The war over woodburners: Experts claim the benefits of trendy burners are ‘overlooked’ – and say open fires are good for mental health and bring families together

Trendy wood-burning stoves emit dangerous air pollution, but a new report claims their benefits are ‘overlooked’.

Experts from the Stove Industry Association (SIA), the UK trade body for the industry, say stoves and fireplaces are good for physical and mental wellbeing.

They also bring families together and are cheaper and more ‘accessible’ than electric heating, the cost of which has risen since the global energy crisis.

While the SIA does not dispute the health risks of pollutants emitted by stoves, its new report promotes the little-known benefits.

Wood-burning stoves have a typical cube-shaped design and are becoming increasingly popular because they have an enclosed glass door – unlike more traditional fireplaces.

As a result, wood stoves emit less pollution than fireplaces, such as PM2.5 – invisible particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less – and toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides.

Inhaling particulate matter has been linked to heart and lung disease, heart attacks, dementia, diabetes and cancer.

However, scientists warn that pollution still escapes from wood-burning stoves when the glass door is opened.

Wood-burning stoves (pictured) are steadily replacing older-style fireplaces. Wood stoves have a typical cube-shaped design, an enclosed glass door and are connected to a chimney or flue. They emit less pollution into the air than fireplaces. However, pollution still escapes from wood-burning stoves when the glass door is opened

The new report from Stove Industry Association (SIA) provides an in-depth analysis of the ‘multi-faceted benefits’ of ‘residential combustion’.

For the document, the authors referred to the results of academic publications, industry reports and recent studies in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Overall, they discovered several overlooked benefits of wood stoves, ranging from health and wellness to financial benefits.

A wood-burning stove or fireplace promotes feelings of relaxation, thanks to the ‘beautiful’ glowing orange light, the report says.

In addition, the soft crackling sound of the burnt wood promotes feelings of happiness, calmness, family and homeliness.

Research shows that looking at a fireplace can even lower our heart rate and lower blood pressure, reducing the risk of high blood pressure and reducing stress.

Wood-burning stoves also promote a range of social and family benefits by providing a communal gathering place in a home.

A roaring fire, especially in winter, encourages people to gather around it to warm themselves, but also provides an opportunity for conversation and social bonding.

Wood-burning stoves also promote a range of social and family benefits as they provide a communal meeting place in a home (archive photo)

Wood-burning stoves also promote a range of social and family benefits as they provide a communal meeting place in a home (archive photo)

Word cloud summary of the most common words in response to the connotations of wood burning, according to a 2023 YouGov survey

Word cloud summary of the most common words in response to the connotations of wood burning, according to a 2023 YouGov survey

What are wood stoves?

Wood stoves are increasingly replacing more traditional fireplaces.

Wood stoves have a typical cube-shaped design, an enclosed glass door and are connected to a chimney or flue.

They emit less pollution into the air than fireplaces.

However, pollution still escapes from wood-burning stoves when the glass door is opened (to insert more logs, for example).

It also means that people look less at their smartphones and are more likely to look at the fire.

‘The use of fire in a home environment promotes friendly and creative discussions – i.e. the use of imagination and storytelling, compared to daytime conversation topics,’ the report says.

“This central point of contact also provides an alternative, non-digital or electronic media device, over which a family can gather.”

Gathering around a fire is a behavior that humans have enjoyed for thousands of years, so even today we may tend to gather around flames.

Meanwhile, related tasks such as foraging for food, chopping wood, and building a fire also provide households with fun bonding exercises before the fire is even lit.

The researchers point to the popularity of virtual fireplace videos on Netflix and YouTube, which may be fueled by people who do not have the luxury of a wood-burning stove at home.

It could explain why Netflix’s virtual fireside videos were the streaming giant’s most-watched Christmas content at Christmas, ahead of the new series Squid Game.

“Simulated or virtual fireplaces offer a number of benefits to the individual, but the experience is likely to be significantly different from that of interacting with a real flame,” the team adds.

Results from the Charnwood Wellbeing Survey (2021) identify a large proportion (1,135 or 92.6 percent) of respondents who believe that using the stove has a positive impact on their well-being

Results from the ‘Charnwood Wellbeing Survey’ (2021) identify a large proportion (1,135 or 92.6 percent) of respondents who believe using a stove has a positive impact on their well-being

The researchers point to the popularity of virtual fireplace videos on Netflix and YouTube, which may be fueled by people who don't have the luxury of a wood-burning stove in their home.

The researchers point to the popularity of virtual fireplace videos on Netflix and YouTube, which may be fueled by people who don’t have the luxury of a wood-burning stove in their home.

In addition to the physical and metallic benefits, wood stoves also provide economic and financial benefits during a cost-of-living crisis.

Heaters not only provide a low-cost alternative to gas and electric heating, but they also provide the homeowner with ‘energy security’ by providing reliable heating during power outages and extreme weather conditions.

Heaters provide protection against ‘fuel poverty’, where a household does not have enough income to pay heating costs.

If you live in a home that already has a wood-burning stove installed, the only costs involved are wood and matches, although the initial costs can be expensive.

However, according to SIA, logs are cheaper per kWh than electric heating: 10.73 pence per kWh and 31.2 pence per kWh respectively.

‘Although gas is currently cheaper per kWh than wood logs, many stove users find that they can significantly reduce their gas consumption by using their stove to heat their main living space and radiate heat into other parts of the home,’ said an SIA. said spokesperson.

Overall, the report’s authors say the benefits of wood-burning stoves are far less known than the negative health and environmental impacts, which are ‘well documented’.

SIA also says that household activities considered harmless – such as frying food and using scented candles and air fresheners – produce much higher levels of PM2.5 than using a modern space heater.

Related tasks such as foraging for food, chopping wood, and building a fire also provide households with fun bonding exercises before the fire is even lit

Related tasks such as foraging for food, chopping wood, and building a fire also provide households with fun bonding exercises before the fire is even lit

Particulate matter, or PM, comes from a variety of sources, including vehicle exhaust, construction sites, industrial activities, or even household stoves and ovens. PM2.5 is a pollutant of 2.5 micrometers or smaller

Particulate matter, or PM, comes from a variety of sources, including vehicle exhaust, construction sites, industrial activities, or even household stoves and ovens. PM2.5 is a pollutant of 2.5 micrometers or smaller

In response, Larissa Lockwood, director of clean air at Global Action Plan, said the report “does not take into account the significant harm that domestic wood burning causes to public health”, both to the households that burn wood and to their local communities.

‘In the past it may have been easier to find comfort in the glow of a fire, but the uncomfortable truth is that if you can smell or see wood burning you are breathing in harmful air pollution,’ Ms Lockwood told MailOnline.

‘Burning wood releases toxic fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) inside and outside the home, which when inhaled enters your bloodstream and causes life-threatening health problems such as heart and lung disease, diabetes, stroke and dementia.

‘Wood burning is also harmful to the environment, it releases more CO2 emissions than oil or gas for the same amount of heat, and is almost always more expensive than other forms of heating.’

Jemima Hartshorn, founder and director of Mums for Lungs, said ‘the science is clear and unequivocal’ on wood-burning stoves.

‘Lighting a fire in our homes massively increases air pollution in our homes – even the latest Ecodesign stoves – the ‘cleanest’ ones you can burn in a smoke control zone – will triple the pollution in our homes,” she told MailOnline.

‘Exposure to pollution from wood burning increases our risk of developing lung cancer, contributes to heart problems and asthma and really has no place in the modern world where people have access to central heating.

‘It can be pleasant, but it is a pleasant pollutant in your living room, harmful to you, your children and your neighbors.’

MailOnline also contacted the London Wood Burning Project and the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health for comment.

What is particulate matter and why is it dangerous?

Particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of solid and liquid particles that float in the air.

These are divided into coarse, fine and ultrafine.

PM2.5 are fine particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers (more than 100 times thinner than a human hair) and that remain in the air for a long time.

The health risk of PM2.5 is that it can penetrate deep into the respiratory tract, reach the lungs and enter the bloodstream.

Source: Institute for Indoor Air Hygiene