DIY charcoal?

[jerrytug]

That looks fine, I didn't even clamp mine, it was a push-on fit and I used some high temperature mastic ( from Screwfix about £7) which worked extremely well, never leaked or fell off. You can use a strip cut off an old fire blanket , covered in HT mastic, to seal round flue fittings etc, also keeps the rain out.
I also used an offcut of fire blanket behind a sheet of 2mm aluminium sheet, screwed to the plywood bulkhead behind the Pansy, to prevent charring, as if...Pansy never really got quite hot enough to set the world on fire, although they are very pleasant.
I was wondering, when using a blown air heater with a vertical flue, did you have an arrangement to prevent, or to drain off, condensation and spray running down inside the exhaust pipe in to the burner? I'm planning on a vertical glue on the Webasto. cheers Jerry

 

[Daydream believer]

No body has suggested wood pellets as a fuel
Any good?

 

[Kelpie]

I was wondering, when using a blown air heater with a vertical flue, did you have an arrangement to prevent, or to drain off, condensation and spray running down inside the exhaust pipe in to the burner? I'm planning on a vertical glue on the Webasto. cheers Jerry

No arrangements that I was aware of for dealing with condensation. However the heater's electronics would continue to blow air through the combustion chamber (and past the heat exchanger mounted on the lower flue) until cool, so I guess this forced dry air through the flue to clear it of the last combustion products.

 

[Kelpie]

No body has suggested wood pellets as a fuel
Any good?

Could be convenient but I think they would be too resinous, and would quickly form creosote on the flue.

 

[jerrytug]

No body has suggested wood pellets as a fuel
Any good?

Well the thing is with the pansy, it has a narrow flue, and the grille which lets in air at the bottom is tiny.
Charcoal is a concentrated fuel which gets very hot for a while, without needing much volume of air flowing up the chinmey.
Pellets are one thing I didn't experiment with, but wood, normal coal, smokeless fuel etc all either wouldn't burn, or sooted up the flue,with sticky wood sap baking itself on the chimney etc.
I would just get a small solid fuel stove for that sort of thing, but the flue will need to be wider, probly 80mm min.
That's my €2 worth

 

[bikedaft]

Arthur Ransome gave an excellent description of how to make charcoal in "Pigeon Post"!

Blast from the past - thanks - loved those books.

Sorry for OT

 

[Gordonmc]

You say charcoal is difficult to come by in winter - could your Pansy burn peat, and would that be available?

I used to use the compressed peat briquettes. They burned well producing a lot of heat, were clean to store, produced a wonderful aroma and didn't produce much in the way of ash. But, Oh boy, what a mess the deck was in with gobs of creasote dripping from the flue.
I reduced it to a degree by hanging empty bean cans under the H cowl to catch the goop.

 

[Lakesailor]

Arthur Ransome gave an excellent description of how to make charcoal in "Pigeon Post"!

Yes, don't bugger about with little heaps. Get stuck in.....