Wood burner: I know this has been done to death, but I'm rural and now conflicted.

[user1471530109]

I've finally got the money together to do some of the many jobs around the house. Moved in 5+ years ago and it's been a hard slog.

I've always planned to add a wood burner. I'm rural but we do have gas in the small village. My boiler froze in the v cold snap before Christmas and I had no other source of heating and it made me convinced the woodburner was going in!

But the money is sat there and I'm not sure it's the right move after all the bad press. Surely they won't ban them in villages and rural areas? Maybe towns and cities? I know the health issues-that obviously worries me too. In the winter, when it's a very still day, the smoke outside from all the wood burners is thick! But I'm guessing most of these are ancient stoves in the many v old houses round here.

I've toyed with a gas stove but I keep thinking that's daft with the gas prices going through the roof.

Any other options? I'm not overly convinced by electric. A wood burner in rural areas the best option?

Tia

I live rurally. Had a multi fuel stove for a few years that is our boiler & hot water. It uses wood or ovoids depending on weather. We don’t have gas, had our supply capped. It’s cheaper but has become way more expensive this last year or two. I don’t believe they will ban them in rural areas. It has been a godsend during power cuts and we have had a fair few. You need to get dry wood from a reputable supplier, plenty of dodgy ones selling wet wood. It shouldn’t smell if dry.

I don't like wood burners, I wouldn't have one in my house and I loathe city people who install them and ruin the air quality where I live (inner city area)

BUT I recognise they do have a use - in rural areas that maybe don't have mains gas or are vulnerable to power cuts or would really struggle in bad weather. I totally see the need in those cases and wouldn't have a go at anyone who felt they needed one for those reasons. That includes you OP.

It's people installing them in built up urban areas that are the problem. It makes sense to have one if gas not available and there is plenty of fresh air.

I'm also conflicted. I can smell the pollution from some around here, and definitely don't want to add to that. But I'm not sure how much of that is caused by those people using the wrong fuel.

That's really helpful, thank you. A neighbour has a business supplying dried wood, so I have a reputable supply.

We do have mains gas which is what's making me pause. But we are prone to power cuts and water supply issues. That cold snap we recorded-15°C!

I was all set. Got quotes and everything (I expect these will have gone up 😞) but all the negativity has really put me off.

I can’t see them banning them in rural areas. I have two and they have been a godsend during power cuts. Keep you warm, you can heat up water/ food.

@user1471530109
Are all the houses around you unmodernised? Around my bit of countryside, most are but a few don’t get their chimneys swept or use green wood. Or worse, burn household refuse in them! We don’t have gas and have a decent supply of wood. We use ours sparingly. Just in the evening and only when is really cold.

I seriously couldn’t live without mine! I don’t know how people on a budget have managed this winter. We’d never have survived without it. It’s been our main source of heat.

We're on the edge of a very small coastal town. I use it when I want to use it, we dont regret getting it at all.

I said on another thread after many posters claimed that they are unhealthy for the interior of the house that we then bought a particulate and air quality monitor. There is no effect on our air quality using it.

We moved rurally last year and got a wood burner installed last month. I love it and feel a bit more secure having it in case our electricity goes off. We don't use it often, but I wouldn't be without it!

I wouldn’t buy a house rurally without one. They are perfect for spring and autumn especially.

I hope they get banned. There has been a spate of them being installed around here (rural) and the pollution from them is awful.

I'm totally rural with no houses next to me and I wouldn't be without mine, I love it and it's kept us warm all winter. If I lived in a city I probably wouldn't have one.

I think the newer ones with dried wood are fine. Love ours.

I don't quite understand the issue. Genuinely don't understand, I mean, not being arsey. Our house had woodburners in when we moved here. We are suburban. I have looked them up (the brand of woodburner) and they are suitable for use in smokeless zones. Does this mean they are still a big pollutant? I understood that buying kiln dried wood and keeping them swept kept emissions down? Would an open fire (the alternative) be worse or better?

We were going to get one this yr but read the mayor wants to ban them so now I'm not sure.

Our very urban house was built in the 1930s and would have had an open chimney. It then had a gas fire for many years before we took that out and went back to logs in a burner.

I'm not sure how burning fossil fuels is better.

Surprised and struggling to believe this is Real. That anyone is so Ill informed.

wood burners aren’t being banned anywhere . It’s about the type of burner and rhe fuel burned.

if uou lack the ability to even Google. I don’t think you should get one.

amp.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/08/wood-burners-in-effect-banned-new-refurbished-homes-london

I’m rural too and wouldn’t be without mine but like you am conscious of all the negative publicity. However I’ve been really heartened to read an article in the Times today as it does point out it is in towns and city’s where they are problematic. Will try to link it.

How bad is your wood burning stove really?

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/77013dbe-aefc-11ed-bde0-64a2ad0fcf88?shareToken=f19246f82cde686845321cf3f4f07f85

From the Times article

Professor Frank Kelly, director of the environmental research group at Imperial College London.

“You don’t get that much in the room itself,” says Kelly. “But it goes up your chimney and into the atmosphere. And then people are breathing it in. It is in the neighbour’s garden that you are breathing it in, and the footpath in front of your house.”

Of course, the setting is all-important. As Chris Whitty put it recently: “There’s a big difference in my view between having a very dense urban area with everybody using wood burning and someone doing it in a rural area where it is essentially them, their family and a lot of sheep.”

The internal air pollution would mean I would not get one.

We’re on the edge of a village and our wood burner has kept the gas bill down. It heats the whole house to the point the thermostat triggers central heating off.
We use dried wood which has gone up in price this past year but at leat it’s paid for in advance and no nasty surprise bills.

Theyre opening up a coal mine for gods sake.
Surely that’s a backwards step?

Our neighbour has one and it reeks when I’m outside our house and we also have to shut our bathroom window when they have it on.

Im not sure if they are using wet wood or need it cleaning out or if that’s normal for wood burners. It’s grey smoke pumping out.

I live on a 60s built housing estate which has gas and electricity. I hope they get banned in neighbourhoods like mine, but there’d be an uproar as they’re everywhere now.

I ve woodburner but i would replace it with a gas fire if mains gas was an option.

Got the latest ecodesign model but despite that and burning 3 or 4 yr seasoned wood, you still get smoke, i ve noticed it on very stil days, i see it hand around the garden.... you have stack and store the wood and it can be expensive too.

As we get older, it'll be replaced with a bottle gas fired one.

Aside, i have been a fan (& they chuck out loads of heat) but the pollution is real, rural or town.... just notice it more in a town.