Wood burner ban...

I have some friends with the loveliest house - they have beautiful open fires all through out the winter... so cosy and calm - gorgeous logs pilled up in front door so everyone knows they have real fires... oh luxury.

And their kids both have asthma...

I think if you’re altruistically wanting to improve the health of the nation, looking in the direction of diet and ultra processed food might be a bigger win….

Oh dont be ridiculous!!

No one buys their wood like that, those nets are for holiday makers and/or outside ovens or idiots who dont buy bulk wood

We spend about £150 for a huge bulk of wood and that usually lasts us about 2 winters. We spent a long time getting through a tree from my dad, in fact I think we still have some left for this winter.

Im remembering all the threads from the summer anyway where people were furious that there isnt in built air con in houses, shops, public areas, schools, hospitals etc

Its all affecting the climate but we want that apparently

I live rurally. I have log burners as do pretty much all our neighbours. Our air quality is very good. The research shows that there are risks notably when the fire doors are open. Similarly particulates are also caused by cooking fried food and when using scented candles. I do not assess the risk as significant. The other alternative is our oil fired central heating. Currently this is near double what it was 12 months ago. None of us will be giving up our log burners anytime soon.

There are different types of wood burners. Not all wood burners are equal.

Ours is a modern, Danish design and the particulates are very low indeed as it has to conform to very high standards.

We are not in a smokeless zone but we can't burn any old wood or it would destroy the stove and chimney. We can only use dry, seasoned wood or smokeless fuel.

We get kiln dried hard wood £70 for a huge dumpy bag like you get from builders yards.
Cheaper than buying from co op or anything like that.
We have another supplier who does a mix of soft and hard wood for similar price but more of it.

Poe's law.

This.

Data centres that take all the water and create low level pulses that make people feel physically sick are worth AI apparently.
I think fire in box that keeps people warm and is renewable is small fry.

Don't forget radiation from your computer screens and TVs.

Wood burners should have been banned in urban areas years ago.

At the risk of being a negative Nelly - I don't have one but parents in law used to have one in pretty much every room downstairs. FIL was unexpectedly diagnosed with lung cancer and died shortly after. He was a non-smoking fitness fanatic, very healthy eater and had lived in the countryside most of his life so wasn't exposed to loads of pollution.

One of the things the lung specialist identified as a significant risk factor was the log burners.

We have one but we're in the sticks in a poorly insulated house and don't have to ever pay for any firewood.

If you can't get free wood, I don't see how they're cheaper than central heating tbh! I wouldn't have one if we couldn't get free wood!

Aside from the heat aspect, I can’t imagine feeling cosy on a winters night without a log burner lit. Perhaps I’m a country bumpkin.

Scotgov recently proposed banning wood burning stoves. The alternative suggested, for emergency back up heating, was portable gas heaters.

Very unwise. Thankfully, they recanted.

I think most of us would agree that having a wood burner in every room, probably ones that were old and not like modern ones, and using it often for decades is not a good idea (although my generation was brought up with coal fires in the living room , pre-central heating, and lived like that for many years.)

Even fit and 'healthy' people get lung cancer ( poor Esther Ranzten for one) so it's not as simple as causation but more possible association.

I think it would make more sense to focus on the 20% who still smoke, and the 70% who are overweight and obese, than a cosy woodburner on for a few nights of the year (which is how we use ours.)

And even some of this is stupid.

I have a Morso squirrel. An excellent little multi fuel from a well respected brand. But because it's the older model it's not defra approved because I could shut both vents at once....if I was a moron.

The newer model doesn't burn any cleaner and I know how to use it, which is not exactly complicated.

In the village next to ours quite a few of the HA properties still have coal fired central heating.

We are right out in the sticks and have no mains gas and I really can't afford to keep the oil tank full so we are using our open fire much more. The coal is smokeless and we have a coal man who comes every fortnight.

Our electricity regularly goes off whenever there is a sniff of strong wind and we have been off for several days on quite a few occasions As this usually happens in winter I am so glad we have the fire.

I love my log burner and intend to keep it. It’s lovely and cosy and comes in handy when we have the odd power cut.

I light mine every evening when it's cold. It saves a fortune as I don't need the oil fired heating on

FFS honestly all you people going on about banning them have absolutely no idea about living rurally. We need them. We are on oil tanks a lot rurally and get regular power cuts too. Such a suburban mind set on here.

They won’t get banned.

We are about to get one and I cannot wait. We are on oil heating and electric. No gas here. Rural. When the lights go out I have no way of generating heat, heating water or food.

Im getting one as a back up. And because the lounge looks incomplete without it.

Because it's not just your life you are shortening. Sorry asthmatic children having to deal with stunted lungs, I just love my wood burner so much 🙄 If you consider it a luxury then its an easy thing to give up in consideration for your community.

Love wood burners but agree they should be banned, at least in urban areas. And any that remain should have to fit an electrostatic precipitator.

Currently wood burning stoves in the UK kill more people each year than road traffic accidents. For alternative heat sources for emergencies, could keep a camping stove with your survival supplies.

Humans have been burning wood since they discovered fire and have somehow managed to survive. They’ll have to lock me up if they try to remove our wood burner. At least then I would get free heating.