Why there's a choice...

For many years stoves produced in and for the UK and Irish markets have been configured with an open grate and ash pan for multi fuel burning because we had vast stocks of cheap coal. In rural areas where there was a plentiful supply of logs (most of them free) people tended to burn wood, occasionally switching to coal if their supply ran out. The introduction of smoke control areas in the 50s and 60s skewed urban areas towards burning smokeless coal in open fires and stoves as at that time there were no appliances approved for burning wood cleanly in these areas. When even cheaper natural gas arrived clean, convenient gas fires quickly replaced messy old open fires.

Just over a decade ago all of that changed too when gas prices rocketed and wood burning stoves became the 'must have' practical home heating solution, as well as a bit of a fashion statement. Suddenly a new generation of home owners who'd never grown up with coal entered the market and they had no intention of lugging scuttles of dirty black coal through their pristine homes – and who can blame them when wood was just as cheap as coal and much cheaper than gas. It's also cleaner than coal and unlike gas and coal it's both carbon neutral and sustainable.

Perhaps the choice is generational...

From our experience at The Stove Yard whether you want to burn wood or burn coal depends on the generation you're from. Perhaps the resistance to burn wood from older generations is partly due to their experience of wood burning down much quicker in an open fire than coal because there's no control over the combustion air supply. It is also likely that unseasoned or 'green' wood was also more prevalent and this not only provides very poor flames but also little heat. Then, of course, there's the nasty acrid smell wet wood produces when it's attempting to burn. So perhaps we can understand why they would choose 'dependable' coal. At least until they'd experienced the wonderful way that seasoned wood burns in a good stove – how mesmeric and controllable the flame patterns and heat output are – and how long just a few logs can last.

Recent legislation has not been kind to coal...

More recently, the Republic of Ireland has banned the most polluting smoky (aka bituminous) house coal, although approved smokeless coal products can still be burned. England and Wales are set to follow with a similar ban in May 2021 with an additional ban on selling wood with a moisture content greater than 20%. As a consequence many modern stoves, particularly European imports, are not configured or CE tested for coal burning and there's often no separate Primary Air control which is essential for efficient coal burning. Many though have undergone additional tests for approval by Defra as Smoke Exempt Appliances which allows you to burn wood legally in an urban area.

Once extremely limited the choice of Defra Approved stoves today is huge and includes many fine wood burners even at the entry-level with Saltfire, Graphite and Alpha being excellent best-selling examples. At the top end there are many stunning looking state-of-the-art contemporary designed wood burners available from companies such as Hwam, Wiking and Max Blank. Meanwhile with the introduction of the tough 2022 Ecodesign emissions regulations looming there are virtually no new stoves being designed and tested for smokeless coal, perhaps with the exception of some recent models from Charnwood. 

The choice is yours – but it isn't really...

The reality is that the choice is stacked up against coal, smokeless or otherwise. At The Stove Yard, we would always recommend that you burn wood whenever possible anyway simply because wood fuel logs are environmentally friendly and with the introduction of Ecodesign the emissions from stoves will become even lower – some 80% less than a ten year old stove. So you have to ask yourself, why you would ever need to burn coal.

A word about burning coal versus burning wood in boiler stoves

Some people would argue that coal is much better for burning in boiler stoves than wood because, since boiler stoves are generally required to burn for much of the day and evening, coal allows for longer-lasting slumber burning for fuel economy as well as to keep some residual heat in the central heating and hot water system. While this may have been true in the past toady's highly insulated draught-proofed homes do not require anything like the same level of consistent heating and most boiler users find that wood works just as well.

To find out about the differences between burning wood and burning multi fuel Click Here.