Do woodburners save you money?

Parisno

Not sure I care if I'm saving money or not. I have turned my heating down to 17 degrees, moved the thermostat upstairs and turned off all the downstairs radiators, the stove heats all the downstairs rooms, and the upstairs is usually over 17 once the stove has been lit for a few hours, so my gas bill will certainly be lower, but will it ofset the cost of wood briquettes and coal, I doubt it but the stove was not bought to save money, you just cant beat a real fire, the atmosphere it creates is fantastic, if it costs me a few quid to have it then so what, its worth the extra, if by chance it does save any money thats a bonus, I'm happy anyway.

A._Badger

Parisno wrote: »

Not sure I care if I'm saving money or not. I have turned my heating down to 17 degrees, moved the thermostat upstairs and turned off all the downstairs radiators, the stove heats all the downstairs rooms, and the upstairs is usually over 17 once the stove has been lit for a few hours, so my gas bill will certainly be lower, but will it ofset the cost of wood briquettes and coal, I doubt it but the stove was not bought to save money, you just cant beat a real fire, the atmosphere it creates is fantastic, if it costs me a few quid to have it then so what, its worth the extra, if by chance it does save any money thats a bonus, I'm happy anyway.

I think that's a very sensible way of looking at it. I am deeply sceptical when people say they are saving a lot of money. The cost of stoves and installation is considerable and the cost of wood and smokeless fuel is high at a time when oil (to name one alternative) has dropped considerably.

I doubt many could amortise the cost of buying and having fitted a stove and keeping it fed in comparison with central heating.

Against that, stoves are so much more enjoyable to live with for many of us. I prefer the type of heat they deliver (open fires even more so, but that's another matter) and the ambience of a real fire cannot be matched. For me and others no doubt, it's money well sepnt.

thesnake505

think that's a very sensible way of looking at it. I am deeply sceptical when people say they are saving a lot of money. The cost of stoves and installation is considerable and the cost of wood and smokeless fuel is high at a time when oil (to name one alternative) has dropped considerably.!

I doubt many could amortise the cost of buying and having fitted a stove and keeping it fed in comparison with central heating.

Against that, stoves are so much more enjoyable to live with for many of us. I prefer the type of heat they deliver (open fires even more so, but that's another matter) and the ambience of a real fire cannot be matched. For me and others no doubt, it's money well sepnt.

the cost of buying and installing the stove is the biggest facter! however if you can gain access to "free" wood then money can be saved! ao far i havnt paid for any thing i have put in my stove this winter with the exception to half a 20kg bag of coal i have used since early december!

sunday just gone i shifted 4 trailer loads of wood from a tree out of some ones back garden they chopped down for a new fence! admitttidly it took me and a mate a good day labour to cut in to managable cunks and 4 trips with the trailer! but at roughly 1ton a trailer load the cost of fuel was minimal against the ammount of wood! but it is proof that talking to the right people and not being afried of hard graft can provide pleantyfull suplly of "free" heat

poppasmurf_bewdley

thesnake505 wrote: »

but it is proof that talking to the right people and not being afried of hard graft can provide pleantyfull suplly of "free" heat

There is plenty of truth in the old saying "wood heats you twice".

Once when you chop it and again when you burn it!

So very true.

[Deleted User]

Yeah, coal, sourcing wood, sometimes chopping, moving it, then cleaning up the ash, fire-lighters, kindling....

Certainly not time saving especially with two of the bloody things...

Ectophile

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

There is plenty of truth in the old saying "wood heats you twice".

Once when you chop it and again when you burn it!

So very true.

Three times if you have to carry the stuff to the car in the first place!

I have a pile of wood scrounged from local nature reserves (you might be surprised how many trees get cut down on nature reserves). But I had to carry it from where it was stacked to the car just to get it home.

Hootie01

Hi, , found your thread and it seemed you guys might be able to help me the following?


Buying a Victorian semi with big rooms and big chimneys. Has immersion and separate gas central heating boiler with too few rads.
We are going to be using open fire or putting in stove in 1st lounge at one end of a Victorian semi (front room). 18 x `16 ft
Kitchen is right at the back with another room in-between.


I cannot afford a brand new aga or such like and want something for heat other end of the house and do some cooking.
We have looked at La Nordica Romantica range woodburning cooker (4.5) range. But I cannot find any independent reviews. Has anyone had one installed, any reviews or views would be appreciated.
There is a large chimney breast in the kitchen and the room itself is its 18 x 12 ft.

Would it be more cost effective to buy a second hand wood burning cooker from ebay and have it installed? Has anyone done this successfully and how has it worked out well?
This is the stove info:

http://www.stovesareus.co.uk/la-nordica-romantica-4-5-wood-burning-cooker.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiAlO20BRCcieCSncPlqqMBEiQA OZGMnFl-u5AerF3cqdPfzlmVKzptf3juMoXlj1CDFb57-5kaAiUR8P8HAQ

thesnake505

Just to bring up this post again,

After running our fire for the first winter, we started lighting it some time in September and have ran it through until last week, it has been lit this morning however when we awoke to snow

Any way September through beginning of March we have shaved just over £250 off last year's heating bill! As stated in my previous post we spent around £7.99 on the sole 20kg bag of coal we have used, and around £30 of BnM bargins heat logs! The rest of fuel in my fire has been free! So a shaving of £210 not bad for the first year


Incidentally I already have abput 2 ton chopped and split ready for next winter plus about half a ton left from this year's burn!

iproposterous

I've been burning wood for more years than I care to remember and go through something like 15 to 20 cu mtrs per year - October to March.

My wood never used to cost me anything but now it does. This winter I've been burning a mixture of wood/coal and was using about a cu mtr of wood per two weeks.

I can buy firewood in poles but it now costs £33 delivered and I still have to cut/split it. Coal costs me £16.50 a bag and with the current mixture, I use about two bags a fortnight so its as cheap as the wood without the necessity of doing the cutting/splitting.

I'm burning coal next winter with whatever wood I can pickup for nothing.

rich2barr

Hi there,

We have one wood burner, soon to be two. We have a woodland of 5 acres, so a steady supply. Just need to invest the time in cutting, transporting, sawing, splitting etc. This is part of the plan to keep me fit! :j

We use the CH system but as a back up to the stove, as some of the other posters have mentioned. This is quite efficient. The only issue is that my thermostat for the CH needs to be resited or i am forever manually changing it:o

On the stove, i burn whatever i can, no preferences. Our wood is predominantly scots pine and silver birch, so that gets seasoned and used. The heat is good, a bit spitty, but that doesnt matter in a closed burner. We had a large willow fall last year, and that was used, despite my friends counselling me that it was rubbish wood and no good for burning. On the contrary, it might have needed a large volume to be burned, but the heat was great.

This year i have lucked out. An ash coppice needs cutting back to avoid the danger to nearby buildings (it is probably 50 years overgrown!) and so i will be able to fill me woodshed with that.

Regarding cost, i am no way making it pay at the moment. I think scavenged wood is the only way to do that in reality. For example the ash coppice is so huge it will need tree surgeons. Most other stuff i do myself and enjoy it. We also burn some coal with the wood, especially for overnight use, as it "keeps in" so much better.

For me, i like it because you have a lovely warm front room throughout the winter, independent of power cuts etc. We have no gas supply, so the CH is oil fired. The stove is a great focal point, and every visitor comments how lovely and toasty warm the house is in winter. Undoubtedly the heating bills themselves are less, but this is more than offset by the infrastructure to support wood burning at the moment.

very satisfying though

Cheers!