Wood burner

[lovemycar]

I have an open fire but lose a lot of heat up the chimney. I am thinking about investing in a wood burner. For anyone who has a wood burner what are the positives, negatives, and potential cost of making this change. TIA for any advice.

We installed one 11 years ago, so couldn't comment on current prices. The flue was the most expensive bit, our house is very tall.

An open fire will give you around 20% efficiency. So 80% of heat lost up the chimney. The burner we bought gives 92% efficiency so only 8% lost. The installer did a home visit to advise on the correct output required to heat the space which I would recommend.

We love it. We do get free, dry wood which obviously helps, and get it swept every year without fail.

The heat generated is amazing. I love being able to shut the door and not worry about sparks if I am not in the room. I imagine this also helps with dust compared to an open fire. The cat loves it.

You would need to think about wood storage, if you are buying in bulk.

I cant compare as we never had an open fire but I wish we had got ours years ago, I love it

I know when we've stayed in holiday cottages who have open fires, its very difficult to get the room heated in the same way that ours heats our house so I think theres no comparison

We just store our wood out the front where it gets the sun as its south facing, we built a couple of wood stores but also put it on the porch as well.

The only thing I often wonder is whether I should have got a multi fuel burner but they have a smaller box.

I also got an air monitor following lots of stories about how they kill you due to the internal pollution. Our montior never shows particle issues but it does go off when we're cooking in the kitchen even though the monitor is next to the fire. Strange

Agree with the stats above. It’s much more efficient at heating than an open fire . Our cost was about 4 grand about 5 years ago. But it’s a large 11kw defra aapproved multi fuel burner.

id advice getting it done by a hetas engineer, then hetas are basically insured for it as well. And you know it’s notified to building regs correctly and you get the certificate.

we are self sufficient in wood so for us it’s a great way to heat downstairs.

Positives are more efficient, warmer and safer as can close door and keep sparks inside. Can’t think of any negatives except you can’t see as much of the fire, although we bought model with the biggest glass door so still lovely view of flames. It makes our house feel homely and I love the smell of woodsmoke. Also get free wood.

Love a wood burner but the biggest annoyance for me is the glass getting dirty. Despite them all saying they stay clean, they really don't unless you use really 100% dry top quality wood - if you want it down low / burning out naturally overnight, the glass browns up on about 95% of the stuff we use and it is a bugger to clean - just awkward angles, the muck can get really stuck on etc.

We love our wood burner and use it every night. It cost us about £3k but that was over 5 years ago and if you want a wood burner over 5kw then you will need to factor in additional ventilation.

The wood burner is much more efficient than an open fire.we initially started with a wood only burner and then converted to a multi-fuel later on so we can use coal. Wood only is much easier to clean but you do have to keep more of an eye on it to keep it topped up with wood so it continues to burn. The multi-fuel is messier if you use coal but if you clean it out after each it's use it's not too bad to keep on top of. It is cheeper to run with coal rather than wood only.

I got told a really good tip for cleaning the glass - dampen a bit of newspaper and then dip it into the cold ash in your burner and use this to clean the glass. It works on even the most stubborn bits!

Our glass never gets dirty, the fire heat cleans it.

Thanks for all your replies. It seems a no brainer in terms of efficiencies. I will definitely now get quotes. Thanks again

I installed a 5kw burner 11 years ago. With work to the fireplace, the wood burner and flue liner, it cost £1500.

It heats a 20 x 12 sitting room in 10 minutes, and then I can reduce the airflow and keep it ticking over all evening. The heat rises and warms the room above (ds' bedroom).

I have free wood so this year we've used it every evening and kept the central heating at 15 degrees. It's probably paid for itself this year alone.

Downsides are cleaning the ash pan every other day and remembering to have the chimney swept every two years (£60 and necessary for house insurance).

Sorry for thread hijack but do you have a guard in front of yours?

Currently trying to buy a house with a wood burner and wondering if we need this for DCat.

In November, we moved to a house with inadequate heating downstairs. We requested a quote from a local company in December and they came round at the end of January. They are fitting a 5kw woodburner in a couple of weeks. The previous owners had taken their woodburner with them but the heath was ready to use. An efficient stove with flue for 2 storey house + fitting is costing us £2.6k. I can't wait to get it fitted!

I use this to clean the glass, spray it on, wait a couple of mins, wipe off. Job done.

www.amazon.co.uk/HG-Stove-Glass-Cleaner-cleaner/dp/B000IU3WCA/ref=sr_1_7?crid=3OPX676PKSV9Z&keywords=stove+glass+cleaner+for+wood+burner&qid=1679071217&sprefix=Stove+gla%2Caps%2C86&sr=8-7

We had a 5kw burner fitted last year - absolutely love it. Ours was fitted in an existing fireplace so cost about £2.2k for stove and installation. We're having another fitted in a different part of the house and it needs an external flue so is costing £4k 😮but we've saved a huge amount using the burner instead of CH. £85 bag of logs lasted 7 weeks with burner on 3 hours per night and longer when weather very chilly.

Woodburner is very efficient so there's rarely a need to empty ash.

I grew up with an open fire and now have a small multi fuel stove. It's a hundred times better.

Errm sorry to be a killjoy, but aren't the downsides that woodburners are incredibly bad for your health, hideous for the environment, and are imminently going to be made illegal?? I mean I love a wood-fire as much as the next person, but these factors definitely put me off!

I’d never dream of having a wood burner. I’d do some more research about them. I don’t know why you’d want to pollute the inside of your house if there’s a viable alternative

Erm, but not a no brainier in terms of your health or the air quality…

Strong chance of them being banned in London and other cities but outside metropolitan areas and especially in the countryside, they are the only source of heat for some people. This is what the govt has actually said so far:

"We are not considering a ban on domestic burning in England. The UK government recognises that some households are reliant on solid fuel burning as a primary source for heating, hot water and cooking, with this in mind the government is not seeking to ban burning.” 6 Feb 2023

Got one installed a year ago

£2000 for a Hetascan line 5kw

£3000 to instal it

It's absolutely amazing and heats the whole downstairs of our home to 25 degrees

Thanks for the cleaning tips everyone :)

Yeah they are supposedly bad for the environment - I wouldn't worry about the room tho - parents have a wood burner and a stupidly fancy air purifier in the same room because they read about the pollutants, but it never registers a single thing - sometimes it's higher when they've got the French doors open!

In terms of green agenda - we all have different priorities on that. Like despite the wood burner, my carbon/ pollution output is much lower than average as I'm mainly veggie, don't fly on planes, drive or have lots of kids. So I'm not too worried as I'm overall on the up!

No they aren't.. burning wood is far better than burning fossil fuels

Wood is carbon neutral and a renewable source of heating your home.

There is No scientific evidence found for adverse health impacts from exposure to the indoor air typically associated with modern, enclosed wood burning stoves

Downside is the potential for them to be restricted or banned, particularly in urban areas. Your open fire would probably be banned too, but that wouldn't have the installation cost.

We got our log burner 8-10 years ago and have loved it since. If I was doing it again, I would get one with a hotplate and or room for cooking inside. Could save energy by using the heat for cooking too.

DH cleans the glass when he lights the fire - use a crumpled up piece of newspaper dipped in ashes and scrub. Comes up sparkling!

Our pets don’t go near it when it’s lit. They sit on the rug and stare at the flames 😂