Wood burning stoves

[SuperSleeper]

We've supplemented our natural gas heat with burning wood in our wood stove for years now.  Never had any adverse affects upon my sleep or apnea as far as I can determine. Of course, our installation was done correctly and I'm always careful when stoking the stove as to not let any smoke enter the room (by opening the stove door very slowly a crack and letting the draft suck inward for a few seconds before opening it up further).

It's amazing to me that some governments fine or even ban wood stoves outright in all areas.  Even if you're trying to be "ultra green" in your fuels, experts I've read indicate that burning wood is carbon-neutral. While burning wood releases carbon into the atmosphere, the carbon would have been released anyway if the tree had died of old age and rotted on the forest floor.

Yep, I can understand trying to limit wood-burning in large cities where there's a huge concentration of people per square mile, but everywhere else?  Not really a solid scientific reason to limit wood-burning anywhere but in concentrated population centers.

It's interesting to me that anti-wood-burning advocates scream about the pollution that wood-burning causes, but they have electric heat in their home that was generated by nuclear power, which (as we found out in Japan) can be a billion times more dangerous to the local population than wood-burning stoves could ever be.

[HalfAsleep]

New woodstoves are required to meet rigorous emissions requirements. I had better luck with the woodstove than the hot air furnace blasting dust, mouse poop, and gasoline fumes up the ducts.

[Walla Walla]

mouse poop?

[DeepBreathing]

It's amazing to me that some governments fine or even ban wood stoves outright in all areas.

I don't know if that is in response to my earlier post, but I didn't say wood stoves are banned in all areas. Here in Perth, the atmospheric conditions are such that inversion layers form in winter, trapping the smoke which (being heavier than air) then sinks into low-lying areas. A few years ago there was a real fad for these things and the air literally stank. There's no ban in place, just social pressure that your nice cosy stove is causing health (and aesthetic) problems for the people downhill from you. In rural areas, there's not really the same problem and people quite like the smell of burning wood.

Coal is another question entirely - it burns dirty unless pulverised, releasing all sorts of nasties (as well as an inordinate amount of CO2). When I was a kid, we still had a lot of coal-burning steam trains and I loved the smell of the smoke.

[HalfAsleep]

mouse poop?

Yes. Mice like furnace ducts, even if they only live there when the furnace isn’t going full blast.

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Nah.

OMMOHY

[SarcasticDave94]

For me, mixed apnea isn't an issue with wood or gas grill smoke, but my advancing COPD is. I can't enjoy wood fire or grilling steak and burgers like I used to.

Dave

[Sleeprider]

We've supplemented our natural gas heat with burning wood in our wood stove for years now.  Never had any adverse affects upon my sleep or apnea as far as I can determine.  Of course, our installation was done correctly and I'm always careful when stoking the stove as to not let any smoke enter the room (by opening the stove door very slowly a crack and letting the draft suck inward for a few seconds before opening it up further).

It's amazing to me that some governments fine or even ban wood stoves outright in all areas.  Even if you're trying to be "ultra green" in your fuels, experts I've read indicate that burning wood is carbon-neutral. While burning wood releases carbon into the atmosphere, the carbon would have been released anyway if the tree had died of old age and rotted on the forest floor.

Yep, I can understand trying to limit wood-burning in large cities where there's a huge concentration of people per square mile, but everywhere else?  Not really a solid scientific reason to limit wood-burning anywhere but in concentrated population centers.

It's interesting to me that anti-wood-burning advocates scream about the pollution that wood-burning causes, but they have electric heat in their home that was generated by nuclear power, which (as we found out in Japan) can be a billion times more dangerous to the local population than wood-burning stoves could ever be.

I think I can fairly represent some counter-points to wood burning.  They are carbon neutral in the long-ter, but most of the concern with wood stoves is the slow, incomplete combustion that results from damping down the air supply and burning overnight. This produces a lot of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and a carcinogenic brew of polyaeromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) that have a relatively high risk in long-term exposure.  Modern wood stoves use secondary air intakes to re-burn the hydrocarbons and CO and clean things up.  This works as long as the temperature is high enough to support combustion, but most long-slow burns allow the temperature to fall below this threshold.  We can add to all of this enviro-groovy stuff, the risk of a chimney fire from condensed hydrocarbons and particulate (creosote, soot) where systems are not well maintained, and there is a real risk of fire.  Where a wood stove or wood burning fireplace is operated in urban areas, neighbors are subjected to the smoke and combustion by-products.  

Coal has similar issues and risks.  Overall, I like wood and coal for primary heat where economic alternatives do not exist, but you can't compare the emissions of these stoves and fireplaces to modern electric generating plants or the use of high efficiency furnaces fueled with natural gas. Emissions per BTU are not even in the same league.  I would even venture to speculate (without empirical support) that many many more people have been killed or injured by wood heating related fires than all the people ever affected by nuclear accidents. 

So that's my fair and balanced counterpoint to SuperSleeper (sorry boss).  I do however appreciate a wood or coal stove, campfires, smoking pits and generally enjoy my natural gas fire in my fireplace now that I don't live in the boon-docks.

[Ghost1958]

Been heating with wood for 8 lustrums. 40 years.

Freestanding and current old Fisher fireplace insert.

Before that I was raised in a house with a stoker coal furnace.

No issues with being on cpap with the Fisher insert.
The dog passing gas however is kinda, intense.

[Kadenz]

I'll add to this

Not all smoke is the same.  I am HYPER sensitive to cigarette smoke, to the point where I have been dropped to my knees (literally) by a cigarette at 100 yards.  I am not severely affected by wood or charcoal smoke, buildings burning (and there is some real nasty stuff in any building fire) or, while I don't like them at all, even pipe or cigar smoke.

Fred

Many thanks for the very helpful feedback folks.

Kadenz