Heating - Hurrah!

[Kiwi Mac]

We have a woodburner in case of powercuts, but the romanticism of stoic peasants chopping wood in the winter mists has rather evaporated for me as I move into the 21st century, I must say. I don't mind it as a backup or occasional thing but to have to keep lugging wood, chopping wood etc regardless of rain or snow - no thanks - not until the staff have finished mending the drainage in the lower field, at least!!

Most WB stoves here are old, badly maintained and with irregularly swept chimneys. Also the wood is mostly any old stuff that has fallen down in farmers fields and so on - very little is actually sustainably managed supply.

There is a reason they banned that sort of heating in Christchurch!

[Jo Jo]

We have a woodburner in case of powercuts, but the romanticism of stoic peasants chopping wood in the winter mists has rather evaporated for me as I move into the 21st century, I must say. I don't mind it as a backup or occasional thing but to have to keep lugging wood, chopping wood etc regardless of rain or snow - no thanks - not until the staff have finished mending the drainage in the lower field, at least!!

None of the wood I have bought (or bartered for) has needed to be chopped once we get it - it all comes pre-chopped. If I'm paying for wood, I expect it to be chopped to a size suitable for a woodburner - I'd refuse the delivery or haggle down the price if it wasn't. Free wood might need to be chopped, but we (or rather, my husband) thinks that is a small price to pay for free wood (he likes chopping, thank goodness.)

Most WB stoves here are old, badly maintained and with irregularly swept chimneys. Also the wood is mostly any old stuff that has fallen down in farmers fields and so on - very little is actually sustainably managed supply.

There is a reason they banned that sort of heating in Christchurch!

Woodburners aren't banned outright in Christchurch, though. The rules for the use of woodburners in Christchurch can be found here. My understanding is that Christchurch has been divided into two zones: in zone 1, if you have an existing woodburner, you can continue to use it in winter months if it's less than 15 years old (you have to stop using it as soon as it's 15 years old), or you can replace it with an approved, low-emission woodburner or pellet burner, but you can't install a woodburner if you don't already have one (though you could install a pellet fire subject to resource consent). If you're in zone 2, you can still use your woodburner, regardless of its age, but you have to use dry wood with a moisture content of less than 25% (who'd want to use wood that was any wetter, anyway?) or paper or cardboard. You can still install approved, low-emission woodburners in zone 2, though you'll need to get building consent.

But wherever you are in NZ, or in the world for that matter, ideally you want to be using a modern, low-emission woodburner and well-seasoned (dry) wood (from sustainable resources) to reduce the amount of smoke produced.

And all of our wood - even the free stuff - comes from renewable resources, and is therefore carbon neutral. I've never had a problem sourcing wood from sustainable resources - even the free stuff - but maybe that varies by area? The Coromandel is well known for being full of hippies, so maybe that makes it easier for us to find eco-friendly wood.

[Sam B]

Ditto. We have a large new burner, and a sustainably managed gum plantation, and ample storage to allow wood to season. I feel pretty sure that I'm using an environmentally sustainable method to heat my home. The sweep commented that he would only need to come every second year as there was no soot after one year, as the burner was so efficient.

[newarrival]

Most WB stoves here are old, badly maintained and with irregularly swept chimneys

I have to say that I find statements of that kind a bit, well, irritating- we have lived in five houses with woodburners so far and the chimneys were all regularly swept- once a year- and in each of the houses the owners were very thorough to have that done before the fire season started.

Heating with wood has, in my opinion, nothing to do with what century you live in.., there are various kinds of burners, the ceramic ovens which were used a lot in earlier times, being one of them, which can be a very effective way of heating your house "in between" the seasons. My parents had one of them built into their old, renovated mill, and they always use(d) it in spring or autumn, when the days are quite warm, but it gets chilly at night and the underfloor heating is just too slow to react to changes you would like to make.

[Kanga]

I've lived in an old villa with high ceilings, no insulation and an old kent wood burner and in a new build with a lovely new burner complete with heat transfer, low ceilings and insulation. The difference is incredible. No matter how much wood we fed the old kent in the villa the heat would only intensify near the burner- bedrooms remained cold and we'd be roasting in the lounge. We got through a LOT of wood. In the new house with the new wood burner (which looks so different from UK wood burners) the heat moved through the house, even before switching the transfer on. With the transfer we could get the whole place at a relatively even heat and yet we used significantly less wood. A couple of gum logs and the whole house would be toasty.

I'm now in a house with a heat pump and I think the old woodburner in the draughty villa did better service than the heat pump. The heat from electric heaters isn't a scratch on wood burner heat, imo.

[Kiwi Mac]

I've lived in an old villa with high ceilings, no insulation and an old kent wood burner and in a new build with a lovely new burner complete with heat transfer, low ceilings and insulation. The difference is incredible. No matter how much wood we fed the old kent in the villa the heat would only intensify near the burner- bedrooms remained cold and we'd be roasting in the lounge. We got through a LOT of wood. In the new house with the new wood burner (which looks so different from UK wood burners) the heat moved through the house, even before switching the transfer on. With the transfer we could get the whole place at a relatively even heat and yet we used significantly less wood. A couple of gum logs and the whole house would be toasty.

I'm now in a house with a heat pump and I think the old woodburner in the draughty villa did better service than the heat pump. The heat from electric heaters isn't a scratch on wood burner heat, imo.

Only one heatpump?

We have 4. They are not generally designed to heat the whole house with a single unit.

Also - very hard to cool the house in summer with a wood burner...!

[Kiwi Mac]

I have to say that I find statements of that kind a bit, well, irritating- we have lived in five houses with woodburners so far and the chimneys were all regularly swept- once a year- and in each of the houses the owners were very thorough to have that done before the fire season started.

Heating with wood has, in my opinion, nothing to do with what century you live in.., there are various kinds of burners, the ceramic ovens which were used a lot in earlier times, being one of them, which can be a very effective way of heating your house "in between" the seasons. My parents had one of them built into their old, renovated mill, and they always use(d) it in spring or autumn, when the days are quite warm, but it gets chilly at night and the underfloor heating is just too slow to react to changes you would like to make.

My point, indirectly I admit, is that Kiwis being tight as they generally are do not spend a lot of money on maintaining woodburners. The one in our house is 20 years old and a couple of years ago we spent about $350 having it completely refurnished with new seals, new firebricks, new vents and so on.

The vent pipes and other parts corrode over time and efficiency reduces - which not only means that they do not burn as warmly but that they pollute more. Ours, for example, would almost go out overnight if you closed the air vent - but once serviced it burns very well on the lowest setting and is ready to rock with some new fuel in the morning in no time.

I suggest that places like Scandanvia probably have stricter regulations and monitoring of pollution as well as a population more likely to maintain stoves in good order.

You could also make a reasonable argument that it increases the risk of fire in a wooden house to heat it with, well, fire.

I don't know the stats but I presume that a heat pump run using renewably generated electricity probably pollutes the atmosphere less than a wood burning stove.

[Kiwi Mac]

None of the wood I have bought (or bartered for) has needed to be chopped once we get it - it all comes pre-chopped. If I'm paying for wood, I expect it to be chopped to a size suitable for a woodburner - I'd refuse the delivery or haggle down the price if it wasn't. Free wood might need to be chopped, but we (or rather, my husband) thinks that is a small price to pay for free wood (he likes chopping, thank goodness.)



Woodburners aren't banned outright in Christchurch, though. The rules for the use of woodburners in Christchurch can be found here. My understanding is that Christchurch has been divided into two zones: in zone 1, if you have an existing woodburner, you can continue to use it in winter months if it's less than 15 years old (you have to stop using it as soon as it's 15 years old), or you can replace it with an approved, low-emission woodburner or pellet burner, but you can't install a woodburner if you don't already have one (though you could install a pellet fire subject to resource consent). If you're in zone 2, you can still use your woodburner, regardless of its age, but you have to use dry wood with a moisture content of less than 25% (who'd want to use wood that was any wetter, anyway?) or paper or cardboard. You can still install approved, low-emission woodburners in zone 2, though you'll need to get building consent.

But wherever you are in NZ, or in the world for that matter, ideally you want to be using a modern, low-emission woodburner and well-seasoned (dry) wood (from sustainable resources) to reduce the amount of smoke produced.

And all of our wood - even the free stuff - comes from renewable resources, and is therefore carbon neutral. I've never had a problem sourcing wood from sustainable resources - even the free stuff - but maybe that varies by area? The Coromandel is well known for being full of hippies, so maybe that makes it easier for us to find eco-friendly wood.

Not so many hippies near Wellington! Wood prices around here about $400 for 4 cubic metres (thrown load).

[Flutterby]

some of the options listed are more suitable for a rented house, for example it wouldn't be very economical to install heatpumps into a house that you might need to move out of in 6 months time and equally it would be stupid to ignore a perfectly good woodburner if it is available to you.

[Kanga]

I don't know the stats but I presume that a heat pump run using renewably generated electricity probably pollutes the atmosphere less than a wood burning stove.

Although as you say, you'd more likely need a couple of heat pumps to heat a house so really you'd need to compare the 'pollution' of getting the same house up to the same temperature and maintaining it as a woodburner. This is where I think heat pumps really fail to deliver because they either don't work at all when it's really cold or fail to give out anything like the heat of a woodburner.

Also, I have observed with so many people (and you have implied that you are in this category too) that once a heat pump is installed it gets used for cooling in summer, so there's a hidden environmental cost to factor into the heat pump V. woodburner debate.