The Glory of Burning a Fire or Stove

fireplaces london

As we enter the winter with the dark evenings and first cold period now upon us our unconscious primeval instincts and urges start kicking into play and the romantic and comforting thoughts of sitting snuggled up in front of a warm homely fireplace start to circle in our minds. Ever asked yourself why this is? And furthermore in this modern day time how can we make it possible to give in to these urges and enjoy all the glory of a working fireplace but at the same time be responsible to the environment and be safe in the use of fire in our houses?

Many believe (myself included) that the need and urge to have a controlled fire burning within our dwellings is something planted deep within our psyche that is inherent as a human being and has been ever since our cave man ancestors learned to rub two sticks together! It is an in built need for control and an evolutionary trait that has allowed us to stay warm and safe with illumination at home and the sanitation of our foods and fluids for millennia, it is the feeling of completeness and accomplishment to be sat in the knowledge that whilst the fire burns we are the masters on our environment.

Wood burning stove installer

Modern times have made us more conscious and aware of our responsibilities to try to lower our carbon footprint and the amount of damage that we are doing to the planet and unfortunately as human beings we ALL leave our own footprint in one way or another from the cars we drive, planes we fly to the foods we eat and the energy we consume used to power our homes, streets and work places… this list is endless! When you think though about how many of these things are actually crucial to our survival and how many are just comfort things, I suggest that unless you have vacated your home and live in darkness in a tent in a field we are all guilty of some form of unnecessary harm to the environment! Things that are absolute necessities to survival however are food and water and warmth, and of course whilst we do have central heating that heats the entire household through our countless radiators this too comes at a very heavy price…. the cost of the worlds natural gas resources! Let’s also not forget that when burned and during combustion gas too produces poisonous fumes which are exhausted in to the atmosphere.

We of course do know that at present there is no other realistic way to offer to offer complete heating to our properties however it is also a fact that when spending a large portion of our time in one main living room area we can avoid undue waste of natural gas by heating an isolated single room area by way of a high efficiency, low emission stove and be content in the knowledge that when sourced from a responsible fuel supplier the wood that we burn is sustainable and furthermore practically carbon neutral! The cycle of each purposely planted and cultivated tree that is matured, felled and then dried allows the tree during its life to absorb the carbons from the air that will be created during its burning allows the whole process to be relatively green.

So what should we do? Give in to our needs and urges and have a fire or be as responsible to the environment as we can? Fortunately we can do both, by utilising a measured approach to the timing and type of heating that we provide ourselves with and working the use of our central heating system to heat the whole house when required against the use of a our modern clean burning stoves to heat more localised areas within the house when needed we can find a balance to the amount of natural gas resources we use and the airborne pollution we create!

Embers wishes everyone a warm and cosy winter and hope you can all enjoy the feeling of accomplishment that we get when we sit in front of our fireplaces.

High efficiency clean burn wood burning stoves

Much has been made in recent times of the pollution level figures in London and the role in which the stove industry has played in these figures. Away from the headline grabbing newspapers feeding distorted information and facts it is time for some honest hard truths to be aired.

Aside from mentioning the super massive problem that is vehicle and air traffic amongst others within London the fireplace/stove industry are aware and have been for a long time that a shape up and tightening of regulations is needed within the industry, it is common knowledge that old fashioned traditional style open fires are highly inefficient and produce high levels of co2 when burning, the use of old out dated unapproved wood burning stoves is also an inefficient way of burning much in the same way that driving an old “banger” of a motor vehicle with no catalytic converter will be “unclean”
Worth pointing out that the burning of wood on an open fireplace or an unapproved stove is and has been illegal in London since the time of the introduction of the clean air act 1956!

It is worth noting that the (SIA) stove industry alliance have documented that up to 70% of all wood being burned within London is being done so illegally on open fires! If you then factor in that modern clean burn stoves produce 90% fewer emissions and 14% less CO2 than open fires it doesn’t take a genius to conclude that the illegal use of the open fire and unapproved stove is at the crux of the problem and this illegal activity is dragging the good work done by the high efficiency stove industry through the mud! Couple this illegal use with the very much un-regulated supply of poor quality fuel and I would suggest that tackling these two issues will go far and away to drastically reducing the already small percentage of pollution actually created by the use of stoves in London.

It has been proposed that in 2022 all appliances (wood burning stoves) will need to carry the European SIA ECO stamp much in the same way that the appliance up until this point and beyond must be DEFRA approved.

So what does all of this mean for the consumer? In basic terms what this means is that the use of a wood burning stove in London is not going to be outlawed nor made illegal, it will simply mean that anybody wanting to use a stove will have the legal responsibility to use a high efficiency, low emission burner that will be better for the environment at the same time as being more economical in terms of fuel consumption, we as a company do whole heartedly endorse the use of such appliances after all as human beings we do have a primeval affinity with the use of fire in the household and as we head to the future with greater technologies why not do your bit for the environment and get a “clean burning high efficiency stove”