There is something lovely and very mesmerising about watching the flames dance around on your open fire and it can bring back warm memories of cold Winters at Grandma’s house or Christmas in front of an open fire.

However, in reality, an open fire is not an efficient way to heat a room as most of the heat is lost up the chimney. Householders who move away from open fires and convert to a wood burning stove or a multi-fuel burning stove notice that they consume far less wood and other fuel in their stove than when they had an open fire. In most cases, this is as much as a 50-60% saving. Stove owners also find that the heat output is higher from a stove and the heat is also more controllable as vents can be closed or half-closed to prevent less air entering, causing the fuel to burn at a slower rate.

Providing you keep the door of your stove closed, there is also less dust and fewer smoky smells wafting into your room and less chance of a stray spark spitting out and charring carpet and furnishings.