Getting the best from wood-burning stoves

The overall consensus on wood burning stoves seems to be that they are a good option for heating your home in an environmentally friendly way, and so it’s no surprise that their popularity is on the increase.

As with many alternative options though, the devil is in the detail; how you feed and use the stove could have a big effect on how clean your chimney smoke will be.

On the woodburner’s side is the fact that they are over 3 times more efficient at converting the fuel into heat when compared to an open fire. Another argument in favour is that the trees have acted to absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere while growing. Burning in a stove should then emit less than that which would otherwise be released when decomposing (if burned properly).

Acting against the wood stove are the particulate emissions (sometimes called black carbon) released, which are exarcebated if poorly seasoned wood and coal are used in the stove.

Wood burners also rarely provide enough heat to entirely replace conventional central heating. Indeed we have a small wood burning stove in our front room ourselves and, while it quickly makes the room toasty warm, we always need the heating on to supplement the other rooms in the winter.

So how can you ensure you get the best out of your stove and use it in the best way for the environment? An alternative to locally sourced, well seasoned wood are processed briquettes or pellets, such as those from Verdo. Verdo manufacturers their briquettes (along with pellets for larger biomass heaters etc.) at two plants in the UK, so transport emissions are lower than treated logs supplied from abroad – those typically available on the garage forecourt. All wood used in Verdo’s process is FSC certified, so you can also be sure it is from well-managed sources.

I should disclose I’ve been trying their briquettes over the winter and have found them an excellent source when a longer-burning fire is required. The bricks are somewhat harder to get going than conventional logs, however once on their way the briquettes lasted well over an hour without any intervention – not something that happens with real logs.

So how do the costs compare?

Product	Seasoned Logs	Verdo Briquettes
Price	c.£125 inc. delivery (based on 1 cubic metre of soft-wood, e.g. Online Firewood)	c.£289 inc. delivery per pallet
Burning Time	384 hours Assuming around 520 logs per cubic metre, 45 mins burning each	864 hours Based on 576 briquettes per pallet, 90 mins burning each
Cost per hour heating	33 pence an hour	33 pence an hour
Other Factors	Origin might vary – but locally sourced needed to minimise transport costs.	Compact, low ash burning. Transport emissions within the UK. FSC CertifiedHigher heat-output

Although obviously a quick and dirty comparison, based purely on the cost per burning time, the briquettes cot almost exactly the same as conventional logs. What this doesn’t take into account however is the higher heat output from the densely packed briquettes and the lower level of ash produced.

It’s also great to have the reassurance of FSC certified wood, although to help complete the sound credentials, I would have liked to see a little less plastic packaging around the briquettes. It’s obviously important that they are protected from moisture during storage, but I’m sure there might be other alternatives out there. A final consideration might be that the briquettes are currently only supplied by the pallet, which might be more suited for households that burn relatively large quantities of wood or premises with a some good storage space.