Like a lot of things technology moves on. I use very highly efficient modern log burners in my country home with no mains gas. They are clean and when used with dry seasoned wood pose no issues at all for us. It’s important to ensure some ventilation, and an annual sweep/check up. No issues with dust on HiFi
Similarly I use euro 6 diesels which are clean and efficient, producing much less CO2 than their petrol equivalents. I will not change them for electric, which are themselves “dirty “ insofar as battery metal production, and all the energy needed to replace a perfectly serviceable diesel, which would reman on the road if I sold it.
Go for your log burner but ensure its a modern model.
Edit. Make sure the log burner is the correct heat output for your room.
A couple of sets of friends out here in Madeira have pellet burners. Apparently these have a fan and each has commented that the sound is noticeable (not necessarily intrusive) even on the lowest setting.
Yes, generally when lighting - I put some music on, light the fire, vents open until it’s going but get distracted by the fire when I sit back in the armchair.
Perhaps, if the extra upfront costs don’t put them off.
In terms of fuel if that becomes more expensive I fear many more will resort to greener wood or wood of dubious quality (eg painted building waste/offcuts) obtained through ‘informal’ channels.
Certainly not as much as it’s been hyped in recent years I’d suggest, but you can imagine some would have access to lots of poor quality wood and not even consider the difference.
There’s a new Woodsure certification over here - all very unwell having a Ready To Burn logo but not if they’re rotten as the store has kept them in the rain! They did the same with heatlogs which simply crumbled.
This ‘Ready to Burn’ certification seems a bit of snake oil, as they may have been when packaged but not later! Fairly hefty costs for the certification too, I guess customers will pay for that.
Firewood prices are already climbing steeply. It’s nearly all imported which makes it a very poor environmental choice, if it wasn’t bad enough already. There is intense competition for it, as it’s the sort of timber that is often used to produce woodfibre for MDF etc.
My observation of local people who have stoves is to save money and not the planet, their interest in worldly ecology being completely zilch. Next door neighbour has a farmer in the family who comes around in his JCB with a bucket load of chopped logs, must be great to get free fuel, lucky some eh?
I know of another neighbour who burns pallet wood, i suppose any old rubbish wood will do for some folk, although some of the wood he gets looks too good and a shame to chop up and burn. I find people generally feel no personal obligation towards the environment and every scheme to get something for nothing.
Many independent places now seem to sell kindling made from pallet wood - I did a bit of digging around and there are essentially two types of pallet which are either heat treated or chemically treated to prevent transmission of pests in the wood. The heat treated variety should be safe to burn, not the chemically treated ones.
I’m still very wary - I have access to pallets potentially for free at a storage unit where they are dumped - some look treated, some don;t have stamps so I assume chemically treated. I’ve not yet cut one up to use, but if there’s a HT stamp I wonder why not?
I think you are absolutely right about people wanting to burn wood to save money, assuming they could get it cheap. Now, even waste wood is much more sought after than it used to be as so many have jumped on the bandwagon, even in urban areas where there is mains gas.
There is also the misguided notion that burning wood it carbon neutral, and therefore better for the environment. This might possibly be almost true with locally sourced, well managed, properly seasoned timber in an efficient stove, but that is almost never what people are using.
These wood burners are quite fashionable at the moment. Having just come off the housing market for nearly a year, many of the properties we looked at came with a log burner stuck in the corner of the room. It’s a ‘must have’ for many young people.
I personally don’t like these trendy fires.
