merlin

As winter fast approaches many people living here will be considering their heating options.

By far the most popular and effective form of heating is that provided by a woodburner.

Please remember that many chimmneys are not strictly designed for continual use like you would expect back in the UK. Many are dual use ie. with a BBQ inline.

Therefore the slightest change in wind direction can easily cause the smoke to fill a room within seconds - the dangers of this need no explanation.

Make sure that if you are intending to use a woodburner, and your chimmney has a BBQ inline, its bricked up for the winter.

Also most chimmney stacks are of the "open sided" variety again allowing wind to enter the chimmney from all directions. You really MUST brick this up and purchase a specially designed wind prevention unit that fits on top of the chimmney.

Better safe than sorry and its only gonna cost you 40 - 60 quid all completed.

Merv!

So

Great post!!

Tracey

Thanks for such valuable info.

shirleyanntr

top info...and also like to add that there are many deaths every winter in Turkey from carbon monoxide poisoning...so get the flues cleaned out before lighting up.

hib

One of the best posts I've seen on one of these forums for ages. Common sense but really good advice....

merlin

It took me absolutely ages to get the right recipe for getting a woodburner working at its optimum.

Conflicting advise from many elder Turks led to many a cold night in winter as the bucket of wood and coal refused to take and would inevitably fizzle out after a few minutes

Well.... Ive finally got the recipe right and although it sounds highly dangerous, I have not found a better way of keeping the fire burning.

Please note, this method is strictly for "bucket style" woodburners only.

Theres a few varieties of coal available from suppliers in Turkey graded according to size of the coal bricks - I think most areas are the same and the higher price paid for the coal will definitely reap benefits later.

Most suppliers will deliver to your home as long as you are placing a decent order (for a small delivery charge) they will even stack the sacks of coal outside your balcony door providing easy access on those cold winter nights. Just make sure that the coal delivered is not "damp" and also make sure that wherever you decide to store your sacks, they are well away from any downpour (Life in Turkey is so much fun!)

All coal yards will also sell tinder wood. Small strips and off-cuts. These are sold by the bag and a good barometer is to purchase 3 sacks of wood for every 10 sacks of coal.

You definitely do not want twigs or branches for the fire.

ok. So we have the coal and the tinder wood.

In Kusadasi there is one petrol station that sells Liquid Gas. (Do you remember the old style paraffin machines we used to have at petrol stations in the UK in the old days? - its similar to one of those)

I use an old 5lt water bottle as a container. The petrol office in Kusadasi that sells it is located near the Tuesday Market at the foot of the hill before the cemetry on the right hand side.

Obviously this will raise a few eyebrows, but we arent going to be using large quantities in the fire and to be honest I have found this method 100% successful every time.

Heres how to get it going.

Fill the woodburner bucket 3/4 full of coal. Make sure theres some decent size blocks of coal in the mix.

Overfill the top of the bucket full of wood offcuts making sure the smallest pieces are on the top.

Now place the bucket with contents in the woodburner. Make sure the woodburner flue is in the open position.

Fill an old tea glass with the LPG and pour over the top of the wood in the bucket.

Light a tissue and drop onto the wood and then close the woodburner lid.

The centre piece of the woodburner lid should be in the open position until the fire takes hold. You will know when this happens as puffs of smoke will eminate from the woodburner lid. You can then partially close the centrepiece, sit back and enjoy a nice warm night with some roast chestnuts or popcorn

We tend to have a second bucket on stanby ready filled so that when the fire has burnt out by the morning, we dont have to venture outside to make a new one.

I have tried to explain this the best I can, if anyone wants to add anything, please do.

Merv!

merlin

Just another thought - the placement of the woodburner (usually in the lounge) plays an impact on the degree of heat generated by the woodburner.

I am talking about the brown coloured tubes that extract the smoke from the woodburner. A greater length of tubing from the woodburner to the exit hole in the lounge will conduct greater heat, therefore you may have to experiment on the tube length and place the woodburner according to the tube length that provides the best heat for the size of your room.

The difference between 2 and 3 tube lengths can be considerable.

If your home is of the open-plan variety ie. Kitchen/Salon combined you may find that using heavy drape curtains to seperate the rooms provides a better containment of heat.

Again, open stair cases can be a nightmare in winter with all the heat travelling upstairs leaving many parts of the lounge cold - curtaining off the stairway can help.

We use the paper-type sellotape to seal off all the window seals in the lounge. The paper type is great because it can easily be removed at the end of winter without staining.

Once winter takes hold, you are sure to identify many areas of the home that allow draughts - its a constant battle against the elements, so be ready for a bit of DIY at all times

Failing that - place a large order of Lem-Sips and stay in bed till May 2006

Merv!