How are wood burners better?

mccormack222

We've been thinking about getting different type of boiler for a while now. To those people who have already made the move - are they worth it?

I've seen a tool at grantuk.com/biomass-rhi-calculator which tells you the cost of the switch but it asks how much you pay currently for your KWh and I'm not sure where to find this as we don't receive a paper bill anymore. Been looking at the biomass boilers as they seem to be quite environmentally friendly and would save us money but are they better than gas? Are they generally cheaper?

What are everyone's thoughts about moving over?

Thanks in advance.

alleycat`

Put simply if you have a mains gas supply then it is incredibly unlikely any other form of heating will, currently, be cheaper.

suisidevw

If you don't have a free supply of wood, mains gas will be much cheaper!

Fortunately, I do have free wood and we use the wood burner at this time of year, to take the chill off the house. When it gets really cold in winter, the wood burner will still be running all evening, meaning the central heating stays off for a while, as it heats the living room and the heat pours out into the hall/kitchen etc. Otherwise, the central heating would be on at this point, continuously.

No4_Winder

I would think that Gas is the cheapest way, even though it's due to go up yet again.
I have a woodburner and luckily get my wood for nowt. There is no way I would buy freshly cut wood, as half of the weight is water

mccormack222

So I guess the only way to see a bill reduction would be to get my wood for free I guess. Thanks, I have another question but I should probably start a new thread for it. thanks again.

SG27

Also don't forget to add on the cost of chimney sweep to the price of logs. I worked out i needed to be paying about £70 per cubic metre for logs to break even with gas. The cheapest I could get was £80 add on £55 for the chimney sweep and gas always wins.

verydeeppockets

We have two burners, one is on now. But it's all run with free wood. Plus the cost of the petrol, the chainsaw, the log splitter, the replacement chains, the chain oil, etc etc. Once you start paying for the logs as well, gas is way cheaper.

forgotmyname

I know someone that has just bought a log burner, Wasnt cheap.

Then as above thats not quite the end, Your either buying ready cut to size logs which is expensive or you need saws or splitters and somewhere dry to store enough wood to last the winter.

And you want some proper wood, Not just old pallets that may burn too quickly.

So far they have spent almost 3 years worth of what we pay for our gas central heating/hotwater.
And it not even up and running yet, Something missing from the chimney?

As a longer term plan providing you can get free/cheap wood then its probably a good idea.

meanbean

I'm not convinced gas is more expensive. If you don't pay a standing charge on your gas and you try to just use your burner and only use gas when its really needed, the gas bills are less. We do this and somehow are in credit on our gas account. We only use gas for half an hour in the morning in winter until the burner gets going.

lisa701

We installed on 2 years ago - best decision ever. Its saved us a fortune on gas bills and means we can have heat whenever we like without the fear of the gas bill.

We are fortunate in that we have a free supply of hard wood so the only cost was the initial outlay of £1000 for the stove, chimney lining and installation. We pay £45 to have the chimney swept which is a hell of a lot less than what our monthly gas bill was.

Last year we did switch the central heating on for 2 weeks over Christmas but other than that we have managed with the stove.

Only wish we could have got one which heated the water too, but space didnt allow for it so we are stuck with the gas for that

alleycat`

lisa701 wrote: »

We are fortunate in that we have a free supply of hard wood

Well if anyone had a free supply of <insert fuel> it is obviously going to save money.

That is assuming you don't have to process said fuel as time, equipment and the like are a direct cost.

I think the point is that 99.9% of people will not have a free supply of fuel and, currently, if you have mains gas it will be cheaper.

If you have free wood left over please send some to me