Talk to me about stoves - gas or wood burning?

[ilovewinterpansies]

Just that really.

Have an empty fireplace so am starting from scratch. Love the stove look and practicalities - not keen on open gas fires or glass fronted.

So stoves...pros and cons of gas vs wood burner?

Some areas are planning on banning them.

We have two wood burners in our house, bloody love them. They are more work, obviously. You need somewhere to store logs, you've got to bring the logs in and empty ash out (not very often though). You get woodsmoke smell in the air (mostly outside rather than inside). You get the lovely crackle and pop of a real fire. It's enormously satisfying to get a good fire going (only me and DS are any good at it in our house ), it's cosy and comforting and sort of primeval.

if yoiu are generating smoky smells something is wrong - wrong wood or usually wet wood (never buy from a garage)

logburner needs proper installer and annual sweep visit. open fire is only 20% efficent and should not be used unless you really hate the next generation.

I have a multi fuel burner so logs and smokeless fuel (looks like coal). I love it, much nicer than a gas one imho. I buy £180 of logs a year and about £30 worth of fuel. We have it on most evenings and at the weekend. Dh was reluctant and wanted gas at first but loves it now and is always stoking it up, etc. Ash falls in a tray which slides out, walk to bin and tip out. One min job. Needs no cleaning.

Smoky smells is usually indicative of a chimney that needs cleaning! Acrid smells definitely!

We have a wood burner, it’s our primary heat source. We love it, November- March it’s burning 24/7. Great in a power cut. Get one with a flat top so you can cook on it.

We clean it every 4 weeks in the winter, we have a brush it’s not difficult.

We get through 5-7 chords of wood per burning season (5 or 6 trees 8” diameter) we cut the trees and process the logs ourselves.

DH has gone from never having used a chainsaw 5 years ago to being a reasonable lumberjack!

We've got a gas fire which looks like a log burner (came with the house we bought). I expect it doesn't kick out as much heat as a log burner but you still get that cosy feel and you don't have to traipse outside in the cold and wet to bring logs etc in. Obviously you won't get the lovely smells, crackling noises you would get with a log burner.

I would not be surprised if they moved to legislate against log burners being used in built up areas at some point in the future due to the particulate pollution they can generate. Something to consider.

If I lived rurally I would consider one but in an urban area probably not for that reason.

Thanks all so much for your comments.

@NicoAndTheNiners so is yours a kind of hybrid between gas and a wood burner?

I'm so confused by the choice out there. I live in a fairly urban area and whilst I'd love a wood burning stove, I (very reluctantly!!!) don't think it would suit our house and lifestyle like a gas stove would (nowhere to store logs, we work out of the home for most of the week etc)

No it doesn't do gas. It does logs and modern coal rather than just logs. Coal burns slower and longer so is good for weekends.

i have a real fire and a 16ft lounge and kicks out some heat,sometimes needing to open doors to cool down

daily Mail link alert about banning wet wood

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5755383/New-clean-air-revolution-Crackdown-wood-burning-stoves-diesels-toxic-tyre-particles.html

A modern clean burn stove using kiln dried logs is likely to be ok.

I hesitated as I often font get home till 7 or later and only have a small back yard to store wood. Bloody love it, get it started when I get home and then mak3 tea. It’s really easy to light and clean. Warms the room up lovely and the rest of the house feels warmer. It’s a v modern looking one and suits the house.

We live in a rural area and have a log burner -12 KW clearview - the best type in my view. We get through about 7 tons of logs - use the oil fired CH as background. Plenty of wood on our land but a years supply loosely stored takes up and 8*10 shed 6 ' high. We also have a gas stove and are thinking of a real fire lookalike propane stove. I love tthe logs but the logging takes time and effort as you get older - not to mention 'plant'.
The gas stove is simple and backup use costs about £60 per annum.
The propane proposal to take over fro the underfloor oil fired ch would probably cost £180 per year. We have an electric aga which costs £5 per day to run so its on for as short a time as poss.
Starting from scratch, I would probably go propane boilers and gas costs less than oil - with a seperate propane fire. Hopefully some pointers.

I have a wood burner which I love. Unless it’s very cold it can heat the whole house.

It was quite expensive ( about £1500 I think) with the flue liner, but it cut £300 off my gas bill over the two winters. I have a lot of trees so I cut prunings all year and dry them which keeps the smoke to a minimum, and means most of my wood is free.

Op, nico meant a duel fuel burner I think, where you can use both coal and/ or wood.

In England if you instal over 5KW stove you have to have a vent in your external wall. The vent will be draughty and might counteract the heat, so simplest thing is to instal up to 5kw. It has to be installed by a regulated installer (a bit like gas safe) and must be swept annually or your house insurance could be affected. Don't buy one made with cheap Chinese steel, it will warp with the heat. There are regs about the size you can fit depending on size of chimney opening and this influences the size of your hearth which must be raised by a certain height. Best thing is to get a few quotes. We have a wood burner and love it. It has a wee oven on the top for cooking.
chillipenguin.co.uk/

Also you can buy a self propelling fan for the top that directs the heat into the room. Again, don't buy the cheapest!

Have you considered a gas stove like this: www.yeomanstoves.co.uk/stove/cl5-gas-stove/

If you don't have a chimney you can get a balanced flue version which can vent straight through an outside wall. Balanced flue gas fires are extremely efficient and give out a lot of heat (unlike the open gas fires which look pretty but aren't nearly as hot).

With all the questions being raised about solid fuel and wood burning stoves and pollution etc we are going to play safe (and lazy) and get a gas stove, though we are probably going for a contemporary version rather than wood burning look alike.

We've got an inset woodburner. I love it. You get such an intense heat from it, we have our heating on for an hour or so to warm the house then we all congregate in the living room. It's so cosy, I can't imagine not having one. We buy one or two loads of logs a year and have taken two trees out of our garden over the last few years so that's helped too. We barely get any ash as it's a clean burning system. I empty the ash about once a fortnight at most. Gas wasn't an option as we are on bulk LPG and it costs a small bloody fortune!