Any views on the merits of wood vs pellet burning stoves?
The old-fashioned wood-burning stoves look much nicer,
to my eyes, but are they much more trouble?

Or likely to be more expensive?

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

On Nov 14, 10:36*pm, Timothy Murphy wrote:
Any views on the merits of wood vs pellet burning stoves?
The old-fashioned wood-burning stoves look much nicer,
to my eyes, but are they much more trouble?

Or likely to be more expensive?

far cheaper from what I've seen. Get or build a big'un and you dont
need to chop the logs.


NT

Last time I checked, pellets were not (yet) a cheap form of fuel -
weight for weight compared with logs (and you loose the option to burn
your own timber scrap etc).

wibbled on Sunday 15 November 2009 02:42

Last time I checked, pellets were not (yet) a cheap form of fuel -
weight for weight compared with logs (and you loose the option to burn
your own timber scrap etc).

I might be missing something, but I thought the main point of pellets was
for auto-fed systems like boilers?

Regarding the log stoves - I would think logs are the best bet vs pellets.
With the wind we just had, if you are quick you might reap some of your
fuel for free (not many fallen trees round these parts are left long enough
for the council/HA to deal with. Couple of cars with trailers turn up, out
come the chainsaws and road clear in short order...

Logs will probably look nicer to burn if you're after the cosy effect - and
you can lob on all manner of other scrap like offcuts and bits of pallet.

In my case, my firepace is very narrow (50cm) so allowing for 100mm total
clearance, I'm reduced to almost the smallest stove available. I can't even
get logs on mine, unless they're virtually twigs, so I'll be burning
anthrathite mostly and some scrap wood.

Which bring me to mention - consider getting the coal kit (if it's a
separate optional part - sometimes it is) then you have a full range of
options. 1 ton large nut anthrathite comes in at about 370 all in if you
search around t'internet.

--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

Tim W wrote:

Last time I checked, pellets were not (yet) a cheap form of fuel -
weight for weight compared with logs (and you loose the option to burn
your own timber scrap etc).

I might be missing something, but I thought the main point of pellets was
for auto-fed systems like boilers?

Regarding the log stoves - I would think logs are the best bet vs pellets.

First of all, I should confess that I am looking for a stove in Italy ...

The local supplier has a large range of modern pellet-burning stoves,
together with a few very ornate wood-burners.

According to the lady I was speaking to,
you have to choose between convenience and beauty.

Most of the stores round here (Tuscany) sell 15kg bags of pellets
for around ‚¬6. (I may have that price wrong.)
The lady said that an average stove takes about 1kg/hour.

I imagine it is fairly easy to buy logs, as there are many fallen trees.
I wouldn't like to help myself, as I am sure one has to have
several forms filled in in triplicate.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Timothy Murphy
wibbled on Sunday 15 November 2009 10:09

Tim W wrote:

Last time I checked, pellets were not (yet) a cheap form of fuel -
weight for weight compared with logs (and you loose the option to burn
your own timber scrap etc).

I might be missing something, but I thought the main point of pellets was
for auto-fed systems like boilers?

Regarding the log stoves - I would think logs are the best bet vs
pellets.

First of all, I should confess that I am looking for a stove in Italy ...

The local supplier has a large range of modern pellet-burning stoves,
together with a few very ornate wood-burners.

According to the lady I was speaking to,
you have to choose between convenience and beauty.

Most of the stores round here (Tuscany) sell 15kg bags of pellets
for around ?6. (I may have that price wrong.)
The lady said that an average stove takes about 1kg/hour.

Not sure about the burn rate vs coal, but the price/kg is fairly comparable
with smokeless coal.

I imagine it is fairly easy to buy logs, as there are many fallen trees.
I wouldn't like to help myself, as I am sure one has to have
several forms filled in in triplicate.

It's Italy... I'm sure there are a 100 forms, but does anyone take any
notice? It's normally the Brits that get hung up on not ignoring stupid
beaurocracy - I thought the Italians had that bit cracked. Ask your Italian
mates what the done thing is.


--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

"Tim W" wrote in message
...
Timothy Murphy
wibbled on Sunday 15 November 2009 10:09

Tim W wrote:

Last time I checked, pellets were not (yet) a cheap form of fuel -
weight for weight compared with logs (and you loose the option to burn
your own timber scrap etc).

I might be missing something, but I thought the main point of pellets
was
for auto-fed systems like boilers?

Regarding the log stoves - I would think logs are the best bet vs
pellets.

First of all, I should confess that I am looking for a stove in Italy ...

The local supplier has a large range of modern pellet-burning stoves,
together with a few very ornate wood-burners.

According to the lady I was speaking to,
you have to choose between convenience and beauty.

Most of the stores round here (Tuscany) sell 15kg bags of pellets
for around ?6. (I may have that price wrong.)
The lady said that an average stove takes about 1kg/hour.

Not sure about the burn rate vs coal, but the price/kg is fairly
comparable
with smokeless coal.

I imagine it is fairly easy to buy logs, as there are many fallen trees.
I wouldn't like to help myself, as I am sure one has to have
several forms filled in in triplicate.

It's Italy... I'm sure there are a 100 forms, but does anyone take any
notice? It's normally the Brits that get hung up on not ignoring stupid
beaurocracy - I thought the Italians had that bit cracked. Ask your
Italian
mates what the done thing is.


--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

I installed an attractive but not ornate wood-burning stove in Italy (Lake
Como) from an Italian manufacturer called MCZ; the model was called 'Orion'.
I chose it over a pellet stove because the latter are more expensive and
they depend on mains electricity for their fans -- if there's a power cut
the stove stops and you're left in the cold.
Logs (beech) round here are 11 euros a quintal (100kg) cut to size and
delivered.

Stephen

Timothy Murphy wrote:
Tim W wrote:

Last time I checked, pellets were not (yet) a cheap form of fuel -
weight for weight compared with logs (and you loose the option to burn
your own timber scrap etc).
I might be missing something, but I thought the main point of pellets was
for auto-fed systems like boilers?

Regarding the log stoves - I would think logs are the best bet vs pellets.

First of all, I should confess that I am looking for a stove in Italy ...

The local supplier has a large range of modern pellet-burning stoves,
together with a few very ornate wood-burners.

According to the lady I was speaking to,
you have to choose between convenience and beauty.

Most of the stores round here (Tuscany) sell 15kg bags of pellets
for around ‚¬6. (I may have that price wrong.)
The lady said that an average stove takes about 1kg/hour.

I imagine it is fairly easy to buy logs, as there are many fallen trees.
I wouldn't like to help myself, as I am sure one has to have
several forms filled in in triplicate.

Nah. You just bribe the carabinieri.

Tim W wrote:
Timothy Murphy
wibbled on Sunday 15 November 2009 10:09

Tim W wrote:

Last time I checked, pellets were not (yet) a cheap form of fuel -
weight for weight compared with logs (and you loose the option to burn
your own timber scrap etc).
I might be missing something, but I thought the main point of pellets was
for auto-fed systems like boilers?

Regarding the log stoves - I would think logs are the best bet vs
pellets.
First of all, I should confess that I am looking for a stove in Italy ...

The local supplier has a large range of modern pellet-burning stoves,
together with a few very ornate wood-burners.

According to the lady I was speaking to,
you have to choose between convenience and beauty.

Most of the stores round here (Tuscany) sell 15kg bags of pellets
for around ?6. (I may have that price wrong.)
The lady said that an average stove takes about 1kg/hour.

Not sure about the burn rate vs coal, but the price/kg is fairly comparable
with smokeless coal.


Think we pay about £200 a tonne for logs. Of course there's water in
that as well as wood. That eqautres to about £3 a 15kg, which is in the
same ballpark.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

I imagine it is fairly easy to buy logs, as there are many fallen trees.
I wouldn't like to help myself, as I am sure one has to have
several forms filled in in triplicate.

Nah. You just bribe the carabinieri.

Very OT, but I'm pretty sure the carabinieri, at least in Tuscany,
are no more corrupt than the police in the UK, or in Ireland.
In fact I would say all three are more or less interchangeable.


--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Stephen Mawson wrote:

I installed an attractive but not ornate wood-burning stove in Italy (Lake
Como) from an Italian manufacturer called MCZ; the model was called
'Orion'. I chose it over a pellet stove because the latter are more
expensive and they depend on mains electricity for their fans -- if
there's a power cut the stove stops and you're left in the cold.
Logs (beech) round here are 11 euros a quintal (100kg) cut to size and
delivered.

Thanks for the info.
I looked at MCZ's web-site; they have an outlet near here,
in Citta di Castello.
I must say your Orion looked rather modernistic, to me.
I'd really like one of those stoves Maigret used to warm his hands at.
I wonder if they exist any more?


--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Timothy Murphy wrote:

Any views on the merits of wood vs pellet burning stoves?
The old-fashioned wood-burning stoves look much nicer,
to my eyes, but are they much more trouble?

Or likely to be more expensive?

Umm woodburners are cheaper than pellet stoves and pellet stoves are
rubbish. There's no real difficulty in making a decision betweent he
two. Pellet stoves appeal to people of a certain age who have never
lived with open fires/stove before. They appear to offer the convenience
of oil/gas boilers and promise eco-weenie credentials.

The fuel is expensive, low density and hence you need to keep filling up
the hopper. You also need a source of supply that will deliver on a
regular basis. And you're tied to fuel in pellet form.

If what you want is unattended running for central heating then IMO you
need the bigger and uglier boilers that run on chipped wood rather than
pellets. You also need a wood chipper, somewhere to dry and store the
chips and, preferably, a large outbuilding close to the house to install
boiler, chipper, storage etc in. Workable on a farm or large rural
property - difficult to impossible in suburbia.

Timothy Murphy wrote:

Most of the stores round here (Tuscany) sell 15kg bags of pellets
for around ¤6. (I may have that price wrong.)
The lady said that an average stove takes about 1kg/hour.

Hmm, I'm further south that you and that price sounds very high. They do
sell pallets of bags at our local Castorama and also at the local
farmers' merchants (known in the family as "Scattos" for reasons obvious
to anyone from Surrey/Hampshire) where there is always a wide range of
stoves and boilers on sale.

We have several log burners, some with back boilers, and we burn olive
wood prunings in them. This provides lots of heat. Some neighbours have
chipped wood boilers which have a huge store to one side for 500Kg of
wood chips.

I want to get an Stanley log burning cooker or one of the cheaper
Italian alternatives but I'm facing some resistance from the female side
of the family.

Tim W wrote:

It's Italy... I'm sure there are a 100 forms, but does anyone take any
notice? It's normally the Brits that get hung up on not ignoring stupid
beaurocracy - I thought the Italians had that bit cracked. Ask your Italian
mates what the done thing is.

Forms are the least of it. There's also having to stand in queues at
some local bureaucrat's office for three days or more.

On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:32:26 -0800, NT wrote:

On Nov 14, 10:36Â*pm, Timothy Murphy wrote:
Any views on the merits of wood vs pellet burning stoves?
The old-fashioned wood-burning stoves look much nicer,
to my eyes, but are they much more trouble?

Or likely to be more expensive?

far cheaper from what I've seen. Get or build a big'un and you dont
need to chop the logs.

JOOI does building your own cause any problems over in the UK? That's one
of the few things I *can't* do this side of the Pond, because no house
inurance company would insure a property with a homebrew stove (and
there'll be a get-out clause in any policy if they weren't told beforehand
that a wood stove was present).

Of course it's all timber-framed buildings over here though, which tend to
burn a lot better than brick, so there's a lot of paranoia about house
fires...

cheers

Jules