Eco-Friendly Wood Burners

The internet is flooded with information on Eco Design Woodburners and misinformation on stove bans. We recommend visiting Stove industry Alliance to fact check.

As a retailer selling Woodburner for over 25 years we wanted to make it easier for our customers to find out what the best Eco-Friendly Wood burners are.

But what are Eco-Friendly Woodburners? in our experience they are the following.

Stoves that are built to last from Reputable brands, Defra Approved Stoves, Ecodesign Stoves, Clearskie Stoves, Stoves with High Efficiency

Stoves that are Built to last

Are just some see our full brands list here

We often see a lot of cheap stoves sold online selling for £300 or £400 on budget stores, amazon or Ebay. But a year or two later we are contacted by customers looking for baffle plates, bricks, replacement grates which can not be sourced for these stoves.

This becomes a costly issue for the customer they must either get something custom made (not ideal as it may impact on how the stove is performing) or replace the stove completely which is not only costly but a waste.

We recommend you buy reputable brands where you can source Woodburner Spares easily. Reputable brands will offer a good Warranty period of 5 to 10 years but also provide Spare parts.

Stoves for Defra Approved Areas

If you live in a 'Smoke Control Area' and would like to purchase a stove for your property, it is essential that you purchase a DEFRA approved Stove or Wood-burner. Generally Smoke Control Areas are mainly located in large towns and city centres, however the only way to find out for certain if you live in a Smoke Control Area is to contact the Local Authority in your area. Whole or part of a district within a Local Authority can be declared as a smoke control area under the Clean Air Act.

Exempt Wood-burning and Multi-Fuel Stoves are appliances which have been exempted by Statutory Instruments (Orders) under the Clean Air Act 1993 or Clean Air (Northern Ireland) Order 1981. These Stoves / Woodburners have passed tests to confirm that they are capable of burning an unauthorised or inherently smoky solid fuel without emitting smoke, providing that you burn the Authorised Fuels. These Stoves are called DEFRA Approved Stoves.

Eco Design Stoves

There is no ban on Wood burning Stove or Multi-fuel Stoves. However, Manufacturers from 2022 stopped producing Non Eco design Stoves and now only make Eco design Stoves. That means if you are buying a New Stove made after 2022 then the stove should be Eco design.

What is the best Eco design Stove?

ClearSkies Certified Stoves are leading the way in helping customers easily identify Eco-friendly Woodburners.

Stoves and fireplaces certified by clearSkies emit substantially fewer pollutants than both open fires and older stove models. Independent testing has demonstrated that a clearSkies-certified stove can reduce emissions by up to 90% compared to an open fire and by about 80% relative to a stove that's ten years old

Stoves With High Efficiency

Stoves with an above 80% efficiency are classed as high efficiency stoves.