Wood burning stoves - Stove Industry Alliance

Wood burning stoves
How to buy a wood burning stove
A wood burning stove can be a great focal point in your living room,
creating a warm, cosy feel. It can also be a practical way to cut or avoid
rising heating bills.
Whatever your reasons for getting a stove, our guide will help you to
choose whether a stove is right for you and what things you need to think
about before spending you money – stoves can range in price from £500
to well over £2,000, depending on the type.
As well as all the information here, we have a handy downloadable
checklist to help you through buying, installing and using your stove - just
visit the stove installation page to do so.
What to consider when getting a stove
There are a few key things you should
think about before you buy a stove,
which will save you money and make
using the stove easier.
every time you start the fire. However, you
can get stoves that will light automatically,
usually pellet stoves, although these are
more expensive.
per year, you need about three to four
cubic meters of space - and it will need to
be a dry area that is easily accessible for
deliveries.
1
Do you want to heat one room in the
house or the whole property?
Stoves are generally used to heat one
room, but you can attach it to the central
heating system to heat other parts of the
house. Take a look at our page on wood
heating systems to find out more.
In addition, some multi-fuel stoves can
be run on ‘slumber’ overnight, but wood
burning stoves can’t. It’s also worth noting
that you will need to get the chimney
swept at least once, preferably twice, a
year and pellet stoves will need to be
serviced once a year as well.
6
2
Do you live in a smoke
controlled area?
A lot of towns and cities are smoke
controlled areas, meaning you will need to
get a Defra (Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs) exempt stove
or only burn smokeless fuels, such as
anthracite, on a multi-fuel stove. Check the
Defra website to find out more, including
an approved list of smokeless fuels.
4
What type of fuel do you
want to burn?
Wood is a carbon-neutral fuel, as the
carbon it gives off is counteracted by the
carbon it takes in while growing. Coal, on
the other hand, is far less eco-friendly. But
you’re choice on what fuel to burn may
depend on what supply you have locally.
Take a look at our guide to multi-fuel vs
wood burning stoves to help you decide.
3
5
How often will you be home and
therefore able to light the fire and
clean the ash away?
Keep in mind that stoves can take time to
light and some need the ash cleaned out
How much space do you
have to store fuel?
You’ll need plenty of room to store fuel,
especially if you will be burning logs –
based on the average amount people use
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and lab tests, by signing up to a £1 trial subscription to Which?
Go to
www.which.co.uk/woodburningstoves
for more information
Do you have a reliable fuel supply
close to your home?
There are a number of websites that list
local fuel suppliers, or you could check
what free fuel there is near you - such as
a nearby factory that would be happy for
you to take items being thrown out. Find
out more about sourcing and storing fuel
in our guide to using a stove.
7
Will you be able to comply with
building regulations?
All stoves must meet UK building
regulations. For example, there are
specifications around how the flue is
fitted, the size of the hearth or the
distance of the stove from
combustibles. These can all affect the
type of stove you buy, so make sure you
speak to an installer before buying. In
addition, if you live in a listed building,
this may affect your options. Visit our
page on installing a stove to find
out more.
Buying a stove
Always make sure you buy a stove with the CE mark and preferably
a Hetas stamp - this gives you assurance that the stove has been
checked and is not only as efficient as the claims made by the
manufacturer, but also safe.
A key part of choosing the right stove for your home is getting the
right size and heat output, which is measured in kilowatts (kW) and
ranges from 3kW to over 15kW. If you get a stove that has too high an
output for your home, you may end up having the windows open all
the time to cool it down - or running the stove at a lower temperature,
which will create more tar and smoke and be less efficient.
The size you need can be affected by:
The size of the room – you’ll need to
measure the height, width and length
The layout of the room and your house
- for example, if the room you want the stove
in is open plan
The size of the windows and whether
you have double glazing
If the room has insulation of any kind,
such as wall or cavity
The age of the property
Approximately speaking, to make your room
21°C when it’s 1°C outside, you will need 1kW
of heat output for every 14 cubic meters of
space.
As a rough guide, if you multiply the
height, width and length together and
divide this by 14, you’ll get a gauge of what
size stove you need.
However, we strongly recommend that you
only use this as a guide, and don’t buy a
stove online based on this alone. As there
are a number of factors that affect what
stove you need, from the size of your home
to what chimney you have, it’s advised
to get a Hetas approved installer to do a
survey on your home before buying.
Our guide to getting your stove installed
explains all you need to know and what
you should ask the installer before
spending your money.
Make sure you buy a stove with
a CE mark and preferably a
Hetas symbol so you know it's
as safe and efficient as claimed
Most stoves have an efficiency rating
of between 60% and 80%, and boilers
between 80% and 90%. When
compared with an open fire, which has
about 32% efficiency, and a gas fire at
around 20% to 50% efficiency, stoves are a
good option.
Some stoves also come with cleanburn
or cleanheat technology, which
essentially means that air is introduced
to the stove, helping to burn off more of
the smoke and gasses - making these
types of stove more efficient.
Stove efficiency
In the UK, building regulations state
that new heating appliances must meet
a minimum efficiency rating, which is
65% for a stove, and 67% for one that
incorporates a boiler. The higher the
percentage, the more efficient it will be,
and therefore the less fuel you’ll need to
heat your home.
Gain access to all of our guides and reviews, based on rigorous research
and lab tests, by signing up to a £1 trial subscription to Which?
Go to
www.which.co.uk/woodburningstoves
for more information
Multi–fuel stoves vs
wood burning stoves
Although wood is the typical type of fuel people think of to burn in a stove, you can also burn
other fuels such as coal in a multi-fuel stove. Here we talk you thorough the types of stove so you
can work out what would be best for your home.
We’ve also compiled all of this information into our downloadable stove-buying checklist, which you can
access on our stove costs and saving page, to make sure you get the best, save money and buy safely.
Multi fuel stoves
Also called solid mineral-fuel stoves, multifuel stoves can burn wood, smokeless fuel
and coal.
There are differences in the ways these
fuels burn, and not all multi-fuel stoves are
optimised for burning all compatible fuels
equally efficiently.
How different fuels burn
Coal needs air to reach it from below
through a grate. Most multi-fuel stoves
have a riddling plate that allows you to
remove any ash that’s built up, letting
more air through from underneath.
Wood, on the other hand, burns best
when sitting on a bed of ash (also called
a firebox, which is where the fuel burns),
with air circulating from the top.
Because of these differences, a multi–fuel
stove may not be optimised for burning
both types of fuel. In our survey of 1,199
Which? members in September 2013, 45%
have a wood burning stove and 35% have
a multi-fuel stove. But the Stove Industry
Alliance (SIA) found that 77% of people
that have a multi-fuel stove only burn
wood.
occasionally, then a multi-fuel stove is a
good option. Some stoves have a control
allowing you to circulate more air from
above or below, depending on the type
of fuel.
If you are planning on only burning
wood, getting a dedicated log burner
is advisable. However, if you think you
may not have regular access to wood
and so would like the option to burn coal
Also keep in mind that if you are buying a
stove to be more eco-friendly, coal isn’t a
carbon-neutral fuel like wood. Take a look
at our guide to buying a stove to find out
what things you need to consider.
Ideally, it’s best to work out what type of
fuel you want to burn and what you have
access to first, and then base your buying
decision on that. If you live in a smoke
controlled area, you will need a Defra–
exempt stove or to only burn smokeless
fuel on a multi-fuel stove.
Gain access to all of our guides and reviews, based on rigorous research
and lab tests, by signing up to a £1 trial subscription to Which?
Go to
www.which.co.uk/woodburningstoves
for more information
Wood burning stoves
Also called wood fuel stoves, these run
solely on wood logs, pellets or chips
(although chips are really only used for large
buildings such as community centres).
Log burner
There is a lot less manufacturing involved in
logs than there is with pellets and chips – or
indeed none if you collect already fallen
wood yourself – making burning this type of
wood very eco-friendly.
However, you need to factor in time for
drying the wood - ideally around one to
two years – to make it most efficient, which
means you will also need the space. You can
buy ready-dried wood, but at a higher price.
Take a look at our guide to using a wood
burning stove for more information on
sourcing wood, drying it yourself and prices.
Wood-pellet stove
These stoves, which can look quite different to log burners and tend
to cost a lot more, use pellets made from wood by-products, such as
sawdust, or other organic materials such as corn, which are tightly
compacted together. Check which type of pellets the stove can burn
before you buy.
Many wood pellet stoves have a ‘hopper’,
which feeds the pellets into the stove so
it needs filling less frequently. Many also
have an automatic ignition to light the
pellets electronically, a timer for turning
the stove on and off, and a back-up power
supply in case there is a power failure –
something worth looking out for.
Pros
Drier and denser than wood logs,
making them more efficient
Use materials that may otherwise go
to landfill
Wood pellets can be harder to come
by than logs
Rely on electricity so you will make an
impact to your electricity bill
Need to be maintained more regularly
than a log stove - they need to be serviced
as well as having twice yearly chimney
sweeps
Requires less storage space for fuel
Produce less ash than burning logs
Cons
Making the pellets does have an
environmental impact – they produce
3.5 times more carbon per kWh than
wood logs
Find out more about the costs of a stove,
as well as installation, by taking a look at
our guide.
Want all this information on buying a
stove in one bite-size chunk? Then
take a look at our stove-buying
checklist on our stove installation page
to make sure you get the best, save
money and buy safely.
Stove brands
When we asked 1,119 Which? members in
September 2013 about which brand of
stove they own, Stovax came top
with 15% of members owning one.
Clearview came second with 9%, then
Moroso (7%), Charnwood (4%) and
Jotul (4%).
Take a look at our image gallery of stoves
and stove brands by visiting our guide
to multi-fuel stoves vs wood burning
stoves.
More on this…
Find out what is involved in
installing a stove
Make sure you choose the best for
you with our guide to buying a stove
Have you considered getting a
whole wood heating system?
Gain access to all of our guides and reviews, based on rigorous research
and lab tests, by signing up to a £1 trial subscription to Which?
Go to
www.which.co.uk/woodburningstoves
for more information