Another neigbour getting a wood burner

[JoSFry]

Come on …. When will people wake up to the pollution these things cause!

We’ve just had our open fire replaced with a multifuel stove. I absolutely love it already. We are very rural. The price of oil is astronomical thanks to the multi billionaire world leaders warring, and our electricity bills were huge and unaffordable last year. I’m happy to mostly heat one room and be warm. I’m hoping this will help us afford to get through winter.

Anyone who is letting smoke into the room by stoking the fire - turn the air vent up for a few seconds before opening the door (and not, as DH insists on doing, at the same time) and wait until the fire glows hotter and embers burst into flame. The increased air flow carries the smoke up the chimney instead of out the door. I can have a fire going all evening with no hint of smoke in the room.

Rural hamlet here. Everyone has a fire or logburner and its needed.

They have lung cancer wow that's awful and incredibly unlucky almost unbelievable in fact

You don't have to use a woodbiurner to get lung cancer. Cancer and dementia are the (bad)luck of the draw and nothing to do with woodburners. As you say, quite unbelievable.

Had one for years. I have never paid for wood as I was a professional gardener and burnt a lot of stuff that would have rotted away and released its carbon anyway as it would be considered too thin for commercial use.

I season wood for 3 years so its perfectly dry

I take waste that friends, neighbours and small businesses would have to pay to be removed. Again rotting and releasing carbon

I also take wood washed ashore and use that, tidying part of the beaches

I live in a semi rural area and there are many houses with them

We love ours. It is a modern one that is high efficiency and exceeds EU eco standards. With the cost of electricity and oil skyrocketing at the moment, we’re relieved that we can heat our home affordability (we have free access to wood).

Same. If you're smokying up the room, you're doing it wrong.

Whilst you don't have to have a woodturner to get cancer, it can increase the risk of both cancer and cognitive decline. Pollution is a cause of dementia and lung cancer, amongst other illnesses and woodburners are a form of pollution.

And yet my air purifier doesn't even register when mine is on.

Something autumnal about a coal or wood fire. Personally I like the smell although i don't have one

Thats great, as your risk will not be higher then. I remember an aged neighbour who smoked with a filter and she didn't get cancer or dementia and died at 98

I’ve got a fake electric one 🤣

they are amazing. I’m spending pennies on electric due to having solar and 8 batteries as well.

Yes - wood burners are very much becoming indicators of poverty aren't they.

You'll be all set if your power ever goes out!

I’m all electric and have no fear. I have 2 electric cars that will provide ample power in the event of a power cut

For those saying wood burners should be banned or not used by owners etc can you all please suggest how I can keep my home warm this winter whilst we are in a COL crisis and energy companies are loading up the bills each year?

We have had our log burner for years, our logs are free, dh collects them himself and splits them himself, (we are semi rural and he has lots of farmer and tree surgeon friends). We currently have approx two years worth of seasoned logs to burn so apart from the initial cost of the log burner which was years ago and DH's manual labour preparing the logs, it costs next to nothing to heat the majority of our downstairs during the colder months of the year.

For various reasons we are currently living on one wage atm and with the extortionate gas and electricity bills the UK are seeing right now for us personally, a log burner is the most affordable way for our household to keep warm and stops our home from becoming damp which we all know is far from ideal for health.

Contrary to many people on this forum, the majority of people in the UK are not on 6 figure salaries, can't afford to install expensive solar panels, heat pumps or simply turn up our heating when we are a bit nippy, without financial consequence. I neither love nor hate our log burner, it's a means to keep the family warm and the cheapest option for us. It's not an ornamental frivolity, it's a must.

But hey! this is MN isn't it? The place where people appear to have zero concept of the other halves struggles in life.

Solar panels and heat pumps really don't make economic sense together.
So a a standard 4kW solar panel system would produce around 20 kWh per day in the summer, whereas in the winter it would be producing 2 to 4 kWh (because it's less sunny).

Conversely you most need a heat pump in the winter, but in the winter the heat pump consumes a lot more electricity (because it's cold outside) at around 30 kWh per day. Compared to summer when it's only really being used for hot water it would only use 2 to 3 kWh.

So when you most need your heat pump in winter, your solar panels will contribute just under 10% of the heat pump's electricity, the rest you will be buying from your electricity supplier.

A home battery won't help either as they store about 2 hours worth of solar energy and so are used to shift daytime electricity production to nighttime electricity consumption. They don't store from summer to winter.

That said in terms of efficiency heat pumps are incredibly efficient compared to gas boilers with 1 kWh of electricity producing 3 kWh of heat, compared to say a gas boiler where 1 kWh of gas produces 0.9 kWh of heat.

However if you have access to free wood then a log burner is clearly the cheapest. Plus you get warm twice - once from chopping and lugging the logs around and secondly from burning it😀!

Ahh but in the world of "be kind" Mumsnet my ailment of asthma or simply not liking the smell is more important than you, your husband and children suffering the health effects of a cold and damp house over winter.

Of course the stock answer will be "well the Government should do something about it then". Except they won't because a) they don't like people living in the country as they are all "fox hunting land gentry rich poshos"
b) the government hasn't got any money anyway.

depends which type of heat pump you have - air or ground, the latter is much more expensive but far more efficient

So when you most need your heat pump in winter, your solar panels will contribute just under 10% of the heat pump's electricity, the rest you will be buying from your electricity supplier.

this figure is far lower than the reality of 25 - 35% yes it drops but not as far you you have stated

but solar work better in the cold and rely on daylight not heat so the effeicentcy also rises - giving a better result than 35`5 in many cases

What a disgusting post on several levels.

I've said it's coincidental - it was only the year after they got it installed, so I am not making that link. I'm just saying I'm grateful that (it feels bad to admit it I know) it means it won't be running this year.

I don't think anyone is saying that the big problem here is rural use of woodburners.

It's urban use that is the issue.

Especially as 'they' got it as in both of them such a load of tripe