To be considering an eco friendly log burner and if I am what are really good alternatives ?

[L0gdt]

I’ve always wanted a log burner and we are finally redoing the lounge so need to make a decision. I’m aware of the environmental draw backs but have seen there are now eco friendly log burners. How good are they environmentally wise? We’d only have it on a couple of times a week during the winter. If it’s still a no no what are the best alternatives- aesthetically and for use. Really not keen on the plastic log look. Not keen on the idea of ethanol either. What could be a focal point alternative?

Chimney fires are not even in the top 5 reasons for house fires in the UK, so they're not a 'huge risk'. They might be a risk, but way down on the risk scale so to say they are a 'huge risk' is nonsense

A stove is a sealed unit, there are no drafts

They dont make everything dirty and need sweeping once a year, not all the time. Im looking at mine now, having been on last night, no dirt round the bottom or on the hearth.

Our air monitor raises no concerns about air quality in the house

Nonsense.

We have wood burners, the defra approved ones, only burn seasoned wood, and have hepa air purifiers in the rooms to ensure no particulate in the air. They are excellent, the only time the air purifier senses particles is when we open the door to put logs in and it immediately increases the fan speed and clears fhe air, although we live semi rurally the smoke from the chimney is very limited pale smoke and you can’t smell it.

I have a wood burner and it’s bloody fantastic, but I live in an urbanisation in Spain, so houses are far apart. 1000 kilos of wood costs me €200 and lasts the winter, and I light the fire every day. The cats love it and it’s very cosy. I don’t notice any issues with air quality. You do need to get a chimney sweep in every year or so to clear out the chimney but otherwise very little maintenance. I much prefer it to central heating and it’s cheaper too (only oil fired central heating where I am, no gas).

Our wood/ multi burning stove chimneys have flue liners installed by HETAS engineers, they are swept once a year and we’ve never had a chimney fire.
its all down to the right installation and servicing.
We did buy a house with a wood burning stove already in place and had it looked at by our HETAS engineer, he immediately condemned it for not meeting the installation safety requirements.

I brought home an air quality monitor from work this week. It was mostly to see if candle burning was as bad as my colleague maintains.

Anyway, I tested it during the day, then in the evening after the wood burner and a big 3 wick candle had been burning for 3 hours. The reading was still in the green.

Our wood burner is Defra approved and we only burn seasoned wood. If you learn how to light them properly, you only need to open the doors maybe twice in an evening and doing that doesn’t release any smoke into the room anyway.

My friend has a bioethanol stove. It’s really nice in her modern room, but it gives off sod all heat.

I can smell them inside my house. There is no safe level.

If you can smell the fires from neighbours then it's very likely that your neighbours have 0 skill in lighting and maintaining a fire. They're probably the kind of people who are chucking logs onto it every 30 mins.

If you manage them well you can have them going low and slow kicking out constant heat but going through very little wood.

What type of area do you live in OP?

This has a big factor in decisions and some areas have air emissions bylaws on wood burners.

We live in NE Scotland our woodburner is a life line as we often get autumn/winter power cuts for days at a time.

You need to use good seasoned hard wood, have space for a covered wood store etc.
I would look at the Norwegian fire manufacturers as they are often better and size the wood burner to your room size and house EPC rating. You don't need a huge kW one for a high EPC and smaller space for instance. Also consider a multifuel rather than solely wood burner as gives more options.

We've got 2 in our house (a Contura and a Clearview), bloody love them. I wouldn't bother though if you're not going to light it very often. They're not cheap to buy (quality) or install correctly.

Yes, me too, sadly.

No idea, but several of them reek.

Ethanol gave me a banging headache and the animals would not stay in the same room as it

Read https://www.mumsforlungs.org/our-campaigns/wood-burning and rethink. It's not at all environmentally friendly and especially not friendly to your neighbours. Only opt for it if you have no choice.

We have an eco wood burner and I both love it and regret it. It's lovely and cosy and let's us keep the heating off for most of the house through winter. However, I hadn't realised how bad they were for air quality (thinking it was an eco wood one and not coal so it would be OK) and I feel bad every time we fire it up, so we're using it less and less. Currently only about once every 2 weeks, so the cost per use is insane, with less enjoyment as it comes with a dose of guilt.

Unless we lived very rurally I wouldn't have another.

Our dogs are currently roasting themselves in front of of our wood burner. They keep getting overcome and moving away, then going back for more.

It’s the second one we’ve installed in this house. Our house is properly ancient and off-grid, we wouldn’t be without it.

We have one. I grew up with open fires, which are much less fuel efficient. We have years worth of ash tree logs if our own that we needed to fell due to ash dieback, so if we weren’t burning the wood it would be rotting and releasing carbon that way. I think it’s a very environmentally friendly way to hear the house.

I’ve got a Charnwood defra approved one and I love it. It’s possibly my favourite thing in the whole house. I only burn seasoned logs and have it swept once a year. Interestingly after reading about the possible pollution issue I bought an air purifier to use - it connects to my phone so I can see what it’s reading in the house. The wood burner has a slight increase in pollution levels when it’s opened to put a log in. What sends it absolutely bonkers is the toaster.

I’ve always loved log burners. Have had a few.

I have asthma and DH has COPD, one of the reasons I dread winter is the impact on our breathing thanks to the log burners. We are caning the inhalers as a result

Incredibly selfish.

Even if you are burning smokeless fuels or seasoned wood they still spew out small particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10).

It may not be poisoning you, but it will poison your neighbours in an urban area.

The PP (e.g. @soupyspoon ) who have mentioned air quality monitors have not explained what their air quality monitor is monitoring

It is difficult to know if people on this thread are plain ignorant or wilfully so.

Selfish? So I’m guessing you don’t drive, fly, grow all your own food then?

Do you live in a built up area? Do you have solar panels or smart meter and time of use tariffs or batteries?
I live very rurally and have a log burner and solid fuel Rayburn. Love the Rayburn, it does the heating and hot water and sometimes the oven gets hot enough to cook. Hate the log burner. Leaks smoke every time time you open the door to fuel it. It’s been looked at apparently it’s fine. Also burns the same amount of wood as the ancient Rayburn who never leaks smokes and does gets so much more from the wood.
The difference is the air controls even though the Rayburn is over 40 are very good, it’s a piece of engineering that log burners are not.

Back to the first two questions. If you answer yes to both of them look at the everhot electric stoves. They even come with a little oven.

Fuck off with your whataboutism, is that the only argument or defence you have? Yes it is selfish. It directly impacts the health of people who live near you. In a built up area it is not the only way to heat a house. Enough with the romantic trendy view of having fire in urban homes, it is not a modern way to heat a home.

these “eco friendly” log burners put myself and my children who are asthmatic in hospital multiple times a year and my son has nearly died several times from such severe reactions. I am allergic highly to the wood smoke not just asthmatic too so end up on a ventilator many times. Please don’t add to the problem and consider your neighbours

I like them and planned on having one one day, but after reading about the health effects I immediately changed my mind.

I live in a 130 year old stone built cottage. I’m having such problems with mold and hoping to open one/both of my chimneys up for a log burner. The damp company I had out said it was condensation desire me opening the windows every single day AND ruining two humidifiers. But they also said these types of houses aren’t built to be heated with a gas boiler, they were meant to be heated with fire. Luckily we live right on the top of a large hill so hoping it won’t pollute anybody as some neighbours have smoke coming from them in winter but never smelled anything. If I decide to go ahead I’ll be going and getting a shark HEPA filter to reduce indoor pollution. And hopefully I’ll reduce the mold too.