Smoke Smell In The House--Harmful?

I've got a Jotul F400, and today I had a buddy come over. As soon as he came in the door he remarked on the nice wood smoke smell in the house. I don't even smell it anymore unless I have just opened the F400's doors and some smoke has escaped. But it got me to thinking... is there any evidence prolonged wood smoke inside is harmful to your health?

 

I have adult onset asthma. It was mentioned during one/some of the visits that asthmatic conditions have a higher correlation with homes burning wood for heat.

Then again, I cut/grind steel all day, powdercoat, paint, spray solvents, etc (and have for years). I find the wood smell to be soothing.

My wife is a nurse practioner in a pulmonology specialty clinic of the local hospital. She says it makes sense to see a correlation, but wasn't aware of any relevant documentation off hand. She has no issue with our wood furnace and our 3 kids (ages 5, 8, 16).

 

I would have to think this would only be with stoves/chimneys that tend to let smoke roll out while loading...which I can't stand!
Fortunately, that is not an issue with our current heaters...

 

I'm sure that it's harmful in some way but what isn't anymore ?

 

Thanks guys. Most of the time I can load the stove without smoke coming out, but every once in a while, no matter how careful, some will roll out.

 

Since I burn in an insert, I get the occasional smoke opening the door while the room is still cold but it’s usually the fire is burning quite hot so the smoke isn’t as noticeable then. I’ll smell the wood smoke if I’m walking around smelling other air or outside air and walk into the house. Opening the door to outside has been effective at changing the air, letting the smoke out but reasons on doing that can be less effective for some as that sweeps the entire house of heat. Not my point but it’s only worth doing if there is a ridiculous amount of smoke and opening the door would help the draft go up.

Drawing from experience in cold startups, we know this is mostly the time for smoky air issues. I’ve found that using paper, high ink newspaper specifically has made the smoke problem worse than with wood/wax or other starters that don’t include much paper. Having to use fatwood for example has just been a happy medium for me. It helps in creating a well heated draft getting the smoke up the chimney instead of letting it smolder in the firebox, later filling your house. The fatwood may have black smoke but because of it’s lower temp flash point, the starter reaches higher temps quicker and spreads to dry kindling with ease.

Just my 2 cents but burning in a fire place was just one way of teaching myself that using less paper has been more effective. Hope this works for anyone else if needed.

 

When in doubt, whittle....whittle you a pile of fine shavings/ribbons with a good sharp knife. Place your kindling in the stove leaving some spaces and place these shavings all through the pile of kindling. Leave some shavings on the top of the kindling and light from the top. It will burn hot from the get-go with little smoke.

Don't let the fire die so much, rather, make sure dampers are open and load more frequently with less wood making sure to open door slowly at first, then load. In other words, don't let it get so low and keep it hot. If it works for a smoke dragon it will help with a modern stove unless it is of very poor design.

 

I've read plenty of articles stating the dangers of wood smoke smell in the house but its hard to figure out if these are just anti wood burning types writing these anyway. One was put out by some organization that was fighting to ban wood burning in their community. For safety sake, I bought an Alexapure air purifier this year for my wife for Christmas. We keep it in the stove room and she likes it. I'm questionable on if it really does one bit of good anyway, but hey, it made for an easy gift.

 

Am I the only one that wonders.. how did we make it through the thousands of years when fire was needed for heat and to cook.

 

Exactly!
And the Indians had open fire right in their teepees!

 

This is basically how I feel about it too

 

My neighbors had one set up that way in their yard for 3 weeks back when we had that cold snap. None of them died...and believe it or not there was little smoke compared to my neighbor burning wet wood in his outdoor wood boiler.

 

Those lifespans were not very long. The average age was probably around 30-40’s, 50’s was OLD.

 

Don’t tell my grandmother or great grandmother both lived to over 90 and where convinced wood stoves cooked food better.. grandmother moved off farm around 45 and complained about electric stoves as long as I remember.

both stated indoor plumbing was a definitive improvement especially in winter

 

Our house smells a bit of wood fire, but that's mostly because the cook stove spills some smoke with the huge door open.
Most people around here love it. We go to church and people ask if they can eat us as they inhale deeply of the smoky aroma, lol.

 

Chaz just bought me a air purifier. It was expensive. But we get a lot of "dust " in our house. It has two filters. Big paper type inside and outside of that, there is a cloth material that covers the inside filter. That gets change once a week and washed.

 

So does Skeeter.

 

What was the life expectancy at that point though? Also houses are many times tighter than they were then.

 

Well discussing life expectancy before vaccines and penicillin seems moot!