Personal style will be your next consideration and you’re likely to be spoilt for choice with a wide variety of stove designs to suit all tastes from traditional to contemporary. Matching the heat output of a stove with the room it is going to heat is very important and it is best to take advice on this from your local independent stove retailer.

These businesses will be able to offer you advice on choosing a stove that is right for you. Many retailers have joined the SIA Retail Group and signed up to following pledge.

Members of the SIA Retail Group pledge to help improve UK air quality and reduce the UK’s carbon footprint by advising their customers on the very latest Ecodesign compliant wood burning stoves.

Members will explain the benefits of replacing open fires and older stove models with advanced Ecodesign Ready appliances.

By offering expert advice on choosing, installing, using the right fuel and maintaining a wood burning stove, members of the SIA Retail Group are committed to helping the public realise the benefits of low carbon wood burning stoves, which provide renewable and sustainable heating for the future.

Find your local SIA Retail Group showroom.

Ecodesign Regulation

As well as it being compulsory for a stove to have a UKCA mark, all wood burning and multi-fuel stoves and fireplaces manufactured and placed on the UK marked since 1st January 2022 must adhere to the Ecodesign Regulation – (EU) 2015/1185.

The Ecodesign Regulation sets maximum emission levels for particulate matter (PM), organic gaseous compounds (OGCs), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), and minimum seasonal space heating energy efficiency.

UKAS accredited laboratory testing has shown that an Ecodesign stove produces up to 90% less particulate matter emissions than  an open fire and up to 80% less than a non-Ecodesign stove. This testing also showed a significant improvement in efficiency from an Ecodesign stove, with mean net fuel efficiency recorded at 82.2%, compared to a non-Ecodesign stove at 59.5% and an open fire at 26.7%. These tests were conducted using wood logs with a moisture content of 12.4% to 12.8%. (Source: Comparative Smoke Emissions Tests, Kiwa Ltd – UKAS Accredited Test Laboratory 0692 (Report Number: 60578)).

Installation

Your local independent retailer will also be able to advise you on the installation of your new stove and chimney system. All SIA Retail Group members have made a commitment to organise installation via an appropriately qualified installer, registered under a recognised competent persons scheme (e.g. HETAS, OFTEC). A competent person can certify the installation safe. This is really not a DIY job, but if you do have the skills to tackle it yourself, you must then get your installation inspected and approved by your local Building Control department.