Wood burning stoves are one of the oldest and most characterful ways to heat a home, filling an estimated 1.5 million UK homes – a number that is growing every year. With so much political upheaval and changes in environmental policy over recent months and years, it has been difficult to keep track of exactly what is and isn’t allowed now.
We want to help clear up the confusion and explain exactly what limitations and bans are in place for wood-burning stoves, and what it means for you.
Are wood-burning stoves environmentally friendly?
Despite the fact that it gives off so much carbon dioxide, wood is a carbon-neutral energy source – it may seem counter-intuitive but in fact the logic is pretty simple. Through its life-cycle the tree will absorb a significant amount of carbon dioxide, and when the wood is burned the absorbed carbon is released back into the atmosphere. This amount of absorbed CO2 during the lifetime of the tree is balanced by the overall amount of CO2 released when the wood is burned. Therefore, the carbon dioxide actually added to the atmosphere is effectively zero.
So if wood is carbon neutral then why are people banning them?
There are two basic problems with wood-burning stoves.
Firstly, “carbon neutral” is a term that a lot of people have an issue with. If you were to collect the wood for the stove by hand and transport it to the stove yourself, it might be considered as having a net-zero impact. However, in reality, you’re much more likely to be buying up machine produced logs, transported across distances by haulage vehicles, creating a significant carbon footprint. There’s also the matter of deforestation; if we weren’t cutting down these trees to burn, would we be cutting them down at all? Or would they have otherwise gone on to absorb more carbon dioxide and ultimately help reduce pollution further? If so, then harvesting them for heating our homes has a bigger, longer-term impact that we might have originally considered.
The other problem is that, just because it may not have the same CO2 emissions as gas or coal etc, wood-burning is still exceptionally bad for air quality. A recent study by The British Heart Foundation (BHF) estimated that 11,000 deaths per year are caused by air pollution, but that this number is set to rise.
What is the government going about wood-burning stoves? Are they really being banned?
At the moment, wood stoves are not being banned. The Clean Air Strategy, as updated in 2019, clearly states that they have no plans to ban wood stoves entirely.
While pollutants often caused by wood-burning is being targetted, the government is tackling this by looking at fuel sources and limiting availability to the most efficient stoves. The Clear Air Strategy has promised that ‘only the cleanest stoves are available for sale by 2022’. This won’t affect the kinds of wood burners you can run, but may mean that you can only buy certain stoves for a couple more years, before they’re phased out.
What about Smoke Controlled Areas?
An increasing number of places in the UK are designated Smoke Controlled Areas. Despite what many people think, you can still use wood-burning apparatus in these areas, but it is more controlled. Unlike in rural areas, where you can pick up wood from anywhere and burn it in your fireplace, in Smoke Controlled Areas you can only burn certain fuels. The full list of approved fuels can be found here.
Alternatively, you can use ‘exempt appliances’, for example, burners or stoves. This is a little more complicated since the appliances that are exempt vary by country. If you want to check whether your wood-burning stove is permitted in your country, check the DEFRA website here.
At the moment, the restrictions for Smoke Controlled Areas are very rarely enforced. Theoretically, you can be fined up to £1000, but in reality, local councils rarely have the resources to investigate and enforce that. We might start to see that changing soon though, as more and more focus is being placed on environmental protection and concerns regarding air quality are on the rise.
We have them either side to us, one burns anything they can lay there hands on and the other has a chimney lower than it should be so we get smoked either side in the winter
They smell great. what’s your problem
Wood burners are great, fuel is carbon neutral as stated and if it’s locally sourced it sustains local economy as well as opposed with buying Russian gas!
Alex – wood burners are now the main cause of particulate pollution in the U.K.
They produce more than 3x the amount of pollution of ALL our traffic.
Particulates embed in our organs – our lungs, hearts, etc – and cause tens of thousands of premature deaths every year.
That is not “great”. We need to start making smarter choices – do not use wood burners if you have alternative sources of heating at home – and repair the damage being done to our air quality and health.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/16/home-wood-burning-biggest-cause-particle-pollution-fires
Only carbon neutral if you harvest by hand and transport on foot – as it says….
Nothing is carbon neutral
I have a modern up to date wood burner with air wash system and it burns very clean, when the chimney is swept yearly there is hardly any soot which proves how clean these new fires are burning, I guess the main issues arise when people burn damp wood which will obviously create more smoke.
Long live the Wood burner.
As long as you are happy poisoning everyone with PM2.5 you just carry on regardless you selfish individual
Hippies, Hippies, Hippies
No need for nastiness. If you want to e rude and asty jlin facebook.
Pathetic!
Only great if you don’t have to breath in your smoke. I suffer every day with wood burner smoke from my neighbours. I know how distressing it is to not be able to breath clean air inside and outside my house. I am unable to go outside when I want. I am at the behest of my neighbours whims. It is awful and of course those that burn don’t think there is any problem,
Many rural places dont have gas, as electric, as a form of heating is too expensive. I have the same problem with the neighbour ( oil) flue, i cant go out when its on because of all the toxins it throws out
So you don’t need a flue or chimney?
I love gardening, yesterday afternoon was sunny, I went outside had to come in as next door lit their wood burner, they burn pallets, the smell and smoke is terrible.
And your garden fire isnt poluting at all?
If people had taller flue outlets the smoke would disperse better & with less downwash. Not difficult to put a 1m extention on flue outlet or even more if needed
That’s terrible. I really feel for you. I have many round me and the smoke drives me mad. Anyone who tells me they are green is lying. You really need to take this up with your council.
Crap it’s a con telling people it’s bad burning wood grow up . Also climate is bull shit
Exactly. All these idiots going on about “green” technology, they ALL have hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rare Earth metals mined every year to make wind turbines and solar panels etc. They’re hypocrites, ALL of them. The future isn’t green, it has to be medieval for us to exist in harmony with the planet.
Moaning cow mind your own business and consentrate on your self instead of other people
No need for nastiness.
Learn to spell!
Excellent comment I wish people would follow your advice
Sooner they are banned the better. Seems every other house is installing them near me right now and even in the middle of summer they are pouring out smoke. Even with my house tightly shut, forced to keep windows closed and with the bedrooms above 30C, the house stinks of smoke and it is affecting everyones health, constantly coughing and burning eyes and throats etc. Seems a lot of them are builders/carpenters etc burning all their rubbish, even building outbuildings with “chimneys” just to burn their rubbish. All the nonsense about pollution and clean air yet people are reverting to burning all their rubbish in overcrowded built-up areas thanks to rules and charges on disposing rubbish.
What utter bullshit. You are a liar
Ive told you a million times, stop lying!
Youre just full of it! As if anyone would have a fire when its 30 degrees! Get real and stop telling lies
Yeah let’s ban everything. Great life that’d be.
My neighbour puts her wood burner on everyday from September to April it smells terrible we have to keep our windows shut all the time it definitely effects my asthma horrible things.
Snowflake
I’m a carpenter and burn my wood off cuts on my log burner. I don’t burn treated timber only untreated kiln dried wood so therefore the moisture content is very low and not much smoke! The logs I cut are split and seasoned for around 18 months in my log store. So hopefully not all us builders and carpenters are that bad.
How about you how do you think your electrics made you stupid person! How about the exhaust from your car you dope! How about your barbecue you jerk! How about your oil burner you a hole?
Your forgetting about those who live in areas with no gas supply so obviously their only option is wood/coal fires or oil heating.
How about your spelling ?
Brilliant and spot on , I love my woodburner
Load of evil sadists on here- wilful toxic polluters!A law unto themselves!
Stop trying to be the grammar police – this is about wood burners!
My next door neighbour spends his time collecting pallets from various companies on an industrial estate, brings it home and spends all day cutting the pallets up and then burning them on his lounge fire.
I can’t open my windows, if I do open them my house fills with the smoke from his burner.
I am really pleased the wood burners are going
What a lot of garbage…….some people on here should get a life.
I expect that they fly or drive when the go on holiday …..Live and let live.
Total exaggeration like most anti woodburner comments on here. We have a woodburn and I I very rarely smell any smoke or for that matter see any smoke coming out of the chimney. The sort of anti woodburner people on here would complain if someone struck a match. They need to get a life!
But they aren’t going. 👍😁
Let’s face it, they will be banned at some point, at least any that pollute whatsoever. May as well get on with it. DO IT NOW!
If you knew anything about pallet wood you would know that it is heat or kiln dried to kill insects. Clean pallet wood is therefore the same as seasoned logs and is no more polluting than your diesel car or gas heated home.
So many people burn wood where I live – log burners are the trend and sadly the air quality is so awful it is impossible to exercise freely outside without impact on your health. There is nothing carbon neutral about smoke and the log burner fad will be the deisel of the future when everyone wakes up to the damage they are doing to our health and the environment.
Stupid coment. Do you honestly think your gas which is imported is cleaner than my wood chopped and burnt locally?
Local doesn’t make it clean. I bet you don’t want your smoke in your lounge.
I have one. They are brilliant. I keep the heating off most nights and it has cut down on my gas bills massively.
Exactly james, thats what its all about. Greedy energy companies.
Good for you as long as you are saving a bit of money. Sod the neighbours aye and keep churning out the filth.
I wonder how bad things will need to get before we se wood burning banned. I’m surrounded by 6 households burning wood, even on cool summer days. Meanwhile, the planet warms as we quickly burn more than we grow (carbon neutral my arse!), we’re seeing frequent flooding an no one seems to care! With the dire outlook for the planet and less than 10 years to save it, my kids are planning not to have kids!
Your jist one of those stupid liberals that think the planet is dying
My neighbour had a log burner installed recently and our area has gone from clean fresh air to smoke. Nothing can be done about as it’s fully within the law. Government and Councils should be ashamed to allow such terrible environmental impact within a built-up area. Now considering moving out of what was a very nice area. Ruined by selfish low life who only care about their own little castles..
Wood should be dry if it is to be burnt. Reduces the smoke dramatically. Most pallets are untreated and shouldn’t give off the levels of smoke described. I have a wood burning Rayburn and a stove. They do give off some smoke when first lit but doesn’t concern me to go outside. We have come a long way from the smogs of the early part of the last century
You know you’re nothing but a liar
. Why don’t you start telling the truth because you ready for Joe Biden anyway another thief flyer
What a load of bollacks
Exactly the same here. We chose this house for the beautifully clean air, because my son is asthmatic, and now two neighbours have had woodburners fitted and are burning them all day and night, when it isn’t even cold enough to put the heating on. My son is on the edge of hospitalisation and I am now also developing asthma. My throat burns, my eyes burn, I cough constantly, and my son is distraught. He can’t sleep or work. It is insane that this is allowed.
I have a modern up to date wood burner with air wash system and it burns very clean, when the chimney is swept yearly there is hardly any soot which proves how clean these new fires are burning, I guess the main issues arise when people burn damp wood which will obviously create more smoke.
Long live the Wood burner.
I love gardening, yesterday afternoon was sunny, I went outside had to come in as next door lit their wood burner, they burn pallets, the smell and smoke is terrible.
I have to say that we love our log burner and paid a lot for an eco version. The problem will always be that until you get to the optimum heat which can take 30 mins when you are lighting it for the 1st time it will smell and smoke a little. If you dont have the correct dry wood it will also smell.
Its took me a while to regulate ours correctly and I also burn pallets as well as logs BUT they have to be the right kind.
Wood should be dry if it is to be burnt. Reduces the smoke dramatically. Most pallets are untreated and shouldn’t give off the levels of smoke described. I have a wood burning Rayburn and a stove. They do give off some smoke when first lit but doesn’t concern me to go outside. We have come a long way from the smogs of the early part of the last century
I’ve got a burner and I don’t no how you seem to be having smoke filled homes I don’t cause this to myself or my neighbours.and we all sit outside don’t get what these others are burning to cause this.
I guess that means don’t buy anything. Think about it
There is big difference between simply carbons (wood) and complex carbons (petroleum). Nature in itself has been able to make wise use of simple carbons since it’s beginning. Simple carbons are no treat to the planet. Complex carbons on the other hand are the problem so just keep the focus on complex carbons and let the planet make use of the simple carbons.
Every one who burns wood trys to find a tree that is already dead and dry not a green tree !!!!
Rubbish, some will burn anything that will burn. Come & smell the plastic near me.
what a load of whiners on here! if you dont like breathing in the smoke,then lock urself in a room!,years ago when everyone had only coal fires,you could not see down the street for thick smoke coming from every chimley,its nothing like that now,i wounder if all these whingers cycle or walk every where to save the planet? i very much doubt it!
Yes I bet they go abroad every year on fuel gunslinger jers
Well said I don’t have a log burner but neighbours do and it doesn’t bother me 👍
Amen!! How do these people think the people heated in the day? Crying cause they smell it, need to be worried about what they can’t smell from the gas, electricity everything has its bad, people need to realize, God is coming back soon, hmm, I wonder what type of heat the Lord uses in heaven?And I wonder how many will cry about it then? Like, I’m sorry Lord, but Little Joey is to sensitive to stay here, smh, I bet Satan uses all of the worst toes of heat, wake up, don’t go outside without doing what you need to do to protect you and your family put a scarves over your faces try and teach then to protect themselves not complain because pitchers don’t live your way
The comments on here are extremely suspicious. I’m thinking the majority are from one person!
I have a log burning stove that’s defra approved for a smokeless zone. Can’t even see the smoke coming from the chimney and only the tiniest smell of wood burning every 20 minutes or so when stood in my garden.
A proper installation of a defra log burner means that there’s virtually no particles released into the air. Hydrocarbons are burnt because of the unique airflow system which creates an extremely efficient heating appliance for the home and environment.
Couldnt agree more.we have a defra approved Burley stove fitted with a flue liner, current.y the most efficient in uk. Reburns all the smoke and gasses so hardley any smoke going oug of the chimney.
Legal to use i smoke controlled areas.
I agree 100%
Why would it ever be in question to take some people’s only heat source away we have been heating with wood since the beginning of time the earth has taken care of it self all this time and will for the rest of it’s time people just want something complain about
Take a look at Mars
That’s good to hear you’re being considerate. The guy on my road has an 8 ft high stack of wood in his garden, building waste. Most looks treated. He has a wood burner which stinks. He also has a fire in his garden most nights. Smells poisonous. Regularly smells of burning plastic as well. I’ve been told the council won’t do anything. Neath port Talbot council a disgrace. Labour for 100 years. Useless.
I have a wood burner and only burn season, dry pine logs that produce very little or no smoke.
I agree it should not be permitted to burn pallets the wood has been treated and produces tar and a foul smell, as usual there are some that just don’t care
The wood burners must only be installed by HETAS approved installers, not just any old builder, you wouldn’t have your boiler installed by a non-GasSafe engineer. & wood needs to be kiln dried or stored dry for 2 years, and never pallets which is waste & often treated.
Thankyou X it’s a joke considering what we can and can’t do with resicling
2 years my arse.
Well said I don’t have a log burner but neighbours do and it doesn’t bother me 👍
I get cheap heat by burning old tyres which I get free from the scrap yard. They burn very well, I don’t know if they make much smoke as I don’t open the windows. That would let my heat out.
I like to burn old inner tubes and plastic bottles on mine from the bottle recycling banks. It’s free, and it actually like the smell of it – kind of like a sweet tangerine fragrance.
THINK IT IS THE JAIL YOU SHOULD GET ,OR ARE YOU A LYING BASTARD.
How are we supposed to protect ourselves from the deadly cold of winter. We have an added problem in the north of Ireland with the country wide enormous bonfires every 11 July. Everything is being burnt on these fires including tyres. They are so fierce they have set houses alight. These will have to be banned before you ban someone burning a shovel of coal or a couple of logs on a winter’s night.
I’ve burnt wood on open fires and wood burning stoves for the past 30 years, my parents and grandparents did exactly the same, find me something as good and as cheap and I’ll use it, why don’t some of you winging people go and knock on the door of the person who is using wood and offer to help pay their fuel bill until winter is over……think not so just keep quiet, live and let live I say
If installed correctly and a modern clean birning stove and you burn dry seasoned wood this is a great heat source that has a very low co footprint.
It usual delaus a person using there fossil fueled heating system by a montb or so. Usually allows them to turn off that heating system o month or so earlier.
Coal birning should be phased out asap
If you live in a flat and your upstairs neighbour installed a wood burning stove would you have any problems living below with an open chimney …
Okay, how do other countries deal with pollution?
Well let me tell you this, I live in Andalucia that’s Spain. We burn olive wood from trees that have been cut down from other countries on our open fires, of wood burners.
We don’t have pollution problems because we have heactres and hill sides covered in thousands of olive, orange, pomegranate & lemon plantations, that grow quicker than you oak or native English woodland tree. The young shrubs in 4 years are producing fruit. The trouble with England is that there are not enough farmers planting fruit trees because it is not profitable for them to do so, and the problem lies completely on the government
As a HETAS engineer I find some of the comments on the article comical.
First of all pallet wood is great to use for kindling to start your fire and will only smoke until your stove is up to temperature. The only pellets that you shouldn’t burn are the painted ones and any marked with MB (Methane Bromide) which are extremely rare.
Secondly as mentioned above a properly fitted stove fuelled with kiln dried wood/smokeless fuel will not smoke when its up to temperature and therefore will not smell. When you start your car or when your car is idling it will give off as much or more smoke/smell/harmful chemicals into the environment than a stove that is well fitted up to temperature and fuelled correctly.
I am a HETAS engineer and have been installing wood burner and multi fuel stoves over 11 years. A DEFRA approved stove is normally a standard stove which has its air control/s adjusted to reduce the level of smoke produced. Basically it stops you being able to turn down the air to your stove. The slower you burn your stove the greater the smoke. Most stoves now come standard as smoke controlled. The efficiency of these stoves has been greatly increased in recent years. Gases from initial combustion which do not first ignite are now forced back down into the combustion chamber by the means of added baffles. This means you get the greatest level of heat and energy from every log. Also wood must be under 20% moisture to be classed as seasoned. Burning wet logs (over 20%) increases pollution immensely and damages both stove and flue. As of April 2021, the Government changes the law on the selling of fuel. A clear label stating ‘Ready to burn’ on wood and smokeless fuel. Mineral coal will be unavailable. You will only be able to buy wet logs in 2 cubic metres or more and you must season for 2 years. If in doubt on the moisture content of your wood, buy a moisture detector. Periodically test your wood. I am as keen on protecting the environment as ever, and as long as we all do our bit to ensure we are doing our best, then there is no reason why we should be banning wood burners.
Well said.
If using a wood stove alone is carbon neutral then so is burning down the Amazon rainforest. Burning wood is only carbon neutral if the wood is replaced by planting the same amount of trees. Burning wood without replanting greatly worsens global warming. It also kills people from.pollution, However charming, wood burning should be banned. Those who cannot afford to install new electric or gas boilers should be given subsidies to convert.
Technically an old tree dying in the Amazon and laying on the ground rotting produces the same amount of carbon although technically Methane CH4 which is a GHG that is about 25x worse for the atmosphere than if it was burnt. The wood being burnt would be held in storage for 2 years under cover as opposed to rotting in the open but the rotting tree would take linger to rot than to burn. So if you get wood from a fallen tree in your garden and saw it up by hand you are basically using a carbon neutral source. Which is far better than to burn Gas or heat using electricity from burnt gas power stations.
As long as you don’t level the amazon and clear the land for cattle or car parks then it will grow back like cutting the grass on a long turn around. The problem occurs when forest becomes agricultural land. The best solution is not to plant trees. Nature will take care of that. But to buy agricultrual land and leave it alone. No one likes to do this and its expensive but it is one of the solutions to Climate Change. Also encouraging powerstations not to burn any carbon but to burn uranium or Thorium instead. Its far far safer for our collective health than coal or even gas.
I have one in the front room and one in the living room. Also my neighbour has one as well. Stop your whinging, If your that concerned get rid of your car and stop using gas.
Let’s face it, they will be banned at some point, at least any that pollute whatsoever. May as well get on with it. DO IT NOW!
Total agree most of these people complaining don’t bother about the environment when they go cloths shopping or the people in.third world countries where most of their cloths come from being contaminated by the water being pumped into their rivers after cloths prod
My husband has COPD and when neighbours have their fires burning
He is unable to go outside or open a door without having his breath taken away.
I live in the US, I just installed 2 new stoves in 2019 and 2020 (one in my house, one in my pole barn) the newer stoves are way better than the older ones because they have secondary burners and catalytic converters like cars do. These additions make the stove more efficient and way less pollutant. My stoves literally only smoke when they first start up and then there is no smoke from there on out. And these stoves cut my wood use in half from what the old ones did, and the heat these new ones put out is better. As technology gets better (like with every other product) the wood stove is becoming way better for the environment.
You’d think those who don’t burn wood would be a lot more chilled
I think they should be banned as the smell comes in our house and it’s makes you feel ill
After all the effort to clear smog from cities in years gone by what a backward step we have taken allowing these type of fuels to be used again many of my neighbours have them and what an awful pollution it it has caused as many ban treated wood also given awful toxic fumes
I’ve read all the comments and these are my thoughts: we should all be doing our very best to reduce our carbon footprints, but we should be careful not to rush to judge others because we think we’ve found something wrong in what they’re doing. Do those who criticise users of wood-burners travel by air? Are their cars electric? Do they buy consumer products from China with high embedded energy cost? Do they have more than two chidren? Do they eat meat or dairy products? In the grand scheme of things it would seem net CO2 emissions from modern super-efficient wood burners are low, though of course we should all know where our wood fuel comes from and how far it’s been transported. Particulate pollution is another matter. But as others have pointed out this can be greatly reduced with advances in combustion technology.
Wood (and coal) burning, rather than being a necessity for people who need to heat their homes, has become a middle class affectation. Dumping toxic smoke into the nieghbourhood is now trendy – or Instagrammable, if you’re reading this as a locked down millenial.
Ironically, many of these Prosecco sipping LIFESTYLE POLLUTERS, drive a Honda hybrid to “protect whales in the South Atlantic”. Shame they have zero idea, or just do not care about, the damage they are wreaking on the local environment.
I appreciate there are rules and regulations to wood burner installation and the fuel burnt. Of which some of you here are very specific about. The problem is, not every household operates to the strict guidelines required of an industrial wood to energy plant. The wrong fuel, the wrong flu, the wrong chimney, the wrong location and the wrong attutide to safe servicing, all add up to the WOOD BURNER BLIGHT that’s impacting many residential districts.
Personally, I would ban ALL wood and coal/coke burning in ALL residential smoke control areas. I would extend the category of ‘smoke control’ to mean any property that has a mains gas supply. In other words, the property has the ability to combust cleanly – either with existing or future gas (hydrogen) supplies. This means properties that are off-grid, such as farms or hamlets, can heat their homes as they always have done. On a legislative note, council environmental officers will be legally required to enforce the rules – or is that too radical an ask?
We no longer tollerate smokers on public transport or in public places, and by a similar seachange in attitude, should be as equally intollerant of these selfish idiots who think re-inventing urban smog is both the privilege and right that comes with their home makeover.
In the interim and before tight (but not tight enough) rules are introduced, slam those polluting bagged and delivered fuels with a punitive VAT rate? Say 200% in a residential area? I’m sure the trendy middle class poseurs can afford it.
AJP
Many rural places dont have access to gas and electric, as a form of heating is too expensive. I breathe in more toxins from the neighbours oil flue than all the wood burning houses put together
Are they going to ban steam trains, boats, ships,planes cows wild animals volcanos factory .and so onSTOP global whining .AND Ban wimps do Golders and very burgers .ThE human race cannot STOP killing each other and setting fire to the world. WE are not Inelligent just corrupted sheep Barr Barr Barr But I still LOVE my wife yours Avery old man the boat doctor
Firewood in rural areas does not come from people collecting their own it comes from firewood merchants like me who coppice woods which is the traditional way of managing woods and it’s renewable please get your facts right
As a firewood producer and supplier of 40 years I am somewhat perplexed by this article on woodburning stoves. I agree with a lot of it namely in smokeless zones and using inefficient burners however before the government try to stop people burning seasoned wood maybe they should take a look at the GREEN UNSEASONED wood burning plant in Kent that’s consuming 240,000 tonnes of wood a year being lorried in from all over the UK and indeed being shipped in from Canada, The same with the huge Drax burner up country importing all its wood from America all brought over by shipping. Not to mention the new proposed coal mine in Cumbria. The new law about to be put in place with regard to us burning kiln dried logs is also a huge farce. It takes a tonne of wood to fuel the kiln to produce a tonne of dry wood. This is obviously very un environmently friendly with all the fumes from the kiln and besides as soon as it come out the kiln it will quickly be the same moisture content as the atmosphere.
At present I’m sat by a lovely glowing woodburner watching the rugby with my family which we’ve done for 3 generations with wood collected locally and I love it.
I look forward to a response.
I believe that CO2 is a problem for the whole world.
But when you look at the amount of coal China burns to make electricity compared to the UK it is 250 times more.So that indicates
Don’t know what half of you are talking about on here.
The top of a chimney is normally about 8-9m up in the air. The most you would get if someone has lit their woodburner is a slight smell in the air, we live in a village where at least 50% of the people have wood burners and it’s absolutely fine. Most of you are making it seem as if someone has lit a huge bonfire and dumped loads of grass on next door, it’s not like that at all.
Having a wood burner is one of the best things we’ve done in our house renovation, we have 3 chimneys and are intending to get them all working. Nothing more romantic and snuggly than having a fire on in the evening.
In rural areas this will never be banned, far too many people have them.
I don’t think you have the right idea that burning wood is carbon-neutral.
If you chopped down the tree and just left it, the carbon would not be released. But if you then burnt it, then the CO2 is released into the atmosphere. So it’s not ‘effectively zero’ at all. It’s damaging the atmosphere.
Carbon neutral would be if you burnt the tree and then planted new ones to take its place, but these would take years to match their predecessor’s carbon-absorbing capacity.
If greedy energy companies would not keep putting prices up. People would not have wood stoves installed..that is why i had a stove fitted.
Cannot wait until these are banned in residential areas. Totally understand the use in rural areas but not in housing estates. We have one next door who seems to burn everything he can and stinks out the street. Think it has become a status symbol for some people.
Yes I agree ban wood burner stoves,while you’re at it ban barking dogs and cats that always defacate in other people’s garden rather than their own,ban cars and motorbikes and polluting industry and ban everything else for the sake of it ,then pack up all your belongings that you no longer have and live in a cave.but wait what will you do to keep you warm?
Why do you think people are installing wood burners, the green have lobbied the government to ban gas and oil burners and want people.to install air heat pumps, yes better for the environment but they are nowhere near as good as a heat source as a combi boiler, and even after subsidies more expensive, we are all being robbed blind by the fuel companies cartel, on the premise of giving us choice, green taxes everywhere, OK cleaner environment OK, but don’t ask us to pay more for an inferior heat source, Ground heat pumps are pretty good, but very intrusive and expensive to install, a roof full of solar panels 6kw may be a partial answer, but will it also charge your Electric vehicle when they ban our ICE cars.
I also have a wood burner. We only burn ECO coal.. And if you go out side you don’t have smoke at all. Also my house don’t smell of smoke. Don’t think some ppl on here know how they work… If used properly then you should be ok… Also the moaners on here, what about you driving a car, etc. Years ago all you had was coal/wood fires… Nowadays it’s more eco friendly. As for the ones that burn all sorts, well that’s a disgrace and they are putting bad feedback for the ppl that use them properly…
I would like to see an investigation in to a wood fuelled power station near sandwich in south east England. They are burning 240,000 tons of virgin wood a year to produce electricity to help with the raising demand partley by people using electric cars thinking they are helping save the planet. Our woodlands are looking very battered and thin and trees of 60 years old are being burned. This is not sustainable. Very worrying
I have a metal chimena, and enjoy having it going on cool evenings, and also have a gas barbecue. At most I would barbie once a week,,and the fire maybe once or twice a month. I’m 70, locked up at home because of covid, and do NOT burn anything that smokes excessively. Am I to be denied a simple pleasure?
What a bloody joke it is my only form of heating
Clicked on the govt site to see approved suppliers of fuel. Oxbow Carbon in Harrogate is one of the first listed. It doesn’t exist. Funny that🤔
Honestly, never mind smoke, there ought to be a law against all your lots whining!
I think you’re not happy unless you can find something to moan and whine about!
I bet a good majority of you moaners about wood burners’ are quite happy riding around in your gas guzzling polluting 4×4’s on the way to the airport so you can pollute even more on your holiday flight!
YOU’RE HYPOCRITES THE LOT OF YOU MOANERS ON HERE!
before i put my burner out, get rid of racing! all types! Planes, 4×4’s and all other unnecessary large engined high performance vehicles!
Anyway, i must go now and put another log on the fire!🙂
I am baffled how thet blame the particulates in the air on woodburning stoves as the evil that causes all the problems and not the tons upon tons of chemical seeding of our skies that they do…….
Burning logs is CO2 neutral, unlike coal, gas and oil, but we do need to ensure lots more trees are planted than are cut down. It makes sense to only burn dry logs, as they give more heat and pollute less..
What do those people do who live on outlying areas with no gas supply and have no option but to use coal/log fires or oil heating. Shall they freeze in cold weather?
1) 70% of particles in the atmosphere can enter homes, even with windows closed, due to their small size.
2) There is no such thing as smokeless burner, as complete combustion is almost impossible to achieve at the temperatures they work at. Besides, if it were possible, you’d be getting pure CO2, CO, N2O etc,
3) Particles Pm2.5 and Pm10 can settle on the ground, since they are heavier than air.
4) Wood burners are a leading cause of indoor pollution, barring smoking of course.
5) Black carbon is worse for global warming than CO2 per unit volume.
6) Particulates can lead to cancer, heart disease, asthma and Alzheimer’s disease, to name but a few.
7) Wood burning produces more particulates in 1 hour than a diesel car in 1 month.
8) Temporally, wood burning is not carbon neutral. You are removing a tree that has been removing CO2 from atmosphere over its lifetime e.g. 50 years, and turning it into CO2 in hours. Once you have removed the tree and burnt it, there is now more CO2 in atmosphere than before chopping down and burning it. It will take 50 years for a new sapling to grow and offset the Co2.
9) Particles can limit the brain development of a child.
Thousands of narrowboat dwellers depend on multi fuel stoves each winter . If used correctly they are an excellent way to heat your house or your boat . To many snowflakes as usual , live and let live ffs .
This has more to do with the fact that the government can’t tax logs. They don’t want people getting free heating, that will never do.
As of February 2021, wood burning stoves are the main cause of particulate pollution. They produce more than 3x the amount of ALL our traffic.
We are destroying our air quality improvements. We are destroying people’s health and causing premature deaths.
If you have an alternative source of heating in your home, please do not buy a wood burner.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/16/home-wood-burning-biggest-cause-particle-pollution-fires
Iff that were true? Surely they would have been banned in the 2019 clean air review.
I have recently had a 2022 compliant Log Burner fitted in my home. I only burn kiln dried ‘Woodsure approved logs’. My Gas bill has been reduced by two thirds. However I have been concerned with the claims, researched or otherwise, around how polluting log burners can be. I am also aware of how many deaths due to pollution and climate change burning Fossil fuels (Gas, Oil and Coal ) cause as well.
My own personal observations are. I feel healthier in my own home. The burner draws in outside fresh air, so my home is warm, without the stuffy feeling I got with Gas central heating. Provided I have the appliance serviced, fumes shouldn’t enter the house. Refueling properly shouldn’t allow fumes into the house, I’ve not smelt any. However this is about me and my concerns are about others.
I don’t entirely rely on what single researches say. In the past so many so called researches have been proven incorrect because things change. I do think that burning wood in an appliance should be fully investigated by a joint effort from all concerned parties though. Taking into account that burning fossil fuels kills millions of people yearly, through pollution and climate change. I feel better for not burning Gas and adding to climate change (my wood is sourced fairly local to me) although my fuel has to be transported.
Iff a ban on Log burners was introduced, then my alternative source of heat would have to be Solar. I would not go back to Gas.
I’m due to retire shortly and I know owning a Log burner will keep me active and warmer in the Colder months. I won’t be sat on the couch using a remote to turn the heating up. I’ll be splitting Logs, getting up every 30 to 45 minutes to feed the burner. Cleaning it etc. Maybe there are some positives to owning Log burner. Time will tell. Best regards, Steve.
Are wood-burning stoves environmentally friendly? Yes and no in conurbations they are a menace because of the higher concentrations of particulates, however in rural locations (the natural home and setting for stoves) particulates are much lower and provided the wood is properly managed has no impact into the environment. The question of the trees absorbing more co2 if left is a red herring because most trees are not cut down gratuitously for fuel ,contrary to what has been written here. timber usually becomes available because of dead, dying, storm damaged, development etc and diseased trees.
I find it irritating that most articles and media commentaries written about the burning of wood are by by town/city people who have little understanding and no experience of the art of nurturing a wood stove.
Gas prices no real alternative that is affordable woodburners offer an alternative that requires no external sour once lit
Like all things for our future, cost rules,what every is said for the use of log burners .it’s weather you can afford to use one. As with vehicle fuel it’s all controlled.