Wood burner ban...

Wood burning is exceptionally 'dirty' compared with gas. Burning gas is very low on actual particulates, and very low on nitrogen oxides.
Wood-burning produces huge amounts of particulates; partially because of the low-temperature that wood burns at in a domestic burner, and partially because of the other compounds in the wood. It's all to do with the chemistry.

Thanks! It’s a 1930s bungalow built on a big hill in the Peak District, completely surrounded by woodland. It’s lovely! We got it for the same price as a pretty standard new build in our area as it was a probate property and it had been minimally maintained for twenty years as the lady who lived here was widowed fairly early. We absolutely love it! Living within trees is magical. You feel like you are part of the woodland.

I think this is correct. Some people seem to think it's essential that we all change the same things to be more environmentally conscious but that's just not practical or particularly helpful in encouraging people to change the things they can.

I don't use a tumble dryer but I'm not about to tell someone who has two children and lives in a flat with no outside space that they shouldn't either. If you live rurally 8 miles from your childs school where the roads don't get plowed and you experience frequent power cuts you are probably going to choose a 4 wheel drive petrol or diesel car over a compact electric car. If you live 2 miles from work and 5 minutes from your childs school in a town or city an electric car could work well.

Mumsnet just loves to find a hypocrite to prove that no-one should do anything at all to protect the environment. It's as if the fact that some people don't do everything is a good reason for nobody to do anything.

And it's as if people can't understand there are actually quite a lot of people who are doing what they can. Minimising flying and driving, reducing consumption, make do and mending, reducing plastic use, rarely or never eating meat - because they care about the environment and worry about the world they are leaving to their children.

None of us are perfect because it would be a joyless and probably impossible existence to live a perfectly pure environmentally pristine life. But it is possible to want to make a small difference and there are some people who are quite consistent in doing that.

Nah, it's gotta be cigarettes and vapes and throw in domestic pets too 👍

Aah yes, but she may have lived to her 90s or even 100s if she hadn't smoked. Bad logic !

Same. Our sweep says the same... funny old thing is he does installations. I love the open fire, so cosy on a cold day to have it going. We burn logs, coal and heat logs. We have some woman posting on the village Facebook site telling us were all monsters for having fires as she has asthma...

There are also a lot of people on this site with precisely zero interest in Airships ................

😁

my SIL disapproves of my log burner, but flies long haul multiple times a year for holidays 👀

My biggest learning curve here is that I had no idea that there were people who didn't enjoy the smell of woodsmoke/ coal. I can't think of many things I love more than the smoky smell.

Absolutely love ours. Peace of mind knowing if anything happens or the grid fails I can keep my children warm and fed with warm food. We sometimes heat things up on top, dry laundry. We love it. Get a particulate reader....your toaster or frying pan will spike it far more than a well run wood burner!

To be fair, I'm not sure dh is going to manage a 130 mile cycle or walk!

If we can all choose something to ban I'll go with alcohol, neither of us drink it so it won't affect us.

So this morning I had the central heating on for a couple of hours and the house got to the dizzy heights of 18c. I opened the windows to freshen the house and after 5 mins the house was down to 17c. Thats the upstairs thermostat, the downstairs thermometer reads 16. It feels cold.

im not putting the heating on during the day, cant afford it. I can cope with being cold but the problem is at that temp the house gets damp. I window vac and wipe the windows but I still get black mould on the walls, in the wardrobes, mouldy clothes and mouldy curtains and ceilings.

but I can afford to light a fire. Which warms the house up enough to stop the mould.

I take one of two flights a year but would be happy to limit my flights if everyone did the same. Same with driving although I try to limit my mileage to about 8 k a year mainly because of the cost of fuel.

That sounds great. I haven't taken a flight in 13 years and drive about 4000 miles a year. Flights are not essential and people can walk or cycle instead of using a car.

I'm really in favour of banning things that won't affect me and suggesting completely impractical solutions to anyone who complains. 😂

Anyone else now getting loads of adverts for wood burners?😂

If you want to ban stoves can we also ration diesel / petrol and air miles? They pollute the air too. I mean, it should be a group effort ?

I had two in a previous house, one in the kitchen and one on the lounge. When we lost power for nearly three days and nights due to storms years ago they were a godsend. My DH was away for work and I was stuck in the countryside with two young kids. They kept us warm, could make hot drinks and heat up food. I would have been in real trouble without them. I think once yore careful about the fuel you use they are great. We are now in a house with electric radiators and our energy costs are through the roof, so much so we are moving for next winter as the house is so cold when they are off.

I admit that the air stinks outside when it gets cold, suburban Bath is particularly bad, but I never had an issue with it smelling inside when I had an open fire burning smokeless fuel, nor at my parents who have a wood burner (perhaps because we got our chimneys swept?). I no longer live in a suitable house, no chimneys here and covenants in place saying you can’t add one. Thankfully they are building a huge nuclear power plant fairly close and we have all new pylons etc so loosing supply is unlikely compared to many areas (we are underground from where the high voltage lines and stepped down at the substation)

I’m with you, some of these people just don’t get it. If you have a really old house or one that is grade 2 you can’t just whack in some double glazing!

WTF no! It’s not a caravan! Our wood burner keeps our very very old house warm and we have LPG tank BUT that also relies on electricity so when that goes down the wood burner is the only thing that warms the house.

I'd agree it's certainly a good idea to have more info on safe use of stoves, and tests, etc.

I live in a cottage surrounded by woodland and streams, with old single glazed sash windows. I can wholly assure you I wouldn't manage a winter without my fireplaces lit ( one open one stove)

We’ve stayed in a couple of places which had wood burners which weren’t great. I just coughed the whole time I was there (asthmatic).

but we also stayed somewhere which had a top of the range auto fed one which gave out a ton of heat and there was no smell. And more importantly it didn’t make me cough.

so maybe in depends on the system and what’s being burned?

maybe there needs to be some kind of monitoring system and possible filters. I don’t know if that possible, I just know that areas with loads of burners always make me cough loads. Which is a sign the air is full of irritants.

It's just opening all the windows each morning for about 20 minutes to change the stale air inside the house. Doesn't everyone do this?