+1 Lots of thoughts , 30% voter turn out in the November election can vote with your feet too. Vote ! Nuff said
Im in good with my HVAC guy. every year he writes me a 6k estimate for a new heat pump. i submit it with my waiver application, along with my religious belief that I must have a fire in my home at all times. Waiver granted.
What if I rely on my wood stove because my primary electric/oil/propane heat is too expensive? On the few days we have air quality burn bans in place, the use of your (primary) clean heating device is expected in order to keep air quality healthy for you, your family, and your neighbors. The exception is if your wood stove is your only adequate source of heat and you have an approved "no other adequate source of heat" exemption from the Agency. What does "adequate source of heat" mean? An “adequate source of heat” is a heating system that is designed to maintain a temperature of 70 degrees F at a point three feet above the floor in each normally inhabited room. We base our assessment on the adequacy of the whole system’s heating capacity, including any parts of the heating system that may have been disconnected, damaged or simply aren’t working. Most homes in our area have another adequate source of heat beyond wood stoves, because of building code requirements. My furnace is broken and I can’t afford to fix it – do I qualify for the “no other adequate source of heat” exemption? This exemption was designed to identify those homes that have no other way, besides wood burning, to sufficiently heat their homes. As a regulatory agency, we are required to follow the law, which is quite clear: the “no other adequate source of heat” decision is based on the heating system(s) currently in your home. We cannot take into consideration: Your income level. Ability to pay your heating bills. Whether your system is working.
Be careful! The governing authority just may have someone on the payroll cruising sites like this looking for offenders!
All these rules and regulations...they have an answer for everything. As a few have said, I like it right where I'm at. All that crap could make the wrong guy go postal in a short time.
Okay so the next time one of you guys starts up a cold stove or even a reload on a nearly cold stove. Go outside and check your stack after 6 minutes. Is there any visible smoke or steam? I bet there is and so you would be fined 1000$. Not only is the performance standard completely out of touch with reality but so is the fine. 1000$! really! The truck that ran into and caused complete collapse of the I5 bridge just north of Seattle and caused cars to fall in the river, untold economic damage, etc. was fined 550$ last week. The next gripe I have is that the bans are enforced on a county wide basis. It may not be the case in other states but our counties are vast. From mountain top to saltwater shores. The bans are triggered by a handful of air quality measurements made only in the urban areas next to the shore. Here I am up in the mountains with clean air, being told not to burn my EPA stove. The winds, when present, blow towards the mountains so my smoke does not contribute to the city pollution. State law only allows a ban in the "area" of measured pollution but for convenience the cleanair guys ban burning by county. Yes, the citys are seeing high pollution. Bummer for them. No, my EPA stove on my rural acreage is not contributing.
When these bans are put into place is typically only during times of inversions. The counties in question had the dirtiest air in the nation last week, any thing we can do to mitigate that is a good thing in my opinion. I'm all for clean wood heat, but if folks don't need to burn, then these are good times to let them know they shouldn't if they have a choice.
Sorry Matt, you're wrong. The air quality is not being measured in the entire county. Only in a handful of places deep within the population centers at low elevations. So 10% of the area?
Highbeam, I liked your post about the rural folks being effected by the city rules, I agree. However, if you are saying I'm wrong about the air quality, I'm not just making that up. Here's my source.
No, just that the "county" has poor air quality. Only a part of the county has the problem. See, this is how it happens. All areas are lumped together. I looked at your link and found that the air quality in your county and mine is very good "green" on average.
Elder's ban is lifted but my county is still under a burn ban. Dang. They also added King county (Seattle). Supposedly all will be lifted by 6am tomorrow.
One news outlet, a king county paper, reported the end of bans by 6am but the cleanairagency website did not say that. Kind of irks me. The information should be free to all.
yep, now that its warmed up 20+ degrees I can legally start burning again About time you chimed in on this thread Highbeam. I know how these bans irk you ( and me) from reading your posts on them these past few years. I always enjoy reading what you have to say about them
That area sounds like a prime candidate for a hydronic system with a bunch of storage... Burn wide open when able to heat up the storage and then use the stored heat to heat your house when the burn ban is in effect.... Too bad a whole set up is so damm expensive..
Bogydave is 100% right. Let's not forget these rules are made by people, elected officials who have been voted in, and can be voted out. As for the bans, I'm not crazy about them, but if I lived in an area where the air quality was poor I'd want the local government to do something about it.
