Open Fire or Wood Burner

Having had both here in Italy, I would have to say wood burning stove every time, more efficient, cleaner, warmer. Having sat in smoke filled rooms where friends have insisted on keeping their "charming" open fire, there is no contest, its no fun having the windows open in the middle of winter to let the smoke out and then freeze!, A

If you want maximum heating efficiency, and no smoke - a wood burner is the obvious choice.  However,   -  If heating efficiency etc are not sacrosanct, there's little to beat a nice roaring open fire.  We chose the open fire - its a holiday home, not used a great deal in Winter, although we do usually do about 4 weeks in the skiing season.  The open fire is more than enough [after a couple of days warming the walls] to cause the central heating to cut off  [it's set at 21C]  You could always 'mix and match' your options - one room with the feature open fire, and the rest with wood burners.

Wood burner every time.

Woodburner every time.  After all - you can always open the door and turn it into an open fire if you want

I would agree with a wood burner rather than open fire. For one thing, much less mess. Also because the wood is contained, much safer.

Having had Having had an open fire when we bought our house, that was beautiful, but burnt trees like they were going out of fashion but heated only about the first foot of the room, we opted for an inset fireplace that heats water and radiators.  If desired the door can be left open for effect or to cook on it.   We burn a fraction of the wood and heat the whole house. Something like this: http://www.vulcanocaldaie.it/ http://www.caminetti.it/termocamini/vulcano.htm You can build it in and choose precisely the type of surround you want, or set it into a wall. Tradition, contemporary/modern the coise is yours.  There are quite a number of different manufacturers of this type of insert to choose from too.

 I would regard an open fire more as a furnishing feature rather than heat source.  I certainly wouldn't be without ours - it is the first thing I think about when going to Italy in the winter. However, it burns an enormous amount of wood and its heating effect is really only psychological.  We also have a pellet stove in the same room which we use as a heat source and to heat the hot water.  We considered siting the pellet stove in the fireplace but were reluctant to lose the fireplace.  Our decision to site the pellet stove elsewhere in the room was certainly the best decision we made - the open fire removes the desire to go out in the evening - just sitting in front of it is so relaxing - rather too much wine consumed though!

  Open fires are a nice feature but not very usefull as a heat source as most does disappear up the chimney. Wood Burners have the advantage that you can route the flure through rooms giving extra heat and have flue radiators (expansion boxes) attached; to warm rooms. We have our flue going through our bedroom and it keps the room toasty even when really cold.

  Open fires are a nice feature but not very usefull as a heat source as most does disappear up the chimney. Wood Burners have the advantage that you can route the flure through rooms giving extra heat and have flue radiators (expansion boxes) attached; to warm rooms. We have our flue going through our bedroom and it keps the room toasty even when really cold.

 we had an open fire..terrible..dirt,dust,smoke,no heat,loads of wood etc so we put in a wood burner with a large thermal glass window so we still see the wood burning but no dust dirt etc and fantastic heat efficiency but we didn't close the fireplace we have put in the burner in the hearth so we still have "a fire place" with mantle piece and all the rest.

on how much you will use it (and how rich you are).  We have an open fire in our house in Italy as it is only used at most a couple of weeks at Chrsitmas adn Easter and the cost of a wood burner was pretty exepnsive for occassional use.  Haven't used the fireplace yet as house wasn't finished last Christmas (plus we have underfloor heating).  Plus our land is  surrounded by trees so can get wood for the fire for free. Chris

 ... and another benefit of the stove is that with a back boiler you can easily route heat to underfloor pipes and radiators and do the hot water for showers etc too. In most houses you can turn the gas boiler off.

Despite having geothermal underfloor heating, we also have a wood burner in the lounge. It is only used maybe 6-12 times each year for the visual aspect, so the 50 quintale of wood we bought 5 years ago is probably going to last another 10 at least. When ours is alight, we can get to 30C quite easily. It does not have a back boiler though, so those with more experience can comment better on that aspect.  Must admit, that I dislike clearing out the ash and getting the wood in on cold winters nights!! With an open fire, you have all the problems described above, plus the heat loss through the chimney.

  Hi, Hear's  my tuppence worth !!!   We have renovated an old Torretta and this is the first winter that we are using wood for the boiler which heats the underfloor heating and the hot water system, last year was our first winter and we had the  gas working  but the cost was horrendous. In side the house we have a double sided fireplace that can be opened from both sides as well as closed with an internal fan that blows hot air into both rooms making this very cosy to look at as well as pratical. Sorry but I do not know the makers name for the fireplace but the wood boiler is a Reillo , please let us know how you get on . Happy new year to all and a peacefull one. Michael

This must be true - it's in the Grauniad ............. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/04/woodburning-stoves-the-truth