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?

Not all homes are modern and central heating just doesn’t work well in a house like mine, it can even add to the problem.

i don’t understand why other people claim they have a right to not have wood burners b in their area but i don’t have a right to a dry, warm, mold free house 🤷🏼‍♀️. I’ve tried EVERYTHING to get the mold down and had private companies come in and they suggest a log burner. So what am I supposed to do?

Unless you live somewhere rural with no neighbours don't get a log burning.

We have a neighbours with one and as soon as they have them on all then other neighbours have to close their windows as the smell is horrid.

They are just like the old coal fires, polluting the air. Horrid to live next door to.

We were all for it until we got one - urban area- about 12 years ago

a lot of hassle and ultimately gave me a headache almost every time we put it on so we stopped using it

i’ve since educated myself on why they really arent’t environmentally friendly at all. In a rural area they might be the best choice

we’ve since moved and had an electric heat pump installed and are warm all the time with low-ish bills.

Unless you live very rurally with unreliable gas or electricity, please don't do this!

We got one 11 years ago and it was a waste of money. Because once we did some actual proper research into the health impacts, we couldn't use it in good faith - especially with our children in the house. There is simply no argument against the science I'm afraid, despite what the shouty PP's might tell you. Save your money and your health (and the NHS!)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/23/wood-burners-linked-to-2500-deaths-a-year-in-the-uk-analysis-finds

https://www.ersnet.org/news-and-features/news/indoor-wood-burners-linked-to-a-decline-in-lung-function/

https://www.asthmaandlung.org.uk/media/press-releases/air-quality-worry-over-half-people-wales-many-dont-see-wood-burning-danger-3

Yep old fisherman's cottage here - built in 1850. We have insulated, changed windows etc. We do open windows daily but yep the dry heat definitely helps in Winter.

Houses of this age were built to have air flow etc.
They are not cheap to install or buy but ours can heat the whole house in a matter of hours.
We live semi rural (houses below us fields behind us) and no problems. All the 1800 houses around here use fires or wood burners. Given the length and frequency of power cuts we get its also sensible!

But the OP isn’t saying she has a mouldy house, so this has nothing to do with her decision? Just because you have mould doesn't mean other posters can't answer her original question?

@GreenGodiva its not about your case .
It's a very small minority of homes that are either of old construction or so rural that power cuts, etc means a wood burner is the least worst option.

The problem is the majority of log burners are in 20th or 21st century houses that have no practical need, only a lifestyle choice, in built up areas where they cause serious pollution TO THE COMMUNITY never mind the owner.

There is no such thing as an eco friendly stove. Only people trying to sell you a stove make this claim.

I love our log burner. We just use wood that we always have from pruning trees in our garden year round.

So that’s a yes then. And you don’t feel all that stuff impacts anyone else.

okdoke.

I love real fires, so much, but with the new data come to light I wouldn't be getting one unless I was really, properly, rural, and even then I would want other options for some of the time.

I live in Kathmandu atm and Nepal has kind of ruined fires for me. A lot of people are reliant on them in places around the country and when you see what it's like when you have to have a fire burning day in day out for heat and to cook, and you've been in places where everyone has to do it and the air is full of smoke from it, it makes them far less appealing. Solid fuel pollution is a massive problem even in KTM and along with traffic and brick kilns is a huge contributor to the poor air quality here. It shortens lives. As soon as the weather starts to turn colder and people need to use the fires more the air starts getting you in your throat and nose and chest and giving you headaches. When I see what it's like when large numbers of people have to do it it really makes me feel like it's less okay for individual households to do it just because it's lovely.

Women all round the world who have to spend time cooking over open fires indoors and inhale fine particulate matter suffer vastly increased health problems and early mortality from it. Not really relevant to your stove OP I guess but I do think it's interesting that it's so bad for you. The guardian had an article saying that using your woodturner even just a few times a year has a health impact. And one a few days ago debunking the idea of "eco" stoves.

That said I might have one if I was properly in the countryside but I wouldn't use it daily, only for backup. I don't agree with them in semi-rural areas. Like I say I do love fires and all the emotional and historical significance of them but I'm really glad we have other options in the modern era. I want a ground-source heat pump one day.

I remember my Granny telling me the difference when she was young and the clean air act came in, she said you could see the difference in Leeds, there was this fog over the city that just gradually disappeared.

Seems like a shame to put toxins in your home when you don't have to.

I remember that when I lived in Ireland. We all burnt peat back then, only a few houses in a row but when the weather was damp the air outside was just awful. I do miss peat fires though I know I shouldn't.

I do understand the nostalgia - I love a Class 37 locomotive and proper diesel buses, but I do understand how unhealthy they ard too. Where I live there are actually houses in semi-built up areas which only have solid fuel (aka coal) based heating systems (fire with back boiler and radiators).

....and to force others not in your home to breathe it in too.

What is your point ?

Most reasonable people seek to limit the harm they cause to others

… or are you suggesting we all do what we want and fuck everybody else ?

I do think there is a case to be made for using pellet stoves using pellets made from industrial waste wood that would otherwise be incinerated and the energy lost.

Get a screw fed pellet burner with a heat exchanger double flue so the air to feed the burner comes from outside rather than inside.

I guess for OP it comes down to whether they live in a smoke control area or not. If they do, its probably a non starter.

A lot of other forms of heating harms people, it's just displaced to other countries or communities.

I agree, a little extra heat to supplement main heating only. Plus I found the smell offputting.

There are stunning electrical ones available now. Look for the Dimplex Optimyst electric fires. They even mimic the cackling of logs and they use water vapour to create realistic smoke from the realistic flames inside the glass fronted fire. About as realistic as you can get. Plus no pollution for you or your neighbours and way more environmentally friendly than a woodburner. They are most definitely NOT environmentally friendly. https://www.communitiesagainstwoodsmoke.com/climate/

This is an excellent point.

I would actually go further and say that every form of heating will harm some community. People can forget that renewables need steel, copper and rare earths, the extraction of which involve dirty and dangerous things.

I guess we just do what we can to minimise the harm caused.

To my mind, with domestic log burning there is no real possibility of doing this as the pollution cannot be contained.

This is quite unlike burning in a power station where particulate matter can be removed from the exhaust and the process made more efficient.

Excellent - great bit of critical thinking there. I don't need to say anything else to justify my stance on logburners. Carry on in your selfishness in damaging the health of your neighbours.

We have a wood burner and live rurally but will miss it when I move. Over the years I have used wood (from trees felled on my land) smokeless coal, briquettes and wood pellets. If you are more suburban id look at wood pellets apposed to actual wood. Around where I am its about £150 for a large trailer of hard wood. Do not be conned with light wood, pine etc as it burns ridiculously quickly.

Will say though, one upside (and especially being rural and no mains gas) when we have a power cut and stove is on it heats a stove top kettle pretty quick lol

I hate them.

my neighbour installed one two years ago and loves it. he goes foraging for wood so eulogises about free heating etc.. However the impact on our house has not been good.

we live upwind and in the winter we can’t open windows or doors, or hang washing out or everything stinks of woodsmoke. Even just opening the door to let the dog out brings a breath of smoke with it.

i would never have one for that reason. And I don’t think anyone else should either.