How much does a Wood Burning Stove cost?

Whether you live in a contemporary minimalist home or a country cottage Wood Burning and Multi-Fuel Stoves can undoubtedly make the perfect focal point to any room. By utilising modern technology and design, manufacturers are now able to produce a huge range of stoves which are not only stylish but incredibly efficient.

So what things do you need to consider and how much will it cost you to have this stunning feature in your room?

  • Choosing the correct Stove

Firstly we always recommend to customers to check your local council website to check if there are any restrictions on what type of fuel you can burn, this is important for two reasons. This  may impact the type of stove you can buy i.e. Wood Burning or Multi Fuel. Secondly, by burning the wrong fuels you could incur a £1000 fine from your local authorities as you are in breach of area pollution protection laws. (If your not sure don’t hesitate to ask us at Rigby’s, we will always be happy to advise)

Using this information, you now need to choose your stove. This however may not be a simple task as quite frankly the market is flooded with stoves which vary in design, size, heat output, colour, etc, etc.

The cost of a stove can vary wildly, ranging from £400 to more than £2,000, and that’s before you’ve even factored in the installation costs. 

To find out the average cost of a stove, a Which Magazine study asked 237 stove owners how much they spent on their stove and installation, the most common costs were: 

  • 29% spent between £1,000 and £1,999 
  • 13% spent between £2,000 and £2,999 
  • 13% spent between £500 to £999. 
  • About 9% of people really went to town, spending between £3,000 and £3,999. 

(https://www.which.co.uk/news/2017/12/is-buying-a-log-burner-or-multi-fuel-stove-worth-the-cost/ – Which?)

This is a useful guide for any potential buyers on how much initially laid out for a stove. We would slightly argue with Which, if we dare, that like a good bottle of wine these days, you can get a great one without breaking the bank! Judge for yourself by having a look at our range: https://rigbys.com/products/wood-burning-stoves/

Key factors to be aware of here are the size of your stove, ideally we would recommend a 5kw stove for a standard size living room as this will generate more than enough heat output for a standard size living room. Further to this, the efficiency of a stove is also important, with preference for stoves which are ideally over 80% efficient and most commonly found in Eco Design Ready Stoves which are also compliant with changing government regulations which are due to be rolled out in 2022..

  1. Installation Costs

Installing a Wood Burning or Multi-Fuel Stove is a relatively large task and each job can vary for a number of factors, for example:

  • you need to have your chimney relined because otherwise gases would escape-
  • your chimney needs work on it and is particularly tall, so may need scaffolding
  • you need a flue created as you don’t have a chimney
  • a vent needs to be fitted in the room – this is a building regulation requirement.

According to Which Magazine’s report on the cost of installing a stove the average price across the UK for is £1500.  At Rigbys however we offer a full installation via our very own team of fully qualified HETAS engineers for a cost of £1200, not bad for a company situated on the outskirts of the countries capital.

If you would like to enquire about installing a Wood Burning or Multi Fuel Stove , or a free survey, please click here.

  1. Running Costs

Finally we take into consideration the type of fuel we burn and how this may impact our wallets. There are a growing number of fuels available for Wood Burning & Multi-Fuel Stoves however do not be fooled into buying cheap products here!

We strongly recommend that you burn Kiln Dried Logs, these may cost slightly more than your average logs but they have a moisture content of less than 20% and therefore provide a heat output of 4.5kW compared to freshly cut logs which have a moisture content of 60-90% and thus only produce 1kW per Kg. In addition Kiln Dried Logs produce less emissions and build up in your chimney further reducing costs on having your chimney swept as frequently in the long run.

Another fuel option is Smokeless Coal, again this may cost slightly more than standard house coal however the results speak for themselves as:

  • Emits 80% less smoke than house coal and 50% less than kiln-dried logs
  • Emits 40% less carbon dioxide than house coal
  • Produces over 38% more heat than house coal
  1. Maintenance

National guidelines from HETAS state that your chimney should be swept at least once a year, to prevent the likelihood of a chimney fire which can result due to a build up of soot deposits. For more information about having your chimney swept click here

Apart from having your chimney swept, the benefit of owning a wood burning stove without question has to be their durability. Generally made from either cast iron or steel, most stoves come with a manufacturer’s lifetime guarantee, how often can you say that! Therefore apart from a general clean using WD40 to the chassis and Stove Glass Cleaner they really can be an efficient fire option.