Wood Burners

The Advantages Of Installing A Wood Burner

For many people, the biggest single advantage to installing or owning a wood burning stove is simply the eye-catching look and cosy feel of a real fire, but with none of the hassle, smell, soot or risk. Installing a woodburner is a completely valid lifestyle choice that pushes the right buttons for a great many and effortlessly evokes deep rooted associations with the basic human desire to feel warm and safe.

It’s also worth bearing mind that what looks good and feels good generally also sells well. There is a body of anecdotal evidence from estate agents and others that homeowners who make improvements such as install radiant floor heat in bathrooms and a woodburning stove in the living area find life very much easier when they later come to sell their property. That’s not to say that heating features such as these will make your house worth more on the market, but it will help you achieve your asking price and sell your house more quickly.

The second biggest reason that many people are installing wood burning stoves and boilers is that wood burners are highly efficient and much cheaper to run than conventional gas, oil or electric heating systems; we’re talking well over three times cheaper in most cases, and quite a bit more in some situations. At present, there are few more easy ways to save money than to switch to wood burning as a domestic heating solution, but before you rush out (or logon) to buy yourself a wood burning stove you would do well to check over this basic checklist before installing a wood burning stove, because wood burners are not the answer for all people, for all manner of reasons.

Thirdly, we are all becoming much more environmentally aware these days; every amateur gardener knows that the climate is already changing and every gas or electric bill is a reminder that the way things have been up till now is no longer sustainable for the future. Which is where wood burning comes in; because although you are indeed releasing carbon into the atmosphere when you burn logs or wood pellets, this forms part of a more or less balanced carbon cycle.

The carbon released by a wood burner was taken from the atmosphere in the first place by the tree that provided the wood - that’s how trees make themselves; carbon dioxide plus solar energy (sunlight). When grown and harvested as a renewable resource, the trees planted today to replace the ones used as biofuel in wood burning stoves will again absorb exactly the same amount of carbon dioxide as is released by the burning process. This can be managed as an endlessly sustainable, balanced cycle that produces almost zero excess CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) by contrast are not in the slightest renewable or sustainable and are a one way street as far as CO2 is concerned.

But it’s not really about tree-hugging and hand-crafted eco-credibility any more; in addition to very sound environmental reasons, there are very sound economic reasons to go green these days. The ever rising cost of conventional fossil fuel and increasingly tough legislation and regulations (such as the Building Regulations Part L - Conservation of fuel and power) mean that many of us need to consider installing a variety of renewable energy sources.

In the case of new builds, including extensions of any significant size to existing properties. the regulations (such as the aforementioned “Document L” which is the UK implemantation of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) are becoming so draconian that many architects and builders automatically opt to install wood burning stoves and boilers simply to make it so much easier to comply with the building regulations.

Quite a few modern wood burning systems can really do it all and provide capabilities for cooking, whole house space heating, hot water and heat storage. You can choose a wood burning stove that has that traditional kitchen range look with a back boiler providing hot water to domestic radiators and the main hot water cylinder, or go for a stylish sleek modern design that simultaneously acts as a compelling focal point in your living space. Integrate a ,wood burner solution with solar thermal heating and solar lighting and you’ll be well on the way to a much more sustainable future - financially for you and environmentally for the planet.

The Downsides To Installing A Wood Burner

So what’s the downside? Well for a start wood burning stoves are not for everyone. Some people may simply not want such a wood burner in their house for a variety of good reasons.

There is no getting away from the fact that whereas gas and electricity is simply piped direct into your home and the boiler is thus permanently connected to its fuel supply, a wood burner need, well, wood. Which means you need to have supplies of suitable wood logs, wood chips or wood pellets delivered to your home (or chop your own), which in turn means you need somewhere fairly spacious, dry and accessible to store the wood, and finally it has to be introduced into the burner (or the pellet hopper for automatic feed systems). That typically means YOU heaving logs. Many folk are completely untroubled by this minor inconvenience, but it’s a less thrilling prospect if you’re elderly or incapacitated to any degree.

Some people of course just don’t have the space to store the biofuel, or may live in an area with strict environmental regulations regarding smoke and particulate pollution. Also, unless you happen to be located reasonably close to a reliable source of wood biofuel then it will cost you considerably more than you might have imagined or budgeted for because of the transportation cost to deliver fuel for your wood burning stove. Wood is heavy and bulky and so it costs money to transport it any great distance; it also totally negates the environmental benefits of burning wood if you get it delivered great distances by a petrol or diesel powered vehicle.

Then there are maintenance issues such as keeping the flue or chimney clean; factor in having to call on a chimney sweep at least once or maybe twice a year depending on usage patterns. The wood ash that gathers in the burner itself is fairly minimal if you burn good quality well seasoned logs or wood pellets at a high temperature, but even so don’t expect to get away without having to clean up now and again.

There is also the cost and work required to install a wood burning stove, especially if you are replacing an existing conventional system or retrofitting a wood burner into an existing environment. Obviously this is not so much of a consideration for a new build or major refurbishment and the significantly reduced operating costs from a wood burner more than compensate over time for both cases.

Finally, wood burners are not for everyone for the simple reason that there aren’t enough trees in suitable locations to support the whole population switching to wood burning stoves. But for those who are able to install a wood burner there seems little doubt that the advantages considerably outweigh any disadvantages.

If you do decide to further investigate installing a wood burner then a further pair of advantages and disadvantages will confront you. The advantage is that there is a huge range of possible wood burner applicances to choose from; the disadvantage is that there is a huge range of possible wood burner applicances to choose from. To help sort out this bewildering wealth of choices you might want to read how to select a type and make of wood burner.