Will A Wood Burner Save You Money?

It's becoming increasingly popular for people to buy a woodburner to supplement or replace a gas or electric heating system because they simply can’t afford to pay their spiralling fuel bills. Changing to wood-fired heating saves many people a lot of money, but it takes time to recoup your initial investment in savings on fuel bills. The savings available vary, but these are the main points to consider when working out how much money you can save.

Purchase Costs
The most obvious cost is buying the woodburner. Wood burning stoves are available to suit all budgets, but the cheapest woodburners are not the most efficient. Spending a little extra to buy a more efficient stove can be worthwhile to gain savings in fuel costs over time. Bargain hunters tend to buy woodburners on the internet in order to get the cheapest prices. It can take a little work to compare deals properly – make sure the price advertised includes VAT and delivery, and see if there are any special deals on chimney liner or free fitting accessories with the stove. To ensure you have full manufacturers warranty cover on the woodburner, check that you are buying from an authorised retailer. You may also need to buy a chimney liner or flue system and accessories such as a stove pipe or register plate. If you are not sure what you need, get expert advice before you buy.

Installation Costs
Installation costs vary enormously depending what work needs to be done. If you need a flue liner for your chimney or to fit a twinwall flue system because you don’t have a conventional chimney, this will increase your installation costs. Sometimes fireplaces need to be altered for a woodburner to be installed, at an extra and sometimes unexpected cost. It is a good idea to have a stove installation survey from a  before you buy a woodburner – this will give you a clear idea of what work is necessary and the associated costs, as well as giving you an opportunity to get expert advice about what woodburner is most suitable for your requirements.
Running Costs
Research prices for firewood or coal both from local and nationwide suppliers, unless you are lucky enough to have a free source of firewood such as a friendly tree surgeon! To get the best prices on firewood or coal you need to buy in quantity – if you don’t already have a suitable storage area factor this into your budget as well. Demand for woodburners is increasing in the UK, but the Forestry Commission is implementing a program to develop the UK wood fuel industry over the coming years to ensure plenty of quality firewood will be available at reasonable prices. Recommended woodburner maintenance includes having your chimney swept at least once a year and an annual service of the stove by a HETAS qualified engineer – it’s a good idea to allocate some of your budget to cover these expenses.

Not for DIY

Undertaking home improvements without the input of a professional can help save money, but it can also result in a poor quality finish and be more costly when involving complicated work.

Installations of features such as a fireplace or stove are better left to professional tradesmen as their expertise will not only guarantee safety for users, but also minimise the need for remedial work due to poor execution.

DIY has long been associated with men, but Britain's women are against their partners meddling, with 61 per cent admitting in a poll that they would rather call in a professional than have them doing the work.

According to the study by MyHammer, nearly half of the women questioned dread their partner doing any DIY, while 58 per cent said they could only rely on them for the very basic tasks.

MyHammer's Gerrit Mueller said: "If you are not terribly skilled it can be more cost effective to pay for work to be done to be sure of a professional job and save money in the long run.

Stylish gas fireplaces can be obtained from specialist online retailers, some of whom may provide professional fitters.

The kind of Fire Everyone Loves In Summer!

Seeing as Summer has now arrived as the weather forecast is looking good for a lovely hot summer, we thought we'd turn our attention to a type of fire that everyone loves outside...BARBECUES!

Napoleon Gourmet Grills originated in Canada as a small business and has had great success and is now broadening its horizons to pastures new. Now being offered over here in the UK by House2Home Megastore!

The company is very proud of its heritage and are proud of their product, and so they should as they're range of Barbeques is definately something to boast about!

The success surely comes from the high standard of materials used on the products and the high specification finish to them too. An example of this is how Napoleon use only the finest 304 grade steel for the components and how externally the barbecues or grills are coated in a rust resistant coating. Napoleon also include a lot of innovation in there appliances. They now produce charcoal, gas and electric grills, from smaller portable grills to grills for the family and even professional grills too.

Accessories are also a great addition to the grill provided, and Napoleon have brought innovation and style to these items as well, allowing you to have your very own spit roast or rotisserie, purpose built griddle, built in ice bucket or even cook on a plank of wood for the added flavour! Obviously most of these ideas have been conceived before, but to have them integrated into your home barbecuing experience is something quite special.

The overall feeling about these BBQ grills is that they are very very good quality, and the higher up the range you go, the more features you acquire, the quality is superb throughout the ranges and worth having a look, some of these barbeques have more features than even my gas cooker in my kitchen!

Most Napoleon barbecue grills come with a limited lifetime warranty, for the length of time that you own the grill, indeed a lifetime. Napoleon Gourmet Grills only allow their products to be sold by reputable dealers whether online or in stores so if you get the chance then have a look, they’re sure to impress, and maybe next time you think of having a BBQ you’ll think of Napoleon!