Using a woodburner instead of central heating - does it cut utility bills?

SeasideAnne · December 2023

I know this isn't for everyone but I thought I'd share what we've been trying this winter.

We have a woodburner and decided to get logs (we got hardwood - they are more expensive to buy but burn a lot longer).

So you know our set up and can compare with your own, we are two pensioners, over 70. We are in the house more or less 24/7 and both of us are disabled.

We turned the heating right down, so it wouldn't go on - about at 10 degrees, and had a fire in the woodburner everyday from before breakfast till going to bed.

Over night, as we are pensioners and need to avoid breathing cold air over night, we turn the thermostat up to 15 degrees. That just keeps the cold air off and it's warm under a duvet.

We got a fan for the top of the woodburner, the type that isn't electric, it works because the heat rises and turns the blades, and we found that having the woodburner going in one downstairs room managed to spread heat through the whole house. (we kept all room doors open). But the other rooms aren't toasty warm, just sort of OK (fine unless you are sitting still in one room for ages).

The sitting room, where we spend most of the time, especially from tea time onwards, is toasty warm :-)

It is quite a lot of work for one pensioner (not me, I couldn't do any of it), as there is the carrying in of the logs and setting the fire. Then the fire has to be kept an eye on as it works best if it's kept at a reasonable temperature and doesn't burn too low before the next logs are put on. Then there's sweeping up bits of logs and ash, and every morning the cool ash needs taking out of the woodburner before the fire is set and lit.

So, is it worth the work and does it save money?

Well, on the work side, it is entirely up to whether the person doing it has the ability and energy to keep doing it. Plus you do need to have a woodburner installed already - which is very expensive if you don't already have one.

On the saving money side, I would say, yes it does save money on your heating bills. But looking at how much we have left of the logs stacked outside, I'd say we won't have saved as much as we thought. It will have saved about £200 on this quarter's bill though. We were hoping to have saved more.

Would we do it again? Well we have decided to keep a store of logs handy but only have a fire from tea time onwards and keep the extra logs in case of power cuts or extra cold snaps.

Why? Because the person doing the fire here isn't well and at over 70 is finding it a bit much doing it all day every day. You might feel differently.

bookrabbit · January 11

Please don't resort to wood burners. I am plagued by migraines caused by smelling other people's fires. You get warm and I get pain:(
And not just me. The particles emitted by home fires cross the blood brain barrier easily and harm children's development as well as causing headaches, they make asthma much worse and they are definitely going to hurt every one by contributing to climate change.
A much better and easier option is a bioethanol stove. I am relying on mine entirely for heating. I have a fan on top of it and it kicks out wonderful heat. Simply fill the cup with bioethanol and light it. No clean up afterwards means it is far less trouble than a conventional fire, plus no chimney to clean. In fact you don't even need a chimney.

SeasideAnne · January 11

Hi bookrabbit, I'm sorry wood smoke gives you migraines, and I do know about the particle problem. Strangely although I have pretty bad asthma it doesn't affect me at all, but I do know coal does, and we are all different. The bioethanol stoves look interesting too.

Jimm_Scope · January 13

I personally would rather not have a wood burner, it's not great for your health or the environment.

But if I had to choose between no heating because I couldn't afford it or a wood burner, I would use the wood burner despite the downsides to health and environment. Being too cold is much worse for your health (as long as the wood burner has a flue and ventilates out of your house properly).

SeasideAnne · January 14

Yes, I agree woodburners need to be properly flued and the wood should be really dry (kiln dried if possible). Also, to cut down airbourne particles inside the room, the best way is to open the door to the stove very slowly, and shut it very slowly, after fully opening the vent first. If you don't do that you can get smoke etc coming into the room = which you def don't want.

Jimm_Scope · January 14

I didn't know that about opening and closing slowly but it totally makes sense now that you say it! If I ever have to deal with a woodburner I'll know what to do properly now

Burgggg · February 1

I’ve been using a water heat blanket (which doesn’t catch on fire if you forget), thus I didn’t turn on my boiler at all the entire winter.
My issue is mostly at night, and daytimes I just wear more, which kinda helps in my case.

Maybe give it a try?

SeasideAnne · February 2

Hi woodbine, I've heard that, about heating the person not the room, and it does seem like it would be much cheaper. The problem for us oldies (I'm 71) is that breathing cold air is bad for us, especially if we have asthma as well as other issues, and apparently it can affect the heart. So the air shouldn't be too cold either. I wear thermals and they really help keep my body warm, but putting on the extra layers everyday is an extra struggle.

Burgggg · February 2

SeasideAnne said:

Hi woodbine, I've heard that, about heating the person not the room, and it does seem like it would be much cheaper. The problem for us oldies (I'm 71) is that breathing cold air is bad for us, especially if we have asthma as well as other issues, and apparently it can affect the heart. So the air shouldn't be too cold either. I wear thermals and they really help keep my body warm, but putting on the extra layers everyday is an extra struggle.

Just for reference, I was able to cut around 80~100 GBP/month compare to same time 2022 winter with my blanket.

But I’m young, so that might be different too

WhatThe · February 2

Hi SeasideAnne, I'm sure it's cheaper. We have to use what we have.

My smart meter tells me that heating water for any use is very expensive so mine hardy goes on. Electric blanket and hot water bottles here!

I find that using a candle takes the chill off the air on the coldest days

Juicyjo · February 7

seaside Anne, I used to have a log burner but the logs are very expensive

michael57 · February 7

WhatThe said:

Hi SeasideAnne, I'm sure it's cheaper. We have to use what we have.

My smart meter tells me that heating water for any use is very expensive so mine hardy goes on. Electric blanket and hot water bottles here!

I find that using a candle takes the chill off the air on the coldest days

i would of thought if you have an emersion tank it would be better to keep it on all the time that way your not heating the whole tank up from cold every time

WhatThe · February 7

Hi michael, not at all I use so little. I heat water on the gas hob for hot drinks and washing up, splash my face with cold water.

Hot water tank is very old and not lagged well, loses heat overnight

michael57 · February 7

WhatThe said:

Hi michael, not at all I use so little. I heat water on the gas hob for hot drinks and washing up, splash my face with cold water.

Hot water tank is very old and not lagged well, loses heat overnight

ah righto was just a thought

WhatThe · February 7

Thanks though. I think you're right about an immersion heater staying hot using electricity of course

The windows here are ancient so my central heating gets wasted

michael57 · February 7

WhatThe said:

Thanks though. I think you're right about an immersion heater staying hot using electricity of course

The windows here are ancient so my central heating gets wasted

being an old farmer i dont feel the cold that much i do understand a lot do tho

WhatThe · February 8

Same here except I'm not an old farmer just old

I don't mind the cold either luckily

egister · October 5

Has anyone tried to insulate the house? The thermal imager clearly shows the places in the house through which heat escapes to the outside.

SeasideAnne · October 6

Yes, ours is insulated where it can be, which doesn't include the walls. We were offered cavity wall insulation years ago, but it turns out that in some old houses like ours, the damp (that we try to keep on top of) is made far worse with cavity wall insulation, so we didn't do it. The loft is insulated, we've draught proofed where we can and by now we have just about double glazed all the windows. Its still cold though :-(

egister · October 8

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/918510#Comment_918510

Unfortunately, you did not answer about examining the house with a thermal imager to find places of heat leaks. Without such an inspection, home insulation work is simply a waste of money.

Albus_Scope · October 8

We were offered free cavity wall insulation, but it cant be done as apparently there's a door frame wedged down between one section of wall. I have no idea why it's there, or how it got there. 😆

(I'm hoping it leads to Narnia)

Using a woodburner instead of central heating - does it cut utility bills?

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