HOMEOWNERS could be putting their lives at risk by putting unusual items onto wood-burning stoves, a new survey has revealed.
Some of the bizarre items that people have tried to use as fuel include shredded tyres, soiled nappies, old wellies and even dead lambs.
Others have stoked their fires with plastics, household rubbish and wet logs, which can cause chimney fires.
Worryingly, some owners even use petrol or diesel to light their stove, risking an explosion.
Tristan Johnston, Product Development Engineer at one of UK’s biggest manufacturers of wood burners, Broseley Fires, said: “We asked our distributors and installers to tell us what their customers were burning in their stoves and the answers, quite frankly, shocked us.
“Dirty nappies, plastic bottles, old wood pallets, broken furniture and unwanted shoes and clothes were amongst some of the most common things reported but there were some real surprises too.
“One dealer reported a that he knew of someone who uses dead lambs as fuel whilst another said one of his customers has a poultry farm and burns chicken carcasses.”
Other items reported as being used as fuel include railway sleepers, telegraph poles, garden fencing and whisky barrels.
The survey involved around 1,000 distributors and installers of wood burning stoves and boilers in the UK.
