Should I fancy a fancy wood burner for work and play?

[Pallet Fancier]

Greetings all. I recently saw this... link and it got me wondering. The discounted price is still pretty stiff, but I might be able to justify that if it was also a useful tool. Explanation follows.

I have a lot of trash to burn, this year. I usually have my fair share, being one of those weirdos who likes having trees (as opposed to a perfectly rectangular, sterile slab of green - real or astroturf - bordered by fences, which so many people seem to regard as a good "garden", but I digress). I always have leaves and small twigs/branches to burn in Autumn. This year I've got twice as many after all the trees dumped half their leaves during the heatwaves. There's piles of yellow leaves everywhere. It's like October in August! And my usual trash storage area is literally overflowing and is piled almost as high as me!

Problem: I have to pick my burning days carefully because, thanks to the local topography, if the wind is in the wrong direction (almost always is) then I will smoke out several of the neighbours. This means I don't get the job finished in a timely fashion, and the pile of trash just lingers. And no, it's not quite worth trying to haul it all down to the tip. Makes a huge mess dragging it up the garden through the "inhabited" and tidy parts and this earns me harsh words from the denizens of this zone (there is no back gate - everything goes up past the house. I have a good garden because a stream runs across the bottom of it, and water is hard for developers to build on).

Solution? A more or less "clean burning" fire pit/stove like the one linked, that I can fire up whenever I want without smoking out the neighbours, and is more contained and controllable than the ratty old fire bin I've been using.

Perk. I can use it for the advertised purpose when not using it to satisfy my own depraved arsonistic tendencies ;-)

***** check. Well, that's your job, innit? Go on, tell me Trigger's broom has got more brains. That you've seen better planning from Vladimir Putin. That this is as pointless as a blunt stick, and as cost-effective as a government PPE contract. Go on... I can take it...

 

[Oscar43634]

Maybe you should work for their marketing department; because I'm sold.

 

[Lorenzl]

being one of those weirdos who likes having trees

If that is the case why are you not using the leaves in your composter?

 

[Pallet Fancier]

If that is the case why are you not using the leaves in your composter?

Would you believe, I can't fit them all in. I have a composter built out of big pallets and it's full. I've also gone off the idea. I've never had a good batch, yet. Last year's was the best I've ever managed, and nothing would grow in it. I did have two composters going, but the rats moved into one, so I had to empty it. Now they've turned up in the other, so I reckon composters are going to be deleted as a bad job and more hassle than they're worth.

 

[Lorenzl]

My father had that problem; he was just putting "greens" in and it rotted the roots of everything thing he planted in it. My fist batch was the same.

After looking on the web I balance mine now with dry leaves. I get a couple of the great big garden rubbish bags and store them in the greenhouse over the winter. They then keep me going over the summer. I have one of those small dual tub tumbler units so it is easier to manage - a bit wet bung some more dry leaves in.

Just getting my soil nice now and we are moving out.

 

[Pallet Fancier]

My father had that problem; he was just putting "greens" in and it rotted the roots of everything thing he planted in it. My fist batch was the same.

After looking on the web I balance mine now with dry leaves. I get a couple of the great big garden rubbish bags and store them in the greenhouse over the winter. They then keep me going over the summer. I have one of those small dual tub tumbler units so it is easier to manage - a bit wet bung some more dry leaves in.

Just getting my soil nice now and we are moving out.

Huh. Mine always has a mix of wet and dry in it. Mostly dry. A lot of the leaves are lying on dry ground under tree cover before they're swept up. Moisture mostly comes from rain and some green stuff. I've also made a point of keeping twigs and fronds out, and anything else that could form a lattice or create layers. I had that once. The stuff above was dry and unrotted, while the stuff underneath was soaked and full of invertebrates in the air pockets, but no soil was being created.

 

[Lorenzl]

You are still supposed to turn the compost with a fork. This will mix it up and let air in.

 

[Sandyn]

I watched a video recently where someone made a clean burn incinerator from a couple of old 45 gallon oil drums. similar design to the one in the link. These are different designs of rocket stoves, very efficient and clean burn as long as it's running hot.

Rocket stoves and rocket mass stoves are very popular in many parts of the world where there are less restrictive regulations. I would love to build a rocket mass stove in my workshop, but just not feasible in the UK with current regulations and no way of proving it meets HETAS requirements, even though it would.

Esse make a very interesting 'carbon negative' stove for outdoor cooking. Another rocket stove and similar price, but will only burn small bits of wood.

I think the days of wood fired stoves are numbered in the UK. I expect them to be banned before long because of the health concerns.

 

[Sandyn]

You are still supposed to turn the compost with a fork. This will mix it up and let air in.

I have three side by side for different stages of the process As @Lorenzl says, you have to turn the compost pile every so often to aerate the compost. I usually move the top later to one edge and start moving the good stuff in the lower part of the heap into the next heap I then fork the top layer into the void left by the compost I removed, then fork the other half on top, leaving a trench for new stuff. Since I have started doing it this way, I have loads of really good compost. I have lots of worms in the compost heaps, so that is a good sign. I never add any accelerators or chemicals.
In winter, I throw a cover over the heap to keep it a bit drier. I have another heap for really woody stuff that takes longer to compost.

 

[Tris]

Looks like you could build your own from a couple of abandoned tumble dryer drums, then you can use the doors as shed windows and pretend it's a Wellington bomber


Too much heat, sorry

 

[--Tom--]

I have the solostove linked. It gives a good burn off timber, slightly Smokey whilst it gets up to temp but then belts out the heat.
Not sure how leaves etc would fair in it. Small sticks and upwards would be fine and when it’s going is nice to sit and stare at with a drink of an evening.

Leaves I’d sweep up and put in cages of chicken wire to rot down to leaf mould. One of the most useful composts. General compost is a more involved process with balancing the inputs and mixing, but leaf mould is just leaves and time.

I got my bonfire stove on sale and was spendy but a decent price for something that can sit around without getting smoked out. The extras aren’t that worth it though and could probably knock up equivalents cheaply- a condition of me getting it was to get the spark cage so it didn’t set everything else on fire or burn holes in furniture / clothes. A bit of stainless mesh would have done the same job but spending the money meant I got a quiet life so went for it.

 

[Lorenzl]

The wife brought one of those cast chimenea's and it smokes a lot when cold. When it gets hot it is like a jet engine and the are flames coming out of the top. Probably not very good for interior use!

 

[TRITON]

Tricky doing marshmallows on an electric fan heater

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You are still supposed to turn the compost with a fork. This will mix it up and let air in.

How do purpose made compost bins that obviously are not designed to be turned over work, then? (Not a dig at you.) I have one (probably the better part of 200lt) that tapers inwards to the top - there is no way it could be turned over. It doesn't matter to me because it's purpose is to get rid of vegetable waste etc. and the let the worms take everything to ground next to my young apple trees.

 

[Sandyn]

How do purpose made compost bins that obviously are not designed to be turned over work, then?

See here.
A compost bin works by creating the ideal environment for decomposition. Organic waste materials slowly turn to compost if they include a balance of green and brown materials, water, and oxygen. Compost bins are designed to provide these conditions while containing everything in a clean and compact design.

But how does organic waste become nutrient-dense food for your plants?

Microorganisms do the dirty work!

A compost bin is like an all-you-can-eat buffet for tiny organisms like bacteria and fungi. They break down the organic materials, absorb what they can, and release good-for-plants nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and magnesium.

Wriggly insects like centipedes and worms often join the feast, helping to transform our organic household wastes into nutrient-packed goodness for our gardens.

 

[Scruples]

I'm surprised that fire pits and log burners are getting more popular when we're all supposed to be creating less CO². With all the compostable material you're getting, can you not take it to the local tip every few weeks? They will compost it properly and sell it back as garden compost.

We have a guy, locally, who has a log burner, except he burns anything, and the smoke is often so bad you can taste the varnish/paint, especially in the cold season when the smoke lays low. He's that sort of neighbour.

 

[sawtooth-9]

See here.
A compost bin works by creating the ideal environment for decomposition. Organic waste materials slowly turn to compost if they include a balance of green and brown materials, water, and oxygen. Compost bins are designed to provide these conditions while containing everything in a clean and compact design.

But how does organic waste become nutrient-dense food for your plants?

Microorganisms do the dirty work!

A compost bin is like an all-you-can-eat buffet for tiny organisms like bacteria and fungi. They break down the organic materials, absorb what they can, and release good-for-plants nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and magnesium.

Wriggly insects like centipedes and worms often join the feast, helping to transform our organic household wastes into nutrient-packed goodness for our gardens.

And, the chooks love the result.
Every time we start the tractor, the chooks know we are going to stir up some food.
In winter ( here now ) the chooks love when we start taking wood ( for heating ) from the pile - there are always nice juicy grubs there.
I must admit I was a little surprised to see a chook catching and eating a small red belly snake !
But we have great eggs !

 

[MikeJhn]

Need to look up hotbin composting, no back breaking turning and compost ready in much less time.

 

[trvlr]

I have three side by side for different stages of the process As @Lorenzl says, you have to turn the compost pile every so often to aerate the compost. I usually move the top later to one edge and start moving the good stuff in the lower part of the heap into the next heap I then fork the top layer into the void left by the compost I removed, then fork the other half on top, leaving a trench for new stuff. Since I have started doing it this way, I have loads of really good compost. I have lots of worms in the compost heaps, so that is a good sign. I never add any accelerators or chemicals.
In winter, I throw a cover over the heap to keep it a bit drier. I have another heap for really woody stuff that takes longer to compost.

Many either don’t know about turning compost to accelerate the process, and also helps reduce rodent invasions; or else just can’t be bothered.

 

[Sandyn]

I must admit I was a little surprised to see a chook catching and eating a small red belly snake !
But we have great eggs !

made me think of this!