Books for fuel?

[MrEd]

(broken link removed to http://www.metro.co.uk/news/807821-pensioners-burn-books-for-warmth)

Never thought about burning books....there is an almost unlimited supply for used books available in most places for free...do they actually burn well? I would have assumed a lot ash and not a lot of heat...

 

[CrawfordCentury]

Don't know in a boiler, but not good in a woodstove.

Plus, it seems...well, a little Nazi-ish to be burning books.

Now Beatle albums, that's where the BTUs are at!

 

[jebatty]

Haven't tried books, but did give a try to waste office records, that is, dense ream equivalents of paper. No good, too dense. I also would be a little cautious of coatings, chemicals and acids in papers. Even if my try a office paper would have been successful, I would not have pursued it for the reasons stated.

 

[pybyr]

I tried a bunch of office paper once, even tried some that had been through a shredder, which I thought would solve the density issue that jebatty mentions (I'd tried the solid office paper, too, and it sometimes just lodged as a mass that blocked the nozzle of the gasifier and stifled combustion). Even the shredded paper turned out to make a disappointingly modest amount of heat, while making a whole lot of ash (probably due to the mineral coating on most paper that makes it extra smooth/ white).

Maybe cheap paperbacks- the ones where the pages go yellow and brittle- might have less non-celluose material, and might work better. If I run across some, I'll try it some time and report back.

 

[Gooserider]

I was given one of those "newspaper log" rolling machines - intended to turn newspapers, magazines, catalogs and other such junk mail into logs that can be burned... Took more time and effort to make one log than it did to break up a 12" round into a half dozen splits.. The resulting logs weren't all that good either, slow burning, with very little heat output and lots of ash when I tried them in my old smoke dragon (I would NOT have tried them in the VC as I'd have been worried about damaging the cat...)

Now I toss the junk paper in the recycle bin...

Gooserider

 

[mikeyny]

my boiler cant read, so I don't think it work very well. Actually when i had the boiler out in the detached garage I use to soak old phone books in used vege-oil for a few days. When it burned it sounded like the oil burner came on, and I think it put off some good heat for a while. Too messy and risky to do indoors though.