Smoke. It's bad. We need to Care.

Today I was inspired to do some research. The question is, why is the EPA so hard on wood burners? I researched several websites and found this the most helpful http://www.ehhi.org/woodsmoke/health_effects.shtml

The truth is we have the capability to make people really sick. Its a responsibility I take very seriously. I'm a diesel mechanic and I don't appreciate people smogging me out in the shop I work in. Particulate matter getting into your lungs is serious business.

I chose to burn wise, season my wood, and protect my neighbors.

 

I choose to live and let live.

 

I do understand that smoke can bother people and yes its not good to breathe it in I try to be courteous to people around me and I think that pretty much everybody on this forum does. The biggest problem we have is people that dont know any better and that dont care. There are a couple people down the road from me that always have smoke pouring out of the chimney and on still warmish days it just sits low and hangs across the road some people dont know any better and some dont care all we can do is try to educate and help people learn better burning habits.

 

^This^ And not just with your smoke.

 

From the link:The EPA estimates that a single fireplace operating for an hour and burning 10 pounds of wood will generate 4,300 times more PAHs than 30 cigarettes.

So that's a fireplace what's an epa approved stove putting out?

 

When it comes to residential areas people should probably be held to some kind of standard when it comes to wood burning, but it ends up with those city dwellers wanting to control what all of us burn and what we burn in.
The thing that I find amusing is that usually the wood burners that cry about burning clean have only burned in a newer type of stove and proceed to get on their soap box and tell everyone else how they need to burn.
There are a lot of people who have been keeping warm burning wood long before the new tech stoves. If they're not in your neighborhood, please leave them alone.

 

I know many stoves specs are generated on grams of particulate per hour. the stove I am running is rated at 1 gram per hour.

 

In a crib wood test. What's the rate with cordwood? What's 1 gram compared to something like cigarettes?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Woodstock reported that they had better test results in the ideal steel with cordwood. I agree for the most part I don't think that people on this forum are the problem. Perhaps the hardest part of burning is getting the stove and flue up to temperature in a quick manor with dry wood to avoid pollution until secondary burn takes place.

 

That website is a one person run anti-woodsmoke campaign.

President of the website is: Nancy Alderman is president of Environment and Human Health Inc., 1191 Ridge Road, North Haven 06473. E-mail: [email protected].

If you look at the "number of complaints of by location" link on her website http://www.ehhi.org/woodsmoke/OWS_complaints_by_location.pdf and zoom into North Haven (its in the bottom center) you will notice that there are 214 complaints for her location. (I lived on the same road in the same town for the first 21 years of my life, that spot is just about correct for her address.) If you scan her map you will also note that there is only one other town in CT that exceeds her in complaints. The norm for any town is zero or one.

She lives in a part of town that is fully developed, her area is mostly lots of 1/2 acre or less. ( although it appears as if she has a much bigger lot). There is no way you could run an OWB in that kind of suburban setting without generating some kind of wrath from your neighbors. If there is one putting out a cloud of smoke then she is rightly pizzed off.

She succeeded in getting OWB's banned in North Haven in 2010 http://rawsep.wordpress.com/2010/10...h-haven-outdoor-wood-burning-furnaces-banned/


I'd like to know what she is specifically bitching about.

 

I'm sure it burns very clean. They build good stoves.

 

There's an old saying, "Figures lie, and liars figure." Judging by the site, I was wondering if this was a one man show, someone with an axe to grind.

Yes, we all need to be courteous, we all need to care and we all need to burn clean.

However, we also need to check the agenda of those attacking wood burning and cast a jaundiced eye when it comes to the claims of both big government and big business, as well as big busybodies, i.e., strident environmentalists.

 

I was wondering when big business and politics would roll into this thread, there it is! As mentioned in another thread, government and politics (EPA) throw their weight around in places they can easily squeeze.
I truly appreciate Jeff's concern here, the wood smoke particulates should be controlled for everyone's well being and I also agree, as mentioned on the other thread, that education is just important so the less fortunate may have a chance to keep warm in winter and by burning clean at the same time. This is a good thread and it should be discussed.

 

I do too, wholeheartedly. Its one of the reasons I started with a Woodstock Fireview. It had good numbers for clean burning, and I live in an urban/suburban neighborhood with neighbors very close by my chimney. It also one of the reasons I was eager to test the Beta Ideal Steel stove, as its numbers are some of the best in the business for clean burning.

But I'm suspicious of the growing opposition to wood stoves. Burning wood for heat is carbon neutral, therefore it is a "clean" and renewable energy source. So is the opposition really because they pollute, or is it simply a matter of control?

Neither big government, big business (i.e., energy utilities) nor big busybodies like us being independent and self sufficient. (This is something that has been said before on these forums.)

 

X2

 

Hey guys I'm not saying we need to focus on this article. It was one of many I had found. Honestly, I just feel like it's good to know your enemy, be educated, and be courteous to those you could put in harms way. For me it helps to know some of the chemistry that is in the smoke.

 

Jeff, it's a good subject to discuss and know about. To also know all the sides that are involved and what their take in this is is also good to know. I think it's part of our education that it gets discussed and we as forum members promote clean burning. I don't think this got out of hand at all, very civil and controlled.

 

Well said... knowing your enemy in today's world is critical. The solutions and nightmares all happen in the voting booths of small town America. No need to get any more political. It is what it is. Know the real facts on issues and go from there.

Thanks Paul bunion for the back story here.

 

If anyone thinks that these people will stop with older stoves and OWBs they are just plain naive and fooling themselves. Their ultimate goal is to stop all wood burning, no matter how efficient the device is that it's burning in.

 

There are still working coal burning electric plants in this country. I'm not sure what affect they have on the environment but it can't be good.