Wood smoke making kids ill

Many studies lump in open fires, older designs together with the newer DEFRA and ECODESIGN stoves but even the most modern designs can still produce a lot of smoke and particulates.

They really should be barred from built up areas or at the very least enforce local laws, which councils rarely do, be it noise, smoke, rented properties, food standards etc etc

Our local council will not consider noise complaints from any source unless its past 11pm.
They don't even have any means to test air quality.

The methodology used on the wood burning studies isn't great though and it does all come down to how the person uses it.

We don't tend to use our wood burner more than twice a year simply because we haven't needed any heating. But I do love it as a safety net. We would be incredibly vulnerable if our electricity supply went for more than a day. We would have no light. No heat. No ability to cook food. At least with a wood burner we can heat one room, have light and chuck a potato in foil in the ashes and warm food and drink on the top.

That’s really unusual it’s so bad. Is your home also very cold and difficult to heat if that much air is coming in, the outside must be even worse.

my immediate action would be to buy hepa air purifiers for every room, we have wood burners and I have them in each room, the air is generally excellent, but if I open the door of one of the wood burners clearly it lets out particles but the purifiers ramps up immediately on detecting it and then clears it.

the second thing I’d look at is your windows, make sure they are properly sealed and gaps round doors etc, as it must be really bad letting in that much.

I believe it.
The evidence shows that outdoor pollution permeates into neighbouring houses. Up to 70%

And if you search for "Doctors and Scientists Against Wood Smoke Pollution" you'll find lots of stories of others being affected by neighbours burning wood, including the modern Ecodesign stoves.

I can't believe there's so many people that think the OP is being unreasonable. There's absolutely no need to use wood burning for heating, for the vast majority. Especially in a SCA.

Report it to the environmental health and the council and keep reporting weekly

That's true I had no breathing problems when we bought our house and we have a fireplace. We don't use it but if power were to go in winter we'd be ok.

Same here. I used to love my log burner. I’ve read around this and there’s no getting away from it; log burners pollute inside the home and outside.

Because they don’t impact your neighbours?

I think because people can control for this in their own home, so those with breathing issues just aren't buying them.

Scented candles and plug in scented puffers can also affect breathing. Why isn't this a bigger issue?

Ditto cleaning products.

I live rurally. I and my neighbours all have wood burners and have used them without issue for years. We understand the need to burn only dry wood and our air quality is good and clean. If your neighbours are persistently burning fuel they should not, then do indeed report them. I would be surprised if a green council like Brighton would not enforce good practice. Generally though, log-burners are important for us in rural areas where we do not have access to gas, oil is expensive, as is electric.

I agree with all this and it's a good balanced, albeit chatgptd post.

Brace yourself, this is going to be a long rant because I tend to overthink everything.

Adding door and window draft strips won’t stop airflow but can help reduce smoke entering through large gaps. If you get along with your neighbours, mentioning that you’ve noticed a lot of smoke inside and asking if their wood is fully seasoned can sometimes lead to a solution, as many people simply aren’t aware.

Enforcement may be inconsistent, but there are still steps you can take. Report the issue to your council’s Environmental Health team — even in smoke-free zones, they can act if smoke counts as a “nuisance,” though you’ll usually need to log dates and times. Keep a record of symptoms, especially for children. Ask if the stoves are DEFRA-exempt models, as many sold shouldn’t be used in smoke-control areas.

Your children’s coughs could definitely be triggered by wood smoke. Ongoing indoor exposure isn’t something you have to simply accept. Even if the stoves are legal, the effects are real, and Environmental Health will usually recognize that.

When it comes to the “wood burners should be banned” debate, there’s truth to the pollution concerns. Studies show wood smoke releases fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which can irritate lungs, aggravate asthma, and cause coughing — especially in children. Even DEFRA-approved stoves emit more particulates than gas or electric heating. But it’s not as simple as saying all wood burners are bad. Many people rely on them for practical reasons: they’re often cheaper for those struggling with energy bills, DEFRA-compliant models are designed to reduce emissions, and in rural or older homes, they serve as a vital backup during power cuts. Plus, some just love the cosy atmosphere. Used correctly with the right fuel, modern stoves can produce far less smoke than the worst examples suggest.

Where things often go wrong is in how fires are managed. Pollution problems usually come from mistakes like burning unseasoned wood, treated timber, or rubbish; using outdated, non-compliant stoves; letting the fire smoulder instead of burn cleanly; neglecting to have chimneys swept so smoke escapes unpredictably; or overloading the stove, which leads to incomplete combustion. Just one or two poor setups in a neighbourhood can impact everyone nearby, especially in built-up areas or terraces where smoke can easily get trapped.

Wood burners aren’t inherently bad, but in crowded urban areas or when used improperly, the smoke can become a real health concern. In this case, it sounds more like an issue with poor-quality fuel or faulty equipment rather than just “someone using a stove.” It’s not unreasonable to feel frustrated — you’re simply dealing with neighbours whose choices are quite literally seeping into your home, and that’s exactly the sort of problem councils are meant to address.

Wood burners actually produce more air pollution than transport, so it’s perfectly reasonable to not want them in your neighbourhood.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjdne9ke0m1o

They’re also extremely toxic inside the home too, as this link shows -

“Other EPA estimates suggest that a single fireplace operating for an hour and burning 10 pounds of wood will generate 4,300 times more carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbons than 30 cigarettes.”

Would you want your children to be anywhere near a source of pollution like that? I certainly wouldn’t.

www.familiesforcleanair.org/health/health4/

The trouble with people saying 'we only burn kiln dried logs' is that by the time they've been stored (often outside) they will have absorbed moisture from the environment anyway thus reversing much of the kiln drying.

If the smoke or smell constitutes a nuisance then you absolutely can report to the council. If someone is burning unseasoned or treated wood, or smokeless with a low grade flue liner then they will be damaging their flue and risking a chimney fire and the council can check their stock and fine them.

untreated building off cuts are often very good to burn because they are completely dry/seasoned for the building trade, and get fires going quickly which reduces the initial smokiness. A bit of surface water evaporates very quickly when wood is brought inside and isn’t really an issue

We’ve stopped using our woodburner, begrudgingly, as it looks beautiful, is so cosy and warms the whole house, but we’ve accepted it’s a health hazard akin to smoking 🤷🏻‍♀️ hopefully, others will cotton on soon. I think we’re going to go electric log effect as some are v convincing, not the same as logs though of course but there has to be a compromise and I won’t risk harming my little boy’s lungs.

Weird comment. Of course she should expect her neighbours to burn properly season hardwood and not any old bits of unseasoned wood, full of toxic chemicals 🙄

What? Someone is chopping down oaks with a chainsaw?? You have to report him!

They might not even know this.

To ask the dreaded question of all the 'annoying neighbour' threads... Have you spoken to them?

Yes.

Like I expect others to get their children vaccinated and not defecate in the streets.

This is dreadful. I’m so sorry. It’s outrageous that the government are not clamping down. They should at least be banned in new builds. I also think they should not be retroactively fitted. If somewhere has one, it can be replaced but no new installations! It’s dreadful for the environment, not to mention the people living in the same house as one!

All you can do is raise awareness and join campaigns for now. Our children will look back on this like we look back on our grandfathers smoking pipes.

This absolutely does happen and I feel for the OP. We had a wood burner in our old house and had to stop using it because it triggered my asthma so badly.

We have neighbours who like to light theirs throughout the winter. Fortunately, they're not close enough to affect us too much unless the wind is blowing a certain way. But if it is, the smoke gets everywhere. Their closer neighbours say it gets in their house all the time but the wood burning neighbours don't care.

You can smell it all down the street and I'm pretty sure they're not burning seasoned wood.

I think it should be regulated more. Air pollution is a big issue and people shouldn't be allowed to regularly pollute their environment like this.

Wood burning smoke and coal fires play havoc with my lungs in the winter. Won’t go near a particular family member’s house this year if the wood burner has been on as I ended up with bronchitis and weeks off work previously.

They don’t understand what all the fuss is about but one just looks grey at this time of year and the other has a permanent cough. The wood burner doesn’t get serviced.

Holding my breath from the car to the front door when I get home in the evenings now. Evening walks and runs and anything else outdoorsy are out of the question at the moment.