Seasoned wood for burning is not cheap so I don't "get it". Anyone prepared to educate me ?
If you are buying seasoned wood in by the jumbo bag then I'd agree to degree, at current purchase prices there are cheaper and more convenient ways to heat if you are on mains gas for example.
It wasnt so long ago that you could get the renewable heat incentive on certain log burners too. To me the whole thing stinks a bit of moving the goals to suit those who make the rules. Go back a bit and modern diesels were the best thing since sliced bread, then fast forward a few years. All those who wanted to buy a low emission engine car expecting to pay £30/year tax have been told that for 5 years they have to pay £160/year even if the only thing that comes out of their exhaust is butterflies! All because the tax revenues weren't being generated.
Anyway, back to heating with wood....
So I have a few sources that I use for heating logs, all of them require forward planning, this is where people need to change their mindset and not expect to be able to buy to day and put in the stove tomorrow.
My sources are my own land being cleared, dead growth or storm damage, clearance from construction projects and I have a local tree surgeon who drops logs and wood chip round. I process, store and season all of mine so i know that it's ready to burn when i need it. My last house was on mains gas and for the 2 last years i lived there my gas bill was only for the hot water used and virtually nothing on hearing.
I've only ever bought 1 load of firewood and I wouldn't do it again as it was certainly not seasoned as advertised. Chalk that one up to naivety but I wont get caught again.
The tell tale sign that I'm burning clean is the minimal amount of ash and soot when I clean the stove or flue.
Also the way you build the fire makes a difference too, I tend to burn top down fires so air is dragged through the fire wood making sure absolutely everything is dry before it burns.