New burner notes

Hi all, as you should all know we have a new burner in the Cottage. I don’t like issuing long lists of ‘don’ts’ but, a few important points to note:

  • the new burner is many times more efficient that the old one, and we are now using dry seasoned wood, it doesn’t need to be filled up to the brim, add wood as needed, little by little.
  • don’t try and keep the fire ‘in’ by shutting it down as it will smoke up the glass.
  • please keep the doors shut, and remove the handles -they get very hot if left in!! The glass can be cleaned with damp newspaper dipped in woodash.
  • do NOT split wood on the tiles. It WILL break them. I have already fixed one set of broken tiles and someone has broken more. Don’t do it!
  • do NOT clear out the ash unless it is overflowing. Wood fires burn best on a bed of ash, so please leave it there.
  • do NOT leave hot ash in the metal bucket inside the Cottage, it will give off Carbon Monoxide. At worst that will poison you, at best it will set off the alarms. If you HAVE to clear out the ash, dump it over the wall onto the brambles straight away.
  • do NOT bring in lots of wood. We have dry, seasoned wood, in a weatherproof woodstore. we don’t need to dry it off anymore. Take in a few pieces, we do NOT want a massive pile of flammable wood left beside the burner.
  • do NOT leave any newspapers/cardboard/flammables by the burner. We have firelighters. A couple of newspapers kept with the firelighters in the cubbyhole is fine, but BURN everything else straight away.
  • do NOT use the plastic trugs for bringing in wood, they will get left by the burner and melt!
  • We have a lot of waste timber at the moment, do watch out for nails, but please burn that rather than the roundwood which will season further over the summer
  • NO wood to be collected from the surrounding area, it is an SSSI

Thank you and enjoy the new burner