Thoughts on getting a wood burning stove

Lurcheral · 16 February 2019 at 10:37AM

Hi I wanted to find out people’s thoughts on woodburning stoves and whether they save money after the initial outlay.

I recently moved into a house which has oil heating and as it’s an old Victorian detached house with draughty windows, I spend quite a lot on heating oil despite it not being on that much during the day. A couple of people have suggested that I install a wood burner but as they’re so expensive it really needs to be something that would eventually pay for itself. I would hope that it also radiates heat through some of the rest of the house.

I currently spend about £1500 a year on heating oil but as I do have endless access to free wood, beyond the initial outlay I don’t think there would be any ongoing cost.

I just wondered whether people can rely on a wood burner to heat some of their house and whether it did in fact lead to reduced energy bills.

Lurcheral · 16 February 2019 at 10:46AM

I should mention as well that my house takes a long time to get up to temperature as most rooms have the old style single panel radiators. Despite them being scorching hot, they don’t radiate into the room much and it can take several hours to go up a few degrees to about 20 max.

So I’m thinking should I invest the money in replacing all the radiators with new convection double ones or invest in a wood burner and potentially not have to have the heating on as much with a free fuel supply.

A._Badger · 16 February 2019 at 11:04AM

Almost certainly a wood burning stove will not save you any money, particularly once you have taken into account not just the cost of the stove itself but also its expensive installation.

I wouldn't be without mine, and have had them in previous properties, but my reasons for having one have little to do with money and almost everything to do with personal preference, aesthetics and living in a remote location with no access to mains gas - not economy. The idea that stoves save people money is almost always a complete fallacy. The only time they do is when people have access to free, or very cheap, wood.

Your best bet would be to start by improving the insulation of your house and to proceed from there, getting professional advice along the way.

Lurcheral · 16 February 2019 at 11:51AM

Thanks for your reply, it sounds like we’re in a similar setup. I’m not remote but I am in the middle of the countryside with only a couple of houses next to me. I have an oil fired external boiler.

I totally get your point, sorting out heating insulation is a bit tricky as I am in a listed building and there’s only so much I can do but you did mention that a stove could save money if you have access to free wood.

As per my post, I do have access to an endless supply of free wood to burn on the stove so wouldn’t have any further costs after the installation. So in this circumstance could it possibly be something that could save money?

A._Badger · 16 February 2019 at 12:27PM

Yes, I think our situations do sound quite similar - including the problems caused by owning a listed building and the limitations that imposes on improving insulation.

I must apologise for having missed your initial comment about having access to free wood and I agree, that changes things, providing it is suitable for burning (not all wood is, as I'm sure you know).

In your situation (which I suppose I more or less am) I would certainly consider it but I'd proceed cautiously as you would have to decide what it was you wanted a stove to do - heat just one room? Several rooms? What size of stove do you want? Are you willing to spend the time and effort chopping wood? Have you space to dry the wood or keep it dry? Do you mind having to keep feeding a stove?

I'm not trying to put you off, far from it, but I have known people rush into this and end up regretting the decision as they were unprepared for the negatives which, glossy magazines aside, do exist.

That said, particularly in a lovely old house with proper chimneys and the right ambience, a stove is a tremendous thing to have. The way I look at it, even if I never amortised the cost, I wouldn't mind as it's such an enjoyable thing to have but that's just my view. You might not share my enthusiasm for real fires!

On a strict cost basis, it might possibly still work for you but you'd need to do your sums quite carefully, costing the stove, getting several quotes for installation and taking it from there. If it amounted to say, £7,000 how much oil or how many new radiators would that buy you? That's easy sum to work out but once you start factoring in personal taste it becomes a different calculation altogether.

gordonbennet · 16 February 2019 at 1:39PM

If you can afford one, do it! They're a lovely thing to have and can make a room (and a home) incredibly cosy. The heat does permeate elsewhere to a certain extent, but you tend not to 'feel the benefit' as when you leave the toasty room, elsewhere feels a little chilly!

You can buy relatively cheap fans (£30-ish quid) to sit on top of the stove to help even the heat through the room. Thinking about it, I wonder if one of those on your old non-convection radiators might also help?

Re your wood. Great news that you can get it free, but do make sure it's untreated with chemicals and that you can properly dry it out somewhere for a good 6-12 months. Damp wood in stoves has now been shown to be a worse polluter than even a diesel car!

Lurcheral · 16 February 2019 at 9:02PM

A._Badger wrote: »

Yes, I think our situations do sound quite similar - including the problems caused by owning a listed building and the limitations that imposes on improving insulation.

I must apologise for having missed your initial comment about having access to free wood and I agree, that changes things, providing it is suitable for burning (not all wood is, as I'm sure you know).

In your situation (which I suppose I more or less am) I would certainly consider it but I'd proceed cautiously as you would have to decide what it was you wanted a stove to do - heat just one room? Several rooms? What size of stove do you want? Are you willing to spend the time and effort chopping wood? Have you space to dry the wood or keep it dry? Do you mind having to keep feeding a stove

That said, particularly in a lovely old house with proper chimneys and the right ambience, a stove is a tremendous thing to have. The way I look at it, even if I never amortised the cost, I wouldn't mind as it's such an enjoyable thing to have but that's just my view. You might not share my enthusiasm for real fires!

On a strict cost basis, it might possibly still work for you but you'd need to do your sums quite carefully, costing the stove, getting several quotes for installation and taking it from there. If it amounted to say, £7,000 how much oil or how many new radiators would that buy you? That's easy sum to work out but once you start factoring in personal taste it becomes a different calculation altogether.

Thanks again for your reply. Yep these listed buildings, although lovely are also a bit of a challenge and heating is a big one in my case :-).

I take all your points on board and they are all very valid. I am a keen fire builder, in fact I’m tending to my open fire as I write this. Although the aesthetic of a stove is lovely, it’s definitely not something I want to rush into. Tbh I had ruled it out but having spoken to a couple of neighbours who swear by them and also realising how much money I have spent on oil already it has now become something I am seriously considering.

I would like it to heat the one room that I use and that would need to be 7kw but it would be lovely if it did radiate out a bit beyond that. I do actually own a small wood which has been neglected over the years and has a ridiculous amount of fallen, dead seasoned trees so my wood is completely free and would be for a very long time. I also am very happy to chop it up and have a log store to be able to store it from one year to the next.

Having looked at stoves online it seems I could get a decent 7kw one for about £6/700 and installation would be between £1000 and £1500 so I would expect to pay around £2 - £2500. If it was going to be around £7k then I wouldn’t be able to afford it so it wouldn’t be possible.

I just want to check that with the stove it would mean that I could maybe have the heating on less and thereby not get through my oil so quickly.

Although I love the look and feel of the stove for me at this point it really is purely down to what’s going to be the cheaper way of heating my house long term. I can’t afford it as something nice to have so it really is about something that would pay for itself say over the next five years.

Lurcheral · 16 February 2019 at 9:04PM

gordonbennet wrote: »

If you can afford one, do it! They're a lovely thing to have and can make a room (and a home) incredibly cosy. The heat does permeate elsewhere to a certain extent, but you tend not to 'feel the benefit' as when you leave the toasty room, elsewhere feels a little chilly!

You can buy relatively cheap fans (£30-ish quid) to sit on top of the stove to help even the heat through the room. Thinking about it, I wonder if one of those on your old non-convection radiators might also help?

Re your wood. Great news that you can get it free, but do make sure it's untreated with chemicals and that you can properly dry it out somewhere for a good 6-12 months. Damp wood in stoves has now been shown to be a worse polluter than even a diesel car!

Yes absolutely, great points to make and thank you for taking the time to reply.

FreeBear · 16 February 2019 at 9:29PM

Like you, I have (had) a cold draughty house that was difficult to heat and keep warm. Having identified the worst of the draughts, I have been plugging them the bast I can and putting in extra insulation. Some of the things that have helped..

Ground floor - A layer of wood fibre boards (as used for laminate flooring). In the lounge, topped with a good quality foam underlay and carpet. Kitchen got an LVT floor.

Loft - An extra 100mm of insulation on top of the existing 150mm. Also added a 50mm layer of Celotex/Kingspan insulation to a flat roof area in the kitchen.

Radiators - Changed some if the very old flat panel for modern type 11 and 21 convection radiators. Still have a couple left to change.. Also fitted a kick strip (plinth) heater in the kitchen rather than having a radiator out there.

Fitted a 6.4Kw multifuel stove in the lounge - Best thing I've done in there as it keeps the room well toasty. Perhaps a bit too warm some days.

Gone from dreading putting the central heating on due to the cost to running it all day. Now that most of the draughts have been plugged, the place is around 20-22°C much of the time and spending around £60 per month on gas. Lighting the fire in the lounge helps to warm the rest of the house so reduces the amount of time the CH is actually running.

Plugging the draughts first is probably the most effective step to take. If you haven't got double glazing, then look to getting it fitted. If funds are limited, then secondary glazing may be an option. Failing that, thick, heavy curtains.

No point in installing a new stove if all the heat is going straight outside.

Lurcheral · 17 February 2019 at 10:54AM

Thanks for replying and those are really good suggestions. Some I couldn’t do but more loft insulation, changing radiators and secondary glazing are doable. Although at this stage financially speaking it’s either the radiators or the stove and I’m starting to lean a bit more towards the stove.

Thanks for mentioning secondary glazing, I’ve been googling and reading about these Acrylic things that you can put up with magnets. I think I’m going to give that ago and see if they help as they are cheap and easy to fit.

dunstonh · 17 February 2019 at 7:02PM

I am going to take a slightly different stance to the above responses.

Firstly, they are all correct in saying that insulation will be the best thing to reduce your heating bills. However, wood burners can reduce your heating bills.

The burner will usually mean you turn on your heating later in the year and turn it off earlier in the year. Plus, later in the day and earlier off at night. Plus, in the right sort of house layout, the burner can raise the ambient temp of the whole house and in particular the rooms around it (depending on airflow). So, you are burning less oil for the central heating.

So, if you have a budget to spend to reduce your heating bills, then insulation should be first. It will do more for every pound spent than a wood burner. However, once all that is done, a wood burner will go on to reduce your monthly fuel costs.

It can also depend on where the burner is. We have three sitting at the base of three separate chimney breasts. The upstairs have cast iron fireplaces where heat can also escape. We rarely use the burners in the outer wings of the house as the central burner generates sufficient heat which travels well (it has doorways to two of the lounges, the kitchen, hallway and one of the staircases - so lots of places for the heat to travel). The burners in the wings don't travel as well. Indeed, just those rooms and the bedrooms above. So, the location of the burner and internal airflow comes into play. You could spend a lot of money and get little heat benefit beyond that room. Or it could be a massive gain across large portions of the house.

Burners are not all created equal either. You get a wide range of quality and efficiency and different heat outputs. Then you have the learning process on how to get the best and most burn for the least logs used without sooting/creosoting up. I think I have the knack but someone I know who has had a burner far longer than I have, really doesn't get the airflow adjustments and they eat wood at a far higher rate than I do. With their lack of efficiency, I suspect the burner costs them more.

Thoughts on getting a wood burning stove

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