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So you’re thinking about having a log burner fitted? Because we did exactly that a couple of years ago, we know what the fitting process was like. We also know what it’s like using a log burner. As it turns out it was one of the best decisions we ever made. This is our log burner story, to help you make up your mind.
Our own personal log burner story
When we moved into our country cottage we had hideously expensive-to-run oil fired Rayburn range in the kitchen. Ancient, rusty and inefficient, it was connected to a completely batty legacy system involving a ratty old 1970s pump and a load of old-school radiators, which you could only control centrally. There was one fireplace downstairs, suitable for an open fire, and a very old oil fired stove upstairs.
Goodbye old eccentric oil-fired heating, hello log burner!
With oil prices sky high and oil being a destructive fossil fuel anyway, we decided to whip the whole lot out. We replaced all the old radiators with modern German electric radiators that can be controlled in incredibly fine detail. They fit to the wall on a bracket and you can set every aspect of each radiator separately. Brilliant. But we also wanted a failsafe, an alternative to heat the house if we had a power cut or electricity got too expensive – which, of course, it did shortly afterwards!
Terrifying electricity bills
Facing £750 a month electricity bills over the worst four months of the winter, we moved fast to find a suitable log burner. We didn’t just want a small one to heat the living room, we wanted it to be man enough to warm the whole house to a low yet comfortable temperature.
Rather than decide on a model ourselves and maybe get it wrong, we went to a local log burner expert and talked to him. He suggested a beast of a machine large enough to heat the living room, the stair well and the upstairs.
The log burner fitting process
Our house dates back to the 1670s and we already had an enormous fireplace, almost big enough to sit in. The log burner fitting involved sending a suitable diameter metal tube down the chimney from above and joining it to the top of the stove, then sealing the space around it.
It took a couple of hours and was pretty straightforward. We also had an existing vent in the fireplace leading outdoors to the fresh air, so we were OK as regards being safe from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Just like a giant radiator
The first time we fired her up – what an adventure – we were thrilled by the amount of heat it chucks out. The idea is the burner itself, being cast iron, acts like an enormous radiator in itself. The metal heats up to a very high temperature – we’ve measured as high as 220 degrees – then belts the heat back out into the house. At one stage we overdid it a bit and had to beat a retreat upstairs, sweating furiously, until it cooled back down a bit.
It can take a while to get used to the potential and the subtleties you can achieve with it. Log burners are surprisingly controllable. Set a small fire for gentle heat to take the edge off. Set a proper roaring blaze and it’ll keep you really cosy for hours on very little wood.
It works perfectly as an alternative to our radiators on spring and autumn evenings when there’s no need to put the heating on but still need a little bit of warmth to keep the chill off when you’re sitting still. And when it gets particularly cold, like it did for a few weeks in the winter of 2022-23, it supplements the radiators to keep us very cosy indeed without breaking the bank.
How much wood does a wood burner use?
Wood-wise, we’ve found that a ‘giant’ 2 cubic metre net of mixed hardwood and softwood, delivered on a lorry on a pallet, lasts a surprising amount of time. If we have the log burner going every day it lasts us about a month, bringing our worst-of-the-winter heating costs right down to more like £250 a month on wood plus £150 on electricity. That’s a lot better than £750 a month for four winter months using electricity alone.
If we light our log burner at 5pm and leave it burning until bedtime, about 11pm, we burn roughly eight 10-inch logs.
How easy is a log burner to light?
It takes 5-10 minutes to set and light a fire in our log burner, depending on the wind. On a still day it can take longer for it to get going, on a windy day it roars away pretty quickly. First, a few balls of newspaper or old magazines, then a few pieces of kindling set in a pyramid shape on top of the paper. Then a couple of small logs on top of that.
We use firelighters made from wood shavings and wax, the best performing in our experience, which work quickly and burn for ages. They say you don’t need kindling when you use them but we find we do actually need a bit of kindling. When you want to go to bed or go out, you just leave the burner to safely cool down with the doors shut.
Essential log burner accessories
We help the heat spread around the house better by using a fire windmill or fire fan, which starts turning once the metal gets hot enough and blows the heat out of the chimney into the room, spreading the warmth evenly.
An old-school poker does a perfect job of settling and spreading the hot ash before adding more wood. And a pair of tough fireproof gauntlets is essential to prevent burns to your hands and wrists when adding fuel or tending the fire.
Our log burner easily gets hot enough to cook on, which means a power cut holds no fear for us even though we live in the middle of nowhere. Because the top of the log burner is flat, unlike some, we can boil a kettle on top of it, or heat up a pan of baked beans or soup. And it’s possible to open up the doors and make marvellous toast using a long handled toasting fork. We’ve fitted a carbon monoxide alarm as well as a smoke alarm. We cut the logs into kindling using an axe, and we do it in the garage or on the path so we don’t ruin the flooring indoors. Other than that we haven’t needed any extra equipment.
Cleaning a log burner
Re-blacking the burner’s body keeps it smart and free from rust. Other than that, a quick dust and a regular ash pan emptying session does the trick. We also hoover the inside of ours every few weeks to get the stray ash out, which helps the air circulate freely so the stove burns efficiently.
Log burners give you so much more than cosiness…
The log burner experience is so much more pleasurable than clicking a radiator on. It’s about a lot more than simply keeping cosy. The light the flames give off is hypnotic. The heat, being directional, is something you’ll love to pull a chair up to.
Our log burner adds loads of extra atmosphere when we have guests to stay and makes a dinner party really special. And while we understand it isn’t the greenest of heating solutions, until electricity prices fall back down it’s the most affordable, warm, cosy and easy heater we could find.
Take a look at our handsome, fiendishly efficient log burners. There’s something for every taste and every setting, and these things are built like tanks, made to last.
