

😃 It's surprisingly easy to to not think one is cold, and to believe the psychosomatic effects of paraffin lamps are accountable for that, when one's boat is actually tropically sweltering at all times (Mr Monkey) 🐒🌡🔥😉

 

My gas lamps chuck out half a kW each, and I have three. 

 

Trouble is, it can be 30c at ceiling level and 10c down on the floor. Until I light the stove to get the Ecofan going, that is....

 

<Tin hat on>

[markeymark]

On 12/03/2022 at 12:34, PCSB said:

Someone I know uses the heat logs from a company called Lekto Fuels (I think ... defo Lekto something). He seems to rate them - I've not tried any yet but they seem a tad expensive to me.

I went to buy 250 Kg of heat logs from Corby and they were for sale on ebay as Eco heat or something like that . However, they produced black smoke and blocked the chimney and then I noticed bits of black plastic in the logs so I stopped using them. I called the company and they told me " Sorry but some plastic fell into the mix "(which is basically compressed sawdust) so they asked me to return them which meant cost to me. I traced where they were made and spoke to a guy who would not give me his name and he told me it was a common feature. I then told Trading Standards but heard nothing. Some months later I was in Loughborough talking to some boaters and saw a heat log lying next to the boat and asked what they thought and they told me they had bought some from B&M but they too had finely ground (and not so finely ground) plastic in them and so they wouldnt use them. There are appears to be no checks and balances on these things so check first..break open a log and inspect it and if you find plastic in it , raise hell !!