The honest truth now ...

[Paddy's mum]

We have a woodburner which we use as much as we can. I burn mostly chopped up pallets and the occasional tree felled by a builder friend if it's in the way of, say, a new extension.

I have heard comments that some things are not good to burn as they cause pollution. Own up now .. what do you burn? (Not only is confession good for the soul, you might give me an idea for another source of fuel).

My favourite fuel is junk mail - I get great satisfaction from knowing that THEIR unwanted and unasked for rubbish if keeping US warm!

[HILLDREAMER90]

Me too!! i love lighting my stove with j mail, i dont buy newspapers so im allways glad to get free firelighters!! I must admit im guilty of burning just about anything i can "not plastic" When im snowed in i sometimes have to burn old farm fenceposts that have creosote on them,they stink & i know they are not good enviromentaly, but sometimes its that or no fire & when its -16 outside,its survival !! .A.

[PurpleDragon]

We used to have a fire in the living room that had a door on the front. Can't remember the name of it now.

Anyway, we used to dispose of our cat litter on it. It burned beautifully, until one day we went outside and wondered what the stink was, and then realised it was burning cat litter.

Nice

[Paddy's mum]

I knew it wasn't just me - I feel ever so much better now!!

I'm owning up here - I have been known to burn old trellis, soggy cardboard, small pieces of wool carpet (once the dogs have reduced them from sleeping mats to grotty, hairy lumps) kitchen scraps such as tired cooking oil, the contents of the hoover bag and most useful, cooked chicken bones, which can't be composted.

In all seriousness, does anyone know what you really shouldn't burn, in terms of polllution? Is the damage greater by being burnt as compared with landfill? I really would value any advice. There is no point trying to make less of an impact on this earth if instead, by not using fossil fuels, I'm unknowingly burning something dreadfully toxic and poisoning everyone downwind of my chimney!!

[Millymollymandy]

Bloody hell, I hope you guys get the chimney sweep in at least 3 times a year!

You shouldn't be burning this stuff - it isn't good for either your burner or your conduit - or more likely the environment either!

You shouldn't burn resinous wood unles you get it cleaned really regularly as it leave nasty residue behind.

I don't think you should be burning colour supplements either.

The only thing you should be burning is newspaper and well seasoned hard wood, and if the wood burner is your only or main source of heating you should have it cleaned professionally twice a year.

You shold have a good inox double skinned conduit all the way up your chimney right to to the top (the chimney pot) too.

If not you are just asking for a chimney fire!

[Millymollymandy]

And P.S. Absolutely NO wood that has been treated in any way be it varnish, paint, creosote, tanellised timber etc.

[red]

blimey

well we have burnted paper logs made from junk mail and envelops - and burn them directly as fire lighters too, and definitely burn alot of ine - old fence posts, pallets etc. and chimney sweep came once a year and always said 'keep doing whatever it is you are doing, its fine' cAn't afford to just burn hardwood.

I would not burn anything plastic.

we dont have a woodburning stove now we have moved and i want one! ( in time and when finances allow)

[Paddy's mum]

Oh crikey .. and (insert deity here) I am now frightened to death!!!!!!!

I already survived being trapped in a house fire in 2004 caused by an electrical fault in the immersion heater. (JUST !!!!!! escaped and by the skin of my teeth, but had a much loved elderly cat die of smoke poisoning. Younger cat jumped/fled clear and I personally dragged my old border collie out with me. Firemen in B/A resued my 16 week old border collie bitch puppy.

In all honesty, I still have terrible dreams and wake up screaming, on many a night. (NO, I'm NOT being a drama queen - just saying how it is)

I have now shut down the woodburner in fear and trepidation and prefer, in the light of M3 post, to be cold and fire up the oil fired central heating. Any comments or guidance?

Seriously ... I'm all alone tonight (got 2 border collies and a wimp of a German Shepherd Dog!) nearly in tears here.

[Paddy's mum]

I just re-read my post of a few moments ago. It sounds even to me as though I am playing the "oh, poor me" syndrome.

I try so hard to be 'normal' but fear of fire is part of my make-up now. If an alarm goes off - I've had it - I'm either trembling, crying or running away. I thank M3 for what I'm sure is good advice.

We will just continue to do the best RR&R we can.

I am highly embarrassed and feel that I've been a fool asking questions to which so may people already know the answer.

thank you for replies till date.

Kind regards.

[pskipper]

Don't worry about it, no one can control their fears and it's a brave thing to do to mention them even.
My OH has a fear of fire, whereas I grew up with open fires through the house, we are going to compremise with a wood burner but I suspect that she'll still feel a little uncomfortable.
The important thing is to ensure that the chimney is swept at regular intervals, if you are still feeling uncomfortable there are companies which can de-creasote your flue for you, as the residue that resinous woods leave behind is actually a form of creasote.

I don't know what else to say to reassure you, but no one thinks you are being a drama queen and I hope that as time goes by you'll learn to be more comfortable with your woodburner.

Hope you are feeling better and I know that you have everyone on the forums understanding and sympathy.

[Muddypause]

Don't panic. I think that M3's comments were precautionary rather than foretelling doom.

She's quite right that if you burn wood you need to keep the chimney well swept, but I would disagree about only burning hardwoods. People have been burning soft and resinous woods for hundreds of years, without the need for elaborate chimney liners. I grew up in a house with open fires which we burnt softwood on, and no problems - chimneys sweept once a year is all.

If you were to install a new stove now (in the UK, don't know about elsewhere), you would have to make the installation comply with certain regulations, but these don't apply retrospectively to existing installations, and don't necessarily mean anything is wrong with your chimney as it is, anyway.

It's true that an old chimney flue can become porous, and leek nasty pollutants through the walls, but with a woodburner, I can't see how you wouldn't become aware of it (the standard test is to light a smoke capsule in the fireplace, and see if any of it percolates through the chimney walls). And it's also true that if there is a buildup of tar, this can ignite (if it ever happens, close all the vents of the fire and try to seal up all the openings that lead into the chimney, so that the fire is quickly starved of oxygen).

But my only concern would be that next time you get the chimey swept you ask the sweep for his opinion about the condition of the chimney.

The stuff about not burning treated wood and stuff - well it's good not to add too much more pollution than you have to if you can avoid it, but it's not a factor in the safety of the fire.

[HILLDREAMER90]

Really no need to apologise,after the trauma you have been through!
3m advice about cleaning chimmeny is good. I sweep my own twice a year. However i do use mostly softwood & a bit of coal, & in 16 years i've not had any major probs. My lv room chim has been relined "using thermocrete" but the kitchen chim is old & i try to clean the bottom of this 1 more regulary [quite easy as i can acsses on the outside of the house]
Being so far off the road im v carfull with my fires & have 3 smoke alarms & an escape plan,just in case! Burning a tin can is supposed to have a chemical reaction on the creosote in the chim,dont know how effective this is but I burn 1 every few weeks. If your worried you could use a smoke pellet,although you would prob smell smoke upstairs if the chim has any gaps. And if you do ever have a chim fire,close the stove down so there is no air to feed it & usualy this is enough to put the fire out, [prob best to phone 999 as well] My old wiring worrys me much more than my fires,as this is silent & hidden behind walls etc! A.

[red]

understand your fears. but not using the woodburner is not really viable.

my advice - get a chimney sweep around - one who is affiliated with whatever body of chimney sweeps it is, and one who is familiar with woodburners. ask his advice. it does not cost alot to get your chimney swept so consider doing it a few times a year until you know what the situation is.. ie when the sweep tells you its not necessary.

Our sweep says to avoid build of up tar etc - have the occasional coal fire.
we don't, and he says what we are doing is fine. and we burn all sorts of different wood - anything people will give us really. fence posts - pallets .

hardwood. no sorry.. there isn't enough hard wood to go around. You are right to worry about pollution, but thats not the same as a fire hazard.

do totally understand your fears - your experience must have been horrible - and no you wont 'get over it' - but you do have to learn to live with it. - you have to find a way to be comfortable with your woodburner.

get it swept more often than you need at first to assess the situation, make sure you have plenty of smoke alarms, carry on burning pallets and felled trees, and remember that your fire did not start this way before.

[Millymollymandy]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare anyone senseless. I'm just passing on advice that I have learnt or been told by the professionals since having a woodburner installed.

Also the rules and regs in France are probably different to those in the UK. We must have a flue/liner/conduit whatever it is called all the way up to the chimney pot.

I have often wondered why we are advised in France not (and I mean, seriously, NOT) to burn resinous woods, when I'm sure that half of North America burns it. But that's what they tell us in France!

Maybe it is to do with the guarantee of the woodburner? I don't know, but it was a very expensive piece of kit which is my main form of heating, so I'm not mucking about burning anything other than hardwood in it!

[Paddy's mum]

Good morning. Thanks for both reassurance and good advice.

I've calmed down a bit now but also got onto a chimney sweep. Booked up for weeks ahead at this time of the year but hopefully he'll get to us before too long.

Also found an American site all about using wood as a fuel (I think it was Woodheat.org but foolishly forgot to take proper note of the name). It has lots of good advice and useful tips, especially about using your sweep to best effect, so thanks for that nudge in the right direction M3.

On several train trips in recent years to visit friends in the Auvergne, I have often noticed many houses with huge stacks of logs neatly lined up in their gardens. However, we live in the fens and the dominant feature of the landscape is thousands of acres of flat fields and hardly a tree in sight!

Therefore, within reason, we burn what we have access to including lots of cracked/broken pallets from a nearby veg packing plant. (What we don't take, they tractor away to a large and remote field and there ... set light to the blooming lot of them - what a waste!