Log burners

[vinoandbrie]

I am thinking of getting a log burner put in, but am keen to understand potential costs and issues.

I understand and have looked up the cost of buying the log burner itself, but am wondering about preparation and installation costs. Any advice welcome.

We have a chimney, I don’t know if it’s been blocked up - would a first step be to get in a chimney sweep / chimney expert (what are they called?!) to take a look and see what, if anything, we’d need to get done to make sure the chimney is as it should be to have a log burner installed?

Finally, we live in a conservation area. How do I check that we’re not violating any regulations by getting a log burner installed?

Thank you in advance for any pointers.

Just get a quote from a wood burning installing company. They’ll do a survey and check the chimney.

You can get a good stove off EBay but will need it fitting properly and “signing off”.

No idea about the law re: smoke as I’ve never lived in a town.

Thank you Frith, I’ll do that!

I paid 2k for a log burner and installation including having the chimney lined and some replastering of the chimney breast afterwards - that was in 2013

Id suggest contacting your local council who will be able to advise on restrictions in your area. I was only able to burn smokeless fuel and you may also need building reg sign off for the installation.

Get someone with a HETAS qualification to scope out and install it, that way you should get something appropriately specked and signed off, home insurance companies can be funny about people that aren't a "competent person" installing them.

We live in a conservation zone and have real fires - we have to burn smokeless fuel but not sure whether that’s just us or all conservation zones. So no wood for us.

I love mine though, it more than pays for the fact that we don’t have the heating on as much!

I live in a smokeless free zone in a town. Either side of my house my neighbours have wood burners which stink. They have been signed off by Hetas but they burn wood that is unseasoned causing smoke to belch out of the chimney. The environmental department at the local council are not interested.

The stove is the cheapest bit- the flu can cost more, though probably not for you with your chimney.

They are an environmental disaster though, poor air quality and burning carbon. Which is a shame, 'cos I wanted one too.

You might find this interesting

www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46823440

Just a bit of advice .. we've ended up with one that's too big for the size of our room .. so although it's lovely it's just too hot. We sit with the door open which kind of defeats the purpose of a cosy sitting-room!

So I think they work brilliantly in an open-plan space but for a standard size room maybe not so much.

They are an environmental disaster though, poor air quality and burning carbon. Which is a shame, 'cos I wanted one too.

Yes, this. Which is very sad because log burners and open fires are lovely. But they are a nightmare for air quality - both outside the house (which screws over your neighbours) and inside.

Go to a few chimney sweeps and get them to survey the area you want to install a wood burner. Ask them detailed questions about installation costs and the work required.

Be sure to speak to those who are not primarily installers as they will say what you want to hear and not what you need to know.

"Most people don't realise that a wood burning stove emits more particles per hour than a diesel truck"

I believe air quality in the U.K. has gone backwards as a result of woodburners becoming fashionable.

Mine cost me 4.5k a few years ago.

It was a fairly pricey stove, think about 1.4k, mantelshelf was £500, hearth was about £700. Rest of it was installation, so ripping out the gas fire, knocking a hole in the old chimney breast, plaster boarding, doing the flue. And that was with “daring” fitters who decided not to bother with scaffolding.

I believe you can burn logs in smokeless zones as long as the burner itself is rated at a certain level.

Pickle , Shitley and Barbara have hit the nail on the head. I am embarrassed about how much we've used our burner in the past. I am definitely seeing more children in my professional capacity with respiratory conditions as a result of poor air quality.

I have one which has been in for years but I've stopped using it for environmental reasons
I think they will be banned before too long. We are drawn to fires but they are not good. Several friends are vegan and I'm as they burn the cheapest house coal bellowing out smoke

We’ve had our multi-fuel burner and back burner 20 years now. We paid £4 k for it and love it.
We do live very rurally though with no close neighbours in an area with no gas supply. Our only other option for heating source is oil which is very expensive.
We only burn seasoned logs and it does quickly heat the whole house, personally I wouldn’t be without it. Neither would my dog and cats who think it’s the business to chill out in front of
The installation was really easy, we used a local company and we get our chimney swept two or three times a year which costs about £60 a time.
It’s more than paid for itself over the years - we spend around £200 a year give or take on wood so it’s very economical.
Have to say I’m not so sure about their popularity in built up areas and can fully appreciate why some people don’t like them.

In our rural house we also have a choice between oil or a log burner. The log burner works very well and is cost efficient.
Neither oil or log burner is that green but we need heating.

there a lot of talk about how bad they are for the environment so it's only a matter of time before here are restriction on them so be tempted not to bother.
If it's the look of one you want you can get gas versions for about £600 work brill but do take quiet bit to warm up.

We've had ours for 10 years. The log burner itself was about £1k. Fitting the stove, including the flexible flu chimney liner (recommended) and adapting the fireplace and hearth, cost a further £2k.

Operational costs for us are very low. Twice a year chimney sweeping at £60 a time, plus occasional replacement parts for the stove. We have never bought logs, as have loads of free wood.

I think if you need to buy logs, it's not a particularly cheap form of heating.

Unfortunately right now there is currently a rather dysfunctional relationship between DEFRA and the SIA. Yes, for some reason it is legal to burn wood in a smoke control area, but this is to the detriment of everybody including the rest of your neighbourhood.

DEFRA know the truth, they just aren't communicating it properly. This graphic is taken from page 18 of this DEFRA report.
uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/cat11/1708081027_170807_AQEG_Biomass_report.pdf
Even a 2022 Eco Design stove in perfect laboratory conditions (seasoned wood cut to exact measurements, stacked in a jenga formation) will emit Particulate Matter of 18x Diesel Cars. The World Health Organisation classes PM as carcinogenic and advises that there is no level at which PM is safe to breathe.

Do yourself a favour and save yourself a lot of money and heart ache. If you must have fire, get something like this - an LED flame effect fire from this company. evonicfires.co.uk/about/
Morley Andrew Sage who is a Director of the Stove Industry Alliance is also a Director of C K Fires Limited who own this company.

beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/OFS9fML4c6L6o20Q3f-cXFhOm5s/appointments
This alone probably tells you all you need to know about where wood burning stoves will eventually be heading, hopefully sooner rather than later...

Sorry, graphic attached, but it's on Page 18 of the DEFRA report if you looking for it.

We've had ours about 15 years and use it less each year, pretty well every house in our street seems to have one now and it does smell smoky as you walk down the street, I can see why they are getting to be a problem.

The environmental sustainability is also a complete myth. This has come about due to the EU incorrectly and quite fraudulently classing wood/biomass as carbon neutral. A complete myth busted many, many times.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421519304161

I must admit I wish I hadn’t got one. If I’d known a few years ago what I know now I wouldn’t have. But guess I was sold on the whole myth of buying wood from sustainable sources. Nobody was talking about them in terms of pollution like they are now.....not that I saw anyway.

I feel bad using mine now and do think I ought to stop. But also feel that I spent just under 5k on it and am cross to have such an expensive ornament.