May be inconsequential.. maybe not..

I'm gonna pose a situation to you all, I'm just curious on what you all think.

My wife (Jill) has COPD due to smoking for many years. It has always been a minor issue until Feb 21 when she was admitted to the hospital because she could not catch her breath.. her O2 levels were down to 76% when the ambulance arrived. (should be 20% higher)

We installed our new IS on Jan 11 of this year, and I've noticed a marked increase in dust in the house. I attribute that to the better burn and efficiency of the stove, and the fine ash that it leaves behind.

Now that we've been burning very little over the past 2 weeks or so, her breathing has gotten better.
But, her meds have also recently been changed, so there's that.

I'm wondering if (read.. I think) the increased ash dust due to the new stove is the problem.
If it is, I'm not sure how to combat the problem. We have a small air purifier, and it doesn't take it long to need replacement filters.

We run the humidity pretty high when the stove is running, which should help with kicking down the dust particles.

I'm not sure that this is the problem, but the timing is suspicious to me.

We are gonna need the stove in just about 5 or 6 months most likely, I need to be able to affirm to myself that I have the issue addressed, or spend some $$$ for fuel oil.

Thoughts??

 

I'd wait and see. Too many variables with the new meds.

 

No one can determine if it is a primary factor until the med situation stabilizes. But, any way you look at it, it certainly has to have some secondary effect no doubt.

 

How do you empty the ash?
Is it hot, in an open container?
I'm wondering how does the ash get into the house?

 

I think I would buy the oil.

 

We have the ashpan option, I pull the ashpan and empty it into the metal ashbucket outside.
Yes. some small hot embers, but once again.. outside.

While I can't/won't say that the stove is somehow leaking ash inside the house, when we load it up or move the coals around, there is ash in the air during the process. I'm figuring that could be the primary problem, especially since she's retired and "keeps the home-fires burning" during the day.

Our old stove was never as efficient as this one, so it generated more waste coals than it did ash.

Once again, I'm loathe to say that this stove is the problem, but if it is a contributor, I need to figure out the best way to get the ash out of the air.

 

I believe someone had a draft inducer on their IS. Flip it on during reloads or cleaning and that ash isn't going to get into the house.

Check the IS thread

 

That is a great idea!

 

Not unsurprisingly (to me at least) the thread that I found BDF was using a draft inducer to help keep ash outside of the room, and up the chimney. Now I must read the rest of the thread.

Thx for the help

 

My pleasure. My stove room always gets some fine dust during the burning season. Like you said it's very fine stuff. Just a light coating. I just dust the room once a week but I can see how that would mess with copd.

 

Maybe get a serious smoke eater unit with HEPA filters. I wonder, if there is a home test for fine particulates in the air? Also, she could put on a mask before opening the stove.

 

It is possible that using the woodstove cause the air in the house to be dryer


Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant Tapatalk

 

Yes, we keep a humidifier going all burn season.
It takes more keeping it filled than the new stove.

We usually keep a pan of water on the stove also, but didn't want to mark up the new stove this year.

 

If stopping the wood burning would help, that's what I would do.

Our father had a single lung transplant at Duke in 2009, he had about 4 or 5 good months after the transplant and the rest was tough going until he passed.

 

Something to consider is that while you were using the stove is that the furnace wasn't filtering the air as well. If you have forced air, it might be a good idea to get a cycle timer, so the blower will run for x minutes every x minutes.

 

My grandmother had a case of "black lung" ~25yrs ago supposedly attributed to the coal stove that was used nearly exclusively for heat.

Both my grandparents smoked like chimneys, you could cut the air in the house with a knife.

It forced my grandfather to quit as he wasn't going outside with her being on oxygen at the time.
He made it to 82 colon cancer and Alzheimer's, quadruple bypass in his sixties and another mild heart attack there after. A stroke in his sleep made him turn in the drivers license, plus he lost his way getting a hair cut one day.

She 87 on oxygen for 6-7yrs but still had her wits about her.

Does a wood stove produce fine dust, yes
It's not nearly as fine as cigarette smoke or the carcinogens found in coal ash.
Being cooped up in a closed house with particulate matter is going to make anyone sensitive to air quality issues prone to reactions.

 

What about just letting the furnace blower run on low all the time? (assuming FA heat, or central AC) I know some people do this just to distribute the wood heat more evenly (which works better in some houses than others) and some people also do it in the summer to keep the air moving and not stratify as much, especially when running the AC

 

Sorry about your father, that had to have been tough.
I also agree that if the stove ash is indeed the primary contributor, and the issue cannot be resolved, then the woodstove will have to go unused. This would unfortunately mean that we have spent $2600 on a stove that we cannot use, and will be spending $300-$600 per month for fuel oil, making all the money we've invested in the system squandered.

We have brought this fact up to the pulmanologist, and he stated that since we were already woodburning without any problems that he didn't see that as a problem. My issue is that he likely does not heat with wood, and therefore may not know what dust/ash issues we are actually dealing with.

I would rather invest the money in a whole house air filtration system before going back to fuel oil.

I agree, that is why we did purchase a small air filtering system, but it's not large enough to compete with the ash and dust. I am leaning towards a much larger system, as well as reading a lot on draft inducers to keep things going up the chimney rather than into the living room during reloads and/or raking coals and removing the ashpan for emptying.

I empty the ashpan outside so as to reduce the ash inside of the house as well, because it never mattered how "gently" one empties the shovel into the bucket, ash is in the air.

Also, our furnace is not anywhere near the woodstove, so I don't know how effective running it would be to filter the air.

BTW.. USAF
Thanks for your service.

That is the cause of the COPD in the first place, she smoked for 40+ years at least.
She quit 2 years ago, I have yet to quit (although I do smoke outside 95% of the time now that she's on O2) .
And yes, in our old house with 2 of us in the computer room smoking and drinking some beers, it looked worse than any smokey bar I've been in.

She is retired, and will not venture outside in the wintertime if she can help it. So yeah, she's cooped up in here with the dust and ash.

It doesn't help that neither of us are very disciplined when it comes to housework. So the ash and dust will be kicked up from the carpet, the couch, you name it. This is another area that needs improvement/attention.

I thank you guys for the input.

 

I would consider running the furnace all the time as a filtration system, but as previously posted, it is quite far from the woodstove, so I don't know how efficient it would act as a filtration system.
As to heat distribution, our furnace only ducts to 2 rooms in the entire house, the bathroom and the living room.

Since it's just us and the dog, all upstairs ducting has been removed.