Wood vs Oil

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Wood vs Oil
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Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 6:49 pm Post subject: Wood vs Oil

Obviously wood around here but ....

I made us a cocoon to pass the winter in. Left side of the house which we only ever used for storage until now. Heavily insulated the walls and installed a wood burner. (Central heating system is F'd due to yet another crack in the boiler tank from moving it out to clean chimney, but we knew that in November hence the cocoon).

So, wood burner in place and fired up since November *AND* oil burning heater also in same room (it's a big space to heat) all was well. If it got any colder we were gonna move down here as we have two sofa-beds in the room and upstairs it's freezing - always!

But ... using the oil burner to heat the space first thing on a morning ~ as I get up at 6am for work ~ has always taken the chill off the room which was nice, however after running out of oil (it's shop bought stuff in a can) I have been trying to get the woodburner to heat the place but it just can't cut it. It will keep my fingers from freezing if I weld them to it. It seems the oil burner wins hands down on heating a larger space like this. I know oil is BAD for the universe as a fuel but so is everything really. I could just fill the house with these oil heaters and have them ticking over and not be so friggin' cold or we could continue being smoked out every night with wood fumes, suffer woodash in the PC and everywhere and probably die young.

Discuss?

windyridge

Joined: 03 Oct 2010
Posts: 2732
Location: Up the garden from Henry

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 6:53 pm Post subject:
What sort of oil does it burn? Vegetable or mineral?

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8682
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 6:54 pm Post subject:
Sounds like the woodburner might not be set up right.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 6:55 pm Post subject:

It's taken me six months to get used to using the woodburner and getting it to warp speed. If I get it right, it heats the whole house, with my bodge-it-and-scarper heat distribution system of a tumble-drier hose and an old chip fan.

The thing that REALLY drops the heat off is forgetting to shut the living room door before opening another one. It's okay as long as we keep the heart of the house toasty - it redistributes okay to the kids bedroom upstairs, which was our main concern. But if you leave the bathroom door open (upstairs) and have the living room door open, in about ten minutes all the heat is gone and it takes ages (hours) to warm up again.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 6:56 pm Post subject:
What is the wood burner and what are you burning on it? I spent some of my childhood in a house solely heated by a wood fired Raymond but that was left in over night.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 6:56 pm Post subject:
A Raymond?

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 6:57 pm Post subject:
Parafin. The wood burner works ace but it just isn't up to heating such a large room without help from the other heater. The oil fired heater seems to be capable of doing the job alone on all but the coldest of days, hence the question.

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 7:02 pm Post subject:

Whoops, many replies ... thanks

I don't know what make it is (@TD) but we are burning Oak as in the other stove in the kitchen. The kitchen is always warm when that one is lit as it is 35kw but it won't heat the house (well it did when Pricey fitted the rads but that was before the boiler blew).

@Chez. The doors to the "cocoon" rarely open. Even the kids know to ask first before leaving for a winkle.

RichardW

Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 8443
Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 7:05 pm Post subject:

But your not comparing like with like.

I am betting that the oil burner is around 20-40kw & the wood stove 5-10kw. Plus the wood has to be dry & the fire needs to be topped up very often.

I can guarantee that a properly sized stove running on well seasoned wood & operated by some one that is used to using one will have you in your underwear & sweating in no time at all. The oil burner on the other hand just needs a switch flicking or a timer set. Wood burning is not simple & it takes time, lots of it.

Our 5kw stove can be so hot that you cant be within 4 foot of it.

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 7:13 pm Post subject:

RichardW wrote:

But your not comparing like with like. ... Wood burning is not simple & it takes time, lots of it.

Our 5kw stove can be so hot that you cant be within 4 foot of it.

I guess. The oil heater is convector so will blow the heat round the space. The wood heater takes ages to get going and will not blow it around the room but once it's going it ticks over nicely. So, best to keep both in here me thinks. There is no way the woodburner will "stay in" as it is not huge so it goes out in the night and also during the day when we are outside. The one in the kitchen will stay in forever if we have enough wood to load.

Thanks for the comments. Oil for quick heat. Wood for slow and long then.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 7:15 pm Post subject:
Yes, I think so, probably. Ours is a 5kw one and we keep it in all the time - we just ram it and turn the vents almost right down. You could try the tumble-drier hose trick to distribute it round the room a bit? It works quite well.

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 7:24 pm Post subject:

Chez wrote:

You could try the tumble-drier hose trick to distribute it round the room a bit? It works quite well.

??? Do we need a tumble dryer? We don't have one. Or just the hose? Please explain.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 7:33 pm Post subject:

Blue Sky wrote:

I don't know what make it is (@TD) but we are burning Oak as in the other stove in the kitchen. The kitchen is always warm when that one is lit as it is 35kw but it won't heat the house (well it did when Pricey fitted the rads but that was before the boiler blew).

I meant to say Rayburn, must of clicked on the wrong spell check or something.

I wonder if you could get it to heat up faster if you get hold of some well seasoned ash that's spilt quite small (or sycamore, birch etc). If it's got thick walls then it'll still take a while to heat up though.

I've been curious to know how quickly people can get their wood burners up to speed as I'm tempted to seriously look at just having them and no central heating.

RichardW

Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 8443
Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 7:34 pm Post subject:

Chez wrote:

Yes, I think so, probably.

Ours is a 5kw one and we keep it in all the time - we just ram it and turn the vents almost right down.

You could try the tumble-drier hose trick to distribute it round the room a bit? It works quite well.

Ours will stay in for 8-10 hours if filled right up on a bed of coals. Yet when running flat out that same load will last about an hour.

Or use a low powered fan to blow the heat above the stove down & around.

Is the celling high?

Is the stove lined with fire bricks? Make a big difference to how the stove works.

Try using thinner logs. More surface area to burn so higher heat quicker. Does use the wood up quicker.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 11 7:35 pm Post subject:

I've got six meters of tumble drier hose that starts right against the roof above the fire, where it gets warmest. I've rigged a computer fan powered by a mobile phone charger to suck hot air in to the tube and the tube goes out of the door of the room to half way up the stairs. At night, we leave the fire in and it takes the warm air and funnels it in to the kids bedroom - we keep the other doors upstairs pushed to.

It works quite well - the air coming out of the tube is always warmer than the surrounding air. I can't see any reason why you couldn't do the same and have the tube going from ceiling to floor in the same room to keep dragging the hot air down to person-level. The trick is to have the fan strong enough to move enough air without making a draft. I need to up the power of mine a bit, but haven't got round to it.

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