Many people might be surprised to discover that wood stoves have been gaining in popularity over the last few years, and more and more homes are installing them as a secondary or even primary heat source. A wood stove is actually an extremely inexpensive way to heat your home, and thanks to advances in technology they are growing significantly more efficient as well. This is much more than a retro fad or a temporary gain, wood stoves are quickly regaining their status as a common way to keep warm in the winter. However, as with all things in life there are both pros and cons to owning a wood burning stove that are worth considering.

First, the positive side of owning a wood stove. To begin with, wood is an easily accessible and remarkably inexpensive energy source. It grows naturally and can easily be collected by rural and some suburbanite homes, and even city dwellers can have cords delivered to them or use wood pellet stoves. Wood is also a renewable energy source, unlike fossil fuels, and has much less environmental impact than oil and gas as well. In fact, burning wood is carbon neutral. It is also much more dependable than using standard utilities, since it will work whether you have power or if a storm knocked a power line down.

Using a wood burning stove does have a few problems, of course. For example they need to be actively maintained by cleaning out the ashes every few weeks. A bed of ashes is actually a good thing when burning wood, but it builds up over time and eventually must be emptied. Also, for some urban homeowners getting wood may be difficult or even expensive depending on the city and the resourcefulness of the individual. Lastly, a wood burning stove does not distribute the heat evenly to every room, and for larger homes you may need to use a fan to spread the heat out to every room. It does work very well in small to medium sized dwellings.

Ultimately, the pros and cons may make buying a wood stove worthwhile rather than relying on central heat and paying outrageous gas bills every month. With the right stove in the right setting you can drastically reduce your utility bills while having an equal effect on your environmental impact at the same time. Those factors alone are often more than enough to convince people to make the change.