Open fire or log burner

If it’s just for show (i.e not your sole source of heating) it won’t matter as much as if it’s all that keeps you warm.

We just had open fires, and struggled to warm the whole room. We now have two wood burning stoves  (2 rooms) and the heat goes out into the room, and not up the chimney.

Check you have room to store logs (or coal), and a ready supply. 

We had an open fire which I always thought messy so about 6/7 years ago we put in a multifuel burner.  It’s brilliant, lights easily and gives out a lot of heat plus of course easy to keep clean.  Don’t have to empty the ashes every day.  Be aware that you may well need a flue liner.  If our house had been of modern design I might of considered having it connected to the central heating system.  Well pleased with it and would certainly have another when required.

Same as OP Husky. Do the research, if you go for a stove, right size and output  for area you want to heat, suitable for smokeless area. We went with a multi fuel, gives more options, had chimney lined. Check out log supplies, wood isn't as cheap as it was if you need to buy in. Much cleaner than open fire, and much safer. Much much safer!  Only down side for us is logs have to be cut a bit smaller to fit into stove, whereas with open fire we could burn big stuff! I will post a website link to our model, an Esse. Can highly recommend.

Thanks all , this wouldn't be our main heating source,as we have gas central heating , but just looking at having something that looks more cosy ,and a log supply is not a problem 

This is ours HD. An Esse 100SE, gives out 5kw of heat, big single door to give that lovely fire glow. Easy to clean out and light. When we have this lit, we don't use CH unless it is very cold, keeps us toasty!

We had a tortoise firebox installed in our last home. It's a bit more efficient than a simple open fire. Looked nice when lit but smelly and sometimes smokey, depending on the wind. Also burning logs it could crackle and spit. The biggest dog hated it and would leave the room if we lit it. 

In this home we installed a log burner. Much less messy and no issues with wind direction. The dogs take no notice of it and happily stay in the room with us. Ours has a big window in the door so you can see the fire and the flames are hypnotic. It's more efficient still using less fuel. 

Funny thing with the dogs hastghyll! Our Airedales loved the open fire, but didn't half jump if it crackled! We have to shove the Labs out of way to put a log on stove nowadays!

We have a small Morso log burner which we light in the winter afternoons and evenings. It gives a much warmer feel to the room, but as our supply of "free" wood is limited, we buy seasoned hardwood from a well respected local company. I find we use around £500 worth of logs each winter. I doubt we save as much as that in unused gas as the gas heating is on every morning and for a period each evening to take the chill off the bathroom and bedrooms. We love it, but the heat provided is very localised, and it isn't, in our experience, a cheaper option, but a lifestyle choice. 

Having previously lived in a barn conversion with two log burners, when we moved to this house 5 years ago, we gutted it and created what were, essentially two large open-plan living areas - and a wood-burner was an essential for us.  We fitted a 6kW Jotul multi-fuel stove in the sitting / dining area and in the depths of winter (like now!) we light it in the morning and it's going all day - heating the whole of the downstairs areas to the extent that the central heating only has to be on for a couple or three hours a day.  

Although it's a long time since I had experience of an open fire, I would say that a multi-fuel stove has the advantage of staying a lot cleaner (no ash etc all over the hearth) and is obviously much safer in terms of preventing the possibility of sparks jumping out.  

One mistake which we have made (but didn't realise at the time) was to buy a stove with a fully enclosed ash pan which means having to lift the grate up to access the pan to empty it - which effectively means it can't be kept going day after day as we sometimes did at the other house when we had a prolonged cold spell.

Husky - one other thing to bear in mind - I think I am right in saying that if the stove isn't installed by a registered HETAS engineer, you have to obtain Building Reg approval for the installation.  I know we did, since the stove and flue were installed by our builders who weren't HETAS registered.