Over the past few months you have heard about the clean air strategy and carbon emissions being bad for the environment and extinction rebellion campaigning for new policies but this has been heavily taken out of context and has been quite damaging for the stove and flue industry...Many people now believe that the burning of wood and coal on stoves and open fires will be banned in 2022 but this isn’t the Case.  Actually only the use of open fires will be banned and the government are actually encouraging people to use wood burning stoves as an efficient alternative. Stoves in themselves aren’t polluting – its actually the way that some people use them.  The truth is that very few people are shown how to use a stove, so they very rarely burn efficiently until they either ask for help or have their flue swept.  Unlike gas or oil, wood is a renewable energy source and when burnt correctly can be a very efficient energy source for heating a home. In 2022 the only multi fuel wood burning stoves to be sold will have to be either Eco Design or Defra approved.  These stoves can reduce emissions by 90% compared to an open fire and 80% compared to stoves that where manufactured 10 years ago. The main ban will be the use of certain types of fuels and not the stoves that burn them, which has been very misleading in the current press campaigns.

  • The proposal is the restrictions of the sale of wet wood for domestic burning
  • Applying sulphur standards and smoke emission limits to all solid fuels.
  • Phasing out the sale of bituminous or traditional house coal.

So how has this affected the industry?  The misrepresentation in the news has had a drastic effect on the flue and stove industry as people believe that in 3 years’ time you cannot have a stove or open fire so why buy one now. We have heard that so many chimney sweeps and stove installers closing down and going back to their old jobs such as roofers, builders etc…  Also this has had a damaging effect on the flue and stove pipe manufacturers taking a major hit on production and sales due to trade and retail sales being down. So how can we put things right? The simple solution is give the correct information to the masses, the public and the trade industries need to realise that a wood burning stove can actually be a good thing in comparison to gas or oil burning and with the new legislation on new build houses not having gas supplies by 2025 its actually a great energy source for the home. If you have a wood burning stove and not sure if you are using it correctly head over to burnright.co.uk and watch there video tutorials on how to use your stove correctly, not only will it save you money in fuel but help you use your stove more efficiently.