With the introduction of Eco 22 regulations, which require all new solid fuel room heater appliances entering the UK market to meet minimum efficiency standards and emission limits, modern wood burning stoves ensure low emission and low carbon heating for our homes.

Despite the major improvements that have been made on limiting the emissions from modern wood burning stoves, there are still many misleading reports that incorrectly claim that stoves contribute far more particulate emissions than they really do.

The Stove Industry Alliance has an excellent short video on helping to dispel the myths that have been reported around wood burning stoves and is definitely worth a watch. The video aims to address three of the most common misconceptions that are often being mis-quoted in the media.

• ‘Wood burning stoves are the biggest contributor in the UK of small particulate matter’

This is simply not true and the leading cause of this myth comes from a statement within Defra’s Clean Air Strategy which incorrectly states that domestic combustion accounts for 38% of all particulate matter. This percentage value comes from a 2015 government survey which incorrectly over-estimated the amount of wood being burnt in stoves and fireplaces in the UK.

In 2019 a much larger survey was carried out by SIA and independently verified using sample size of 10,620 and asking the same questions as the 2015 government survey, which only surveyed 1,206 participants.

This survey revealed that the real figure was less than a third of what the government estimated, making the the percentage of particulate matter emitted via domestic combustion closer to 13%, not the 38% claimed.

Not only this, but the 38% figure calculated by Defra is based on emissions from older stoves and open fires, when we know that as a result of the new Eco 22 regulations, a modern wood burning stove produces 66% less emissions. The Defra figure also includes other sources of particulate matter including bonfires, incinerators and wildfires.

• ‘Wood burning stoves create the same emissions as 18 diesel cars’

This claim comes from the Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG), but it is extremely misleading as the comparison comes from two different appliances (car vs stove) running at significantly different efficiency levels.

When carrying out the comparison, the car exhaust emissions were measured when the car was travelling at an efficient run rate of 21mph, compared with a stove operating at its full, highest nominal run rate. Therefore this completely ignores any particulate matter emissions generated from the car’s brakes or tyres, which often generate MORE emissions than those from the exhaust pipe

Also the report fails to acknowledge the difference in the dispersal points of particulate matter emissions of cars vs wood burning stoves. A car outputs its emissions at children’s face levels, meaning there is very little dispersal of the particulate matter whereas a stoves emissions are vented up and out through a chimney, meaning there is considerable dispersal of particulate matter before reaching human height.

• ‘All wood burning stoves and fireplaces are harmful’

This is an outdated view, based on previous information about open fireplaces and older stove models and fails to take into account the advances in stove designs in recent years to limit emissions. Whilst it is still true that burning poor quality or wet wood is one of the most inefficient ways to heat your house, burning high quality, kiln dried wood in a modern design stove emits up to less than 90% emissions vs an open fireplace, and up to 80% less emissions than a stove that is older than 10 years old.