Do woodburners save you money?

silverwhistle

I've had mine a season and have probably two more season's of free wood stored or to process: plenty of chestnut that won't be ready for next year. Loads of off-cuts and shavings from a local joiner and boatbuilder... I know it's sacrilege to burn teak, but I've sorted out all the half decent bits.

To all those talking about the work involved: yes there is. But just look around this site and people complaining about being overweight, unfit, sedentary, the cost of gyms etc. My friend refers to preparing wood as green gym, so I play football and go to training but my upper body and core strengthening work is in the back garden. :-)

Nothing better than coming back cold and wet from a winter footie game and warming up in front of the stove. With a decent amount of kindling it gets warmer quicker than central heating.

SG27

No its not cheaper. To buy seasoned logs here in Essex is very expensive. Gas is much cheaper! If you are paying for installation too I would say it's an expensive luxury rather than a money saver.

suki1964

There was a time a few years back when for us it was cheaper, but oil was 75p a litre

Now oil is down below 30p, I've not yet lit the stove this winter

Size and location of our house means we do still have to have the ch on in the evenings, the stoves were installed to supplement that, giving a few rooms which were comfortably warm rather then just having the chill removed

samsamesggsandham

To start with our wood burner was working out quite expensive because of the wood/coal cost and the chimney sweep costs. We have now found a friendly tree surgeon who provides a lot of what we burn. We get green/newly cut wood and leave it to season for at least a year before burning it. it saves a lot of ££s.

SG27

Don't forget £60+ at least once a year for chimney sweep

silverwhistle

I had a sweep round for the first time this summer after my first season burn. He had a look up the flue, we had a chat and he told me it didn't need sweeping (I burn dry wood and don't slumber the stove).

He didn't charge a thing for his callout. He normally charges £30/35, and that's in the expensive south...

I suggest you prep your own wood and look for a different sweep and maybe you'll realise that some of us _do_ save money.

Smiley_Dan

Yeah, tbh once a year sweep is more than enough if you burn wood and burn it properly.

SG27

silverwhistle wrote: »

I had a sweep round for the first time this summer after my first season burn. He had a look up the flue, we had a chat and he told me it didn't need sweeping (I burn dry wood and don't slumber the stove).

He didn't charge a thing for his callout. He normally charges £30/35, and that's in the expensive south...

I suggest you prep your own wood and look for a different sweep and maybe you'll realise that some of us _do_ save money.

My sweep never gets much dust and never any creosote. Like you I don't slumber and only burn dry wood. My chimney sweep is fairly cheap at £60. My neighbour was paying £85 until he changed to my sweep last year. I'd never not get it swept annually.

SG27

silverwhistle wrote: »

I had a sweep round for the first time this summer after my first season burn. He had a look up the flue, we had a chat and he told me it didn't need sweeping (I burn dry wood and don't slumber the stove).

He didn't charge a thing for his callout. He normally charges £30/35, and that's in the expensive south...

I suggest you prep your own wood and look for a different sweep and maybe you'll realise that some of us _do_ save money.

I don't have time or space to prep my own wood. I do have 3 log stores and get as much free wood as I can but I still have to buy the majority unfortunately. I normally buy unseasoned to store for a year as it's cheaper. Against heating oil I can understand there would be a saving but gas is too cheap.

Cardew

SG27 wrote: »

Against heating oil I can understand there would be a saving but gas is too cheap.

You are a bit out of touch. Heating oil is now as cheap, if not cheaper than gas.