Free £2,000 given to people who have a log burner in their living room

One mum-of-two is already £2,000 better off after switching from central heating to a log burner - and says she doesn't even use it every day

Families in the UK with a log burner are cashing in on a whopping £2,000 pay-out each. Bryony Lewis, a mum-of-two, installed a log burner last autumn and claims she's saved a packet on her bills already — £2,000 to be precise.

The 40-year-old Fareham resident juggles family life with running her e-commerce business T and Belle and living in a bustling five-bed with husband Dan and children Theo, eight, and Izzy, six. The savvy saver said: "The cost of living continues to go up and gas and electricity bills are making an increasingly big dent in our finances."

She continued: "We are very happy we made the decision to find a cheaper alternative to central heating."

Shelling out £800 for her ACR Woodpecker WP5 Plus and another grand for fitting, Bryony told Birmingham Live: "We paid around £800 for our ACR Woodpecker WP5 Plus - but as we've discovered, it doesn't take too long to recoup the cost."

Over the winter stretch from October to March, Bryony's family spent just £100 on heating essentials, including kiln-dried logs. Bryony added: "Doing this means the unit gives out a lot of heat." Not forgetting chimney maintenance, she added: "We last did this in September and it cost us around £60."

Even with her home office, Bryony said: "Even on the coldest days, we only put it on for a maximum of one hour in the morning and the same before bedtime."

"Our smart meter showed me that the oven was another energy-guzzling appliance," she revealed. "So, after researching the alternatives, I invested in an air fryer. This was back in 2022, and we have made really good use of it since then."

Bryony added: "As a family, we do a lot of things to try to be more efficient. We take care to always switch appliances off at the plug, as leaving devices on standby can cost a small fortune."

However, we recently reported that new regulations on log burning have been rolled out, with specialists cautioning that those who violate them could be hit with fines of up to £300.

This year, people could be slapped with fines of up to £300, and over one and a half million Brits have wood-burning stoves in their homes. Starting in 2022, the new laws will dictate the type of log burner you can buy and what you can burn in it to avoid hefty penalties. Some of these laws were only put into effect last year, so experts are warning that many people could unknowingly break them, reports the Daily Record.

Penalties for using a wood-burning stove only kick in if you fail to adhere to the correct legislation, for instance, if you burn the wrong fuel. Local councils have the power to issue immediate civil penalties for these offences, ranging from £175 to £300. If you continually violate this legislation, you could find yourself facing criminal court proceedings. In a bold move to tackle urban air pollution, the government has ramped up restrictions on log burner usage, following concerns from campaigners that the surge in wood burners has escalated emissions of hazardous particles. Health complications like asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are well-documented to be exacerbated by air pollution, and home burners have been pinpointed as a notable source of harmful emissions.