It's not particularly difficult to control the heat output, it's just a matter of how you load it and how much air you let in. They don't do well for extremely low heat output, but at that sort of cold just put on a jumper instead.

they also are very costly to run

Used to cost about $20 a tonne for wood a few years back when I was in a place with a fire, plus maybe another $50 per tonne in fuel for the ute and saws to gather it (so ~$70 a tonne total). Was a hell of a lot cheaper than gas and a lot cheaper than electricity.

require a lot of maintenance

It's just popping up onto the roof once a year and taking ash out every week or so, I never found it a big deal.

require a lot of space to store the wood

This I'll grant you, given how tiny modern yards are. You need a square metre or two for the wood and another couple for room to split it - not much in a traditional suburban backyard but it's noticeable in newer blocks where you have bugger all room around the house.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 5 points 5 days ago (4 children)

A single high efficiency wood heater can fill a valley with visible smoke. I can't believe that breathing that density of smoke can be healthy. The valley I live in is full of smoke from mid spring through to new years, I wonder how many are killed by that smoke

[–] ozeng@aus.social 0 points 5 days ago (3 children)

@psud @Tau so you live in a valley with exactly 1 modern wood heater do you? Hyperbole much..

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The valley I live in holds thousands of houses, there are hundreds of fires during colder parts of the year

Every now and then we get seriously thick smoke from the coast on the sea breeze

I have been to rural areas where the density is far less and have seen a single house's chimney fill a valley in still air

[–] ozeng@aus.social 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

@psud ok so you don’t know for a fact they’re using a modern high-efficiency wood heater like you said earlier… hence my hyperbole comment.

There are absolutely people who should not be operating wood stoves, but there are also a lot of people who should not get behind the wheel of a car. Banning something unfairly punishes those who use the thing responsibly.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 3 days ago

I have also heard about it from an Australian science radio show. It's not just my ideas

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (15 replies)