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

[Don'tcallthepolice]

Just this

Because they're trendy. That's the reason.

@2X4B523P 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.

This is a myth, if a tree decomposes aerobically the majority of the carbon is sequestered into the soil.

It's worse than burning wood but probably better than a gas fire.

I think there needs to be much more education around how to undertake woodburning safely. The risks are not small and are obervable at the individual level not just at rhe population level:

'EPA researchers estimate the lifetime cancer risk from wood smoke to be 12 times greater than from a similar amount of cigarette smoke.

In a laboratory study at Louisiana State University, researchers found that hazardous free radicals in wood smoke are chemically active 40 times longer than those from cigarette smoke—so once inhaled, they will harm the body for far longer.

Other EPA estimates suggest that a single fireplace operating for an hour and burning 10 pounds of wood will generate 4,300 times more carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbons than 30 cigarettes'
www.familiesforcleanair.org/health/health4/

Since we use it so little, I'm pretty sure any negative effects are negligible, but thanks for voicing your genuine concerns for our health.

Because I'm afraid of being cut off.

I've lived without heating living in the bed, having a permanent infection, being so crazily hungry it's a terrible way to live. I'm afraid of it. At least with the burner I can collect wood in the forest and always be ok.

@Wheretheskyisblue I couldn't find the full EPA report just the Abstract and the article you linked to. Unfortunately it's seems to be a really bad study. In the study the wood was pyrolysed, which generally means heated in an inert atmosphere to drive off the bio-polymers leaving behind a carbon rich material. Charcoal burning is pyrolysis. Combine that with the very low likelihood that anyone is going to inhale the smoke from 10lb of firewood burnt in an oxygen free environment, and wood burners are not an oxygen free environment.

lol are you for real? You want me to feel bad about using my self sourced seasoned wood in my defra aapproved wood burner, and would prefer i freeze . Alright, I’ll sit and feel bad lol. Look at me doing bad shit.

Swimmingpoolsally 😂

I hope your chronic illness isn’t lung related!

I think people think ‘aww it’s lovely and cosy and looks pretty’ it just reminds me of growing up in the early 60s in smog covered London, everyone coughing, dying of lung disease and just grimness really. Hopefully all theses people who don’t remember these times and think it’s a good idea to pollute the environment get the same lung problems. They should be banned in citys!

We were warned last year to prepare for interruption to our usual power/fuel supplies.

In one day the cost of gas and electric came to £30 and my friends were still shivering in their coats in my little 30s house.
I'm sick of being cold and not being able to get my semi warm enough to feel warm.

We’ve a pellet burner which is dependent on electricity (if you’re talking doomsday scenario where electricity goes!!), and where prices have doubled in the last year. It requires servicing and at times I regret it because so few service people know to do anything other than switch off and switch on when there’s issues!!

I'm getting a wood burner installed. I'm not going to be dependent on electricity / gas to keep my family warm.

I would post a pic of my neighbours carcinogenic wood burning stove chimney not 20 feet from my back door but it’s too outing. He burns sawn up decking in it. I’ve already been blue lighted to hospital once from the smoke and fumes entering my house. I have to check if it’s on before I can let my dog out of the back door. It’s on a back extension of his house as close as he could get it to our house as possible, we are on a hill so we are higher up than him so it’s level to my upstairs window. Environmental health are useless, too busy making cycle lanes!

No it isn't.

That looks excellent. I'm assuming though that you need relatively flat surfaces to make it work? In my ancient house there are very few of those!

I think you would. It fits like a child’s stair gate so there’s a bit of give. Nothing in ours is flat but we re going to give it a go.

And let’s face it, everything starts to get a bit wobbly with age. 😂🤣

Because we have a lot of trees in our large garden so it's free fuel and free hot water too. The burners were here when we moved in.

But it helps to have a gun to deal with the rampaging zombies that are ravishing the land.

We love our fire! There's nothing cosier than cuddling up with a whiskey and a book.

Our wood is free as we live on a farm and there's always a fallen tree somewhere. It is renewable. We have planted more trees and the ashes get added to the manure to spread on the fields.

Regarding health, we are careful and only burn well seasoned wood. There is a gorgeous smell from it unlike the horrible heating oil burner we occasionally use.

Nope, it works fine on knobbly wonky bits too - you just need two points of contact to wedge it between. Then twist to tighten. There's not a straight wall, floor or ceiling in my house.

I have a newly installed woodburner. It keeps the damp and mould out of the 300 year old fabric of my house. And it's better than my other option which is an oil boiler. My house has no gas and a heat pump would be useless. I live in a tiny rural village, most people burn wood.

I hope everyone who hates woodburners doesn't use gas and doesn't use electricity generated from coal. We all have to heat our houses in some way and most of the options are polluting or damaging to the environment, just in different ways and in different places.

I was concerned about the indoor air particles but newer research shows it's not so much of a problem and actually that frying food or making toast causes bigger surges of the smaller particulate matter than a woodburner does. I have an air monitor and this confirms it.

I’ve already been blue lighted to hospital once from the smoke and fumes entering my house.

That's shocking tbh.

Globally there is talk of climate reparations so I wonder if in the future there will be a similar individual thing eg carbon tax.

Hopefully in the future like the ULEZ there will be a tax to pay at least within urban areas for those that choose to use them.