Wood burner ban...

And what of the vast majority who don't have 'big black metal chimneys'? How will you police it then?

We used to have one but hardly ever used it as it doesn’t get very cold these days. Last time we lit it, we were so hot we had to open all the doors!
Didn’t bother fitting one in this house, I’ve still got the windows open, it’s lovely!

Mine emits less in 3 hours than a toaster in 3 minutes, I'm happy with that. I also think their demonisation is based on poor research.

Perhaps you've been so affected by the lovely woodsmoke that it's stopped you from recognising obvious sarcasm?

But you also need the space to store that cubic metre of logs and keep them dry. Richer people tend to have those sorts of facilities and wood burners.

It's not a fashion choice for us. We cannot afford to heat the old barn.of a house we live in. We have a multi fuel stove and it keeps one room warm for us. Without it we would be screwed.

Mumsnetters just like banning things.

Dogs, cats, children, Christmas, fireworks, men, flying, driving, living, existing.

But there is a lot of free wood to be had.
Plus you buy it by the ton in autumn ready to season for the next year, so it doesn't cost anything like that.

Yes, I have a log burner, installed in 2013. I live rurally, cut and dry my own wood, and the burner has already paid for itself. Power cuts here are common.

As a parish, we are told to prepare for blackouts this winter. One of our villages, 50% of houses have log burners and will be able to keep everyone warm. Another village with a new estate has 260 dwellings where the only heating requires mains power. That's a thousand people being cold.

Outside of cities, log-burners are essential as a backup.

A lot of rural properties have a shed/ garages/ lean to.
You can build a very good log store for 2m sq out of 8 pallets and some roofing felt.

So no, in rural areas at least, wood stoves are not only for the welll-to-do.

In our old house, we had two wood burners. The house was a 1930s extended bungalow which was a nightmare to heat. I loved them but I was aware of the issue with particulates.
We now have a new build house with amazing insulation, air source heat pump and solar panels. So warm. However, I do miss the real fires and how cosy they were in the winter.

Where do you live

Another law I shall forward to ignoring.

Burning wet/green stuff is no good it has to be seasoned to give off any heat. Gardeners who burn their waste Willy nilly are the problem - compost it pretty please, garden bonfires are what should be banned!

I live in rural France, nowhere within half an hour’s drive has mains gas so wood is a popular, cheap and effective method of heating and, for some people, cooking.

There’s a lot of money going into grants to improve the energy efficiency of housing and one of the conditions is getting rid of gas and oil boilers. You can get grants to install air source heat pumps, pellet boilers and wood burners. Wood burners are very effective in old cottages with thick stone walls.

living in a 300 year old farm house I love my wood burning stove and aga.

We live in the middle of nowhere in the countryside.

When we had thick snow and a 20 hour powercut, a couple of years ago it was amazing.... and enables us to both heat and light the room.

My building has been heated by fire for 300 years and I'm not sure who anyone is to say that cant continue.

Yes I have a boiler too, but its much cheaper to heat my home using the stove + heat of the aga, than it is to heat 22 radiators...... which we use in the morning and the evening and whenever it drops below 14.5 which is often 3 - 4 times during the night and a couple of times during the day when we are not at home.

I wont be getting rid if mine!!!!

Very interesting discussion. Attitude towards log burners is probably in part to do with where you live. We live in an area with no mains gas. Biomass has become very popular but if you can’t afford one (they are expensive) then a log burner is a much cheaper alternative.

I don’t think you can compare a new build in a city to an 1800s cottage made of stone in the countryside. Banning log burners could mean that houses have no source of heating!

I'm so conflicted over this. We currently have a lovely open fire which burns smokeless fuel but the fireplace and surround is very dated and the hearth has cracked. I want to change it but don't know what to...DH says wood burners are awful for air pollution and will eventually be phased out. We've looked at all sorts and I know that electric is really the best option but the very modern electric flame effect fires are just not to my taste. DS1 keeps telling me to block up the chimney and manage without but he's a Philistine with an unromantic soul!

Ours does.

We have no central heating, just a small wood burner and good air circulation. Toasty.

Yorkshire.
I’m naturally hot, I hated the summer but even DH admitted it was too hot with the stove on.

They wont be banned. We have one. I would have more in the house if I had the money. Fantastic it is. Just had its yearly sweep.

Exactly, buying in bulk for the majority of products is cost effective! Just don't do what my late OH did, or rather, didn't do when we were having 1.5 tons of logs delivered. I reminded him to move the car off the drive before they came as I was putting stuff away up stairs and he didn't so we had to shift a huge pile of logs to get the car out, not sure if I was more annoyed at him or the delivery driver who dumped them without checking about the car.

They certainly are. Why the aggression when you're in the wrong by the way?

I know someone who got a knock on the door from council officials who asked if he'd been using coke! He was quite relieved to find they were only interested in any coal based coke & not the other kind.

Smoking kills 2 out of 3 around 10 yrs early. Smoking is one of the biggest causes of avoidable diseases and deaths and one of the greatest drivers of health inequalities with the worst impacts impacting the most deprived disproportionately.

Are log burners worse than that?!