Heta multi fuel burner.

[harrycatcat1]

We have one of the above burners and have found the best fuel is wood. I have tried some smokeless fuels recommended by the fuel yard but they dont seem to match up to burning wood. The only thing is with wood its like feeding strawberries to a donkey.

Do you use smokeless fuel on yours if so what sort and do you have to change the draught or anything or tips?

[London Best]

If you can obtain hardwood offcuts you will find it burns for much longer than softwood.

[landy george]

Wood if you want heat & now & keep feeding it all the time, coal will last longer but less heat & last all night if you fill it up & close off the vents.

Found B&M to be the cheapest down my way (£3.99 a bag) 

[harrycatcat1]

1 hour ago, London Best said:

If you can obtain hardwood offcuts you will find it burns for much longer than softwood.

Yes hardwood is better and hotter but it's hard to come by I have found.

38 minutes ago, landy george said:

Wood if you want heat & now & keep feeding it all the time, coal will last longer but less heat & last all night if you fill it up & close off the vents.

Found B&M to be the cheapest down my way (£3.99 a bag) 

I thought coal is not recommended for closed door fires as they reckon the build up of gas can blow the door off? 🤔🤔🤔🤔

[sandspider]

My Heta stove has a second airfeed at the bottom, a lever thing to pull out or in (under the ledge at the front, underneath the door). If you want to burn coal, you need to open this vent and close down the other vent once the stove is going, as coal fires need air from underneath, wood fires need air from the top as a general rule. Basically, try adjusting the various air vents.

Having said that, I only burn wood on mine. It's only a small stove, 5kw, so it doesn't get through too much.

[London Best]

11 minutes ago, harrycatcat1 said:

Yes hardwood is better and hotter but it's hard to come by I have found.

A friend with a bespoke woodworking factory used to use his 2 ton trailer as a skip and I was able to collect it when I needed wood. This was all hardwood. Then he had the idea of heating his factory with.......a wood burner!  
Now I obtain softwood offcuts from roof timbers but more work is required feeding the fire. I have never bought any wood/logs, to me that would defeat the object of having a log burner.

[harrycatcat1]

3 minutes ago, London Best said:

A friend with a bespoke woodworking factory used to use his 2 ton trailer as a skip and I was able to collect it when I needed wood. This was all hardwood. Then he had the idea of heating his factory with.......a wood burner!  
Now I obtain softwood offcuts from roof timbers but more work is required feeding the fire. I have never bought any wood/logs, to me that would defeat the object of having a log burner.

I have never bought any wood either 👍

This is why I haven't put coal on my fire.

[JohnfromUK]

There is truth in this old saying;

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut’s only good they say,
If for logs ’tis laid away.
Make a fire of Elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold

Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last,
it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E’en the very flames are cold
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom
Oaken logs, if dry and old
keep away the winter’s cold
But ash wet or ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by.

[Yellow Bear]

26 minutes ago, harrycatcat1 said:

Yes hardwood is better and hotter but it's hard to come by I have found.

Try here https://www.hardwoodlogsltd.co.uk/ at Lea

less than £300 for a truck load delivered , barrowed , and stacked.

[sandspider]

I've burned poplar and elm quite happily! Almost all wood will burn well if properly dried / seasoned.

[Zapp]

Homefire ovals are excellent with a nice steady heat.  Anthracite is good also but trickier to get going and it can run away a bit and burn too hot.

I've burnt most common varieties of wood at one point or another, having not had central heating for a number of years.  The only one I really couldn't take to was horse chestnut but everything everything else was fine once seasoned.

[harrycatcat1]

46 minutes ago, Yellow Bear said:

Try here https://www.hardwoodlogsltd.co.uk/ at Lea

less than £300 for a truck load delivered , barrowed , and stacked.

Thanks 👍👍👍

[oowee]

I am using lots of horse chesnut in a 5kw stove and its good but it is been down for a couple of years. I tried anthracite (as the stove has multi fuel capacity) but it just went way too hot. To the point I was concerned for the stove 😞 

[Zapp]

Maybe that's the key with horse chestnut then.  I also found it smelled a but of wee when burning and created tons of ash.

[harrycatcat1]

4 minutes ago, oowee said:

I am using lots of horse chesnut in a 5kw stove and its good but it is been down for a couple of years. I tried anthracite (as the stove has multi fuel capacity) but it just went way too hot. To the point I was concerned for the stove 😞 

Anthracite is very hot, I used to have that  years ago on a self feeding boiler when I worked at the pit and it used to make the pipes dance it was so hot.

(Edited to say it was a trianco boiler I had years ago)

Edited November 11, 2019 by harrycatcat1

[London Best]

2 hours ago, Yellow Bear said:

Try here https://www.hardwoodlogsltd.co.uk/ at Lea

less than £300 for a truck load delivered , barrowed , and stacked.

What! £300 and then burn it, are you nuts?

[Wb123]

We get coal in at £220 a ton. There are more expensive types supposedly better for burners. 

[harrycatcat1]

11 minutes ago, Wb123 said:

We get coal in at £220 a ton. There are more expensive types supposedly better for burners. 

 

[old man]

FWIW I was told?

Coal for multifuel burners is not household coal. That's straight from the pit.

The smokeless fuel for them is preformed ovals, unfortunately of late seemingly made with really carp imported coal mixed with cement very close to docks/import point.

Supposedly wood/multi fuel burners should not be controlled by cutting off the draft but by putting on less fuel. Later models have fittings to prevent closing the vents completely giving a CE marked appliance. All to be gone soon along with gas central heating..

[Benthejockey]

We sometimes burn coal especially if we want to keep it in over night BUT more than worrying about blowing the blaaady daws orf I melted the grate through in the bottom when we had the beast from the east. The thing about ash is correct. We felled and split one in the summer and we're burning it now. A few dry sticks to get a bit of a hot flame and then it goes well. I've got a great big ash tree I want to drop when we get some respite from the wet! And Mrs BTJ is out so I can't have 'been careful!' Blarted at me 100 times 😂 

[derbyduck]

8 hours ago, harrycatcat1 said:

Yes hardwood is better and hotter but it's hard to come by I have found.

I thought coal is not recommended for closed door fires as they reckon the build up of gas can blow the door off? 🤔🤔🤔🤔

not a lotta people know that !

[JTaylor91]

 

10 hours ago, harrycatcat1 said:

 

I’m guessing people aren’t actually burning coal straight from the pit but smokeless ovoids or something similar.

[landy george]

16 hours ago, landy george said:

Wood if you want heat & now & keep feeding it all the time, coal will last longer but less heat & last all night if you fill it up & close off the vents.

Found B&M to be the cheapest down my way (£3.99 a bag) 

Sorry my mistake, I use Brazier or Homefire smokeless ovals not coal. 

[GingerCat]

Much prefer hard wood but if it's really cold for a few days I'll get a bag of smokeless (Any will do) and normally find a 20kg bag does about 2.5 days. 

Not typically as hot as wood but a steady temp and keeps the house warm with little effort. Anthracite can be very hot but with the grate open and vents pretty much closed it burns for days so quite cheap. 

As others have said - open the grate, close the top completely and feed air from the bottom vent. When it's going turn it right down. You should be able to get a steady "glow" quite easily and a good temp that goes over night without maintainence. To me it's a winner on those cold nights when wood would have burnt out. 

[JTaylor91]

How much are people paying for coal?

I pay £7.50 for a 25kg bag of smokeless ovoids.