Do woodburners save you money?

mnbvcxz

For what its worth I did an uninformed laymans back of envelope calculation the other day

Cubic meter of wood £75 (buying in bulk)

That equals about £150 a ton.

A ton of seasoned wood has about 5000kwh according to the forestry commission.

So about 3p a kwh but your stove is probably only about 75% efficient so perhaps;

3.5p per kwh

Or in other words pretty close to mains gas. Of course that does not include any of the costs of a stove or the effort required to lug wood about and keep feeding it. Mains gas your just set the thermostat and your done.

So in the end I think don't buy a stove just to save money buy it because you enjoy using a stove. Its not as if a widescreen tv makes you money either.

ericonabike

The cost depends on whether you're willing to see it as a lifestyle choice IMO. We've had ours for three years and have yet to pay for wood. Instead I have become a forager of industrial estates, scavenging untreated and unwanted pallets. My eyesight has sharpened up no end as I can spot a fallen/felled tree from 100 paces and have no shame about asking to snaffle it. I've built log stores to season the logs and 'coffers' for the pallet wood. I enjoy the physical effort of cutting, splitting and chopping. My time averages out at an hour or so a week, which seems a fair trade off. With gas bills reduced to near zero, I reckon it is saving money, as long as you're prepared to spend time instead.

samsamesggsandham

An important point I haven't seen on this thread is to remember to burn it efficiently. Burning too slow or too high will not give you the optimal return on the fuel you burn. Get yourself a cheap stove thermometer (illustrated here http://stoveaccessories.co.uk/ ) that shows you what efficiency band you are burning in.

Jonty37

This has been really interesting thanks for all the input.

singlehouseholder

All I can add is since I had my multi fuel burner installed I have had to use incredible strength not to light it every night. I love mine, it's not just the heat it's the relaxing aura it gives off. It's an investment , had to replace whole system after my faithful back boiler shed its load all over my front room carpet. Went the whole (expensive ) hog , an actual real life combi and stove to replace fire.
Built a log store cheaply using four pallets , some old wood and roof felt. Lick of paint and it looks good .
Good luck if you decide to go ahead .

Swipe

Save you money? Just had 2 x 50kg bags of smokeless delivered that cost £38 and that was from the coal merchant. it was less than half that ten years ago I now only light my stove at weekends when it's cold.

thesnake505

ericonabikeThe cost depends on whether you're willing to see it as a lifestyle choice IMO. We've had ours for three years and have yet to pay for wood. Instead I have become a forager of industrial estates, scavenging untreated and unwanted pallets. My eyesight has sharpened up no end as I can spot a fallen/felled tree from 100 paces and have no shame about asking to snaffle it. I've built log stores to season the logs and 'coffers' for the pallet wood. I enjoy the physical effort of cutting, splitting and chopping. My time averages out at an hour or so a week, which seems a fair trade off. With gas bills reduced to near zero, I reckon it is saving money, as long as you're prepared to spend time instead.

While we have only had our burner fitted since early june this year so i may be premature in saying our gas bill is lower as winter hasnt properly set in here in shropshire! however today we have recived our bill which is lower then the equivilant bill this time last year!

we have not yet to pay for any wood and have had our burner running for the last 6 weeks for at least 5hours a day! i have a log store full of seasoned ash, and a 3 week stock of pallets chopped ready to burn! as with eric i spend no more then 1-2 hours a week processing wood! i have a pleantyfull supply of heat treated pallets from work, plus i am always on the scout for fallen trees and branchs!

do i think they save you money? yes i do (although early for us to know for sure), but you have to work for it to save that money!


small note to add im currently processing enough wood i can help my parents out with wood for there own fire!

michaelgordon

I know im going to be in the minority here but i actually saved quite a lot of money i buy logs, coal & heat logs with kindling spent roughly £400 that lasted over two years with a top up in heat logs last year of about £100, im still burning the last of the logs now. so at £250 per year compared with £360 on the gas central heating. This year ive spent £200 total so saved even more

KamillaS

I do not know if you exactly save money by investing in a wood burning stove, but you can use it as a support for your regularly heat warming. You get an instant heating with the stove and a constant heating with your regularly heat warming. I find this to be a great solution for our family. Morsø have a great selection of stoves which are high in efficency

lisa110rry

I think it may depend on your access to wood. On Saturday morning I noticed the Canal and River Trust had been cutting down trees beside the canal into manageable sections. I went to a local business nearby and asked if there was a plan or the logs. The owner of the business said he believed there was no plan as he had said to the C&RT people that if they left the logs in his yard he would dispose of them. As I've done the business owner a good turn in the past he was happy for me to take them away, saying the C&RT would most likely be very pleased they don't have to move the wood. Result: free wood for next year after it's been in an outbuilding all year.