Gas fire or log burner?

Yes he does. granny and we go to Norway on holiday and live in a Scandinavian Haus

BBevan the Wonderful Man lived and worked in the forests of Norway before we got married. He does almost everything the Norwegian way, yes, including stacking wood.
Does your husband have the book?

Love the poem granny My DH is also seriously into wood. We now stack ours the Norwegian way (!) No chain saw for us, but two sorts of axe. He just loves it. I am going to get him a lumberjack shirt for Christmas Luckily We too have lots of trees.

I'd forgotten that lovely poem, ga. So true about poplar and good job we're not superstitious about elder as we have a lot of that on our land as well.

We have a lovely Ash tree (no die back) so we definitely won't be cutting it down even to warm our slippers by.

We mix our woods as well.

I love my woodburning stove and being married to a man who knows the difference in the types of wood to burn we always have a super fire going when it's cold. We've just cut down a birch tree and next year we'll mix that with a slow burning wood to give a balanced heat.

The Firewood Poem

"Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good they say,
If for logs 'tis laid away.
Make a fire of Elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold"

"Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last,
it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown."

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom
Oaken logs, if dry and old
keep away the winter's cold
But ash wet or ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by."

It is really cold outside, but I and sitting in front of a beautiful, warm, fragrant fire in our wood burner. Absolute bliss

Thanks for all your advice. It sounds as if a gas fire would be more practical. We shall go back to the shop for another look.

seacliff we had the overheating problem. It turned out that the thermostatic radiator valve on the CH radiator had failed. Once it was replaced and working again, when we lit the fire and the room warmed up the radiator in the room switched off. We keep the living room door open so that the heat from the stove spreads round the house

The main thermostat is in the hall but we have TRVs on all the radiators so that we can control each room's temperature separately

We also have no gas, just oil ch. So I'd go for a bottled gas fire for practicality.

We have a wood burner, but it makes the lounge so hot, almost too hot, and the rest of the house is then quite a bit colder. Ours is set in a chimney. I think they are better free standing with a metal chimney going up, then they spread the heat more through the house.

For practicality I prefer a gas fire. Often on a spring/autumn day, I will fancy a little bit of heat. Too much bother to get the log burner going for that. Don't want to put central heating on. A gas fire is very useful for a bit of instant easy heat.

Also watch what wood you burn. Some are not good for burning and make the glass very dark and smokey.

It's so cold today we lit ours an hour ago instead of waiting until tea time. There's a kettle of water simmering away on top which can easily be brought to the boil for a cuppa by moving it towards the centre. Later on I'll be doing a sausage casserole in a (fake) Le Creuset pan for supper.

As we are all electric it means power cuts in the winter are not a problem as it will provide heat, a hob and a plentiful supply of hot water. I even have one of those cast iron thingies for baking potatoes.

We'll probably leave it in tonight as we have a horrible weather forecast for tomorrow so everything should be toasty when we wake up, providing it doesn't go out in which case I'll have an extra dirty glass door to clean

Red Riding Hood- We have the same as Lizziepopbottle. We have 2bottles of gas in a little shed. Lovely.

RedRidingHood we have no mains gas in our village. My gas fire runs off bottled gas.

I have longed and longed for a woodburning stove. Too expensive to install and then an effort to run. But if I win the lottery that's one of the things I'd do. Along with paying off the mortgage and having an extension and having solar panels installed, and having dental implants.........etc

Wood burner v gas fire is heart v head.
We've had a wood burner (multi burner) for thirty odd years and it's lovely.
Lovely and warm, looks cosy, aesthetically pleasing. Stacking logs and building the fire is life affirming. They say it adds value to your house.
BUT it's hard work, cleaning the ashes, chopping wood, extra dust in the house, it takes time to light and occasionally sulks and refuses to go. It's also not cheap to install including lining the chimney. Wood, even here in a forested rural area, is not cheap - especially kiln dried wood.

A gas fire is the practical answer, especially as you get older.
Would I give up our woodburner? No. But in years to come it might just be kept for special occasions and we might rely more on the oil central heating.

Thanks, lizzypopbottle, I think I'll get a quote

Glad to see posts aren't still appearing twice...

This subject is fascinating to me at the moment. We had a wood burning stove in our last house and I found it a bit of a nuisance with all the faffing about so when we moved into this, our final, house, we had an old fashioned fireplace removed and a hole in the wall gas fire put in at great expense. It didn't heat the room enough for me so I have just nattered prevailed on my long suffering husband to let us have a multi fuel stove back in at great expense! We've just had it in a few days and it's lovely! I'm enjoying all of it, cleaning the door etc. We now have a hole in the wall gas fire for sale! Anyone wants to buy it, going cheap?

I was talking to the wife of our former next door neighbour; they moved a couple of months ago to a cottage with a wood burner. I asked how they were settling in. “Oh”, she said “J is completely obsessed with the stove and is out all the time chopping and stacking wood. He can’t wait for the winter to come so that he can keep lighting it! It’s what he has always wanted!”

We have no gas. After 30 years of a wood / multi fuel stove I would give anything for a gas fire.

As it’s clementine and tangerine time, we save and dry the peel to put in the fire. It’s a lovely smell and helps get it going.

Our son has installed a multifuel burner in his house and I must say it's lovely and cosy in the lounge but everywhere else is not so warm unless they leave every door open in the house to let it flow through. If you sit in the armchair next to the fire though it is roasting ..Much too hot.
He has to spend a lot of time collecting wood whilst our and about and has to have a dry storage place to collect it all in. He does enjoy the process though but when he works late or away his gf puts the old fashioned central heating on.
I would love one purely for the smell of the burning wood which I love but would not appreciate the work it involves and ashes storing and disposal of.
Men seem to take over this chore though just as they do a bbq.

We have a balanced flue gas fire as we do not have a chimney. It is living flame, but it is so efficient that we cannot run it at anything more than the lowest setting otherwise we roast, in a room that is twenty feet by twelve. So we don’t often see the lovely dancing flames, just glowing coals. I like to sit in front of DD’s wood burner. Very cosy.

I'd love a log burner or even a living flame gas fire. We (I in reality) stupidly took our fireplace out a few years ago and now have an electric fire on the wall. I miss the fireplace, the fire and the warmth it gave out. My husband refuses to change it yet again A friend has just had a log burner taken out and a gas one put in - she said the mess it created was such a nuisance.

We have a woodburner, it’s multi-fuel so we can use coal as well. In all the years, 12, we have only ever bought one sack of logs and 4 bags of coal a year. My husband goes for walks and collects wood, we take the gc wood hunting and acorn hunting, my son often gives us wood. We collect wood pallets from skips and builders who are usually only to pleased to give them away. My husband also makes paper bricks with a handy little gadget that we got in a charity shop but you can buy them online. We light the fire about 5.30 put on a log or two then coal. Later in the evening we top it up with a paper brick. The fire is nearly always glowing in the morning and the house is lovely and warm from it. We have central heating but only rare.y use it. I wouldn’t change my woodburner for all the tea in China. Love it.

humptydumpty I don't have figures to back me up but the newer gas fires are very efficient and have adjustable output settings. I'm certain that heating only one room has to save money! Since you have a fireplace, the installation wouldn't require a flue to be installed on an outside wall (cost saving) although your existing chimney would need to be checked out and lined and the gas pipe brought in.