Advantages

• Wood and coal are available almost everywhere.
• Wood heating can be economical. Many people in rural areas may have free or cheap access to firewood. Permits are required to remove wood from forests.

Disadvantages

• The smoke from wood and coal fires contributes to air pollution.
• You have to load the heater or grate, start and maintain the fire and dispose of the ash.
• Apart from modern slow combustion heaters, solid fuel heaters are less energy efficient than electric and gas heating.
• Solid fuel heaters produce combustion gases and need a flue or chimney, which can make installation expensive.

Solid fuel heaters
Solid fuel heating systems are available as convection or radiant heaters which burn wood, briquettes or coal and require a flue. Efficiency and performance depend on the quality of wood and method of operation.

The highest efficiency units are airtight ‘slow combustion’ heaters, boilers (hydronic heating) and furnaces (for ducted heating). These units can provide heating outputs to adequately heat up to around 150 m2, but require suitable heat distribution methods to disperse heat evenly.

Look for:

• quality wood supply
• air intake controls, baffles, secondary combustion chambers.