A Woodburner is Still a Good Investment

It's interesting to see what is written about woodburners on the net. Today I read an interesting article in one of the UK's leading newspapers that was not extoling the virtues of woodburners, on the contrary the journalist was quite grumpy about his wood stove, and could not see why someone like myself would be so excited to own one.

You might think that the only reason that I write about the value of wood stoves and woodburners is because it adds value to this website. Partly that is true, but I am the type of person who finds it difficult to lie. It was only when I had my house totally rebuilt some years ago that I even considered putting in a wood stove, not because I thought that they were unattractive, but having a 1960's property I was having difficulty picturing how the wood stove would fit aesthetically once I'd had the extension.

So have I been disappointed with my wood stove? Er no!! Not for one moment!! Do I rush home to keep it alight - certainly not, it's there as my friend, my companion and I certainly don't treat it as a new-born with ever demanding needs. The wood stove is there to serve me, not vice versa! And I think that even Steve, owner of woodburners.co.uk wouldn't try to tell you that a wood stove is all that you need to heat your house. It's possible to buy a wood or multi-fuel stove that will heat 10 radiators, Hunter does a very attractive boiler stove, but mostly wood stoves are bought to supplement the existing heating, and certainly will cut your heating bills.

At my house we have an amazing heat bank, and into this contraption that looks more like something out of Dr Who, feeds the hot water. Well actually the hot water is passed by it and a heat exchanger takes the heat from the water and puts into into the heat bank. It's just like a heat piggy-bank. So the solar panels feed into this, as does the wood stove, which is going from around 3pm until midnight. The heat is then used to heat the tank of water which is then used for  showers and the underfloor heating - water underfloor heating is fantastic. But we still have a boiler, and with 9 of us in the house (yes that's not a typo, there really are 9 of us) we need one! Can you imagine how many showers are taken in our house?! Yet we have seen our gas bill slashed by two-thirds and that is primarily due to our wood stove.

So has it been expensive buying wood? Well fortunately we live in the country so obtaining wood has not been a problem. With in-laws who owned a woodland we were able to stock our wood store full of beautiful oak and cherry logs, but a friend of ours cut down there tree a couple of weeks ago and arrived with logs for us to add to the store. It'll be a while until we need to forage again to find some more logs to burn. I will admit that my husband is a dab hand with a chain saw and that has helped to get the logs into suitable sizes for burning, but I really like stocking the wood pile as it engenders that sense of cosiness that is at the heart of a woodburner.

Why did I buy a woodburner in the first place? You will know that I have had an open fire and although it looks lovely all the heat goes up the chimney (that's why it is hats off to Boru Stoves for bringing the firedoor to market). When I created a modern house out of my 1960's monstrosity I really needed a focal point in the lounge that embodied welcome, warmth and peace. Building a simple fireplace and hearth was fantastic, but putting in a wood stove that would take care of my underfloor heating was pure genius! So the woodburner was bought primarily for aesthetics. I needed something that would draw the eye to the centre of the room and take the visitor's mind of the rsj that was in the ceiling, and it certainly has worked.

Finally then a woodburner is worth every penny. Yes they need clearing out, and the chimney's to be swept tomorrow, but winter wouldn't be winter without one! We do have an outstanding range of wood stoves and multifuel stoves at woodburners.co.uk.

If I was going to recommend a stove I certainly like the Charnwood C-Four Wood Stove and I have been really impressed with the Hunter Herald series because Hunter have worked hard to become more contemporary with their designs whilst still maintaining an outstanding product. So please don't let the bad press get you down and take the plunge and start looking forward to autumn and winter again because you have a fire that will keep you company through the long dark nights.