Wood burner - talk to me!

[Notjustabrunette]

I’d like to cut down on the amount of gas we use and was thinking about install a wood burner. We have a fire place with a gas fire currently. And central heating. Was thinking on taking out the gas fire and replacing with a wood burner. Has anyone done this, how much did it cost and are you happy with it?

We’ve currently got open fires and oil central heating and are putting in woodburners. We have our own woodland so free fuel. My dh has bought chainsaw and log splitter and we have already got wood that’s been seasoned for more than a year. Should be ready to use by next autumn. We’ll continue to burn coal till then as we are pretty limited on options!
(We’ve had stoves before and they don’t have any effect on ds asthma - the key is only burning properly seasoned wood)
Burning your own wood is considered carbon neutral as well

My MIL has 2 and loves it in winter. 1 room is close to the back door and easy to cart wood in and ash out. The other one is through the kitchen and dining room so a pain to carry it back and forth. Another issue can be once you bring the logs inside a warm house, all manner of bugs living on them suddenly wake up and move into your home!

We are renovating and got quotes from 2 companies for a flue on a 2 story house, SE England. This is a flue to go inside, up through another room then out the roof- not up an external wall. Both quotes were between £2700-£2900! Thats just the flue- not the actual wood burner!

Love mine. You can’t smell smoke outside when it’s burning as it’s very efficient. I work from home in the frozen north and don’t put the heating on during the day. I sit beside the woodburner and burn one log at a time. It’s definitely cheaper than the heating. And very very easy to light.

I had one put in when doing up an old mid terraced house after living through power cuts in my old house. I have gas living flame in one room, electric underfloor in kitchen and bathroom and logburner. Covered all eventualities! I can't stand being cold and I like the reassurance of knowing I can be warm or heat some water on the top if ever the power goes out. I love my logburner but don't use it daily, only if very cold as it gets too hot. You only have to empty the ashes about every 10 fires, easy to light takes seconds and it is a defra clean burn so better for the environment. I find Hotties which are prefabricated logs burn for a long time and are quite economical although proper logs look prettier and you need to get the fire going with real wood before putting them on. I've used less than £50 worth this winter. I'd suggest you take your daughter to a fire shop and find out how it affects her, I've found I cannot burn coal/smokeless fuel as that affects me especially on an open fire but I seem to be OK with wood.

We have one and its the best thing we ever did. OH has asthma and I have problems with my throat but neither of us noticed any deterioration when we got it or use it. Its on now in fact. It gets too hot if anything

Wood isnt cheap but to be honest I prefer the warmth of that and it being cold upstairs than having the heating on.

I cant smell anything outside when ours is on but when the neighbours have their open fire going you can smell it.

Please read up properly on woodburners before installing one - and not just the info from manufacturers. Woodburners are the next dieselgate. Imagine how you'd feel about letting your kids sit in a living room where people chain smoked every night because thats the equivalent for woodburners.

There are peer reviewed articles showing how bad even the most eco burners are. They're one of the largest sources of micro particle pollutants and the amounts are growing. Every time you open the door to refuel you flood your own home with dangerous particulate matter. Please do not install woodburners, and especially not if you have a child with asthma.

I've attached a link to a recent study in case helpful:

twitter.com/rcrohit7/status/1336250198809604096?s=20&t=E0Enqf_sSV7b7eXn2Y-vYQ

Terrible for local air quality, both inside and outside the house. www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/01/avoid-using-wood-burning-stoves-if-possible-warn-health-experts

Yes, we did it 12 years ago. We replaced a coal-effect gas fire with a log burner and my only regret is that we didn't do it 20 years previously instead of getting the gas fire!
We had to make changes to the fireplace and install a flexible metal flue. In total, I think we paid about £4k - £5k, including the log burner itself, which was about £1k.

But, we're fortunate that we have no need to pay for logs, so all our heating from the log burner is at zero cost (apart from the occasional spare part and an annual visit from the chimney sweep.)
We have a large garden with multiple wood stores, so we can rotate between stores each year to ensure that we only use well seasoned logs. We keep about 4 or 5 years worth of logs, approximately, in our stores.

With rising gas prices I'm glad we have one, we have a free supply of wood and lots of room to store 3 years worth, but it’s DH job to source wood, cut it up, clean and light it, I wouldn’t be able to cope with it, but it is lovely to have a warm room that isn’t costing a fortune.

I wouldn't pay attention to the supposed negative indoor attributes - particulate emissions etc. If you are a capable human you can easily operate a stove in such a way that you avoid filling the room with smoke/particulates. It's absolutely not comparable to passive smoking...

I have a pm2.5 monitor - there is absolutely nothing detected in the room while an open fire/stove is used, unless I do something deliberate like pull smouldering wood out of the fire and let the smoke waft about at the monitor.

Lighting it isnt tricky at all, its just a question of some kindling, a firelighter and some more wood on top and like others we sometimes use briquettes or even coffee logs

Do you get blackening around the stove?

Not at all no. I suppose you might with coal perhaps. Our walls around the stove are yellow (paint) and they're not discoloured at all

I have one but hardly ever use

You need wood, kindling etc

It's messy

Sometimes takes a while to get going

A bag of logs lasts two or three fires?

We’ve got 2. One was here when we moved in and old and I’ll probably replace with a more eco one next year. We only burn kiln dried wood. The newer one isn’t messy, it burns to practically nothing. The older one is messier.

We are north west, big old house. They keep us warm.

We use a lot of electricity, we are thinking of investing in a solar system, with battery back up we have been quoted for two battery’s, one quote so far £10k.

We did exactly this. As long as you've got a working chimney. It cost just shy of 3k to but it and get it all installed

We buy loges in bulk, I think it costs about £90 a tonne these days and it's a cross between hard and soft wood. A tonne will last us a good few months of using it every day. We have an open plan house and it will heat most of the house, I reckon, the first year we had it installed it reduced my gas bill by £500, but we probably spent £250 on logs. However with gas prices going up we'll be saving a lot more

One thing I will say if your getting one also buy a carbon monoxide detector.

@Inthestillofthenight any installation should include a monoxide detector and fitment, it's a legal requirement

Love my log burner. I buy wood by the cubic meter at £85 a meter. Need about 1.5 cubic meters a year and we have the stove on most evenings and weekends when it’s cold enough to need it. No issue with smoke, in the room. I certainly can’t notice any smell or particles inside, admit I don’t have asthma. Any method of heating your house will have some impact on the environment so I don’t lose sleep over it. Flicking the switch to put central heating on is not carbon neutral. I only burn seasoned wood and also get a couple of bags of smokeless fuel a year. I can’t smell it when I’m outside. Massive Victorian house with very high chimney so guess that helps. We made sure we got a stove which was rated high enough to use in smokeless areas even though we didn’t need that level.

I am so glad I have 2 woodburners, I barely use them as I live in a modern build, but just knowing I can heat my home and cook food if We have power shortages makes me feel very secure, also they look gorgeous lit or unlit, love them.

And it’s easy to light fires, no hassle. Not messy. The tray needs emptying into the bin a couple of times a week but that’s it.

Yes I dont really understand people who say its messy, what on earth are they doing!

I'm guessing that the people who are saying it's messy are those that have pristine white or pale grey homes with carpets to match, lol!

We live very rurally, with no gas supply and our own supply of wood. We had two installed when we bought the property four years ago and are delighted with both.

Don't think I'd bother if we lived in a more urban environment though....

I have three, two Morsos and a Charnwood, and they’re fantastic. We live in an old and cold house where central heating is largely ineffective.

They cost about £2000 each, and installation the same again.

Spend about £1000 a year on coal and wood.