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Original poster

Why does everyone install wood burners knowing how terrible they are for the environment?

474 replies

Don'tcallthepolice · 22/01/2023 09:35

Just this

OP posts:
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GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 22/01/2023 18:38

Because some people (my Dbro and a son in law for starters) manage to get free wood so it’s a very cheap form of heating - especially at the moment.

Everyonehasavoice · 22/01/2023 18:42

pompomdaisy · 22/01/2023 18:37

Maybe because the black mold that forms when we don't have the wood burner on and we can't afford the gas bill is worse!

maybe people here thinks it’s better for us all to die quicker of hyperthermia than the slower death with cancer, dementia

cheaper on the nhs.

2X4B523P · 22/01/2023 18:51

Wood burners are not bad for the environment. Wood is a renewable and carbon neutral fuel source. Trees are carbon dioxide stores. When they grow they absorb carbon and the same amount is released during burning. If the tree wasn’t burnt and left to rot at the end of its life then the same amount of carbon dioxide would still be released.

They do release particulates though and these are not harmful from a carbon point of view but bad for breathing them in. The quantity should reduce over time due to stringent regulations new burners have to meet. That and it’s now illegal to sell wood that has a higher moisture content than 20%, which releases more particulates.

CeriB82 · 22/01/2023 18:54

renonovice · 22/01/2023 18:10

How bad are they for the lungs?

Smoking is also bad for you. People still do it.

but its a sole source of heating for many. All this talk of ground heat pumps. Fab idea, but in reality its not going to happen is it? People are barely getting by and they are verbally attacked for destroying the air🙄

Oakbeam · 22/01/2023 19:01

Smoking is also bad for you. People still do it.

Smoking. Eating bacon. Flying. Driving. Drinking alcohol. The list goes on and on and every day something else is added that is either bad for us or other people, or both.

renonovice · 22/01/2023 19:25

@CeriB82 but how bad is it? as bad as smoking? I don't smoke because I think the health risk is too high, I do it bacon once a month though.

renonovice · 22/01/2023 19:27

I wouldn’t cook with gas, Or walk drive with window down busy streetsOr……..etc

Is it comparable to those examples then? I had no idea cooking with gas was bad for your health!

renonovice · 22/01/2023 19:30

I think people are misunderstanding my post. I would like one but the only drawback for me was the personal health implications. I'm not criticising anyone for having one!

froginawell · 22/01/2023 19:32

If I wanted something like a woodburner (for nice hat and focal point)

Is a bio ethanol stove a good option?

Astralitzia · 22/01/2023 19:43

There are several good reasons to use an open fire or a wood burner:

  • it uses a renewable fuel
  • said fuel is carbon neutral if you replant trees
  • it also does not have to be piped in from around the globe and so you don't have the environmental costs of transport to factor in, nor are you at the mercy of geopolitical instability
  • fires and wood burners are an isolated system; you can still heat your house and warm up water and food if there is a power cut or if the govt decides to introduce rolling blackouts or brownouts.

I would personally never be without an open fire or a wood burner.

I do agree there are risks to them with regards to air quality, but they are not great and are only observable at a population level over many years. The human race has been using fire as a heat source since time immemorial and somehow we have not gone extinct. Maybe when I'm 75 I'll be diagnosed with something caused by the open fires I grew up with as a child, but a) at that point I don't think anyone would care or be able to prove what caused it, b) everyone has to go of something sometime, and c) I'd rather live my life in comfort and warmth than live til I'm 95 freezing my tits off.

Everyonehasavoice · 22/01/2023 19:44

renonovice · 22/01/2023 19:27

I wouldn’t cook with gas, Or walk drive with window down busy streetsOr……..etc

Is it comparable to those examples then? I had no idea cooking with gas was bad for your health!

I’m useless at attaching links etc. so here’s a couple of reports on it. ( just the first page, at least it’s a start for further reading )
Definitely read something in the Lancet a while ago aswel

Why does everyone install wood burners knowing how terrible they are for the environment?
Why does everyone install wood burners knowing how terrible they are for the environment?
DigitalGhost · 22/01/2023 19:46

Because it's either that or freeze? We have an air purifier in the room to offset the particles. As for the environment I'm not going to freeze my arse off to save it whilst people fly around in private jets. 🤷

Astralitzia · 22/01/2023 19:47

Squamata · 22/01/2023 17:03

Imagine explaining to a Victorian maid of all work that you have the option of clean, convenient heating but choose fires instead!

And how well will that clean and convenient heat source function in a blackout or when we can't import enough gas?

Everyonehasavoice · 22/01/2023 19:48

LMBoston · 22/01/2023 16:52

Another old house dweller here — Georgian listed cottage, single glazed windows (timber DGUs not possible), solid floors and fucking freezing. The inside of my kitchen window was covered in ice this week! I’ve made triple-layered curtains, Roman blinds and draught excluders for all rooms (one of the first things I did during my first winter here 12 years ago, I was shocked by how cold it was!) but once this place is cold and damp, only fires will warm it up.

Just me and the dog live here, I burn seasoned logs from two of my local business clients and the “eco-logs” for extra heat. I don’t eat meat, don’t go on holiday, don’t have children and make a concerted effort to care for my home as it has been for almost 300 years. We’re not all rich folk with money to burn on gas and electric; I’m a frugal single woman and I’d be buggered without my fires. If you like to admire pretty, well-conserved old houses in ancient towns where the Conservation Officer is king/queen, spare a thought for the occupants if stoves and open fires are banned!

Well said !!!

carbon60 · 22/01/2023 19:50

I love wood burners, i love an open fire too. I also have a loo brush....so what?

renonovice · 22/01/2023 19:58

@Everyonehasavoice thanks, will read. I much prefer gas hobs!

Wallywobbles · 22/01/2023 21:03

Ours has a back boiler so also does all the heating in the house. As does the Rayburn but as it's gas we never use the heating bit.

Daftasabroom · 22/01/2023 21:48

froginawell · 22/01/2023 19:32

If I wanted something like a woodburner (for nice hat and focal point)

Is a bio ethanol stove a good option?

No it's a bad option

froginawell · 22/01/2023 21:51

Ahh @Daftasabroom.

Is there a good idea that has nice heat, back up for supply issues and pretty flames? Why is bio ethanol a bad idea?

Thistlelass · 23/01/2023 00:32

People have burned wood since the beginning of time! I don't believe that choice should be taken from us. I'd like to see limits on air travel per person per annum, a limit to the number of vehicles a household can have and the age of those vehicles etc.
I have my stove because a real fire is important to my sense of well being as someone who lives a solitary life with mental illness.

Liorae · 23/01/2023 00:35

Lessoftheold · 22/01/2023 09:40

Same as people who continue to fly abroad on holidays, they either don't know or don't care.

It's not that they don't know.

notsosoftanymore · 23/01/2023 01:38

I'll stop using my wood burner when something is done about the pollution of cars. 70 million on the road now causing massive air pollution. I haven't flown for years as a matter of principle, apparently flights are 30% up this year. I enjoy my wood burner, it gives better heat than our lousy central heating and is cheaper than foreign gas.

vera99 · 23/01/2023 01:42

Ginmonkeyagain · 22/01/2023 15:09

I can see both sides. I grew up in a drafty farmjouse with not central heating (and no gas supply). The wood burning stove was essential to keep us warm (Its was apain in the arse to keep lit and clean though - being the first person to get up and light it on a frosty morning was NOT FUN).

I now live in London and our neighbours have a wood burner in their conservatory/garden room. They are always burning unseasoned wood and coal on it and stinking up the neighbourhood. Today it is very still and cold and there is a pall of woodsmoke hanging over our road. I hate them.

Same near London urban and next door but 2 has one they bring back pallets and scrap wood to burn stinking the place up. They certainly have no place in the city where better alternatives are available. We had the clean air act in the 1950s for good reason.

vera99 · 23/01/2023 01:45

Tontostitis · 22/01/2023 16:06

Preach to me only if you are childless, never drive a car, never fly anywhere and never use plastic oh and are vegan as those are all demonstrably worse for the environment.

If you don't want to be preached to you're on the wrong thread !

Daftasabroom · 23/01/2023 07:40

notsosoftanymore · 23/01/2023 01:38

I'll stop using my wood burner when something is done about the pollution of cars. 70 million on the road now causing massive air pollution. I haven't flown for years as a matter of principle, apparently flights are 30% up this year. I enjoy my wood burner, it gives better heat than our lousy central heating and is cheaper than foreign gas.

A huge amount has been done to reduce pollution from cars.