Wood burning stoves banned for new installs from 1st April in Scotland

[Rainbowshit]

x.com/macmillanarc/status/1777428276715139483?s=46&t=AjtjSItRj-kgZwRzL-pdyQ

Was anyone aware of this?!

It totally passed me by.

Bad news for folks in rural areas particularly.

A quick Google and I can see nothing to support this?

My understanding is it's a bit more nuanced than that. No new dwellings can be heated by a 'direct emission heating system' (including eg gas and oil boilers) where the Building Warrant for construction of the dwelling is submitted after 1st April 2024. I'm not sure if a woodburning stove would be allowed as secondary heating (eg a room stove in a property that has central heating provided by a heat pump). You also can't replace eg a heat pump with a gas or oil boiler if a dwelling had already been constructed to comply with the new standard. And if you're converting a different type of property to a dwelling then you nned to use an alternative to a 'direct emission heating system' as far as is reasonably practicable.

But I don't think there's anything in the new regs preventing new stoves in existing dwellings already using fossil fuels (gas, oil, timber, etc).

In the countryside, feel free to install a stove. In built up areas though the particles from wood burning stoves are more dangerous for asthmatics that any other form of pollution and a ban should have happened a long time ago.

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/14/wood-burning-air-pollution-uk-doubled-decade

Anyone know what the situation is for an existing property with no central heating? I'm renovating a house which currently only has a multifuel stove. Not suitable for a heatpump and no gas so looking at electric central heating and a new stove - but a like for like stove replacement so hopefully that's ok?

That's because it isn't true. Scotgov has issued a statement to clarify this today.

Yes that’s fine. The regs apply to new build houses and those that meet the new standard ie you can’t make the situation worse.
Given it’s a renovation, you may not need a Building Warrant, depending on the scope of your renovations.

Do the new regs mean you can’t have oil central heating in a new build?

we currently have oil heating and I love it. Wouldn’t use a ground source heat pump as my friends who have it are having a nightmare trying to get parts now it’s a decade old and breaking, they’ve been quoted £15k to replace, and those air source units look hideous, use a lot of electricty, and the outside box rusts). I don’t have enough ground for a private windturbine (it’s got to be 85m away from other folks houses) and won’t have enough roof for solar panels that I need. So how are people not on mains gas meant to heat their homes??!!

You won't be able to use gas soon either

Don’t let the likes of bawbag Paddy Harvie & the rest of the weirdo Greens tell you how to heat your homes.

There was removal of coal fires in braemar/ballater area from council housing.
That's going to eradicate world pollution problems.

No single one action can get rid of the world pollution and climate change problems

Lots of small actions could get there

Although given this years weather it may be too little too late

It will make a small difference and we have to start somewhere.

What it will affect is the air quality in the immediate vicinty.

Apparently the acceptable threshold for asking people to forego wood burning stoves in built up areas is saving the world from climate change - it's not enough that you are fucking up the air quality for your neighbours.

In the coldest parts of Aberdeenshire where power cuts are a fact of life in winter.
Tell that to my 80 yr old aunt that whilst she's freezing, she's saving the world.
Meanwhile in china coal fires powered stations galore.

I think there is a big difference between having a log burner in rural Aberdeenshire (fewer alternative options, more likely to get a power cut, lower concentration of housing and easier dispersal of fumes) than middle class inner city areas (I’m looking at you Morningside) which is literally choked with the damn things.

I get what you're saying in a built up area plus those bloody fire pits must be a pita

That's the thing though, this rule change doesn't take into account the huge differences between areas.

Rural areas where there is no mains gas network, there's regular power cuts that last days and get bad weather every year, having a log burner makes the difference between being able to live there and not. We had a power cut a couple of years ago for TEN DAYS. The only thing that kept us going was the log burners. Removing the fires from the council housing in Braemar was an absolute disgrace - and a perfect example of how Holyrood don't seem understand the country they're running.

There's absolutely no need for tenement flats to have log burners, or any urban areas. you can get bioethanol stoves if you want the look but don't actually require the long term heat and security of a log burner. But out with the central belt and cities these things are vital.

@PabloBandito That's the thing though, this rule change doesn't take into account the huge differences between areas.

But it does. There is an exemption "to provide emergency heating, where a need can be justified".

This is on a case-by-case basis, and would most likely apply in areas at highest risk of power cuts, such as rural communities.

The exception isn't clear at all - you first need to prove that emergency heating may be needed and then show how the emergency heating will cease working once power is restored and the main heating system can work again. How exactly do you do that with a log burner - promise not to use it unless there's a power cut?!

You don't need to prove anything. You just need to make a reasonable argument that it is required. If it is in a rural location, there are no other heating options, and there have been frequent power cuts in the past then that is all the evidence you would need to make your case.

I honestly don’t think the government understands that people live in areas without mains gas??

We too suffered days without power and neighbours have either a) installed a wood/peat burning stove or b) bought and installed a back up diesel generator. I am too scared to have cans of diesels hanging around my garage in case I need it.

I want a heating system in my self build that is
a) economical
b) easily controlled for temp fluctuations
c) I have a source of heat incase I’m without electric power for 2 days in winter
d) Will not need replaced in 10-15years
e) copes with Shetland darkness for 3-4months a year.

Interesting thread by Andy Wightman

x.com/andywightman/status/1778365912489353493?s=46&t=AjtjSItRj-kgZwRzL-pdyQ

So it seems from that thread its going to be very difficult to achieve the exception for emergency heating.

The other side is, how will this be policed? You generally dont need planning permission to install a wood burner unless you live in a conservation area perhaps so who is going to stop people continuing to install them if they so desire? It seems to only apply to houses completed from now. Again, how will that be policed, you will have some houses on the same street completed last week, are they allowed a log burner? Whats the cut off for 'new build'?

Even across the central belt there are lots of semi rural cottages and houses that get built on farms outside towns etc. These houses generally dont have a gas supply and rely on logs.

The Scottish government seem to have the blinkers on to a lot of the country who don't live in the central belt but I'm also not surprised. Its a bit like their proposal to charge cars to drive to work that might work in cities but we have 1 bus a day which runs between 2 towns!

I doubt the majority of them have had to go through days of power cuts with no heating and children which is common for us in Winter (this winter has been good with only 2 days). The best thing we did was install a wood burner it heats our entire house and we help neighbours out during powercuts by providing hot water and soup.

If I was in that situation I would just retrofit once built. They are a life line when it's -5 and no power! Braemar can get down to -15+ so where do those people go when the entire town has days of power cuts?!

They had to back down from this after an outcry - it was just months after Storm Arwen cut power (and phones) off to most of rural Aberdeenshire for several weeks whilst temperatures plummeted to -10 C. The coal fires were their only source of heat and hot water. An event the Scottish Government barely acknowledged even weeks into it whilst people, including elderly, struggled to keep warm.