Why Have Woodburning Stoves Recently Become So Popular?
If you’ve been musing over the idea of installing a wood burning stove in your home then you are far from alone. Over the past few years there has been a huge increase in the number of people using wood burners to either supplement or indeed replace conventional heating systems. So why exactly is this?
Top of the list in equal first place must be: significant savings in running costs (especially with constantly rising prices for gas, oil and electricity); and good looks. Most everyone loves that traditional fireplace effect and the cozy warmth that more conventional forms of space heating just seem to lack. Also, the latest log burning stoves are very clean and easy to use and maintain.
Basic Checklist Before Considering Installing a Wood Burning Stove
There are various pros and cons involved with installing wood burning stoves and some of the crucial issues to consider for any biomass system are noted below.
Before we go any further though, a quick word about terminology. Like any subject, the technology of wood burning has it’s own jargon that acts as useful shorthand for professionals and mostly baffles everyone else. Unusually though, this terminological bamboozlement starts with the description of the very subject itself. You would think that a woodburner, wood burner, wood burning stove and log burner were all basically the same thing just described in different ways. And (pedants and hair splitters aside) you would be right. But try typing each of those into Google and notice how you get noticeably different results each time.
For a quick(ish) run down of the various different options then try this guide to choosing a wood burning stove and discover more than you perhaps wanted to know about the differences (and similarities) between wood burners, pellet stoves, solid fuel versus multifuel stoves, inset fires, pellet boilers, range cookers, double sided stoves, back boilers, DEFRA approved appliances and so on, and on, and on…
It also includes a handy dandy list of many of the best wood stove makers with links to their own websites so you can waste hours drooling extensively research the many options open to you.
This plethora of ways to say the same thing makes it quite tricky to ever find what you’re interested in, because you don’t know how it might have been described. You might want to research a wood burning boiler but not know that some of the best information or products out there refer instead to a log burning stove.
Eventually you might realize that “log burning stoves” or “log burning fires” might in fact be the term to search for only to then discover (or more likely not, of course) that other folk have chosen to refer instead to “wood burning fires” or even “cast iron stoves” for the perfectly reasonable reason that most logburners are indeed made of cast iron. The only solution appears to be to conduct multiple searches specifying each of the usual suspects. Anyway, you get the idea so let’s continue…
Money And Good Looks – Nothing Really Changes…
Modern wood burner stoves are very energy efficient and the price of the fuel compares extremely favorably with fossil fuel alternatives with potential energy savings at between 3 to 8 times depending on the exact comparison and location. With oil prices constantly rising, anyone living in a remote location and dependent on an oil tank for their main fuel might want to seriously consider cutting their losses before things get even worse.
An interesting factoid is that a cord of properly seasoned hardwood produces heat equivalent to about 130 gallons of fuel oil (at today’s prices). It’s also cheaper and, as we will see, less harmful to the environment. A cord if you don’t know is a convenient US unit of measure for a stack of wood (4′ x 4′ x 8′).
Whether you want that stylish ultra modern look that contemporary log burners offer or a traditional country kitchen style there’s a wood burning stove to suit your lifestyle – the choice is simply enormous. No matter what you choose though, wood burners always add a nice homely touch and people somehow seem to gravitate towards them.
Environmental Awareness
The other main factor in favor of installing wood burning stoves is that they are very environmentally friendly. Oddly, many people would assume the exact opposite since they can see that a wood burning stove is clearly burning wood and creating smoke that contains carbon emissions. They tend to overlook that the “clean” electricity that enters their house has itself been created by burning fuel – almost always a fossil fuel such as coal, gas or oil.
The main difference between the two is that wood, unlike fossil fuels, is renewable and in the course of growing new wood (i.e. trees) carbon is extracted from the atmosphere and locked back up inside the wood. The plain fact is that trees, like all other living organisms, do not live forever and a dead tree can be seen as either waste material or a useful source of energy. The carbon stored in a dead tree is eventually released back into the atmosphere regardless, so burning it releases no more carbon than leaving it to rot. It is a more or less balanced carbon cycle.
It is for this very reason that many architects and builders now incorporate energy saving wood burners in their designs for new buildings – it enables them to simultaneously provide an economical and aesthetically pleasing domestic space heating, hot water and optional cooking solution and much more easily comply with ever tougher regulations targeting low carbon emissions.
Woodburners, BioFuel And Climate Change
Whatever your own views on the subject of climate change (a.k.a global warming) there is no escaping the fact that the majority of governments across the developed world are united in an attempt to reduce emissions of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and a consequence of this is a forest of legislation, regulations and initiatives that you must now navigate.
Woodburners use what is called “woody biomass” as fuel. Biomass (also often called biofuel) encompasses two principal categories: woody biomass (which is exactly what it sounds like) and non-woody biomass which is everything else including various sorts of biodegradable waste material and crops intentionally grown as biofuel, for example sugar and maize.
Woody biomass fuel suitable for use in most wood stoves is typically wood pellets, wood chips and wood logs. Many modern wood burning stoves are described as “dual-fire” meaning that they are capable of being run by any of these fuels (wood pellets are similar in size and appearance to the sort of thing people feed pet rabbits but made from highly compressed sawdust). Stoves that are specifically designed to run on wood pellets are often termed (rather obviously) wood pellet stoves or more simply just pellet stoves.
Dual-fire burners are not to be confused with “multi fuel stoves” which are capable of burning both wood products and coal. While it might be convenient to use coal as a fuel – not least because unlike wood which should be burned “fast” it can be slowly burned – coal is extremely environmentally hostile. Coal is, hands down, far and away the worst fuel as regards CO2 pollution, beating both oil and gas by a considerable margin. Although the Climate Change Levy (a tax on energy designed to encourage energy efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions) does not at present apply to domestic energy users, it is still worth noting that while wood fuel is exempt, coal is most certainly not.
Want A Wood Burner? You’ll Be Needing Some Wood Then…
First, check availability of solid fuel in your area; are there any local suppliers of wood pellets, wood chips and/or logs. Do you have sufficient suitable trees to provide your own logs, bearing in mind that wood intended to be used in a wood burning stove should be fully seasoned (left to dry naturally for at least a year) and that you should plan to replace any trees you harvest for biofuel. You may also want to consider products such as wood briquettes which are similar to pellets in that they are made from compressed, recycled sawdust but are actually made to resemble and be used in the same way as regular logs. You can also get often get free delivery (depending on geographic location) on these and, since they are already dried and well packaged, handling and storage are less of an issue.
In the UK there is a handy website called The Log Pile which lists suppliers of wood fuel and specifically wood pellets (it also maintains lists of suppliers of wood stoves and wood boilers). In both cases you should be aware that these are obviously self-selecting lists and there is no implied recommendation or endorsement of any particular supplier who has asked to be on the list, but it’s still a good place to start.
Be very wary of burning wood whose source is unclear; it may contain excessive moisture which will foul your flue or worse may have been treated with preservatives or other substances that are hazardous to health when burnt.
The costs to run wood burners and the environmental benefits from installing wood burners both suffer badly if bulky and heavy wood fuel has to be transported any significant distance.
Second, ensure that you have somewhere to store the fuel since it is bulky and needs to be kept dry, and also check that you have adequate access to the wood burner (or the fuel hopper if you have installed an automatic fuel loading system) in order to load it with your intended biofuel. You don’t want to be having deliveries of wood every fortnight or so and you don’t want to struggle getting the wood to the burner. A covered space at least three cubic metres in size and relatively close to the wood burner is what you should aim for if your wood burning stove is to be an easy to use, cost effective alternative to conventional heating systems rather than a millstone around your neck. If you are sourcing your own wood then this must be well seasoned (left to dry naturally for a couple of years).
Third, with wood burners in general and wood burning boiler stoves especially it is important to optimize the heat load, in other words to burn the fuel at a fast rate and high temperature in order to achieve optimal efficiency – running a wood burner stove in “tick over” mode can easily cause tarring of the flue. Obviously this requirement can present a problem since it’s unlikely you would want that much heat generated all the time. The solution for many is to install what is called an accumulator tank, which acts like a heat battery, storing the accumulated heat as very hot water which can then be released over the next day or so (typically into the house radiators and hot water system).
Safety Issues
Fourth, wood burners obviously get very hot and are capable of damaging or burning floors and walls so ensure adequate distance and/or insulation between the two. Clearances can vary according to individual stoves so check any documentation and if in doubt fit a non-combustible protection to both walls and floor adjacent to the stove as well as leaving a significant gap.
Nearby walls in particular are at risk of being damaged by the considerable heat generated by a wood burning stove. A very simple and cost-free solution is to just ensure a gap of about 48 inches between stove and wall. However, this is not everyone’s cup of tea – whilst a centrally located wood burner can look fantastic, not all rooms are able to accommodate a stove this way and quite commonly people like to put them close to the wall through which the flue is vented to the outside.
A basic heat shield that extends some 36 inches all around back of the stove and is made of 28 gauge (or thicker) steel mounted on fire-resistant one inch spacers can bring the required gap down to less than 24 inches. For a corner wood stove then you need to allow 18 inches between the back corners and walls, again with a heat shield this can be reduced to 12 inches. You also need to consider the stovepipe which also gets very hot – a general rule of thumb is to allow 3 times the diameter of the pipe as clearance.
But if the thought of DIY heat shielding has you running for the hills, don’t fret – it is often much easier and only slightly more expensive to simply purchase purpose built products all round. Of course, if you are looking at buying a brand new modern stove then many of these already incorporate heat shields and can be placed remarkably close to walls (6 inches or so) but always check the manufacturers stated claims on the matter.
Where protecting the floor is concerned, most log burners should be mounted on a hearth or floor plate of some description. Simple bricks, thick ceramic tiles or a concrete slab are often quite sufficient but if you’ve set your heart on a contemporary stove design then these materials will do little to complement and enhance its appearance. In this case you may want to consider a specially made steel or glass floor plate as this will be integral to the overall look.
A glass or steel floor plate (also often termed a hearth plate, plinth, glass hearth, glass floor plate, decorative plinth, cast iron plinth, steel hearth plate, granite plate, granite hearth, and on it goes…) really adds the finishing touch to a contemporary wood stove, while cast iron suits more traditional materials. Either way, it’s not unlike framing a picture – an important detail worth getting right for both safety and aesthetic reasons.
Letting It All Out
Fifth, bear in mind that a domestic wood burning stove requires a flue and that the vent material must be suitable for wood fuel applications. Do NOT get confused between the (usually black) stovepipe that is fitted directly to the woodburner and a flue or chimney; the stovepipe is entirely internal and must not pass through any walls or ceilings, but must connect to an insulated chimney that then flows to the outside.
There must also be proper air movement to ensure correct operation of the stove. If you already have a chimney then it is possible to have this fitted with a lined flue suitable for a wood burner, but again this costs extra money.
However, some would go so far as to assert that the most important component of a stove installation is not the wood burning stove itself but the chimney. It is vital to keep the flue gasses hot which means an insulated flue, usually using either a steel liner or a lightweight aerated concrete lining, must be installed otherwise there is risk of accumulating tar deposits in the chimney.
In the UK, constructing a new chimney or modifying an existing one by, for example, installing a wood burner or fitting a liner is subject to building control, which stipulates that both wood burning and multi-fuel stoves require a Class 1 Chimney. This is essentially a masonry construction with a minimum diameter of 7″ that is air tight (i.e. does not leak any gases).
The position on log burner regulations in the US is similar with respect to chimneys and in general unless you are sure you have a sound masonry chimney that has been designed and constructed to withstand the high temperatures produced by wood and multi fuel burners then you should fit either a high grade stainless steel liner or instead install a stainless steel Class A insulated chimney (in the US specifically, this must be a UL approved steel chimney).
Do not simply place a wood stove in front of an existing fireplace and push the stovepipe vaguely in the direction of the chimney. If must at the very least run up to where the chimney’s tile liner starts and preferably run continuously all the way from the stove to the top of the chimney i.e. one fully sealed liner top to bottom. This latter arrangement ensures that the chimney can only draw air via the stove and not from the room (what is known as a “positive connection”).
A final word on the subject of chimneys… remember that these need to be kept clean in order to function safely and efficiently, so find yourself a reputable local chimney sweep. If you’re in the UK then here is a list of HETAS approved chimney sweeps.
Finally, there are all manner of regulations you will likely need to check to ensure compliance and to ensure you can make full use of any grants and incentives that may be available to offset your wood burning stove installation costs. These are covered immediately below.
Regulations Governing Installation Of Wood Burning Stoves
Obviously the physical log burner installation itself needs to comply with safety and building regulations. Also, you might need planning permission to fit a twin wall wood burner flue if you don’t already have a flue or suitable chimney. And of course, with recent Climate Change legislation you might also need to establish compliance with the Building Regulations Part L – Conservation of fuel and power (the UK implementation of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive).
If you plan to install a wood burning boiler or stove in an urban environment in general, or are located in a smokeless zone, you will need to check which regulations apply, what exemptions might also apply and consider specially approved wood burning stoves that have been designed to comply with the Clean Air Act with regard to particulate pollution.
In the UK you can easily check the location of Smoke Control Areas and also which types of wood burning stoves and specific fuels are exempt. The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) helpfully list specific appliances exempt from the Clean Air Act.
In the USA you will also find that not only the stove itself, but also most parts such as the stovepipe and chimney liner need to be what is commonly referred to as “UL Approved”. This means simply that they must pass tests laid down by Underwriters Laboratories in order to obtain certification, be permitted to display a UL mark and be sold in the US market.
Other countries also have their own forms of Clean Air legislation, for example New Zealand with its controversial Clean Heat Project that essentially outlaws not only open fires but also all solid fuel stoves that are 15 years or older. That said, the New Zealand government has made provision to assist those affected with subsidies and interest-free loans, subject of course to eligibility. This, for example, documents the various forms of financial assistance available to residents of New Zealand.
In general then you must always check what rules and assistance may apply to your own particular locality.
Grants and Incentives for Installing Wood Burning Stoves
Don’t forget to check whether you are eligible for incentive grants towards the cost of installing a wood stove. There are numerous government sponsored schemes and aid grants aimed at encouraging people to install environmentally friendly technologies such as wood burning stoves and wood burning boilers. You could be pleasantly surprised at not only the cost savings from operating your wood burner, but also the amount of financial assistance towards the initial installation costs you might be eligible for. In the UK these grant schemes are operated under the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) .
Note:The Low Carbon Buildings Programme fell victim to the spending reductions introduced by the UK Coalition government and was closed to new applications from the 24th May 2010. In a statement on the site the government reiterates it’s commitment to decentralising energy, including microgeneration technologies (basically individuals such as you and me), but is less than clear about when it intends to offer further financial incentives.
The UK government agency DEFRA considers wood chip boilers to be the most cost-effective microgeneration technology in terms of energy saving potential and award financial incentives for installing wood burning systems. Under the terms of the LCBP, administered by DEFRA, the maximum grant available in the UK is was £1500 (regardless of the size of the wood boiler) with an overall limit of 30% of the total cost (exclusive of VAT).
Additonally, the UK Energy Saving Trust estimates that a “biomass boiler could save you around £470 a year on heating bills”, although there is a caveat that it depends on what you’re replacing (hint, the savings are considerably less if you currently use a gas boiler). The EST also recently supervised the Boiler Scrappage Scheme (now closed) which offered an incentive of £400 to anyone considering decommissioning an old boiler in favour of a new energy efficient, carbon friendly replacement and specifically recommended biomass boilers as a means of taking advantage of the scrappage scheme.
In the UK, you can go your own way and apply to your local authority building control department for a building notice which will cost anything up to about £300. Upon completion of your wood burner installation, you will also have to notify the authority who will inspect your installation to ensure it is fully compliant with building regulations. Failure to comply can lead to enforcement and serious problems for future house sale and can be unpleasantly expensive to rectify, so if you don’t actually know how to fit a wood burning stove (and why would you?) then forget the DIY approach and read on.
Needless to say, when faced with the daunting question of how to install a wood burning stove, most people quite sensibly adopt the easier and safer route of employing a HETAS registered installer who will not only install your wood burner but also issue a Certificate of Compliance and notify the local authority on your behalf. Finding a reputable approved installer to both plan and carry out your wood burner installation is simply a matter of choosing a local installer from the list of approved solid fuel installers at the HETAS website.
HETAS is an acronym for Heating Equipment Testing and Approval Scheme. It is a UK certification body and any local HETAS accredited installer of wood burners should be able to provide answers and advice relating to supply of wood, installation options, local regulations and how to apply for grants.
A similar organization exists in the USA – the NFI or National Fireplace Institute and you can likewise locate a local NFI certified woodburner installer.
Types Of Wood Burner Installation
As well as there being a huge number of manufacturers of domestic wood burners, there is also a bewildering variety of different types of wood burner. There are also many ways to use biomass systems such as wood burning boilers and stoves to provide domestic heating and/or hot water, but to keep things simple we’ll divide things into three main categories: traditional stand-alone wood burning stoves, biomass boilers and wood burning cookers (often in the guise of traditional kitchen ranges).
There is obviously considerable overlap within these main groups; both wood burning stoves intended as room heaters (or space heating stoves) and cookers for example may be further subdivided into those with and those without wood burning boilers. There is then a further permutation to consider, which is whether or not the burner is designed to run on wood pellets (properly dried and sized wood chips may also suffice).
Basic Wood Burning Stoves
A basic stand-alone wood burning stove provides very effective space heating for a single room, much like an open fireplace but rather more attractive, safe, clean, efficient and easier to maintain. Indeed, many people do install stand-alone wood burners in regular wood fireplaces as an alternative to an open fire. Regardless of location though, these are principally intended for localized space heating and to act as a feature or focal point in a living area.
An interesting variant where space heating is concerned is the masonry woodburner. This has a thick outer masonry cladding, usually made of soapstone or sandstone, that absorbs the heat from the fire and releases it slowly over a period of time. The great advantage of this type of burner is that you can enjoy immediate convected heat, but you can also shut off the convection and allow the heat to build up in the masonry layer which gives a much more gentle and even heat over a much longer period (it will go on releasing heat long after the fire has been shut down).
A further twist is the ceramic wood burner. These have traditionally been essentially masonry wood burners that have been covered in glazed ceramic tiles (hence the name). As well as providing decoration, the tiles also act as an additional layer of heat absorbing material. It’s now possible, thanks to modern materials technology, to also find decorative ceramic stoves that are in fact based on a metal wood burner body.
Of course you don’t necessarily have to go to the trouble of installing a wood burning stove if you already have a functioning fireplace. A simple and cheaper (though often nearly as effective) solution is to fit a fireplace insert which essentially seals off the fireplace and, much as regular wood burner does, permits tight control over the airflow so as to then control and improve the combustion process.
Wood Burning Boilers
Larger domestic wood burner systems are able to heat an entire house, in addition to providing a certain amount of local heat. These are wood burning or biomass boilers and as you might have guessed they operate by heating water which is then passed to the regular domestic radiators and usually also the main hot water cylinder.
An alternative configuration for a wood burning boiler is to heat then store water in what is termed a “heat accumulator” (similar in many respects to a hot water cylinder tank but larger and able to maintain effective water temperatures for several days. To figure out what size wood burning boiler you might need to provide space and water heating then follow the link.
The main reasons for opting for an accumulator are a) it is more efficient to run a wood burner fast, aiming to fully burn all the fuel present, but this then produces an excess of heat (converted into hot water) which needs to be stored for subsequent use, and b) it is also a good option for storing heat generated during the day if you also have some form of solar energy system installed. Accumulators generally have multiple “tapping points” (ways to connect heat sources) so they are ideal for storing heat supplied from say solar panels, wood burning stoves, conventional gas boilers, and so on).
Cooking With Logs
There are also wood burning stoves that provide full cooking capabilities. Many are simply wood burning stoves where the heat is used to heat ovens and hobs but some models are more than capable of providing all domestic hot water and radiator heating for the whole of a large family house as well as localized space heating in the kitchen due to background heat from the oven and hobs. These are typically styled as traditional range cookers (think Aga and Rayburn) but in place of one of the main ovens is a boiler.
Modern whole house wood burner systems are often designed as a complete replacement for an existing gas, oil or electric heating system (or installed from scratch in new builds) and have every modern convenience you would expect including automatic loading hoppers, automatic ignition, programmable timer settings, remote control and full heat adjustment. The superb Belgian Saey range of wood burning stoves includes many such fine examples that look absolutely beautiful too.
The principal differences between wood burners such as these and conventional (usually gas) boilers are that they cost a great deal less to run and they are significantly more environmentally friendly since wood burning is a sustainable, close to carbon-neutral process. They’re a great deal more attractive as well, which is why you will almost always find a wood burner installed as a prominent feature in most homes, rather than hidden away in a cupboard or utility room.
Cost to Install a Wood Burner
Many people ask how much it costs to install a wood burner. An estimate for wood burning stoves installation is a lot like asking how much it costs to build a house. It depends on what you want, what your budget is, how much space you need to heat, what type of heat you need (space heating, hot water, cooking, a combination thereof), what restrictions might apply and so on.
There is no set answer because as you have already discovered there is no one definitive “wood burner” and everyone’s own circumstances differ. But as a rough rule of thumb, cost is proportionate to the size/power of the unit (once you have discounted other factors such as having a preference for beautiful contemporary wood burning stoves versus more traditional budget models). This in turn is closely related to the amount of space you wish to heat and results in a number that is typically expressed in British Thermal Units (Btu) or Kilowatt Hours (kWh). The calculator below provides very approximate estimates but you really should consult a local heating professional to get an accurate sizing.
Also, the term wood burner (and associated terms such as woodburning stove, wood boiler, wood burning cooker and so on) is generic and applied loosely to a whole class of different individual styles and makes of wood burner. Each costing different amounts to purchase, install, operate and maintain.
That said, as an extremely general example, a 20kW (which is approximately the size needed for a typical three-bedroom house) wood pellet boiler with automatic fuel hopper could cost around £5000 including all installation costs (i.e. including the cost of the flue and commissioning the boiler). The same size wood boiler system using a manual log feed would obviously come in slightly cheaper.
Unless you are highly competent at DIY and qualified to perform (and, all too often these days, also certify) the necessary work to install a wood burner then you should seek the advice and services of an approved heating engineer (as noted above). A qualified specialist should be able to provide an approximate idea of the type of wood burning system best suited to your requirements and typical costs to purchase, install and run such a wood burner.
Integrating A Wood Burning Boiler With An Existing System
Of course, not everyone has the luxury of installing a brand new wood burning system into a new build. Most people are looking to install a wood burner either as a replacement for, or to operate in combination with, an existing gas boiler. Even those who are installing a new wood burning stove might consider installing a combination of wood burning and gas boiler (plus possibly also solar water heating). In an uncertain world it makes a lot of financial sense to adopt more than one technology.
Pretty much the first problem that most folk run into when attempting to integrate wood burning stoves and/or solar powered heating with existing, typically mains gas, heating systems is differences in design and particularly pressures within these various systems.
Most modern gas boilers are combination (or combi) boilers that are closed, pressurized systems, whereas the backboiler typically fitted (as the name suggests) to the back of most wood burning stoves is designed to feed a conventional gravity fed hot water cylinder and cannot withstand the pressure within a closed system. This is not to say that you cannot integrate a combi boiler and a wood burning stove back boiler. Some back boilers are designed to withstand the pressures in a sealed system – this type of installation has a pressure relief safety valve fitted to protect the back boiler.
However, as a general rule most wood burners with back boilers must be connected to an open vented system, and although the primary circuit may be pumped, it must be capable of dissipating heat from the wood burning stove by natural gravity circulation in case of a power or pump failure (the heat is usually sent to a thermal store or bled directly into the house radiators).
The easiest option for many is to incorporate a thermal store (i.e. a heat accumulator) with a device for combining feeds from mains pressure combi boilers with those from renewable energy sources (solar thermal systems and wood burning stoves); the Grant CombiSOL is a well known example. They also have a version (called the WinterSOL) that incorporates a switch for setting “summer” or “winter” modes – basically the winter setting is selected when the renewable supply is not able to provide sufficient hot water. Do note though that you may have to fit a water softener if you have very hard water as this can clog the valves with limescale deposits.
Buying Wood Burners Online
Many people wonder whether buying a big-ticket item such as a wood burning stove can be done online. Well certainly the internet is these days one of the best ways to research wood burning stoves and get an idea of what’s available at what price and generally compare wood burning options.
You can also find any number of suppliers but at the end of the day you are always best advised to buy from a reputable supplier with a physical address, clear terms and conditions, a fair returns policy, a track record of happy customers and a reputation to protect. How can you tell? Well simply look at their website, for example gr8fires clearly tick all the boxes that give you a good feeling they are established, really understand their products and are committed to customer satisfaction.
Whatever you think you might save by buying a “bargain” online, the truth is you will save many times over by dealing with an experienced professional company who understand the surprising complexities and potential pitfalls involved with fitting a wood burning stove.
Many people approach the idea of installing a log burner peering though rose tinted spectacles and armed with little more than naive optimism and ignorance. This is a significant undertaking and not like putting a new TV in your lounge – you may need to make structural changes and negotiate red tape, and you will certainly have to factor in “extras” such as providing insulation to protect floors and walls.
And Finally…
Installing a wood burner is not a light undertaking, but if you approach the idea with realistic expectations you stand a very good chance of reaping the very considerable benefits for many years to come. Of course, there are always professional curmudgeons who like nothing better than to find fault, for example this Guardian article which claims to “uncover the truth” about wood burners but instead ultimately exposes the prejudices and fundamental ignorance of the writer (as the very long list of rather better informed comments following the article demonstrate).
