Stove Fuels.

For anyone who may be interested, here are my thoughts on the three types of heating fuel I'm using at the moment.

1) Old pallets.
Two large pallet sized boxes of these (chopped up into handy sized bits) cost me £30 locally and have proven to be essential for getting things started on a Friday night when it's freezing cold. They have the advantage of lighting up very easily and providing a shedload of heat in very little time. Unfortunately that is also their weakness, their fast and very hot burn makes them unsuitable for use through the day or night, but I wouldn't be without a big pile of them next to the fire.

2) "Seasoned" logs.
Note "Seasoned" logs, mainly because different people have different opinions on whether a log is ready for burning or not. Three large builders bags of big chunky "seasoned" logs were purchased locally for £140. In retrospect this may have been a little steep, mostly this was due to me not knowing the difference between a one tonne builders bag full of logs, and one tonne of logs. Many logs are delivered in those big cubic hessian bags that did indeed hold one tonne of SAND at some point, this does not mean that "tonne bags" of logs weigh one tonne. My mistake.
It transpired that despite there not being the classic signs of a well seasoned log, light weight, cracks radiating from the centre etc, that they do burn rather well, the split logs being fine to burn on their own once the coal has faded, and the larger logs do perfectly well when combined with split logs or on a bed of coal. They do need more air than coal so the bottom vent is cracked open a tad to help them along. One good thing is that the logs and pallets leave very little in the way of ash, the combustion is almost total.

3) Coal.
The least environmentally sound of all three fuels is annoyingly, the one that is most coveted, predominantly because it's the coal that keeps me from freezing solid through the night and is responsible for keeping things going till morning. I don't feel overly guilty about it's use though, a bag of Taybrite will last three weekends, possibly more if logs are used through the day and for cooking. Down side is that even though it lights quite easily, it takes a fair while to release it's glowy goodness so it's off the list of quick hit fuels. Maybe the cheaper house coal in little nuggets will prove a little more willing to heat up faster. As the owner of the Tyrell Corporation said, "The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long Roy..." so like the logs and pallets, the coal has an essential part to play in the well regulated heating of my yurt. Coal does tend to leave rather a lot of ash though, can't be helped and I suspect it's the ash covering that keeps the little beauties glowing till morning, and I can't complain about that.

I'll be giving compressed waste wood briquettes a go in the near future, but reports suggest a fast burn with high heat output, not really something suited to the situation. Time will tell.