Does anyone know where I can buy peat in the Glasgow area, preferably near Cumbernauld? It would make a nice change to wood on the firepit.
Peat stockists near Glasgow?
- Thread starter greasemonkey
- Start date
Was just about to say that 
We can also get it from these folks.
http://peatheat.co.uk
These folks near Stirling stock it.
T H FERGUSSON & CO
CASTLE CRAIG BUSINESS PARK
PLAYERS ROAD
STIRLING
FK7 7SH
01786 477222
Wonder if it'd be worth a word at Comriecroft ? might be the sort of thing they'd stock
It's not a hot/hot fire is peat, but it's a blooming good cooking fire, and it smells good too. Low ash and cleaner than coal by a long way. No sticky black on the pots like we get from some woods either.
cheers,
M
We can also get it from these folks.
http://peatheat.co.uk
These folks near Stirling stock it.
T H FERGUSSON & CO
CASTLE CRAIG BUSINESS PARK
PLAYERS ROAD
STIRLING
FK7 7SH
01786 477222
Wonder if it'd be worth a word at Comriecroft ? might be the sort of thing they'd stock
It's not a hot/hot fire is peat, but it's a blooming good cooking fire, and it smells good too. Low ash and cleaner than coal by a long way. No sticky black on the pots like we get from some woods either.cheers,
M
Sorry to butt in but was wondering if any of our resident peat-heaters could answer a question or two.
Do you use peat for home heating, and is it costly? Does it need to be used up in a certain amount of time given it's a lot more earthy than most fuels, or can it just be forgotten about in a shed til it's needed for use, like anthracite for example?
Just wondering how it is as an alternative to wood or coal heating. Back at my parents place we had a drama with our burner dripping a black liquid everywhere (coal tar?) so it hardly ever gets used now, would be nice to find a cleaner fuel for it that also doesn't require my parents to be constantly staying on top of a woodpile.
Do you use peat for home heating, and is it costly? Does it need to be used up in a certain amount of time given it's a lot more earthy than most fuels, or can it just be forgotten about in a shed til it's needed for use, like anthracite for example?
Just wondering how it is as an alternative to wood or coal heating. Back at my parents place we had a drama with our burner dripping a black liquid everywhere (coal tar?) so it hardly ever gets used now, would be nice to find a cleaner fuel for it that also doesn't require my parents to be constantly staying on top of a woodpile.
If you have a read of the site I linked to (northern fuels) and maybe contact them, I'm sure they'd be able to provide the technical details about the peats.
I only know that it can be stored for years, if kept out of sun (weeds'll grow in it if they get a chance ) and kept dryish; that it burns with a very soft fine ash, doesn't leave everything tarry, but it's not hot/hot like coal. It's a slow gentle warmth, good for cooking, fire.
Put it this way, if I had an open fire, or stove, I'd be getting a regular delivery from Northern Fuels
cheers,
Toddy
I only know that it can be stored for years, if kept out of sun (weeds'll grow in it if they get a chance
) and kept dryish; that it burns with a very soft fine ash, doesn't leave everything tarry, but it's not hot/hot like coal. It's a slow gentle warmth, good for cooking, fire.Put it this way, if I had an open fire, or stove, I'd be getting a regular delivery from Northern Fuels
cheers,
Toddy
Lots of garages/garden places round here stock peat. You can get the traditional dried lumps (there is probably a correct Gaelic term) or the compressed Bord na mona stuff from Ireland - it is very compressed and looks like brown coal.
Thanks everyone, I'm not sure if my local petrol station sells it, but I'll keep an eye out. It's mostly for the smell of a peat fire, and cooking sausages!
Years ago I had an old aunt who had an aga fitted, eventually she had it changed to gas because of all the complaints from her neighbours. The weirdos.
Years ago I had an old aunt who had an aga fitted, eventually she had it changed to gas because of all the complaints from her neighbours. The weirdos.
I hate to be a bit of a downer on this subject, but I'd urge everyone to think carefully about using peat. Peat obviously does smell nice, its traditional, and burns well, but it can take a century for an inch of peat to accummulate. Every time someone put some into their stove or on their garden, thats an archeological data source (my area of study) and natural habitat that is pretty much lost forever.
It would probably be OK if extraction was on a small local scale (and occassionally putting some on a fire is pretty small stuff overall), but Ireland, Finland and much of East Europe are doing it on an industrial scale. North Peats website does claim that 'Peat has low atmospheric emissions', but 'At 106 g CO[SUB]2[/SUB]/MJ,[SUP][19][/SUP] the carbon dioxide emissions of peat are higher than those of coal (at 94.6 g CO[SUB]2[/SUB]/MJ) and natural gas (at 56.1) (IPCC figures)', I'm wondering what they are comparing it with...
It would probably be OK if extraction was on a small local scale (and occassionally putting some on a fire is pretty small stuff overall), but Ireland, Finland and much of East Europe are doing it on an industrial scale. North Peats website does claim that 'Peat has low atmospheric emissions', but 'At 106 g CO[SUB]2[/SUB]/MJ,[SUP][19][/SUP] the carbon dioxide emissions of peat are higher than those of coal (at 94.6 g CO[SUB]2[/SUB]/MJ) and natural gas (at 56.1) (IPCC figures)', I'm wondering what they are comparing it with...
For the most part I agree with you, but the moss in Aberdeenshire that is being used by Northern Fuels is not the blanket stripping of huge areas, but confined to one farm, and it's being done as sympathetically as possible. I know that they had the relevant archaeological searches, etc., done beforehand too. (another archaeologist here).
The reality is that fuel of any kind comes at an environmental price, but it's a necessity of life. At least with this company it's relatively local, they are being as environmentally conscious as they can be, and peat fuel is very much a part of the domestic (and whisky industry) economy of Scotland, and has been for a very, very long time. The alternative is wood or coal, and both have their own drawbacks too.
Peat accumulates year after year after year, it smothers good farmland in time. The moss at Stirling was stripped out by hand to a depth of up to 14' (and the peat was thrown into the Forth, where it clogged the river enough to stop Stirling effectively being a port) Centuries later that land is now good productive arable land. There are constraints now in place to stop further drainage and to repair the water logged conditions on most moss lands. If the Aberdeenshire site was given permission, they had to jump through hoops to get it.
I'm usually among the first to decry the stripping of peat moss for stuff like growbags and compost, but this site doesn't stir me to protest.
Interesting information on the emissions.........how does it compare with the toxic residues of coal burning though ?
The ash, what there is, just goes in the compost / midden heaps, while coal fire ashes and cinders need to be weathered and leeched before they can safely be used in the garden.
cheers,
Toddy
The reality is that fuel of any kind comes at an environmental price, but it's a necessity of life. At least with this company it's relatively local, they are being as environmentally conscious as they can be, and peat fuel is very much a part of the domestic (and whisky industry) economy of Scotland, and has been for a very, very long time. The alternative is wood or coal, and both have their own drawbacks too.
Peat accumulates year after year after year, it smothers good farmland in time. The moss at Stirling was stripped out by hand to a depth of up to 14' (and the peat was thrown into the Forth, where it clogged the river enough to stop Stirling effectively being a port) Centuries later that land is now good productive arable land. There are constraints now in place to stop further drainage and to repair the water logged conditions on most moss lands. If the Aberdeenshire site was given permission, they had to jump through hoops to get it.
I'm usually among the first to decry the stripping of peat moss for stuff like growbags and compost, but this site doesn't stir me to protest.
Interesting information on the emissions.........how does it compare with the toxic residues of coal burning though ?
The ash, what there is, just goes in the compost / midden heaps, while coal fire ashes and cinders need to be weathered and leeched before they can safely be used in the garden.
cheers,
Toddy
I would completely agree, to my mind burning peat is an anathema, totally against the spirit of environmental sustainability. It ain't so much the contribution to C02 levels it is the amount of time it takes to replace this resource, the environment in the meantime being much degraded.
Scotland's peat form both secondary and tertiary layers.....they are basically a response to a wet climate where lack of drainage causes paludation. They will blanket the hills themselves if left alone. There is no shortage, and it's a constantly renewing resource if the drainage is not deliberately broached.
It is considered to be a 'renewing biomass fuel' by the EU, and in the Scottish situation only a fraction of our peat is extracted anyway. Worldwide about 10% of peat wetlands are used to provide fuel or farmland. One farm in Aberdeenshire is less than a drop in the ocean tbh.
I too used to declaim peat use, but then I did a lot of reading; either we have fuel or we don't. It's a necessity. Peat is in many ways a much better option, at least in N.W. Europe, than the alternatives. It's constantly growing and at an inch a year across 'all' of our peat bogs and hags, what is extracted in Scotland is miniscule in the scheme of things.
As for the destruction of the archaeological evidences, well, peat growth is known to develop from the end of the last ice melts. People wandered and exploited all of the land though, we can't preserve it all for to do so would mean we had no place to live, to farm, to build. Over 10% of Scotland's forests are on deep peat soils, the aim now is to use the shallower ones and thus reduce the carbon emissions. It's not static use or research. Re-use of already cropped forestry peat lands seems to be good practice and in the long term balances the carbon problems.
Malaysian peat fire though, now they are a problem and the pollution from the wildfires there is an issue. It's a very different situation from the Northern hemisphere however.
cheers,
Toddy
It is considered to be a 'renewing biomass fuel' by the EU, and in the Scottish situation only a fraction of our peat is extracted anyway. Worldwide about 10% of peat wetlands are used to provide fuel or farmland. One farm in Aberdeenshire is less than a drop in the ocean tbh.
I too used to declaim peat use, but then I did a lot of reading; either we have fuel or we don't. It's a necessity. Peat is in many ways a much better option, at least in N.W. Europe, than the alternatives. It's constantly growing and at an inch a year across 'all' of our peat bogs and hags, what is extracted in Scotland is miniscule in the scheme of things.
As for the destruction of the archaeological evidences, well, peat growth is known to develop from the end of the last ice melts. People wandered and exploited all of the land though, we can't preserve it all for to do so would mean we had no place to live, to farm, to build. Over 10% of Scotland's forests are on deep peat soils, the aim now is to use the shallower ones and thus reduce the carbon emissions. It's not static use or research. Re-use of already cropped forestry peat lands seems to be good practice and in the long term balances the carbon problems.
Malaysian peat fire though, now they are a problem and the pollution from the wildfires there is an issue. It's a very different situation from the Northern hemisphere however.
cheers,
Toddy
Though slightly off-thread, does peat burn OK in a wood-burner, or would you need a multi-fuel stove (i.e. does it burn like coal with a bottom fed draught)? We were up in Harris in January this year and the cottage had a supply of both wood and peat and I seem to remember that the stove was a multi-fuel one.
Geoff
Geoff
Just a thought, but doesn't drainage of wetlands for agricultural use also spoil any archeological sources or natural habitats? If so, I can see how industrial scale peat extraction (in Finland there is a peat fired power station) could be a concern, but compared to the great scheme of things it's likely to not be having that much of an impact.
In fact, perhaps responsible peat use is something that should be promoted. Whilst it isn't as light on carbon dioxide emissions as natural gas, petroleum products or even coal, it's a heck of a lot quicker at renewing itself and if you take away the top however-many-inches you know that that in however-many-years the equivalent emissions are going to be locked back in the ground again due to natural growth. It doesn't seem to require the considerable upfront investment and uncertain yields that hamper solar or wind. Seems pretty similar to biofuels or forestry in that regard, expect perhaps without quite the same dependency on mechanisation and the oil and chemical industries that large scale crop production has.
In fact, perhaps responsible peat use is something that should be promoted. Whilst it isn't as light on carbon dioxide emissions as natural gas, petroleum products or even coal, it's a heck of a lot quicker at renewing itself and if you take away the top however-many-inches you know that that in however-many-years the equivalent emissions are going to be locked back in the ground again due to natural growth. It doesn't seem to require the considerable upfront investment and uncertain yields that hamper solar or wind. Seems pretty similar to biofuels or forestry in that regard, expect perhaps without quite the same dependency on mechanisation and the oil and chemical industries that large scale crop production has.
www.peatheat.co.uk
www.peatfuel.co.uk
www.woodfuel.coop
www.abitofcoal.co.uk
All stockists of peat fuel, i use it and nothing else but i'm in ireland and its alot easier to get, couldnt find any when in London..
www.peatfuel.co.uk
www.woodfuel.coop
www.abitofcoal.co.uk
All stockists of peat fuel, i use it and nothing else but i'm in ireland and its alot easier to get, couldnt find any when in London..
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