We’ve got a woodburner in, but due to the wet summer have a bit of a shortage of dry wood. Anyway we were thinking of converting the wood burner to multifuel as Jotul do a kit for our model which replaces the grate with a riddling grate.

Any downsides of multifuel ones over woodstoves?

Which is more cost effective, wood or smokeless coal (pay about £65 per m3 seasoned wood at moment… although its not a full m3, just big builders bag filled up)

It obviously depends upon how much you pay for wood – but we usually use a bit of smokeless coal (say 6-8 lumps) in with the logs as it burns hot for a very long time and means you don’t go through as much wood.
Our stoves are Clearview and are multifuel. I doubt there’s much difference between multifuel and wood only, you just keep a good layer of ash on top of the grate.

ive recently decided to keep my multifuel rather than get a pure wood burner as i planned

simply because when going to bed – if i do a fill with coal about an hour before i can shut it in and itll burn away all night – open it in the morning chuck in a couple of small sticks and itll fire away again.

where as with sticks alone its out before midnight as its bad crack to slow burn the wood

we get 200kgs of coal for 95 quid at the moment

or 1tonne of well seasoned wood for 50 quid.

sharkbait – is it not true that a solely woodburner doesnt have as many fire bricks in and you could possibly melt through the sides/roof ? coal definantly gives off much more heat if i fire it up on coal as oppose to the wood according to my stove thermometre

I pay 8quid for 25kg of good smokeless, and I gather every scrap of wood I can off site. I’d always have a multifuel as you can stoke it up and go out for half a day an it’ll just tick over! Always use smokeless as well as its kinder on your flue. We probably do a bag a fortnight and as above it keeps the grate nice and hot to aid burning wood.

We do the same as Sharky,

Some coal in, then some logs.

Logs are £60 for a decent load around here, although i don’t believe it’s a tonne for me… maybe 1/2 at a guess.

The problem for us comes that the wood burner doesn’t actually heat our whole house… so we can have the living room at 29deg, sitting in shorts, but the bedrooms will still be a bit chilly… so we’ve now got thermo controlled Rads in them.

We’ve found pallets are the king for getting quick easy lighting… they go up in seconds due to the crap and chemicals on them lol.

Trail rat that’s a bit pricey for your coal!

thats delivered and smokeless premium although your right – complete maths fail its 74 not 95.

can get 200kg of class B smokey coal for 50 quid delivered.

If i go collect it my self its about 4 quid less a bag(50kg bags). – but my time to go get it as its quite far away and my fuel. Where as for my 16 quid it arrives at my house and is put in the bunker – and a bill comes through my door.

is it not true that a solely woodburner doesnt have as many fire bricks in and you could possibly melt through the sides/roof ?

Not sure to be honest as I’ve only ever used Clearview (all of which are multifuel). I can’t really see any advantage to using a wood only stove but I’m guessing they may be easier/simpler to make as wood prefers air supply from above while coal needs a supply from below (at least initially).
You can warp any stove though if you’re not careful. I think this is worse in cast stoves as the joints open up whereas a welded steel stove will/should not.

i only buy coal from garden centres, if anyone knows a better location in the south i’d appreciate it, needs to be bagged though

Currently getting 25kg bags of house doubles for £5 each, with the formed Excel (looks like moulded and pressed coal dust ovals) at £6 for 20kg from a merchant in Copley, Co. Durham.

£140 for 500kg delivered from a merchant near Hexham – no thanks.

try your local coal merchant, for a start!

lol i live in the middle of nowhere, i don’t have a ‘local’ anything…

well you know thats not true dont you weeksy ….

you live in england – england doesnt have a middle of no where.

True… and from google it seems there are a couple not too far…

Although not that much less than the G.C to purchase from. Maybe £1.50 a 20kg bag.

If you buy in small bags it may not be that much different. If you have regular deliveries, it’ll be cheaper and save you time.

We use these to substitute natural wood, You have to keep them in a dry place as they soak up moisture easily.

Eco Logs

It helps that there is a warehouse full of them behind where I work. Using a mixture means I don’t have to have a huge wood pile in the garden. They burn hot but a bit quickly, you can break them with you hands and they light easily with no kindling.

trail_rat – Member

we get 200kgs of coal for 95 quid at the moment

or 1tonne of well seasoned wood for 50 quid.

Where you getting this from Terry?

We’ve got a woodburner in, but due to the wet summer have a bit of a shortage of dry wood

I think you need a woodshed, then your wood won’t get wet?…

stuart

coal from connons fuels in auchenblae – used to live there and know the guys there.

and wood from sparksmcguff on here hes just in the village.

When I bought my stove AGA Ludlow, a friend also bought the ‘same’ one. When they were delivered, his was a multifuel and mine wasnt. The only difference between the two seems to be the facility to switch the scondary air inlet on/off. Apart from that they are absolutely identical.

Yep a multufuel stove has a grate with a gap underneath it to allow air [via the lower inlet] up from beneath whereas a wood only stove does not really need this gap as you should burn the wood on a bed of ash and, other than starting, you don’t use the bottom air inlet.

1tonne of well seasoned wood for 50 quid

You sure that’s a ton of wood and not a dumpy bag?

Interesting prices there we pay £16 for a 25kg bag of formed ovals and seasoned wood for the massive dumpy bags is about £95.

We use a mix as it seems to burn better with a mix.

dobbo – call it what you want ….

here it is as it was tipped – certainly didnt come in a dumpy bag – those hold next to nothing.

once neatly stacked in my wood shed it took up about 1m by 1.3m high by 1.2 metresdeep by 900mm wide – im sad i measured it once id stacked it as i thought id got more

You were talking about about costs and weights so I asked a question! I’d reckon there is no where near a ton there.

well we will never know as your eyes arent calibrated to measure from photos.

im happy with what i got for my 50 quid for a ton….when compared to what my parents used to get for a ton so i ordered 2 more “piles” , is that a better term ?

id also like to think the fella off this here forum i buy my wood from isnt ripping me off 😉

but then im obviously not “that” cynical.

Ermmm! Actually you can’t sell Wood logs by weight under EU law.

My shed was full floor to ceiling with loose logs.. So I had this ‘idea’ of tidying the place up (god knows why) by bagging all the logs up in hessian sacks… Took three days!! I now have a shed full to the ceiling with bagged logs and about 20 bags of logs with nowhere to put them 😳

I don’t know why you’re getting shirty because I asked a question about your wood weight, you were quoting cost comparison for 200kgs of coal to 1 tonne of wood!

as your eyes arent calibrated to measure from photos.

I’d reckon theres about 1m by 1.3m high by 1.2 metres deep by 900mm wide of stacked wood there. 🙄

“piles” , is that a better term ?

Yep, and the photo helped. Maybe you other loads bought it closed to the tonne you are after. 😆

I’d guess that a ton of stacked firewood would be about 5 cubic metres.

Coal costs but is delivered, wood is free but needs to be ‘collected’…

I’d guess that a ton of stacked firewood would be about 5 cubic metres.

How dry? That’s why they have to sell it buy size.

We use to get free logs but sadly not any more.

Drac that is a rip off for coal! Where you buying it from, the local petrol station??

Dobbo i wasnt comparing merely stating the cost per unit i can buy em in…..

200kg coal will outlast the logs by plenty

Isnt getting shirty what we do on stw .. Was 8 hours since id ridden my bike 🙂

Drac that is a rip off for coal! Where you buying it from, the local petrol station??

Local coal merchant, it’s the formed break thing not common house coal. He’s the cheapest too, that said they could be 50kg bags.

I need a portable charcoal stove cooking using wok so any idea where I can get one?

Anyone know of any decent online coal/delivery companies near Harrogate north Yorkshire?

Thanks