Log burner logs prices may have crept up this year

savemoney

For last 2 years I paid £110 for a large truck load.

But my supplier who has to buy them in has increased price from £110 to £140 he says its due to supply and demand. that's a 22% increase

I think he has a point there is only so much wood that can be used and supply of log burners has increased over recent years

savemoney

On reflection I am beginning to think using a log burner isnt such a good buy

1. The price with chimney lining 2.5k
2. Maintenance (chimney sweep) cost me £38 last week
3. Factor in kindling too £5-6 per annum unless you have a free source which I do
4. Cost of fuel £100-£150 per annum roughly
5. Cost of my gas after 1143 kWh per quarter is 2.314p per kWh

Grz.26

I was going to ask, is a log burner a cheaper way of heating your home..? But think you have anwsered my question already. Thats quite a bit of money for secondary heating...?

savemoney

It doesn't heat the whole house it can just about keep ground floor in our 3 bedroom semi but still have to have CH on. This is a 7kw log burner so not a small one

I might leave it this year given that I will be on cheaper kWh sure I have a bigger gas bill but £140 plus I also get other wood

You also have to have a lot of space for storing them, we have a very large disused garage which we but wooden frames to hold wood in so it didnt fall over

Mr_Nimoy

It does not surprise me in the least that suppliers are hiking their prices.

Woodburning stoves are fast becoming an alternative heating option to gas and electricity for obvious reasons.

Shop around and you will be able to get a reasonable deal. I get all my wood for free and from several sources. One of my gripes regarding log suppliers is that many of them sell their wood in cubic meter bags. This to me is a con depending on how large the logs are and how they are packed. Most fuels that I am aware of are sold by measure. gas and electricity is metered, coal is sold by weight, fuel oil by liquid volume etc etc. as long as the retained moisture in the wood is stated by the supplier then it is simple mathematics to calculate the true weight of any given load.

You can verify and monitor this by purchasing your own moisture meters.

Another crying shame is the price some companies are charging for nylon flue cleaning brushes. The cheapest per metre rod length I could find was £18 !! and I required 10 metres.

Instead, I sourced the 12mm diameter gauge nylon rod at an internet plastics company website. For this I was charged 67p per metre. The hexagonal male and female brass fittings I sourced at 52p each. (The 7" diameter brush end was purchased for £10). This made the total cost of each metre of rod length at £1-71p. total cost for 10 meteres £27.10p including brush, as opposed to £180 !!!

savemoney

I have had a look, one supplier charges £240 for what looks like the same load a large tipper truck

I am thinking of giving the burner up this year at least it isnt worth using it

A._Badger

I think it's pretty fair to say that the current craze for wood burners is leading some people up the proverbial garden path.

Neither stoves, nor fitting, nor the wood itself are particularly cheap and it would take a fair while to get a return on your investment if you were paying full price for wood - or smokeless fuel for that matter. They are also hard work - particularly if you have to haul or cut your own wood.

That said, I wouldn't be without one. However, I'm aware that what I'm doing is for the pleasure of having a real fire in my life. Anyone lured by the promise of cheap heating is, I suspect, likely to be in for a shock.

savemoney

I agree A. Badger

I wasn't sold it as a green or something magical, I knew what I was buying and the expense, I was naive on how much wood cost or how much chimney sweep cost, that said I thought £110 for a large pickup wasn't too bad I just resent paid 22% more this year had it been 10% or less say £120 then I wouldn't grumble

This will be my 4th Winter this year year 1 I spent £50 and used lots of wood I got. Year 2 and year 3 £110 and I still got some wood left from year 3

I dont think I will buy any this year, not when I pay 2.314p per kWh for gas and I would still have CH on anyway but slightly more now

I will report back in Spring to see how much extra I paid as I keep good records of usage

PDM1

A._Badger wrote: »

I think it's pretty fair to say that the current craze for wood burners is leading some people up the proverbial garden path.

Neither stoves, nor fitting, nor the wood itself are particularly cheap and it would take a fair while to get a return on your investment if you were paying full price for wood - or smokeless fuel for that matter. They are also hard work - particularly if you have to haul or cut your own wood.

That said, I wouldn't be without one. However, I'm aware that what I'm doing is for the pleasure of having a real fire in my life. Anyone lured by the promise of cheap heating is, I suspect, likely to be in for a shock.

Agree, it is a lot of expense, but its the whole thing about nature that I like about it, geeting the wood, cutting the wood, storing the wood, sitting in front of a fire on a cold wet evening or at the weekend coming back from watching my sons footy game in the cold, but I would say that I am now in credit with my gas company and it is starting to pay back even after 1 year, but I do get my wood for free!

In my opinion the price will rise on wood products in the short term but i think that it will come down again as demand decreases as people reconise it is both hard work and expensive to maintain. I for one will keep going and enjoy one of lifes pleasures

Regards

regards

Jenna_of_Usk

We buy 'sidings' from the local saw mill who charge £8 per tonne (mainly oak) & £10 delivery (They're 10 miles away). We cut it up with an electric chain saw.

A._Badger

PDM1 wrote: »

Agree, it is a lot of expense, but its the whole thing about nature that I like about it, geeting the wood, cutting the wood, storing the wood, sitting in front of a fire on a cold wet evening or at the weekend coming back from watching my sons footy game in the cold, but I would say that I am now in credit with my gas company and it is starting to pay back even after 1 year, but I do get my wood for free!

In my opinion the price will rise on wood products in the short term but i think that it will come down again as demand decreases as people reconise it is both hard work and expensive to maintain. I for one will keep going and enjoy one of lifes pleasures

Regards

regards

I agree it's aesthetically pleasing and I, like you, enjoy the whole experience.

One of the problems with the market for wood is that it is being driven by people conned into thinking it's cheap heat (it certainly isn't if you are buying wood at some of the prices I've seen!) and others conned by the eco-warriors waffling about 'sustainablity'.

If everyone switched to burning wood, I reckon we'd we denude the country of trees in a couple of years - hardly 'sustainable'!

Like you, I hope when people come to their senses they'll realise it's a far more complicated issue than just getting heat on the cheap, and demand will slacken.

I'm not getting my hopes up, though!