Some people really seem to have it in for some of you guys :(

A friend shared this on FB

http://www.wmur.com/weather/air-qua...TV - wmur9&Content Type=Story&linkId=11746720

 

"Much of the locally emitted pollution comes from heating devices such as wood-burning fireplaces, stoves and boilers."

I love how they issue this judgment with no explanation or backup.

 

I thought it was shocking. My friend (not a woodburner) totally believed it was their fault (and yes some could be due to naughty burning for sure), until I pointed out the obvious other factors.

 

..

 

I remember seeing the cover of a magazine. Popular Science I think. They had a futuristic drawing of buildings with "things" on top of them. The cover and brief story inside of it, were about our possible future and trying to fix our polluted air. The artist had envisioned large air cleaning filters on top of buildings in cities. We really are going to have to do something about the air quality around our planet. With billions of people, more and more air pollution from everything from cars and trucks to electricity generating stations, etc. etc. etc. People will continue to get sick in one way or another. Cancer, respiratory problems, etc. I wonder who, if anyone is trying something like this, and how much money we are committing to it. It will be very expensive for society in general as far as health care for those people goes.

 

Here is the problem when it comes to wood burners. No two wood burners are the same. Yes the people that find their way here either already know or will learn to properly harvest, season and burn wood. When burned properly, the amount of pollution is reduced significantly. Go down any road and you'll spot the homeowners that have no clue. Theirs are the homes that are billowing smoke all over the place. Not burning properly and most likely purchased green wood two month before the season started. The media kills it for us as they don't bother to report properly. They should have said that "Much of the locally emitted pollution comes from heating devices such as wood-burning fireplaces, stoves and boilers" that are not being properly operated.

 

This is yet another example of a small number of jackasses doing a bad job of burning and messing it up for the rest of us. The guys who burn wet wood in an old smoke dragon in a valley during the temperature inversion raise the ire of the activists that then work to get a lot of restrictions. A lot of the people burning like that are just ignorant of good practice and could be helped with education. An unfortunate few just don't care. The activists don't know any better because responsible wood burning doesn't attract much if any attention. All they see is the pall of smoke from the person doing it wrong.

Maybe those of us who support wood burning should put aside an extra 10% dry wood to give away to the local village idiot who is causing 90% of the trouble. If he can learn to burn better, there would be a lot less push for restrictions.

 

Ok, I'll be the village idiot so that you can all give me 10% of your dry beautiful wood score.

 

How much explanation and qualification does it need ?
It's what is.

Wood stoves pollute. x grams per hour. You can't deny the physics. Burning wood emits particulates. Particulates that impact air quality making it hard to breathe, especially for any one with respiratory problems. Diesel engines are probably #2 on the list of particulate emitters. When an inversion impacts an area bad enough that burn bans don't help then diesels will be the next target for turning off. Someone like me would be doubly impacted. I'd have to stop burning, shut off my oil boiler and huddle by a back up electric radiator and hope the wind starts blowing again. Fortunately I don't live in an area that is impacted by inversions very often.
I do what I can to help. I burn as clean as I can with the hardware I have.

 

Unfortunately many people think they are burning clean because they just bought some seasoned ready to burn wood.

Gary

 

Unfortunately I agree with you 100% and in some areas it is very bad so the weather man may be speaking the truth, not sure why some can not accept that.
Plus the people who burn wet wood and smolder their fires, I used to travel to Maine for work and some chimneys were smoking really bad.

 

Little story that I've already told.
Before I got the 30, I burned a 1985 Ashley airtight. Finally got it burning fairly well, yet it still couldn't burn nearly as clean a a new stove.
Neighbor lady came over one really cold day when our power went out (she knew we used a woodstove) wondering if the stove was also out of commission.
Nope, but there was nothing but heat waves coming from the cap.

It is possible to burn old stoves more cleanly than some do, but as has also been said, it's possible to burn new stoves poorly.
It's about attitude and education, and wanting to learn....or not.
The problem doesn't lie solely within our own little microcosms, since we all share the planet. All the crap that gets spewed into the air in China shows up in our air as well.
Millions and millions of cars, trucks, trains, power plants, smokers, compost piles, methane producing cows (not to mention me), and a number of other sources contribute.
We wood burners are a VAST minority, but the result of poor burning is very noticable and an easy target.
"There are none so blind, as those who will not see"

 

Best overall post on woodstove realities vs the world. Well put Dave!

 

Getting that stuff out of the ground isn't exactly environmentally friendly either.

 

Yup... it's been said many times... the answers, good or bad (thankfully), all happen in the small town voting booths. Common sense has to prevail once again. Right now, common sense seems to be sooooooo old school... ya know?

 

I have an outside boiler, newer than the one pictured in my avatar. If you put well seasoned wood in it, it smokes very little. Wet wood, garbage etc....it will approximate a coal fired train. Bottom line, that we hear on this forum all time. Burn seasoned wood!!! And if your not sure, get a cheap moisture meter to be sure.

 

God forbid if a forest fire ever started. All life on this planet would certainly perish! Yes inversions happen as well as bad burning however the panic they try to create is manipulative because panic makes people quit thinking and panicked people allow bad laws to be passed or just enacted without resistance. We need to educate and request equal time to be allowed to demonstrate what responsible wood burners are like versus the irresponsible uneducated smoke billowing exceptions that get portrayed as the norm. PS anyone pushing for the ban of wood burning should never be allowed to have smoked meat ever again!