Wood burning stoves are annoying and OVERRATED and now I've read they cause THREE TIMES more air pollution than road traffic!

[flashbac]

I have one (came with the house) and it's such a high maintenance beast. Wood isn't cheap either. It makes a mess too. So overrated and harmful to the environment.

I'm another who says you're not using yours properly if you can't even go out for an hour without it going out.

We had no central heating last winter whatsoever so our wood burning stove was our only source of heat. DH would light it at 6am and get it going, I'd keep an eye and add more wood if necessary before work and then turn it right down low - it would still be smouldering when I got back from work 4-5 hours later and I'd then open the vents a bit and add another piece of wood and it would fire right back up.

It was a lifesaver for us and I'd not be without it. Homes around here had no heat for a week recently with storm Arwen and we had snow on the ground. Wood burners and alternative fuel sources are essential for many people.

I don't get the "hard to light" issue. I don't have a wood burner but have occasionally rented holiday cottages with them, and lighting them has been really easy provided the wood is put together properly with kindling to get it going.

@Bluntness100 - Hi Bluntness, 15 hours sounds too good. I have only had the wood burner for about a year now, love it. Mine lasts for few hours, 3-4 I think. Would be grateful if you could expand a bit more on how you do it please

I have an open fire and wouldn't give it up for the world.

extremely underrated opinion here. i can't believe the damage people are willing/ignorant too for an aesthetic 🙄🙄🙄🙄

*to it is early

We are just away to fit one, after being left for days with no power and a freezing cold house

We live in rural NE Scotland and want it as a back up heat source to our oil central heating and electric underfloor heating.

Yup there was a report but it was measuring pollution in the room where the burner was because when toy open the door to refuel the opening of the door sucks a small amount of fumes back into the room and as you are obviously close to the burner when you do this end up breathing in those fumes.

If your burner is working properly you shouldn't get through loads of wood. Are you running it with the air vent open all the time?

@ElftonWednesday

I have an open fire and wouldn't give it up for the world.

Really? I gave mine up to avoid lung damage.

"And so bad for the environment."

@HaaaaaveyoumetTed do you mean they're bad for air quality, rather than being bad for the environment?

If you're concerned about the environment I do hope you don't drive, don't fly, don't buy goods shipped from China don't own a smart phone, don't have kids, don't wear cheap fashion and don't eat meat.

If you're concerned about air quality, I live in a rural location and the air smells fresh and clean.

Really? I gave mine up to avoid lung damage

Are you this much fun at parties?

@chocolateorangeinhaler

Yup there was a report but it was measuring pollution in the room where the burner was because when toy open the door to refuel the opening of the door sucks a small amount of fumes back into the room and as you are obviously close to the burner when you do this end up breathing in those fumes.

If your burner is working properly you shouldn't get through loads of wood. Are you running it with the air vent open all the time?

Nope. Vent shut as soon as its going properly.

DD paid us a day visit recently from London. Kept gushing about how wonderfully fresher the air quality is here (woodburner ville).

She lives in 1960s flat building surrounded by others... No wood burners but plenty of diesel-powered bus routes.

@Lockheart

Perhaps, but a lifesaver when the power is out for 5 days and there's snow on the ground as per the Storm Arwen chaos only last month.

When I buy my own property I would not be without a source of heat which does not rely on the national grid and gas pipelines.

This. I'm rural and every year the power goes out for a day or four. Having an independant source of heat/ hot water/ cooking even if it is a pita is invaluable. I dread to think how much damage would have been done to the building (frozen pipes etc.) if we hadn't been able to stay as freezing with a baby.

I voted YABU. We have one and it is a only source of heat. We cook on it too. We don’t have mains electricity, so alternative heating would be difficult.

The wood it burns all comes come from sources within wheelbarrowing distance.

Wood isn't cheap either.

Have you seen what's happened to the wholesale cost of gas and electricity recently?

I have one too (came with the house). I’ve never used it.

I just cannot be arsed.

@ElftonWednesday

Really? I gave mine up to avoid lung damage

Are you this much fun at parties?

This was a thread about woodburners, not like any party I go to

@flashbac

And once I've finally got it going can I pop out for a quick walk? No Can I get cosy in a blanket and not have to get up every time it needs another log? No

You’re doing something wrong if you can’t pop out, or indeed if you need a blanket when it’s lit. We light ours at dusk and burn 3 logs max per evening. We don’t need to put our gas central heating on most evenings unless it’s really really cold. We buy our wood - paying about £150 per year - and our gas bill is about £200 a year. (we cook with electric) We don’t have a bath so don’t waste water, limit our use of plastic as much as possible, and try to be environmentally friendly as much as we can. We also have our burner serviced annually to ensure its working as cleanly and efficiently as possible. The problems are through using old burners that haven’t been serviced, and using unseasoned wood or burning in rubbish in it.

I’d be curious to know how many people who are anti wood burners stood round a blazing bonfire on November 5th, or have BBQs every weekend in summer?

Lol, one log doesn’t burn for 15 hours, it effectively stays hot when the air is closed off and reignites when oxygen hits again.

Have you never seen a bonfire do this? Stoke the ashes, gust of wind and it relights?

Op, if you don’t like it don’t use it.I’m not sure of the point of your thread, get another heating source.

[quote chataway]@Bluntness100 - Hi Bluntness, 15 hours sounds too good. I have only had the wood burner for about a year now, love it. Mine lasts for few hours, 3-4 I think. Would be grateful if you could expand a bit more on how you do it please[/quote]
This video explains how to light a wood burner well.

@Soontobe60
Even in the video he says half hour to an hour log replenishment.

My parents have one and I do love visiting and sitting in the living room when it’s on. They would’ve been lost without with Storm Arwen.
They live in Rural Aberdeenshire. Not connected to “the gas”. They have a septic tank and oil heating. The is expensive and given the house is at least 100 years old, it’s difficult to fully heat despite the wall insulation and new windows they have fitted.
So they tend to light the stove and just mostly use that living room in the winter. They either forage/dry the wood from their own land or buy from local sellers. It’s a new stove, is serviced yearly and has filter things fitted. No neighbours except farmhouses.

I've two in a reasonably large old cottage style house.It's quite hard to heat without them and we burn all our own seasoned wood. Living in a very rural area we have issues with power cuts and the stoves are a life saver. If I lived in an urban area I'm not sure I'd bother.

Smoky and hard to light?

Sounds like an installation problem (insufficient draught), or you're not cleaning it and getting it swept regularly. Make sure t's swept, check that your wall vents are open and unobstructed.

If you're buying logs in nets then it will be expensive, and you're unlikely to be getting logs the right size for your fire. You need good, dry logs cut and split to match the size of the grate. If you've a multifuel stove (like the Charnwood Island II someone posted a photo of - good choice!) you need to make sure you have the grate set correctly or the correct grate installed. For smokeless fuel you need an open grate (so the ash can drop through) and for woodburning you need a closed grate (to hold a bed of coals).