WOOD BURNER VS OPEN FIRE: The facts and stats

A log burner uses less wood, is cheaper to run, leads to a better fuel economy and significantly improves both indoor and outdoor air quality.

If you have an open fireplace or an out-of-date wood burner and you’d like to minimise emissions and benefit from enhanced efficiency, it’s worth considering switching to a modern, cleaner burning, Ecodesign wood burner.

Ecodesign stoves have been engineered to burn wood more completely. The targeted introduction of combustion air at higher levels in the fire box of the stove reignites the combustion particles before they can leave the stove. This technology reduces particulate emissions by 90 percent compared to an open fire or 80 percent compared to a stove of 5-10 years old. It can also lead to significant reductions in Carbon Monoxide, Nitrous Oxides and Organic Gaseous Carbon compounds (OGCs).

To further optimise efficiency and minimise emissions, it is also important you choose a size of stove that suits the space you want to heat, burn the right fuel, light the fire and refuel correctly, and ensure you clean and maintain your appliance.

The following facts and stats comparing open fires and wood burning stoves speak for themselves…

• An Ecodesign wood burning stove reduces particulate emissions by 90 percent compared to a traditional open fire and 80 percent compared to a 10-year-old stove.
• Two logs of similar characteristics will burn for up to one hour in a wood burning stove, compared to only 15 minutes on an open fire.
• Compared to open fires, Ecodesign stoves reduce the emission of:
  • Organic Gaseous Carbon compounds (OGCs) by 70 percent.
  • Nitrous Oxide (NOx) 34 percent.
  • Carbon Monoxide (CO) by 33 percent.

• Migrating from an open fireplace to a flue connected to a stove will halve the deemed air loss from the room.
• 80 percent of the heat generated by a wood burning stove is convected and radiated into the room, compared to only 20 percent in the case of an open fire.