Brrr...

I would have thought the time to turn the heating on is when you're still cold, despite putting on a jumper/cardi, regardless of the month.

No but do have it on for an hour in morning & evening only witb thermotat set at 16c

tells you about it here

It means you can have a stove in a smoke controlled zone. (DEFRA certified)

'ang on...

OK Jingl, tell us about this "clean burn" stove please

It's all open plan, jingl. We could have gone for the smaller one - 7/8Kw but apart from a couple of small back up radiators I'm hoping it will heat the whole place.

We have a woodburner in the bungalow that DD is going to live in but it's nowhere near as efficient. DGS called in after school and just said, 'Mum's going to want one of those'.

You can keep them in overnight as well.

Hello Brawlass long time no see (if it is you!)
I'm a Souter and it used to get gie cauld in wir wee hoose. In the soft Home Counties now also with a gas coal effect fire but wish I still had the open fire we had in our old house.

We have a multi fuel burner in the middle of the house so it keeps most of the place warm (we do have CH as well). DH is in charge of it - I think he enjoys nurturing it and fixing it's fire bricks and what-have-you. A lorry load of logs plus three bags of coal costs £190 but will last almost all of the winter. It doesn't make that much of a mess - a bit of a dust storm sometimes if DH carries out the ash can in the teeth of a gale - but I'd rather be warm than worry about a bit of dust. I'll do a spring clean when the weather warms up again.

Cottage we stayed in a while back had one with a boiler behind it. It was good. One of those with a squirrel logo on it.

12kw! How big is your room?!

DD's is 5 kW and it warms the room and halfway up the stairs too! I was thinking a 3kw if I get one.

Our wood burner is multi fuel, it burns wood and egg shaped coal. We start it with coal and when there's a good glowing bed of embers, just add a log.

If we want it to stay in all night we put more coal on it and turn down the control.

It stays in, as long as someone nips down at 6 am to stoke it!

Our first house had a Parkray solid fuel heating system. A lovely little stove in the sitting room that heated water and radiators. All the fuel was bought prior to use, so no nasty bills.

X

We've put a clean burn 12Kw woodburner in the granny pad. We've had a couple of small fires to burn off the new smell and today we decided to get it up to full blast while we were working in there.

Stripped off to T shirts in a very short time. We're self-sufficient in wood so it's going to save us a lot of money.

Pippa000 we went to Cyprus at the beginning of March one year and went up into the mountains. As we drove along we were startled to see a skier cross in front of us - in the air - from one side of the road to the other!

It's a bit chilly here, heat on morning and evening so far! If we are in in the afternoons we have the heat on on in the conservatory if the sun isn't shining.

Wood burners are brilliant, we have two, one in sitting room which we have on mainly in the evening, and one in the room next to the kitchen where we spend most of our morning, and only have our central heating coming on in the morning for when we get up. Need to have a good supply of well seasoned logs though. We are lucky where we stay, (Scottish Borders) as we can get a lot of our wood for free or quite cheaply. I don' think they are any messier than a coal fire but DH enjoys keeping the home fires burning - it's turned into a hobby of his!

My DD has just had a "clean burn" woodburner installed. It is amazingly clean. I don't know how it happens but it roars away merrily and never any ash to empty! How it does it I don't know, but I think I want one too.

Well, Londoner, wood burners are brilliant, but do make a lot of mess and unfortunately the price of wood has shot up. Looking at £75 for a trailer load and that is in the Midlands. So if you do live down south I suspect would cost more. A regular trailer load might last you 3 months if you were careful.

My storage heaters keep my well insulated bungalow warm day and night. No bother of servicing or oil deliveries. I have walking difficulties and have poor circulation and get very miserable and depressed if I am cold.

Ours has been on and off through September too if we've felt chilly (we live close to Ashford, Kent).

Currently have it set around 22C, from 06.00.a.m. until 08.30.a.m. and then in the evenings from 4.00.p.m. until 8.30.p.m. If it gets chilly outside of these times (like today), then we have it on. Hate to be cold !

P.S. We have a gas fire in our living room, which looks EXACTLY like a real fire (without all the inconvenience !) and it's ben great. Thing is, it's really old now and needs replacing......don't know whether to get a new gas one, or maybe a wood burner ? The wood burners seem to throw out sooooo much heat, which would really suit me ! Wonder how expensive they are to run ?

So, two questions.....
How much mess do they make ?????
How much does the wood cost ?????

Keep warm everyone.

19.3c in our dining room where the thermometer is at the back of the room
18.6C in The living room where it is nearer the window.

It's cold and damp here with no hint of sunshine.

My living room is at 22 now (2 pm) and the bedroom is at 21. I only have storage heaters so I can't put the heating on when I want it, I have to decide the day before if I'm going to want it. I'll probably put it on when the bedroom goes below 18.

I'm not in the "heat or eat" trap but I'll have to be careful and go to warm jumpers and hot drinks before I use electric heaters.

put it on wednesday night as we both had wet hair from showers.. only up to 18 degrees though, switched off again when we went to bed.
yesterday evening put it on at 16 degrees and then switched it off again, just need it to take away the evening chill at the moment.

I forgot to add: my gas bills have gone down since I started keeping it on all the time

I have the thermostat set to 18.5 and leave it on 24/7/365 but will also turn individual radiators on/off according to need.
In the summer it just doesn't come on, but if there were a cold snap then it would.
I was told by a damp surveyor that once I got the damp in the house sorted out I should never let the temperature drop below 18C, hence why I set it to 18.5.
I always think when you come in from outdoors a house feels warmer (just cos you're away from the elements), and the temp I have it at is just right for me. If I'm cold watching telly I put the gas fire on, as well as a snuggly blanket, but in the rest of the house I'm usually moving around doing things, so I don't need it too hot.
It's nice when I have to get up in the night to find the rad next to the loo is all warm!

Heating controlled by thermostat, comes on when its cold first thing in the morning and, so far, has not come on again until later in the afternoon. I believe when you are older and probably suffer from things like arthritis, it is essential to be warm. Also the dog appreciates a warm radiator by her basket!! Summer thermostat turned down to "frost control"!! So far has never come on. Saw a road gritter out yesterday, probably making sure it still was in running order, I hope, although I do live in a hilly country area.

We have a pellet stove which is very efficient. So I didn't feel too guilty about turning it on yesterday just to make sure it was ok after the summer break!!! I tend to feel the cold more especially when it is raining as well.