Wood burner ban...

I want to know how to burp my damp and cold house please 😁

I do not have mains gas and no oil tanks/heat are allowed either. So most here have electric and wood for heat. Electric is better for the environment- both climate and pollution.

Basically you open all doors and widows wide as they will go in entire house during a part of the day when it is cold and crisp (not raining) for ten minutes. This flushes out the warm moist air without letting your walls or furnishings cool down. Then you close everything back up and the heat kicks back on and warms the house back up quickly.

Getting rid of damp not just included burping, but also you need to keep the house at 18C minimum, none of the turning the heat on and off. Assuming your house is insulated.

Sometimes I don't think there will be happiness until people are banned and I often think that is the agenda. There is just nothing that makes people happier than trying to 'ban' everything. It's so strange.

I didn’t know they were unhealthy. What about pork fires, are they the same?

PM 2.5 is the most concerning pollutant and that is still produced by cars from braking, tyre and road wear, not the engine. Road travel is the biggest producer of PM 2.5.

Do those regs apply to coal generated electricity we import from other European countries when our grid can't keep up? Does it count if it's not polluting the UK?

Right. Burped the house. Now it’s freezing and I’m going to have to light the log burner. 😁

It’s not insulated apart from loft insulation. Just two brick width with no cavity wall.

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?

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.

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)

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

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’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!

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 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.

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 ?

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

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. 😂

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.