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If DEFRA have approved it, it can't be all that bad can it?
Depends on the fuel you use and the settings that you use when you burn stuff. Defra assumes you are burning 'ready to burn' fuel, which your builder's wood probably isn't. It may even be treated with shit that will disperse in to the atmosphere, or at worse, your home, when you clean out the ash.
But if it's just untreated hard or softwood that's got a moisture content of 20% or less, it's probably fine. Get a reader.
As far as I know, the benefit of the Defra stoves is that they don't allow slumbering, and they generally burn much, much hotter that older stoves, meaning more stuff is combusted before it heads up the chimney.
But yea.
Howard-
the study i linked to a few pages back used DEFRA approved stoves
First, the daily average indoor PM concentrations when a stove was used were higher for PM2.5 by 196.23% and PM1 by 227.80% than those of the non-use control group. Second, hourly peak averages are higher for PM2.5 by 123.91% and for PM1 by 133.09% than daily averages, showing that PM is ‘flooding’ into indoor areas through normal use.
but I also own two cars, neither of which are very good for the environment
I guess the main points are that
a) there quite a few functions for which there are no great replacements for a car (yet). The same isn't true for a woodburner, unless you live somewhere very rural
and b) that the net individual impact of car use is probably fairly low. It's the societal damage that is the worst. But with woodburners, it's definitely both.
gillies
I burn waste wood that my builder drops off for me. I never buy it. It's a waste product. It's not my primary source of heating. I acknowledge it's not good for the environment but I also own two cars, neither of which are very good for the environment (my older one particularly so). I use my cars sparingly and with consideration. I do the same with my wood burner.
I'm not going to stop using my wood burner though. It's one of the DEFRA approved ones anyway. If DEFRA have approved it, it can't be all that bad can it?