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

[Don'tcallthepolice]

Just this

I got one installed in October. My house is 200 years old so one that needs to 'breathe'. It heats the whole of my downstairs so I don't need to use the heating in the day. I only burn wood which was cut two years previous, it's as close to being kiln dried as you can get without it actually being so. I also live rurally and if we have issues with electricity we are never considered a priority area so can be sometime without power (and therefore heating).

I am surprised how many people burn crap wood in their stoves and how filthy some of them look inside, the slabs entirely black. I gather that's when you are in the realms of serious pollution compared to burning cleanly (and in rural areas).

The cost of gas heating right now, I wish I had another way to heat the house! I'm not sure these are the best times to convince people away from having an alternative fuel source. As usual in times of recession, green issues get put on the back burner, if they were ever at the forefront in the first place

Before I write this I would like to say we have wood burners
In your situation have you considered ground source heat pumps

We couldn’t have them because of the type of house we have.

Because radiators have done fuck all to heat our house. Instead of shivering/having to use electric portable heaters or whatever, we burn wood/coal and the children are warm. It's lucious.

The CPSC (consumer product safety commission) wants to ban gas stoves in the USA because of the well-documented link with asthma in children. Unfortunately Biden will not be able to get it through Congress so it won’t happen.

I can't afford a ground source heat pump and as far as I understand they still need electricity? As do the air source ones too?

@Everyonehasavoice I think you meant to tag @daisyjgrey

yes heat pump. Ours is being installed this spring.

We always get praised for the quality of our soot as well, it shows the quality of the wood you use.

I’m in what would be called an ‘urban area’. It’s still cheaper for us to use a wood burner than gas, even more so now.

We don’t need that much space to store wood, less space than the shed at the back if the garden because we don’t store the wood to leave it to season. We have wood delivered about twice a year at £70 each delivery. We hardly have the gas heating on.

Im pretty sure I’d be spending more than £150 a year Wo the wood burner.

I've had a few heating engineers in recently as the 25 year old gas boiler is very much on its last legs, so looking to get a new one installed before those get banned.

I was interested in whether it was worth getting one that can run on hydrogen mix as well as gas just to future proof a bit.

Discussed heat pumps with all of them and there was a lot of laughter and eye rolling. You need a considerable amount of space for all the tanks, and pipes need to be replaced with larger bore and larger radiators.

We have no ceilings in a lot of rooms - just the floorboards of the rooms above. There is zero insulation, and to keep the house dry and safe from damp it's really important to have good ventilation. Heat pumps need nigh on hermetically sealed boxes to work efficiently. There is no way that one could ever be installed into our property - it wouldn't work, there is nowhere externally to sit the pump and the Conservation Officer would have a fit.

Good news that you were allowed to put in the vents! Mine seems to do that all by itself - I can see daylight through the walls in huge numbers of places at certain times of year. Upside is that we have no damp issues except in the cellar.

I think it's situation specific. We live on an olive plantation, the trees need topping every year to keep the olives reachable. This gives us enough wood for heat in winter. We are about three years ahead at the minute, so what we burn is well seasoned. Our neighbours are a mile away. It's not going to work like that in central London though.

We looked into these, not only is our house not suitable, and obviously theres no way we could afford it, prices were looking at about 25k!!

But the whole radiator system would need to change, the radiators need to be a lot bigger and the ones we have dont really heat the home properly really, hence we back up with our stove. We live in a small town, about half mile from the sea.

Yes of course they need electricity but depending on how you source your electricity this can be by 100% renewable non polluting means.
ours will be mostly powered by solar on the roof.
admit they are not cheap. But there are alternatives out there which will become more mainstream in the next few years.

I'm amused by people assuming it's to do with the cost of living.
The people I know who've had one put in have paid far more to have one installed (like having to have a chimney added to the house!) than they'll ever save on electricity.
And then they buy their wood in too, which is not cheap.

I think it's literally a fashion. They'll go out again, and then half the people who had it done will spend more money taken them out and installing something else.

I love a wood fire, but I don't think I'd actually want one though.

Because if I listen to the news, every single thing I do is contributing to my death, which, ultimately is inevitable anyway!!

And, this year, because of the cost of gas - I'll have heated my home for the winter for under £400 compared to friends who have paid £300 a month.

@StillWantingADog but one of the reasons I need the wood burner is because I have disabilities and can't get cold

I am looking at installing solar panels on the next year or two but I don't think I'll be able to afford a heat pump at the same time.

That’s interesting. Do you have a link to the studies? Everything I’ve read on particulates talks about them in the round, whether from diesel, wood or brakes and tires.

Oh shut up. I don’t drive and very rarely fly. My wood burner is a source of great pleasure and m not giving it up.

I had a chimney and fireplace that didn't need lined and already had a hearth and chimney pot. All I had to do was get the stove and some sort of baffle thing fitted. I can't remember - the installer did it but I remember that I didn't even need a liner.

Ok then.

In a nutshell.

People see wood burning as a pleasure and don’t want to give it up. Regardless of the health risks. For them or others.

I wouldn't advise anyone to get one

They're messy, inefficient, PITA

Yes same here, we hve some wood stores on the porch and we have had some free wood which will last us about 3 years and that can sit and season in those. But even though delivered seasoned wood is more expensive than it used to be, its still much cheaper than our fuel bills.

@ReedRite. If I could remember where I read it I would have looked it up for you, but I can't remember whether I read it in a printed publication or an online one now. It was probably about 5 years ago.