Another neigbour getting a wood burner

[JoSFry]

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

I dislike them , they trigger my asthma.
We live semi rurally in a housing development of new homes and nearby neighbours put one in 😭
They are energy efficient new homes with air source heat pumps for gods sake 😭

No I didn’t but a friend of mine did.

And how do you think electric is generated? Usually by burning gas or coal,very little of the UK's power is green,including electricity.

I grew up with no central heating - only a cooking range and open fires. Central heating is ok but there's nothing quite like a real fire.

One government was talking about banning them, but probably not now. They are unpleasant though. 🤷‍♀️

In the UK we don't use coal any more to generate electricity. That ended a couple of years ago.

About 50% of our electricity is generated from renewables, about 30% of it from wind.

Then it depends how you characterise stuff like nuclear. Which people claim is "zero emission".

If you look at the primary energy mix (of which electricity is only about 20%) we still use an awful lot of gas though, mainly for heating and also oil for transport.

Gas though is looked on as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel.

We are looking to scale down electricity production from biomass.

Problem is, a 'real fire' generally doesn't heat up the whole house. It only heats up the room it's in...

Also, when you're in a 12' x 13' living room with a wood burner in it, it's insanely hot. I hate being too hot, and couldn't stand the temperatures that a 'real fire' brings.

Exactly.

Electricity needs to be much cheaper—around a third of its current cost—to make wood burners unnecessary. Government schemes are also needed to ensure that all homes can rely on electric heating safely and consistently.

Electricity networks and systems are a mess. Climate and other natural events constantly disrupt them, as do accidents and other problems.

Electricity is still not a 100% reliable source of warmth.

I can’t help looking at people who condemn wood burners with such disdain and thinking that they must lead very privileged lives, with the resources and circumstances to manage without them. Yet they still seem to want to feel morally superior by criticising those who rely on wood burners for free or inexpensive warmth to maintain a decent quality of life during cold days and nights.

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, whose 9 year old DD,'s death certificate was the first to have air pollution listed as a cause of death, is getting a lot of publicity. She's been heavily campaigning and it looks like the debate will reach parliament. The statics on air pollution deaths and lung diseases caused by poor air are appalling. We need to give wood burners out on council estates, so they become undesirable.

If you put a wood burner in very well insulated property in a densely populated area you may well be a massive twat.
If you burn stuff you shouldn't and/or don't get your chimney swept annually - same.
BUT
If you live rurally/semi rurally and/or in a poorly insulated property and/or don't have other options and/or only burn responsibly etc then fine, surely?

Pretty much.

A good start would be to ban them in smoke control zones. Or alternatively they could insist that particulate filters must be fitted in smoke control zones and they should be licenced.

IMO you shouldn't be allowed to pump crap out into the environment from them. In the same way as if you do it with a car it will be taken off the road via the MOT.

If filters were mandatory in smoke control zones then it would probably be a lot easier to police than the current methods, as it is probably far easier to establish whether a filter is fitted than whether something is causing excessive pollution.

My new stove is now in place - it has a catalytic combustor which massively reduces particulates while increasing efficiency.

Looking forward to watching my elec bill go from its current $450-500 a month to something more manageable, and reduce my oil use to as little as possible, without freezing my arse off in a Maine winter.

Hmmm so a 4 to 5 kW roof top domestic solar would cost around £7k compared to £12k for a ground mounted.
I would also need to get planning permission which is not going to be allowed in the curtilage of a Grade 2 listed building.

And lastly when I need it most, it's not really going to help me in winter is it? A 4kW solar system will produce 20 kWh per day in summer (equivalent to a 2kW fan heater running for 10 hours) whereas in winter the same solar system would only produce 4kWh (or a fan heater running for 2 hours). Except I don't need a fan heater running for 10 hours in middle of summer!

And that assumes I'm not using electricity for anything else.

So when I most need heat in winter a 4kW solar can heat a room for at best 2 hours.

Whereas a log burner with free wood can heat two rooms - one with wood burner and room above, (if I could install double glazing it would be much more) for 24 hours at zero cost.

Dont get me wrong I would love to avoid lugging lots of heavy logs around, emptying the ash and having to light a fire but to get the same heat from electricity or gas is simply unaffordable.

Same here.

I wouldn't want to be totally at the mercy of the electricity grid for heating.

A good stove, properly installed with correctly insulated flu, burning dry untreated firewood really shouldnt be pumping out particulates. Cooking, scented candles, etc are also bad!

Coal is shocking for the environment - round our way, older council houses STILL have coal-fired boilers (attached to multifuel stove), and that absolutely does trigger my asthma.Oil ch is just eyewateringly expensive now, and upgrading to triple glazing, insulating solid walls, etc for an ashp isnt sonething many families can afford to do. Saying "ban them all!" isnt workable. I do think new installations should need planning permission.

I feel your pain. They are lovely and I wish I could have one but I'm very asthmatic. Our street gets very smokey and I sometimes need to use my inhaler when I get in from walking the dog. I think they're less of a problem in the countryside where it's not as built-up.

I'm another who really struggles with my asthma with them- if I can smell it, I need to use my inhaler. We got a vented gas fire and really like it- but I think they are seen as old fashioned these days

Same and fortunately we’re surrounded by woodland so have so far picked up wood that’s fallen and lain for a while. If we need to buy wood, we’ll use the local country park’s stocks which they season thoroughly before selling. I have no neighbours to harass, but everyone in the valley burns everything and a farmer friend says you have to given the lack of access to a waste recycling centre. I am deconstructing a massive bonfire left by the previous owner and using the wood which has been there for some time. I refuse to se5 fire to it in case there are animals in there.

What a snob you are!

I grew up in a 500 year old cottage with no central heating but two wood burners. I always loved them and love an open fire.
My son has mild asthma and when we stayed with my parents with the burner I could hear him wheezing in his sleep. It really was eye opening because they have a modern burner but smoke still gets into the house when you open the doors to put in wood, however careful you are. I’d never have one now.
i can understand people in the U.K. having them though because electricity is so incredibly expensive.

I will say you don't need to have some super insulated, triple-glazed home to run a heat pump, we've got one in an admittedly modernish house but our windows are definitely past their best and a bit drafty.
We replaced crappy storage heaters and it's saved us a fortune and the house is comfortable now.

I also have a fake one, I love it.

do you have cavity wall insulation?

No, an air gap. There is insulation in the timber frame.

Thanks

ive got single solid wall, so looking for that set up