Log burners could cut heating bills by up to £128 a year, report finds

Homes with log stoves could save up to £128 a year on their heating bills if used in the right way, research shows.

The typical household now pays gas and electricity bills of £1,928 a year, which is the level of the Ofgem price cap from January 1. 

But using a stove to burn wood or smokeless fuel can knock off £92 or £128 a year respectively off the cost of heating, a new report finds.

The research was carried out by professional services firm Gemserv and commissioned by CPL Industries, which owns firewood and smokeless fuel firm Homefire.

The average cost of running a gas boiler is £1,431 a year, Gemserv said.

Lower bills: Using a log burner could save money on heating costs if used in the right way

But that falls to £1,339 when using a combination of gas heating and burning kiln-dried wood. 

The research claims it drops further, to £1,303, when combining gas central heating and burning Homefire’s Ecoal smokeless fuel – a green alternative to coal.

The firm is one of many companies that manufacture smokeless fuel. 

The study worked out the cost of heating the average home to a comfortable 21 degrees celsius in every room with gas central heating. 

It then compared that to the cost of using a log stove to heat one room to a higher temperature of 23c, while still using gas heating to keep every room in the home at a lower temperature of 18c. 

> Households using log burners buy less wood to combat high cost of living

The 18c figure is the minimum temperature a home should be heated to, according to the NHS.

In terms of how much consumers pay for the heat they receive, gas is the cheapest way of heating a home measured by the study.

Ecoal costs around 8.88p per kilowatt-hour, compared to 11.94p for kiln-dried logs and an average 7.42p for gas, with a daily standing charge of 29.6p.

However, the energy bill savings for using a log burner come about because of the way many owners use them.

Central heating radiators that are switched on warm up every room they are installed in, even if the room is not being used.

But a log stove has the potential to heat a room to much higher temperatures than central heating, and this allows users to heat their homes in a different way – and possibly save money.

Many log stove users prefer to use these to heat one room to a much higher level, then turn their central heating down in the rooms they are not using.

The modern term for this is ‘zonal heating,’ although the idea itself is as old as indoor fires.

What is the environmental impact? 

But not only can burning wood and smokeless fuel save money, it can also come with an environmental benefit – as strange as that may seem.

Heating the typical home with a gas boiler creates 3,280kg of carbon dioxide a year, Gemserv said. But that falls to 2,946kg when using a mixture of gas and smokeless fuel, and to 2,719 when combining gas and dry wood.

However, burning wood or smokeless fuel does create air pollution in a way gas central heating does not, the study found.

This is because combustion releases particles such as PM2.5 and PM10, as well as nitrogen and sulphur oxide gases.

The study found that burning Ecoal creates £71 of environmental damage a year, and even then when the stove used meets Government EcoDesign rules.

These set standards for how much pollution a log stove can create, and only compliant stoves have been sold since January 2022.

Burning wood in an EcoDesign stove means £77 of environmental impact, or an astonishing £569 if the stove is older and does not meet the Government’s criteria.

For contrast, using a Euro 5 diesel car creates £178 of environmental impact a year, on average.

Homefire chief executive Jason Sutton said: ‘Solid fuel stoves, when utilised correctly with the right user, the right fuel, and the right appliance approach, emerge as an key component of the domestic energy mix which is hugely valued by many households.’

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk