Without giving all the background stuff, I wanted an additional heat source in out open plan lounge/kitchen. The room is an extension built in 2014 and is both very well insulated and attracts the sun from 11.30 till it goes to bed. Being a bungalow from the seventies, there is no chimney. Once the sun moves from the front onto the rear where we sit, there is a 2 to 4 degree difference in the rooms. Initially, we went down the log burner route but that had problems, mainly leaving me to transport the logs around 45 yards and the fact they require a degree of maintenance and produce a lot of dust. The answer was given to me by @DavecUK …….a flueless gas fire. I had never heard of them but it did not take long to look into them and find a local supplier. We choose an imitation log burner (I know!) and had it fitted yesterday. The unit has a catalytic converter inside to dispense with any fumes etc. The chap fitted a vent behind a radiator so it is unseen but meets with standards. The unit burns 100% of the gas it uses without waste. I can light it from my armchair so if we have a power cut it still works. As soon as you light it it goes to maximum but I have not got as far as working out if it is thermostatically controlled or whether I have to go to the extremes of clicking a button on the remote. The cost, for the fire, a marble hearth, a wooden mantelpiece and any and all fittings etc, was £1660 and the fitting a further £380. The reason this was so attractive is two fold. The room we sit in has 3 radiators that I can now switch off. That leaves 5 for the rest of the house. I am guessing as we do not have cold weather yet but I am thinking we can simply flip the central heating on a couple of times a day and use the gas fire as needed. At 4.38 per KwH until next September, we are quids in. This is the fire and a couple of pics, but my question is, do log burners really offer anything over this solution when you just want to heat a small part of the house? https://burley.co.uk/product/ambience-4121/

dfk41 Different strokes for different folks. For your circumstances this looks like a better solution, For mine with logs stored outside the back door and a lot more space to heat, the log burner makes more sense. Same make though! Burley.

Rob666 If I remember, you have an unlimited supply of wood…..that would definitely help my decision making!

dfk41 I wish! Not me but I remember somebody else posting to that effect.

My wife thinks anything using gas or plain old radiators dries her and especially her eyes out hence we have a log burner. As you say there’s the physical effort, the dust and muck, the cleaning. Firewood isn’t cheap, we do have access to fallen trees but then I have to cut, carry and split and wait for it to dry. My choice would have been a convenient gas fire. In our bungalow the log burner does provide a lot of heat which circulates so the CH doesn’t have to be on that much. A few years ago I built an extension off the kitchen which I stuffed full of insulation and I’m always amazed how warm that stays with occasional use of a 700W electric radiator.

I have to say I love my wood burner, it heats really effectively and you can’t beat the ambience. There’s no denying it’s work though. Regular cleaning and once a year flue clean. So far I’ve managed to feed it solely on the branches that come down by the road side each year in storms. I quite enjoy chainsawing and splitting wood with an axe though. I actually bought a chainsaw the year before the stove, so the wood had time to dry.

The chain saw bit is definitely fun, I have a small Stihl with the easy start together with a chain sharpener from Lidl which works well. Also have the proper safety gear so won’t be cutting my leg off anytime soon. An electric splitter saves a lot of effort too. Dave (I’m not putting the heating on till November) would be appalled but we lit it tonight.

SurreyAlan yeah, a small stihl is what I have too, they’re great saws. The only trick I learnt the hard way is to empty the fuel tank and then run it till it stops if you’re not going to use it for a while. Otherwise they can be hard to start as the petrol evaporates and the carb gets clogged with oil. It took a fair bit of carb cleaner through the air intake to get it running again. Definitely agree on the safety gear: helmet, steel toe caps, chainsaw trousers, helmet and ear defenders. There are also some good training videos on YouTube. I find push cuts very useful if you’re cutting larger trees.

To me initial cost of them is a lot. We bought our house 2 years ago and i wish we had one log burner/gas burner already installed in our house rather than two fireplaces :/ One of them is open fire the other one is with an insert. But still no where near as efficent as a log burner. I think you made the right choice for the convenience.

18.5C in the loft room at the moment and 15C outside…no heating needed yet.

consider myself quite lucky as lowest at the moment is top floor bedroom @ 19.2C / 21c downstairs and 8C outside

To Log Burn, or not to Log Burn

-Mac

I really like logs,…… they warm you up five times;
Once when you chop the tree down.
Then again when you saw the tree into logs.
And again when you split the logs to fit the stove.
Then again when you carry them into the house.
Finally when you burn them.

Norvin

-Mac

Then once again when they set your chimney on fire.

LMSC

Norvin

Finally, when we set about cleaning the fireplace without making a mess!

Amberale

Somewhere in the deep recesses of my scull, a memory tells me that the EPA (Environmental Pollution Authority) regs for burning firewood in Aus, mandates that the wood has been dried for 7 years since being cut.

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