Stove Help & Advice Home
The Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968
The UK's Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries was powered by coal and factories were often very near, or in , the cities. Coal burning in the home on stoves and fireplaces was also very common for heating. Air pollution was often very great and when it was foggy pollution levels rose and 'Smogs' were formed bringing cities to a standstill and causing many deaths.
Legislative controls on industrial emissions helped somewhat, but people were still burning a lot of coal on multifuel stoves and fireplaces for domestic heating.
After the Great London Smog of 1952 killed around 4,000 people the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968 were introduced. These gave local authorities powers to control emissions of smoke and to declare Smoke Control Areas where burning fuel that produces smoke is banned. Many towns and cities now have smoke control areas especially in city centres and they have been effective in controlling the levels of smoke.
Smoke Control Areas
You are not allowed to burn fuel that emits smoke in a smoke control area either in a stove or fireplace. You are permitted to burn smokeless fuels on multifuel stoves and fireplaces.
Visit the following website for a List of Smoke Control areas.
If in doubt contact your local authority. They can tell you if you are in a smoke control area and will have details of permitted fuels and appliances.
Exempt Appliances
There are certain cleanburning wood burning stoves which are approved for burning wood on in smoke control areas. These have been tested and shown to produce low emissions when woodburning. Some stoves are also approved for coal burning. Of these the wood burning stoves that we recommend are:
The Westfire 15 stove
The Westfire 16 stove
The Westfire 20 stove
The Dunsley Yorkshire - the woodburning and multifuel models are both approved, even with a backboiler fitted!
The Dovre 500 CBW
The Dovre 700 CBW
The Morso Badger stove
The Morso Owl stove
The Morso 6140 and 6148 stove - a contemporary stove from Morso that is approved - ask for details.
The Morso Squirrel 1412 and 1442 stoves - ask for details.
The Hwam Mozart, Ravel, Vivaldi, Beethoven, 30.
Many Clearview stoves are also exempt: the Clearview Vision 500, the Clearview Vision 650 and the Clearview Vision 750, but you have to have the Smoke Control System factory fitted which costs an extra £200-225 (this stops you closing the stove right down in common with all the approved woodburners).
