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If you’re old enough you’ll remember the old-school Smokeless Zones of the 1970s. In winter the air stank of smoke. On still days we couldn’t see the sky. Every building was black.
When all fuel was finally made smokeless by law, it made a massive difference to our lives. Our mums could hang the washing outdoors and know it wouldn’t get sooty when the wind blew in the wrong direction. We kids could walk to school without choking, something that got a lot worse when it was foggy or misty.
Because wood burning stoves are becoming increasingly popular, the nation is going mad for them. Rather than risk a return to the bad old days, the government has brought in regulations to make sure we use wood burners in ways that are cleaner, greener, hotter, and cheaper to run.
Britain’s log burner obsession
Apparently there are around 1.5 million British homes with log burning stoves, and they proved real life-savers when energy prices shot up. Even when Ofgem froze the energy price cap at £2,500 the average domestic energy bill was still double the cost of the year before. But the environmental impact is worrying the government and they’ve brought in some common sense rules.
The government’s Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 says wood burners in designated ‘Smoke Control Areas’ – ie. most towns and cities – are only allowed to emit 3g of smoke per hour, down from the previous maximum of 5g, in an attempt to cut air pollution.
While there isn’t a proper scientific consensus about the volume and impact of pollutants from log burner stoves, log burner owners have to take the regulations about wood burning stoves into account before firing them up and revelling in all that gorgeous warmth.
Fines for using a log burner
You can be fined but only if you ignore the rules, maybe burning the wrong fuel or emitting far too much smoke for another reason. Your local council can issue you with an on-the-spot civil penalty if you get it wrong, anything from £175 to £300. If you keep on getting it wrong, you could end up in a criminal court.
The log stove emissions rules
Basically, every log burning stove sold since January 2022 – and every new model – has to be ‘ecodesign compliant’. If yours is older than 2022, the rules don’t apply. But it still makes sense to maximise yours stove’s efficiency, save money and minimise your emissions.
The ecodesign requirements concern a stove’s emissions and efficiency. There’s a specific maximum amount of pollutants allowed, including PM or particulate matter, OGC or organic gaseous compounds, CO or carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides.
The stove also has to be efficient to a set level, a sensible idea when a more efficient stove tends to generate more heat from less fuel. It’s easy to tell if yours is compliant. Just check the stove’s model online or dig out the brochure. If all else fails, phone the place you bought it.
If you’ve bought one of those beautiful vintage French enamelled wood burners and had it converted, it goes without saying it won’t be compliant. The same goes for old burners. But you can still make yours run at its most efficient.
About urban Smoke Control Areas
Most large English towns and cities in England are smoke control areas, where there are stricter limits on the amount of smoke you can give off. This means you can’t burn wood in normal stoves, full stop. Instead you have to either use a smokeless fuel like anthracite coal or buy a DEFRA-exempt stove. They’re specially designed to stop wood from smouldering, which is the main source of pollution-filled smoke.
You can never use ordinary coal, it’s actually illegal, and it’s also against the law to burn wet wood at home because it smokes like mad. It’s also horribly inefficient, giving off barely any heat. You have to burn either kiln dried logs, properly-dry wood, or smokeless fuel.
In Scotland and Wales the regulations are different. At the moment you can still burn coal and wet wood but it’s a crazy thing to do, so you won’t be doing it anyway!
What are the wood stove certifications?
Different stoves have different certifications.
HETAS Cleaner Choice Approval
Wood burners in the HETAS Cleaner Choice Approval Scheme are DEFRA-exempt. They’re designed to emit at least 50% less particulate pollution than you need for DEFRA exemption, making them an excellent choice.
Nordic Ecolabel
Nordic Ecolabel, also called Nordic Swan, sets out the emission and efficiency targets for stove manufacture and use in Nordic countries, and they’re tough targets to hit. If you buy one of the brands with this certification it’ll be seriously efficient and as ‘green’ as it gets.
Clearskies certification
Clearskies certification comes in four different levels, a scheme designed to promote burning wood cleanly. We have no idea why they start with Level 2, there’s no information online about a Level 1.
- Level 2: The lowest efficiency level that complies with the Ecodesign standard
- Level 3: Ecodesign compliant and Defra-exempt
- Level 4: At least 15% more efficient than needed for the Ecodesign standard. Every Level 4 stove is Defra-exempt
- Level 5: The highest efficiency level, at least 15% more efficient than needed for Clearskies Level 4. Every Level 5 stove is Defra-exempt
Will the government ban wood burners?
January 2023’s Environmental Improvement Plan said the government isn’t planning to ban domestic wood burning stoves. Too many of us rely on them for heat, hot water and cooking for an outright ban. And with energy prices as high as they are and unlikely to drop back to what we’d call ‘normal’ any time soon, it’d be cruel to ban an affordable source of heat.
On the other hand those in power have been slowly tightening the restrictions on stoves. Sometimes the rules are so strict it adds up to an effective ban, something that makes sense in London, Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool and other big cities. The last thing we want is to add yet more pollution to air that’s often already unsafe to breathe.
Governments change, of course, so it’s wise to keep an eye on any rumours around stricter wood burner regulations. You can see why it’s important to buy the most efficient and cleanest-burning model you can to future proof it, just in case. As someone who cares about the environment and the climate, that’s what you’ll naturally do anyway.
If you live in the countryside you’re likely to be able to carry on using your log burner. Many rural homes, especially old properties and farms, rely on wood burners. If you’ve spent years using one you’ll have it down to a fine art, tinkering with the vents, fuel and more to make the most heat with the least wood and the least smoke.
Check out these beautiful log burner stoves
To sum up, here are our three top tips for buying and using a log burner:
- Buy the most eco-friendly, highest-certified model available
- Buy the perfect size stove for the room, don’t be seduced by something huge
- Buy the best fuel for the job. Kiln dried hardwood will do your pocket proud and keep you toastiest
We’ll deep-dive into a load of log burner buying tips in another post. In the meantime, fill your boots with the beauties in our store!
