As we're an Eco Design company, I thought I'd pass on a few Eco top tips that we've learned along the way, not the usual drivel that you read in the papers but meaningful stuff you might appreciate. Some you might be able to use, some you might not, see how you go !
This weeks is all about log burning stoves.
If you have a log burning stove, and if you don't .... why not ? they're brilliant, eco friendly using a sustainable fuel and let's face it, if there's woodland near you, you can go scavenging for firewood that's free.
( I should put in the bit about first checking if it's OK to take the wood, I suppose !)
But have you considered a couple of very important secondary uses for it.
Firstly, my good lady wife insists on buying either locally produced or organic food and it's quite suprising the amount of good 'one pot' meals that can be produced seasonally and cooked, quite literally, sat in a pan on the top of your log burner. It makes a great slow cooker. I appreciate you can't do this every day but on the days that you can it's wonderful ... try it ! It's great for warming bread, slow cooking fish in a fish kettle (look it up !), if you have a perforated metal stand that fits in a pan, when you put the lid on it makes a great pie warming oven, warming up and cooking pans of veg, beans, anything really.
In fact, depending on what you have, you can pretty much cook your entire Sunday breakfast / brunch on top of your stove.
Secondly, If you have either a heating system with a hot water cylinder or a combi boiler coupled to a solar hot water cylinder then you have the ability to couple your log burner into the same system. This does require either retro fitting a back boiler to your existing log burner or buying one that has a back boiler built in to start with but once sorted all the time you're heating your room and cooking on your stove, you can be heating up oceans of lovely free hot water at the same time. How good is that ?
A tip concerning lighting your stove that's ideal for DIY types.
If any friends offer you a sack of plastering laths where they've been ripping out an old ceiling or wall, take them to use for kindling but you can also make your own recycled firelighters out of them.
I mentioned DIY'ers because if you do your own painting at home and use white spirit to clean your brushes, don't tip your old white spirit down the drain, polluting the rivers & killing fish etc. break up the laths, soak them in the old white spirit and keep them in an old sarni box with a resealable lid.
NB: You only need soak them for 10 minutes or so and then drain off the excess to use for another batch.
Hey presto !! fantastic free recycled firelighters and you can make as many as you like and store them, as long as the boxes are sealed they last for absolutely ages. If you've got a mate who's a builder, he could keep you supplied for ever. Make some for friends and family and if you have elderly neighbours who have fires, they might be glad of a box too.
My last top tip on this subject is cleaning your window of your stove.
Please don't buy those nasty, environmentally damaging acid based glass cleaners but try this instead. Take an old pair of socks that you're going to throw out, wet them under a tap, dip them in the ash in the bottom of your stove and just rub the glass with them. You'd be surprised at how quickly and safely you can get your glass clean and sparkling again. No cost, no mess, no acids, ..... no brainer !
If you've got some benefit from all this ... then that's great, if you're doing all this already then I'm preaching to the converted.
If you would like more top tips, let me know !
I'll sign off with a thought for the day relating to the holiday season:
" If you actually look like your passport photograph then you're probably too ill to travel"
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