This is what people are gripping about.

Proud OWB owner here. First off, let's not just assume that OWB owners are the only offenders and the ones guilty of excessive smoke coming from chimneys and stacks. I've seen plenty of nasty looking smoke coming from many houses around my area. Let's not lump the OWB owners into the "offenders" corner all at once now. (Off my soap box now...)

My OWB does not burn smoke free, but it's not even in the same ballpark as what was originally posted. OWB's are not a catalytic stove, there will be a certain amount of smoke no matter what you do. When the fan isn't on and a roaring fire going, wood is left smoldering in the box - often times, a lot of wood. It's going to smoke some.

Second, this year I will burn close to 15 cords of wood. I heat my house and shop with my OWB. Getting, cutting, splitting, stacking and seasoning 15 cords of wood every year is a task suited only for the steadfast of hoarders. AND getting 3 years ahead so that were burning 100% seasoned, dry wood is all part of that equation and some of the problem. Most likely, it will be more than than 3 years ahead due to the split size that most owners are using. Do I burn dry wood, you bet. Do I burn a piece here and there that is 35% moisture content, you bet. Do I load the OWB with a freshly cut cottonwood rounds? No.

Standing and fallen dead hardwoods are my mainstay - 8"-12" solid rounds is where it's at for me. That way, I can get a large amount of wood that is much dryer than any other split piece I can get in a 3-4 years time. Does everyone have accesses to such material? No. Is everyone capable of handing that material? No. So, I think some folks will choose to burn wood that may not be as seasoned as we all would like.

With all of that said, it's still not an excuse to burn wood that was standing alive 3 days ago....nor is it an excuse to burn tires or oil or whatever else. No excuse for truly excessive smoke coming from any chimney and it looks bad on all of us. But, at the same time, I think some people may apply more drama to a situation than necessary - there are such things as a firewood snob, also.

 

How many of you OWB guys burn 365 days a year? Buddy of mine uses his to heat water for the house all year. I just can't get a grip on why tho?

Of course he burns a huge quanity of wood, mostly green because " I don't have the time to get ahead", or " green cherry with ash burns great. "
He is from the school of felling trees in the summer and leaving the leaves on to " suck out the moisture " to season his wood.

Fortunately he doesn't burn tires as my neighbor.

 

Sawdog, I've been trying to change the mindset about OWBs and am here to tell you not to waste the effort. No matter what, people have a pre-determined view of OWBs. Doesn't matter what I've said here or the other place five years ago. Must be jealous, right? All our mess is outside; no bugs brought inside; no endless trips in and out; no smoke smell inside whenever you fire up; also heats 100% of domestic water; no concerns of ash or creosote buildup in chimney; no clearance requirements; no added insurancecosts...on and on. One of the first times I posted about OWBs on the other site, some guy from Colorado just about tried to crucify me! Let it roll off your back like water on a duck. There are poor burners of inside stoves with old beliefs of seasoned wood requirements/benefits that are continuously belching out smoke and those that burn garbage but they get a pass, it seems.
wishlist, there are a number of OWB burners around these parts and even though they can, I honestly don't know of one that burns 365 days. The first year I had an OWB, I considered burning 365 for the domestic water but quickly laughed it off as even a possibility!
In regards to the pic in the original post, given that the unit is in a place that may be surrounded by hills. yes, it is a poor choice. Even a wood stove's exhaust would be hanging under those geographic conditions. One of the first things my dealer in the 90's asked was what kind of terrain will the stove be located in.

Bottom line is, we are all burners and have to burn responsibly. Drawing sides won't prove anything Just like the sticker on the OWB states. Which, by the way, I have yet to find an epa stove with a sticker on it recommending certain moisture content of firewood for optimum performance. I wonder how many people have given reviews of epa stoves that read something like "don't buy this stove-starved for air-fire won't stay lit unless you leave door open-will never buy or recommend".

 

Thats kinda like a guy up the road from me he cut a tree which you could tell was green last week that was up by the road you can see where he hauled it to his owb which happens to be in front of his house next to driveway and bucked up the wood. Today I drove to tsc to get some bar oil since its raining and cant do much else

When I went by the wood was uncovered. Coming back he had a tarp over it. I thought to myself what a moron. Its still not going to burn any better

 

I dont give them a pass and have said so and have received bad feedback over it.

 

This is my 2nd winter using my owb and I burn seasoned (by moisture tester) wood in it. Last year I did burn some fresh cut stuff just to see what would happen. The tree was a yard tree that I was tired of cleaning up after every strong wind. I just threw abit in at a time and never really noticed any difference but burning dry ash with it the fire was likely hot enough anyway. I burned mine all last summer but I burned really dry stuff and mostly pine/ spruce construction cut offs. The fires were usually quick and real hot and once the water got to temperature it ashed over quick so very little smoke. Newspaper flyers and some cardboard boxes would get me a few days worth of hot water. Most people who were at my house didn't believe me when I said the owb was on until I opened the door. I have my firewood inside my barn but it was exposed to the weather when I piled it by my owb so yesterday I built a temporary cover over it so it would be snow and rain free. I assume this will make a difference in the "smoke" coming from my stove during the 1st firing after a reload. Most of the smoke is likely water being steamed off. I have a huge owb but keep the load small so that it fires more often and in theory this should mean less idling and less smoke. my owb is close to my house and in a corner of the buildings so I also need to add another 6' to my chimney just so it goes over the roof of my house to stop the inversion type smoke once in awhile. Next summer I might add a couple more water tanks for storage and try to do a batch burn once a week to see if I can.
Everybody around me burns wood so not much complaining would go on around here. Open rural flat country with 100's of windmills so an inversion here would be rare.

 

Howdy wildwest, I'm kinna new here but not really. I've tried to join for months but for some reason it would never let me sign on. I thought maybe the admins here already knew me and didn't want me around. I guess I must have slipped in when they weren't looking. I'm sure lots of guys here know who I am and will pipe up soon.

 

Driving home from VT today I paid attention to OWBs and smoke. I saw some that had no smoke and some that were belching out a big cloud. There were also plenty of houses belching out stove pipes and chimneys along with places that had really big wood piles, all covered or in a shed with no visible smoke in the yard. I assumed they were burning and doing a good job of it. The worst that I came across was 2 neighbors burning OWBs side by side trying to smoke out each other along with the house across the road belching an equally big cloud of smoke out its chimney.

It's unfortunate that all you can see is the people making the smoke. The guys burning cleanly go for the most part unnoticed.

 

All this talk about a lot of smoke out of chimneys and people burning wrong and the people who thought I was full of crap have disappeared?

 

You make me laugh on alot of your posts...I don't mean that in a bad way, I just like how you state things...Keep up the good work....

 

there are multiple ice fishing shacks on the river about 3 miles down the hill from me. They burn slab wood with the bark on it in little wood stoves. My eyes water up just driving by that area. Thing is, it is in a housing area. there are hills on both sides of the river so the smoke fills the valley. Why he hasn't been shut down is beyond me. 3 miles down the road from that area is another shanty place. People go there to drink and catch smelt. Tidal water that goes to the ocean.

 

I have to agree with ya save, I used to smelt quite a bit and all that acrid smoke coming from the ice-shacks was wicked nasty....and your clothes would reek from it....

 

I don't think you one intended to single anyone out, but it does seem like every time this topic comes up, the dreaded OWB monster is brought up. Your right, though...it doesn't matter what you choose to burn in, there should be a good attempt at doing it with as dry of wood as you can get.

But, that's where I think some OWB owners get in trouble - under estimating the amount wood you can go through. Although I haven't polled 500 OWB owners, I would say most really don't understand how much wood can be burned in a given year. More wood, often means buring wood that they have access to and it may not be as dry as some would choose to burn.

 

I used a Hotblast for years and now use the owb and my wood use has gone up of course but not as bad as I thought it might. I'm also now heating 2 houses, both domestic hot water and a 24x 50 shop once in awhile. I'm burning a lot of poplar which I wouldn't have bothered to burn in the house. It's a bit wetter than I would like but with a good bed of dry ash coals and a good heat demand it's not bad.
The pine/ spruce construction wood was perfect for summer burning, no smoke hardly ever. Quick and hot fire that burnt out fast. I also travel a lot for work and see some pretty nasty looking smoke coming out of chimneys, houses and owbs.
We have tons of people here that burn slabs, just cut a few days ago.
I also now have 7 turkey barns beside my house, how high do you think a chimney would need to be to get rid of that smell? And the noise of the fans running?

 

I had a neighbor that used to use his OWB all year-round. He heated his hot water with it. My dad was dying from lung cancer (cigarettes. camel non-filters). We couldn't open the windows in summer because of the OWB heating water. So I went over and asked him to please not run the OWB so we could have our windows open. They rented a hot water tank from the power company and stopped using the OWB in summer. He understood the issues we were having.

There was another guy in a town near where we lived where the guy burned dirty diapers. He was told to only burn wood and to raise his smoke stack up higher. He complied as well from what I have heard.

That being said, if I ever build the log cabin of my dreams, I can see me heating it with an OWB. There are some OWBs being made more efficient just like indoor wood stoves. I think I will always have an indoor stove, though, too. lol

I have reported and will continue to report people who burn tires. They don't burn. They melt.

 

There's a guy not to far from me, a nice guy, a wood processor selling kiln dried, a good sized operation.
Using an OWB to kiln dry, operates year round.
Setup is about 1/2 way up a good sized valley that used to be smoke city.
Back in 2009 The OWB's started popping up everywhere around here along with the complaints.
Don't know what he changed but since then the only thing you see is steam from the drying kilns now.
With care it can definitely be done right.