Thread: WA - Collecting Firewood?

Originally Posted by oldzook

Bushfires are going to occur, whether by natural ignition such as lightning strikes, arson or other inadvertent acts of man. Controlled burns reduce the amount of fuel available.

So do cattle but thats another story.

Sorry to hear that Frank but that is exactly what I was trying to get accross, Were probably better off where we are as not many wood heaters and no bush real close that they burn off but we still cop it from Lysterfield and Langwarren but it's once in a blue moon rather than 8 months of the year.

One thing that I have a gripe about DWH's is when people burn green pine or cyprus, pine in general, treated timbers, oiled timbers painted timbers and timber like oregon which all give off toxic smoke.

Australian native hardwoods such as yellow box, Red gum and Messmate (mountain ash) give off little polution in comparrison to rubbish wood as above.

Even wattyl and other soft ausie woods like swamp gum are good to burn but must be dry and will burn quickly.

Another tip is to blend soft and hard woods, it's something to do with the heat makes the wood give off gasses and this is what burns and as soft wood is less dense, it can burn quicker and help keep the hard more dense wood burning hotter.

If a combustion heater is running properly the should not be any sign of smoke coming from the chimney most of the time, just heat hase and the odd puff when you add oxygen when you open it up or add wood.

It's not as hard as what it sounds to do properly give it ago if you have a wood heater.

Hey Frank I AINT NO IDIOT!!!!
Wasnt going to buy a LPG heater no mater what the gove rebate was,at $95 for a 45kg bottle of gas!!!!! How much do they sell it to the Japs for,about 20cents a litre!!!!!Just bought a new HWS that gives us 2 months a bottle instead of 1.
Electricity is expensive and creates plenty of pollution,Collie is around 75ks from here,they mine coal burn it there and turn it into power for much of the state.
My woodfire,which by the way is an EPA approved low emmision unit,WOOD create less greenhouse gasses than the equivelent electric heater over winter,only smokes when you fire it up.Plus I only burn the FINEST JARRAH I can find!!!!!
I live in a country town,sorry woodsmoke pollution isnt a problem around here unless CALM are burning the bush.
Anyway got to go,got 1.8 tonnes of jarrah sitting on my trailer I have to split and deliver this arvo.
Andrew

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

Hey Frank I AINT NO IDIOT!!!!
Wasnt going to buy a LPG heater no mater what the gove rebate was,at $95 for a 45kg bottle of gas!!!!! How much do they sell it to the Japs for,about 20cents a litre!!!!!Just bought a new HWS that gives us 2 months a bottle instead of 1.
Electricity is expensive and creates plenty of pollution,Collie is around 75ks from here,they mine coal burn it there and turn it into power for much of the state.
My woodfire,which by the way is an EPA approved low emmision unit,WOOD create less greenhouse gasses than the equivelent electric heater over winter,only smokes when you fire it up.Plus I only burn the FINEST JARRAH I can find!!!!!
I live in a country town,sorry woodsmoke pollution isnt a problem around here unless CALM are burning the bush.
Anyway got to go,got 1.8 tonnes of jarrah sitting on my trailer I have to split and deliver this arvo.
Andrew

Didn't say you were, the WA govt. did, AS 4013 is the emission standard that all woodheaters sold in Australia must meet, your heater model was tested in a Laboratory to comply, they use a single piece of wood with 6" nails driven in all around to keep it off the floor of the heater to maximise airflow and the wood is specially prepared, and Kiln dried with only 2% moisture, that's about Balsa Wood consistency, your best bit of dry Jarrah is about 20% moisture content. So your heater runs 24/7, so it is left to smoulder overnight and when your not home, then your heater will be emitting around a 100 times more pollution than the EPA standard. In one 24 hour period your heater will emit more Greenhouse gasses and Particulate air pollution than a modern car will emit over it's entire life span.
What pi**es me off is that you seem to be proud of polluting the air, even though you live in a rural area, do you think the tonnes of Greenhouse gas from your woodheater just disappears, well it actually hangs in the atmosphere for years and mixes with other airborne pollutants to form even more Greenhouse gas, what chance have we got of reducing Greenhouse gas if everyone had your attitude, Reagrds Frank.

How do we boil the billy, cook and keep warm when out camping ??

Just a little confused..

Because from what I am reading, you never light a campfire....

Hey Frank
Sorry the fire dosnt smoulder,closed right up ticks away nicely,no smoke,AS THE STANDARD REQUIRES.The seller/instaler has shown me how to adjust it so the thing burns wood slower,BUT THAT WOOD BE LIKE TAKING THE POLUTION GEAR OFF A SERIES 3.
How many incandesent globes in your house matey????????????
We have none and havent for 3 years!!!!!!
I SEE THE GOVERNMENT PATTING THEMSELVES ON THE BACK AS THEY ARE ABOUT TO BAN THEM.
Have you fully insulated your house?I put R3.5 batts in the ceiling and scabbed styrofoam sheeting from a demolition,that I fitted to the underside of the floor runners giving 30mm of foam then a 75mm airgap.
WATER,not greenhouse,but all our greywater goes thru the orchard.
VEGIES,we grow most of what we eat,lot more environmentally friendly than commercial grown,I spent 2 years at Sumichs,the largest market garden in the southern hemisphere and the second biggest(at the time) in the world,NOT VERY FRIENDLY TO THE ENVIRONMENT AT ALL.
How would you know how dry my firewood is
The stuff Im cutting is the remenants from when the area was last logged,20 YEARS AGO!!!!,and them vandals left a huge amount of perfect wood behind,one hit in the centre of a 3 foot ring and it busts into 8 bits or more.
Are you akin to a reformed smoker????,you boast some nice environmentally UNFRIENDLY vehicles at the bottom of your posts.
TIME TO BUY AN ELECTRIC CAR AND A SOLAR PANEL MAN.
Andrew

Don't get him mad guys he is a big red headed barstard and has all the tools to turn you into road fill

each to his own..I say....all too little too late...

Originally Posted by 84RR

How do we boil the billy, cook and keep warm when out camping ??

Just a little confused..

Because from what I am reading, you never light a campfire....

Gavin, have no problem with campfires, my problem is with Domestic Wood Heaters (DWH), which are Slow Combustion heaters, this means you can regulate the air supply and starve the fire of air which allows the wood to burn more slowly. Incomplete combustion produces a witches brew of Toxic and Carcenogenic substances that are harmful to human health, an open fire, such as a campfire still produces toxic fumes BUT nowhere near the toxicity of a DWH. What gets my goat is if I or someone who is adversely affected by DWH emissions complains then the DWH owner gets on his high horse and says he can use his DWH however he wants and stuff anyone else. There is no valid reason for burning wood to heat a house, fallen wood on the forest floor plays it's part in the eco-system by releasing carbon back into the soil and into the atmosphere over the many years it takes to decay and I doubt the small amount used by campers for a campfire will make a dent, unlike the pro firewood collectors. Why do you think Councils wont allow rainwater tanks in suburban and rural residential areas to be used for drinking purposes, because of the crap that settles on your roof from Burn-Offs, Bushfires, cars and DWH, that crap contains Dioxins ( largest source of Dioxins in Aust. is from woodsmoke, not industry like O/seas CSIRO DAR, EPA, NHMRC, NEPC) argueably the deadliest toxin known to man, Mercury, Lead, and many other Persistent Organic Pollutants. The best woodheater on the market still puts 10 times more pollution into the air for a given amount of heat than a Coal fired power station. Andy says he was shown how to operate his woodheater by the seller, whom I would imagine is a member of the Australian Home Heating Association (AHHA), on their website and all of their operating brochures the say "Dont let smoulder overnight" as does each states EPA, but when you go to buy a DWH the seller will tell you that you can light up at the first sign of cold weather and continually burn right thru the cold weather as a selling aid. I have been fighting against DWH for over a decade now, we have councils that have banned DWH and others considering it, the National govt. is looking to phase out DWH in the next 10 years, tougher standards have been legislated, a snap emission audit by the Fed. Govt. found that 60% or more of DWH sold in Australia do not comply with the Australian standard, so progress is slow but promising. Most DWH owners like Andy will read this and say why should this b*$tard tell me how I can operate my woodheater, I have my rights, well so do people who don't want to breathe in the crap coming from your woodheater 24/7, Regards Frank.

so lets stop burning wood ..............??????????????????????????????????
and support dummy howard with his nuclear reactors that wont kill the world
every body has there oppinions and that what makes this forum good we can hear everybodies oppinion in a calm collected manor