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Original poster

Wood burner

96 replies

Notmyyearthisyear · 10/04/2022 16:53

I know that they are not the best thing for the environment but I’m getting increasingly worried about keeping the house warm enough on a single income.
Has anyone had a wood burner recently installed? Can you share any thoughts/ recommendations?
TIA!

OP posts:
MissM2912 · 10/04/2022 16:55

Yes- we have a multi fuel- takes coal and turf too. It is brilliant. We light it every day and only put the central heating on before bed.

NotTheOW · 10/04/2022 16:55

They cost a fortune to have installed

MissM2912 · 10/04/2022 17:00

If it is only one story much easier- provided on the condition of your fireplace

MissM2912 · 10/04/2022 17:00

Sorry chimney

MissM2912 · 10/04/2022 17:03

We actually have two and another fireplace we would love to put one in but would cost about 3k because of the two stories (old house), however one put in last year my husband and father in law could do themselves with a kit, as very straightforward.

Alphabet1spaghetti2 · 10/04/2022 17:11

Wouldn’t be without one. Nice drying heat, comforting to look at, cheaper to use, can also heat a kettle or stewpot on top.
Downsides are the dust and general mess when doing the ash and lugging coal/wood indoors. Although controllable - they do take awhile to cool down if the weather suddenly turns nice like today.

pilates · 10/04/2022 17:22

As long as you burn very dry logs and have chimney swept regularly they are fine, although you can now get eco wood burners. The initial instalment and lining of chimney is pricey but worth it imo.

bellac11 · 10/04/2022 17:26

Wouldnt be without ours, love it. I dont find it messy, ours is a wood burner, not multi fuel.

Pizzadreams · 10/04/2022 17:29

Wood is expensive and for a small one to be properly installed you’re looking at a couple of grand. It’s only the cheap option if you have access to free wood.

purplesequins · 10/04/2022 17:30

unless you have your own source of wood, space to dry it, space to store it, tools to split it etc it's not a cheap option.

jazzandh · 10/04/2022 17:31

Well I would weight up being cold versus the physical bodily damage that a wood burner can do to you.

They will do more harm than good (and I'm not talking about enviromentally).

cushioncovers · 10/04/2022 17:31

How are people saving money? They cost a small fortune to have put in. Genuine question.

Pizzadreams · 10/04/2022 17:33

We have our own wood, so we split it, store it, season it then dry it. It’s a larger double door one and cost four grand to install. But if I was paying for wood then I’d not be choosing this option.

lljkk · 10/04/2022 17:36

They cost a fortune to get installed, most people can't get wood for free. Costs ~£40/year for a sweep, and servicing a stove costs extra. I haven't costed it out, but doubt most people would get cost savings by installing a stove in < 4 years nowadays.

Oh, and you're "supposed" to buy & maintain a CO monitor, too.

I have spent a lot of time lately scavenging & sawing, btw.

On plus side, teen DS has great axe skills now.

FurierTransform · 10/04/2022 17:42

They don't have to cost a fortune to install. If you have a fireplace and good condition chimney you can literally just plonk the burner in place, poke flue a decent length up chimney, and seal the chimney opening.

GottaLoveTheCold · 10/04/2022 17:46

I had a multi fuel stove installed a couple of years ago and I don’t have gas or oil. I haven’t put the electric heating on for months as I don’t need it. We are self sufficient in wood and I do stews on the top. I would say it has saved us a fortune in energy costs and I don’t feel held to ransom by the energy companies. £35 to have it swept once a year and I do use smokeless ovoids to keep it in if we go out sometimes and that costs a little but not as much as the heating.

Willowwarble · 10/04/2022 17:48

If you buy wood this is going to get more expensive as since this year's rules about wood being sold needing to be kiln dried or seasoned a lot of wood is now imported, Russia being one of the key countries.

Alphabet1spaghetti2 · 10/04/2022 17:56

For us - we have a multi fuel burner. So coal for a year is around £440. Kindling is picked up in a carrier bag as we walk the dogs, so free. 2 bed place. No gas or electric heating bill. Cost to install around £1,700 just prior to covid. Replaced an existing multi fuel burner that was more expensive to repair than replace. So used existing flue/chimney. Co2 alarm cost £15 and lasts 10years. It is run October - April/May depending on early spring.
As for health - no detrimental effects. Would be far more detrimental, if we had no heating.
If that helps anyone.

Alphabet1spaghetti2 · 10/04/2022 17:57

Flue sweeping I think has just gone up to £40? Was £30-£35pa

ImplementingTheDennisSystem · 10/04/2022 18:03

I love our woodburner.
We had one in our last home too.
Both times I've had them installed in the summer, when the woodburner installers don't have much work on, so they've given a discount and it's cost approx £1750.
We buy about £120 of wood a year and use it to have fires mainly just at the weekend, from the end of Oct - the end of April.
I find it really clean and easy to use and it really does heat our living room up to a toasty temperature.

TakeYourFinalPosition · 10/04/2022 18:11

@purplesequins

unless you have your own source of wood, space to dry it, space to store it, tools to split it etc it's not a cheap option.
It might depend where you are but we’ve just moved into a house with a rubbish boiler and a load of removed radiators; but two log burners. The log burners are new and we’ve got used to them - I wasn’t a fan environmentally but we don’t have much of a choice until we can get the heating sorted. We’ve had a big skip full of dried wood delivered, from a local supplier who replants, for less than £100. My husband chops it into smaller pieces but it’d be fine as it is, really, it’s precut, and we’re keeping it in the garden.

I’m glad we’ve got it, now energy costs have gone up!

SpidersAreShitheads · 10/04/2022 18:25

Has anyone installed a wood burner without using a chimney? We've been looking at one for the house we're about to move into - it has a chimney but we're completely renovating and I'm not sure that's going to work....I believe that you can get wood burners that use a wall flue?

LuluBlakey1 · 10/04/2022 18:27

We have one and are having another installed. We already have the chimney and fire surround and hearth. Is costing £2900 for work, installation, stove (Eco ready) and paperwork, CO detector.

For me it is about controlling what we spend on energy. We find our other woodburner cosy, warm and much cheaper than gas central heating.

Original poster
Notmyyearthisyear · 10/04/2022 18:39

Thanks so much for everyone who replied, I’m feeling rather optimistic about having one 😊
Had one in the past and loved it, and my dog loved it even more. I just hoped the installation costs hadn’t sky rocketed as everything else has nowadays but it sounds fairly reasonable and I’d definitely have it done in the summer 🤞

OP posts:
DaisyWaldron · 10/04/2022 18:51

I love them, and wanted one for years, but they are so, so polluting and bad for public health that I would wouldn't consider one any more.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/30/home-wood-burning-in-uk-causes-1bn-of-health-costs-a-year-report-says

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