With the start of the Ukraine war, the cost of gas and heating oil has risen sharply. This has now led to a real boom in demand for wood-burning stoves. Stove builders and installers can hardly save themselves from corresponding orders to install an additional heating option. In many places, wood-burning stoves are already sold out and there are extremely long waiting times. Delivery problems are already occurring throughout Europe.
Fear of cold housing and high prices for oil and gas drive demand
A spokesperson for the German Sanitation, Heating and Air Conditioning Association (ZVSHK) comments on the current situation as follows (FAZ: 01.07.22): “With the outbreak of the war, demand has exploded. People are insecure or even frightened”. The trigger for the run on alternative heating with wood is not only the sharp rise in gas and heating oil prices, but also the fear that the heaters will run out of fuel next winter if there is an oil and gas boycott.
Image: Ssu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBild:
Waiting times are already at one year
According to the ZVSHK, the average waiting time for a fireplace or wood-burning stove at the 2000 stove-building companies in Germany is now one year. The strong demand is now also driving up the prices of firewood and pellets.
Stove builders suffer from delivery problems and shortage of skilled workers
The stove builders, like all other tradesmen, are suffering from delivery problems and a shortage of skilled workers, which is causing additional delays. The ZVSHK spokesman says: “Due to the immense demand and also because of personnel difficulties in connection with Covid-19, products that are produced in Germany are also affected by delivery problems”. For example, there is hardly any fireclay left on the market, which is needed to line the firebox of a stove.
Fireplace and wood stoves threatened with ban
However, investing in a wood stove could prove to be a bad investment in the near future. The Federal Environment Agency already called for a ban on wood and pellet heaters at the beginning of the year. According to the president of the Federal Environment Agency, Dirk Messner, wood heaters emit too much particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. As a result, the limit values for air pollution control could not be met in many cities in the country. So it is only a question of time how long one is still allowed to operate such a stove.
Read also:
- Federal Network Agency can no longer guarantee gas supply to private households
- Firewood – theft increases massively
- Ban on wood and pellets for heating
- Wood combustion removed from the Clean Energy Index
- Cuxhaven builds wood-fired power plant
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