Aquavit

Or maybe two or three winters hence to be properly seasoned!

jetsam1

I've been told you need three piles. One that is fresh cut and covered. The second that was cut last year and a third that has had two to three years to season.

This has been our experience. We had an awful time last winter as our wood wasn't sufficiently seasoned and we just struggled to get the temperature up. Now we are on two year old wood it is much better. We have lots of Acacia though which makes a big difference over the Nyarfa.

wolfi

Totally agree with Aquavit and jetsam!
Two years is the minimum.

OT:
We built an open shed with a roof especially for this and of course to hold some garden tools - and now it's also the home of our two "guest cats" which don't get enough food from their owners and come regularly. They are very happy with the cheap dry food that we buy from the Tesco and some scraps that our little spoiled tomcat spurns ...

scrubbedexpat142

Wow, some of the figures on here make my eyes water! 90m2 apartment, all gas, monthly cost, 15000 Ft - & we don't spare the heating!

Peter_in_Hungary

Of course apartments are quite different. especially if you have neighbours both sides and up and down

scrubbedexpat142

Absolutely, although we do have quite a long external perimeter (3 sides). Worth pointing out that our bill was 23000 Ft / month - until we had a new boiler fitted 2 years ago.

wolfi

Good news from here!
Just got the new gas bill, seems we didn't use as much last year (not too many guests aka family in winter) so we pay now 14 000 HUF every month. Of course in November when the meter's read ther might be a difference to pay again ...

Of course if it should get really cold in February we'd have to keep the guest rooms from freezing - put them on a min temperature of 7 - 10 Celsius.
Not like our crazy neighbour who rents out rooms, leaves the house in early october, switches off the heating completely - and has to clear fungus every spring and paint the rooms again!

hobgoblins

Thanks all ! Seems then that I will need to buy in advance and have a rotation system going…. and buy ready seasoned cut logs for the first two winters !!

Aquavit

I'm in the same boat hobgoblins, it means quite an investment up-front to lay the logs down for seasoning and in the meantime finding ready seasoned logs to burn immediately seems to be near impossible.

I have just ordered a moisture meter so I can check the water content of my logs, I'm expecting the ready-cut stuff being delivered next week to be way high and so will put that in to stock for three seasons down the line

In the next month I am going to be burning "RUF" briquettes - no cutting/splitting/stacking work to do, minimal ash and with very low moisture content they burn very clean.

wolfi

Hobgoblins, just don't be lazy like one of our neighbours who put the new wood in front of the older stuff ...
You need enough room!
PS:
We have a saying in German that wood makes you warm three times:
Once when you cut it, then when you pile it and then when you burn it ...

Aquavit

Maybe four times if you factor in the work to earn the money to pay for it

Sachina

I live in a 65 sq metre "adobe" house (18 inch thick outer walls) with the original double windows but with a well insulated roof space.

I have gas central heating run by a Baxi boiler which also heats the water, and I cook by gas. My monthly bill is 10 000ft. I should add the bill would be quite a bit lower if I didn't have 2 dogs who know how to open the front door but not how to close it which means all the cold air pours into the house!

The central heating comes on when the inside temperature drops to 18C and from October to April I also light a fire in the living room where I have a wood burning stove. I have wood burning stoves in all the rooms which I don't normally use otherwise the house becomes too hot But they would heat the house quite adequately without the central heating.

I'm lucky because in my village every house is given a gift of 3 sq metres of logs each year. As I only use just over 4 sq metres a year I only purchase 2.5 sq metres (a small truck full) every other year which I store in the woodshed.

wolfi

@Sachina - a bit OT:

We also installed a Baxi boiler (Italian brand?) - are you happy with it?
We had some problems, but it might be because of the water which contains an extreme amount of lime here.

hobgoblins

Thanks Wolfi and Aquavit…. I have plenty of room for stacking wood for seasoning…. a big barn for logs that will be for a few winters down the line and a lean to on the barn that can be used when the time comes for the "current" ready to use winter. I will add to the barn pile each spring after filling the lean to for the next winter ! It's just the first two winters that will be the problem…. maybe the briquettes will be the way to go…..

Sachina

I'm always descaling my kettle because we have extremely hard water too!

My Baxi boiler is now 10 years old and apart from the first year I used it I've had no problems with it whatsoever. I don't know how it works in your part of Hungary but Lutherm who installed the system automatically come round each year to service the boiler and sweep the chimney which this year was free of charge.

The problem I had the first year was actually nothing to do with the boiler which no matter how many times someone tried, wouldn't run for more than a few minutes with the result that the radiators weren't getting hot. It was only when one of the engineers decided to remove the flue he discovered it was half blocked with emulsion paint! Once it was cleaned the central heating worked perfectly.