geraldthehamster wrote:
On 4 Jan, 10:33, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
geraldthehamster wrote:
Thanks (with one obvious exception) for the replies.
I've been sort of offered a Stovax Sheraton in need of refurbishment,
which on the face of it looks plausible if the price is right. I won't
be using a back boiler. I'm intending to use it as a backup to our
bottled gas central heating boiler (no mains gas out here). Next
winter if I can avoid using the boiler so much, maybe it'll cost me
less than the £400 quid I spent on gas in December just in keeping the
house warm.
join the club mate. Bottled gas is however bloody expensive.

Buy oil ant much cheaper these days y'know.

Then there's the question of fuel - where do stove users on the list
get theirs from? I suppose it would be handy to make friends with a
few tree surgeons. I've considered turning half my garden into an ash
coppice, but from what I've read on the amount of land needed, I'd be
very far from self-sufficiency, though it might make a contribution.
Aye, there's the rub. With what estates do provide wood now running out
on a regular basis, and the smell of woodsmoke a lot more prevalent than
it once was, wood is no longer a cheap fuel.

The average output of land used for biofuel is about 100mW per square
meter. Given you probably need about a KW for a house on average, that's
something like a hectare.



Cheers
Richard- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

I read somewhere recently, in one forum or other, that you;d need
about 10 acres to be completely self-sufficient for a 3-4 bedroom
house.

I would say that is about right.


Fortunately I' not aiming to be self-sufficient. With the space
available I reckon I could grow 100 trees and still have some garden
left, but on (for the sake of argument) 5 year rotation for ash, that
would mean I was only coppicing 20 trees a year - say 100 poles if I
was lucky.


poles don't make very good firewood. Best is mature trees and they take
many years.


Cheers
Richard