Do Woodburners Produce more Heat than an Open Fire?

Well let me start off by saying that this is not a technical blog (although a pound of fuel burnt in a stove will produce three times more heat than fuel burnt on an open fire). However, this is more of a personal observation on an evening spent in front of an open fire (and if for a moment I sound smug, sorry!).

Each Monday I attend a course to try to further my understanding of life. Anyway, as it was a chilly night our tutor had his fire burning when we arrived. It was a welcoming sight, but what struck me was that you did not feel the heat immediately on entering the room. I was also seated at the far end of the room and felt very little benefit from the fire whatsoever! This might have been exacerbated by the fact that someone decided to sit on the floor directly in front of it, but I was amazed at the fire's inefficiency!

In stark contrast on Wednesday we had a bunch of friends round and our Woodwarm woodburner was roaring away, looking beautiful and producing copious amounts of heat. Everyone in the room was toasty and even though I was not sitting anywhere near the wood stove I was feeling the benefits from the fire.

I do appreciate that woodburners cost more than an open fire, but there are some extremely good value stoves on the market. For example the Aarrow Sherbourne Compact, the Aga Little Wenlock, the Bohemia Compact, the Boru 4.9, the Charnwood Courntry 4 and the Cast Tec Firemaster are all superbly priced and will heat your home brilliantly.

So if you were to ask me if woodburners were worth investing in I would reply with a loud yes! With fuel prices rocketing a wood or multifuel stove really is the way forward.