Wood burner ban...

Try living very rurally with no gas supply and knowing that with each storm/very high winds you’re 75% likely to loose your electricity and then you will be able to make an informed decision about woodburners.

I love them and I'm so glad to have my own form of heating that doesn't rely on the national grid in any way. I use my own wood from the garden so it's carbon neutral too.

Mumsnet loves a ban. Something for you to reflect upon... It's all very well banning things YOU hate, fireworks, woodburners, dogs in parks etc. One day someone might decide the thing you enjoy is worthy of a ban, so a little tolerance and live and let live goes a long way.

A 2020 systematic review in Lancet Global Healthfound that indoor air pollution, including domestic wood burning, was associated with heart and lung disease, lung cancer, strokes, stillbirth, and asthma.4 Lighting fires at home is a major source of small “particulate matter” that can enter the bloodstream and be transported around the body, lodging in the heart, brain, and other organs.

Quoted from a BMJ article this March 26. No way would I choose to have one in my home.

I live rurally and my power regularly goes out. When that happens my wood burner is my sole source of heat and cooking ability. I’m not in mains gas. So no, I would not agree with a blanket ban and I think it shows a lack of understanding of life out of the city if you think it’s reasonable to ban them outright. I’m comfortable with there being strict restrictions in built up areas with mains gas and secure electric supply, something based in building regs and planning rules perhaps.

I love my woodburner. The government would love us all to be dependent on gas and electricity companies for our heating. I don't trust anything they or the WHO tells us.

Thank you, I did not realise the ban was really regulation of wood burners. I may need to look into air purifiers and comfortable masks to wear outside.

I think if anything we should be building more homes with fires / log burners. With the energy crisis and risks of not having enough power it’s only sensible to have a way to heat your home.

Our house has the chimneys from the old coal fires and I won’t be closing them up they won’t be in action this year but hopefully next year we will have them all cleaned up and ready to work.

If we how no power your boiler won’t work so no heating. But those with fire places and log burners will be toasty.

That's because they arent bad for the environment. It's a sustainable fuel, and is only required for a few months of the year, unlike gas and electricity which are needed all year round.

People on MN aren’t eco-conscious, the amount of airplane travels people discuss is unbelievable.

I can’t wait to try out our (smoke free or what) woodburner and will get it cleaned in case there is an electricity outage as our house would be freezing.

👏 well said!!

I don't have one, but I would love one, well actually I would love an open fire, but that's not possible in this house.

If you're rural and don't have mains gas I get it. Everywhere else they are deeply antisocial in my opinion. Owners of then are fine, it's the poor buggers who have to breathe in the air polluted by their smoke!

I had to cut my run short yesterday evening, I don't have asthma but the smoke really affects my breathing. This time of year is a real lottery for air quality round here. Loads of ppl in big fancy houses belching out woodsmoke. Vile.

Of course there aren't. Its just the annual autumn thread about banning woodburners 😂

Having endured a 4 day power cut with no heating following a storm one November, i won't be getting rid of my log burner any time soon. We did have an open fire previously but replaced it with a stove.

And yet you probably eat strawberries which are covered in the forever chemical PFAS. I really wonder how mumsnet picks it's targets. Loads of people can't afford heating and you want to ban the one thing people can do to heat their house on their own.

Pfas reference below because I know someone will ask.

https://www.pan-europe.info/resources/reports/2026/07/european-strawberries-extensively-contaminated-pfas-or-endocrine

Well smog from pollution killed loads of people in London in the 1950’s with coal and wood from fires making it a lot worse when there was a type of cold anti cyclone. It’s outlined in an episode of The Crown and really awful to watch.

So no I wouldn’t have one and anyone who bangs on about net zero needs to think about this.

@ThePeppyOpalScrollerIve read they are bad for the environment 🤷🏻‍♀️

You can come here then where there is no gas supply and see how you cope without one.

That said I don't think they are necessary in built up areas.

They could not ban them without better infrastructure.

Loads of people can't afford heating and you want to ban the one thing people can do to heat their house on their own I thought they were more common in affluent households

If this is the case why aren't heart and lung disease, lung cancer, strokes, stillbirth, and asthma all really high in nordic countries where woodburners are much more commonplace than in the UK?

Loads of people can't afford heating and you want to ban the one thing people can do to heat their house on their own.

Wood is not free unless you are rich enough to own a forest and can cut down trees yourself.

A small net bag of firewood that would last maybe two hours to heat 1 room is selling for £6 at my local co-op last I looked.

£3/hr for heat is not very affordable.

Rurally you are more likely to be inconvenienced by longer blackout/energy issues as it can be harder for crews to reach where they need ro be. I can see how important that warmth would be in those situations and would be tempted to get one for that reason alone.

As a kid (I'm 55) we didnt get central heating, (storage heaters as DM refused to have gas ) until I.was about 18yrs old. Single glazed windows would bw running with condensation or frozen solid if cold enough but once the coal fire was on it heated all the rooms including the bedrooms from the heat in the chimney.

Most council houses used to have them as standard. The house I’m in currently is ex council and has l two fire places.

The house I grew up in was council and had one.