Buying a wood-burning stove for a West Country home

What to check before you buy and while it's fitted: where you live, which kind of stove, what size, who installs it and what paperwork you should get. Each step links to the rule or guidance behind it.

Checked 14/10/2026. Each numbered link goes to the source at the foot of the page. This is general information, not advice for your home.

1. Check whether you're in a smoke control area

In a smoke control area you can't release smoke from a chimney, and you can only burn authorised fuel unless you use a Defra approved ("exempt") appliance. Wood is unauthorised, so it can only be burned in an exempt appliance. In England a smoking chimney can bring a penalty of up to £300, and buying unauthorised fuel for an appliance that isn't approved can bring a fine of up to £1,000.¹

Here is what each council in our area says, where we've been able to read it:

Defra publishes a smoke control area map, but says its data is indicative only and you should always confirm with your council.⁴ Even with no smoke control areas, Somerset Council recommends installing an exempt appliance and using smokeless fuel where possible, to avoid smoke complaints.²

2. Ecodesign and exempt: not the same thing

Since January 2022, new stoves coming onto the UK market must be Ecodesign compliant.⁵Ecodesign stoves meet set emission and efficiency standards.⁴

An exempt appliance is one Defra has approved for burning unauthorised fuels, such as wood, in a smoke control area. You can only burn wood in an Ecodesign stove in a smoke control area if that stove is also on Defra's list of exempt appliances.⁴ You must also only burn the fuels the manufacturer says the appliance can use.¹

• Defra's list of exempt appliances
• Defra's list of authorised fuels

Somerset Council's checklist adds: make sure the stove is certified for use in the UK, and don't buy one online without checking it's suitable for use here.²

3. Pick a size

A stove's output is given in kilowatts (kW). HETAS, the trade body that registers installers and approves stove retailers, says this figure is the maximum under laboratory conditions, and a 5kW stove usually runs at 2 to 4kW on a normal evening.⁶ Its rough guide:⁶

This is a trade body's rule of thumb, not a calculation for your room. Size also affects the air supply the room needs (step 4).

4. The chimney, the air supply and your kind of house

The chimney

Somerset Council's checklist says to have the chimney checked and swept before installation, fitting a liner if necessary, and warns that many chimneys unused for years are capped or blocked off.²

Air supply

Approved Document J sets how much permanent ventilation a stove needs. For a stove without a flue draught stabiliser, in a house with a design air permeability above 5.0m³/(h.m²), it's 550mm² per kW of rated output above 5kW. In a more airtight house it's 550mm² for every kW. The document notes that a home built before 2008 is unlikely to be that airtight unless extensive measures have been taken.⁷ Stoves with a draught stabiliser need more. Your installer should work this out for your stove and house.

Thatched roofs

Approved Document J calls for larger clearances where a flue comes out on or near a thatched roof, and recommends rigid twin-walled insulated metal liners inside a ventilated masonry chimney, because heat from flues can build up in thick thatch.⁷ Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service says chimney fires are the leading cause of thatch fires.⁸

Listed buildings and conservation areas

For listed buildings, buildings in conservation areas and other historic buildings, Approved Document J says the local authority's conservation officer should be consulted on what's appropriate, especially where planning permission or listed building consent is needed.⁷

5. Who fits it, and building regulations

Fitting a stove is building work. Approved Document J says that, in general, all work on a combustion appliance that isn't repair or maintenance is notifiable.⁷ There are two ways to cover it:

1. Use an installer registered with a competent person scheme. They self-certify that the work meets building regulations, tell the council for you if needed, and give you a certificate, which also shows up in solicitors' searches when you sell.¹⁰ For solid fuel, GOV.UK lists six schemes: APHC, BESCA, Certsure, HETAS, NAPIT and OFTEC.⁹
2. Otherwise, get building regulations approval from a building control body: your council's building control team or a private registered building control approver.¹¹

GOV.UK warns that without approval you won't have the certificates of compliance you may need when you sell your home, and the council could make you pay to fix faulty work.¹¹

Where a hearth, fireplace, flue or chimney is put in or extended, Approved Document J says key details should be posted permanently in the house, for example on a notice plate next to the consumer unit, the chimney or hearth, or the water stopcock.⁷

You can check an installer on the HETAS register or the register of whichever scheme they say they belong to. Some of the firms we've checked also fit stoves, and we show where each membership was confirmed.

6. Carbon monoxide alarm

When a new or replacement fixed solid fuel appliance is installed in a home, Approved Document J says a carbon monoxide alarm should be provided in the same room.⁷ It says the alarm should:⁷

• meet BS EN 50291-1:2018 and run on a battery designed to last the alarm's working life, with a warning when its life is ending (a fixed-wired mains Type A alarm with a sensor failure warning is the alternative; not a plug-in);
• go on the ceiling at least 300mm from any wall, or high on a wall above doors and windows but not within 150mm of the ceiling;
• be between 1m and 3m horizontally from the stove.

It adds that an alarm is not a substitute for correct installation and regular servicing.⁷

If you let the property: since 1 October 2022, private and social landlords in England must make sure there's a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation that has a fixed combustion appliance, gas cookers excepted. That includes log-burning stoves. Councils enforce this, with fines of up to £5,000 for failing to comply with a remedial notice. The rules aren't aimed at owner-occupied homes.¹²

7. Once it's in

Defra's practical guide says to service your stove regularly (for example, every year), to follow the manufacturer's guidance and to burn only permitted fuels.⁴ For wood, that means dry wood: see our guide to buying logs and the Ready to Burn check. How often to sweep depends on who you ask; we set the figures side by side on the home page.

What this guide doesn't cover yet

We haven't found an official or independent source for what a stove and fitting cost, so we don't give prices. We also haven't yet read council statements on smoke control for Wiltshire, Swindon or North Somerset.

Sources

1. Smoke control areas: the rules GOV.UK (gov.uk). Checked 14/10/2026. Open Government Licence v3.0.
2. Bonfires and wood burners Somerset Council (somerset.gov.uk). Page updated 29/09/2026. Checked 14/10/2026. Open Government Licence v3.0.
3. Indoor fires and wood burning Bath and North East Somerset Council (bathnes.gov.uk). Checked 14/10/2026. Facts in our own words, with a link; no open licence.
4. Open fires and wood-burning stoves: a practical guide (PDF, April 2023) Defra UK-AIR (uk-air.defra.gov.uk). Checked 14/10/2026. Open Government Licence v3.0.
5. Burn better, breathe better Defra UK-AIR (uk-air.defra.gov.uk). Checked 14/10/2026. Open Government Licence v3.0.
6. Heat output explained HETAS (hetas.co.uk). Checked 14/10/2026. Facts in our own words, with a link; no open licence.
7. Approved Document J: combustion appliances and fuel storage systems, 2010 edition incorporating 2022 amendments (PDF) GOV.UK (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk). Checked 14/10/2026. Open Government Licence v3.0.
8. Chimneys, open fires and log burners Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service (dsfire.gov.uk). Checked 14/10/2026. Facts in our own words, with a link; no open licence.
9. Competent person scheme: current schemes and how schemes are authorised GOV.UK (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) (gov.uk). Page updated 17/09/2026. Checked 14/10/2026. Open Government Licence v3.0.
10. Building regulations approval: use a competent person scheme GOV.UK (gov.uk). Checked 14/10/2026. Open Government Licence v3.0.
11. Building regulations approval: when you need approval GOV.UK (gov.uk). Checked 14/10/2026. Open Government Licence v3.0.
12. The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015: Q&A booklet for the private rented sector GOV.UK (gov.uk). Page updated 29/07/2022. Checked 14/10/2026. Open Government Licence v3.0.