To say don't use a wood burner if you have children in the house?

Myth 2: Wood-Burning Stoves Emit as Much Pollution as 18 Diesel Cars

Another striking myth is that wood-burning stoves generate the same emissions as 18 diesel cars. This claim comes from an interpretation of test results by the Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG), but it is misleading.
The comparison is flawed because it measures car emissions at an efficient run rate of 21 mph while comparing them to a stove running at full capacity. This ignores the small particle emissions from car brakes and tyres, which often exceed exhaust emissions. Additionally, the dispersal point of emissions is different: car emissions occur at face level for children, whereas stove emissions disperse from the top of a chimney, significantly reducing human exposure.

I don't get why people see them as chic or desirable they are a return to a Victorian age of poor air quality and consequent deaths

They are fine and I'm never giving mine up. It saves vast amounts on heating and means that should the power go out I will not freeze.

It's just the latest 'everyone, panic!' pronouncement.

Wood will stay in equilibrium with it's environment so if there is humidity in the air, the wood will take on more moisture and no longer be as dry. - Just how wet do you think the UK is? I know it's quite rainy, but it's not that bad.

Have a mess around with this caculator, putting in various hours for using a wood burning stove (including not using one at all) and see how much it varies!
Using a wood buring stove puts the results up massively.
Air Pollution Calculator

I think this sums it up.
Yes they are filthy and unhealthy. People in towns with access to mains gas do not need them.
I live rurally and have had wood burners for 40 years. I hate them but they serve to heat my house and hot water when we have frequent power cuts. I have solar which helps but it couldn't heat a candle this time of year.
If I could have gas I'd dump it tomorrow.

I have a severe lung disease and I’m sensitive to smoke, car fumes, vape fumes, deodorants etc, people closest to me know how much those things affect me and know I’m not being the things others call me when I start coughing when exposed to those things, “attention seeking” “drama llama” “hypochondriac”.

I learnt to suppress the cough which I’m not supposed to do but honestly, I can’t take the filthy looks when I cough a lot and I have to be able to live in the world and exist outside my house too.

A few of my neighbours have had wood burners installed over the last five years, it’s a built up area of terraced streets with no gardens and other than the smell it hasn’t been a noticeable issue, this winter though.

Theres been days that I’ve gone to leave the house to get on the car and a chemical smokey smell has had me in pain and coughing up blood. The smell reminded me of when my uncle burnt doors and window frames on his allotment, I thought maybe it was me being sensitive because of my lung issues but my husband and daughter also felt discomfort, other neighbours posted on Facebook about it and got a load of backlash from people in the area who have wood burners, everyone insisted they only burn seasoned wood and asked the op if they also complain about other pollutants, they got asked if they drive a car, go on holiday, buy from Amazon.

You can’t raise issues without people getting defensive and bringing up other issues as some kind of gotcha. Im pretty sure which neighbour is using dodgy wood, last summer he had a pick up truck full of wooden door frames dropped off by a local tradesman and neighbour spent the following days chipping it up, it’s made me wonder if that’s what’s being burnt this winter by some people here.

They are, we store our seasoned wood outside and we have moisture meters to test it. We rotate the wood so that we use the inside stacks first which are dry and protected and under the porch and then move round to the outer stacks to put them under the porch as the wood goes down. We dont burn it if it has a high moisture reading

I'm not suggesting anyone is storing logs in the rain. Wood will stay in equilibrium with it's environment so if there is humidity in the air, the wood will take on more moisture and no longer be as dry.

Some of the posters on here remind me of Educating Rita when Susan and the Professor dismiss all the people who are giving up smoking as being bloody cowards. Susan had given up by the end of the film after she had become 'educated'.

Anyone competent stacks their logs in a shed or at least undercover, where they dry over at least 12 months, and preferably two years. By that time, they are well below the required moisture level.

Anyone who leaves their logs in the rain, is not competent to have a log burner. Common sense is required with any appliance.

“Natural gas is nowhere near as bad as wood.“
But the ‘study’, didn’t identify the particulates? Just assumed !!
I said nothing about cigarette smoking…… tho now you’ve brought it up, my previous sentence applies again?!
Even medieval folk would have at the very least warmed their ‘homes’ & cooked via burning wood. Any wood & rubbish too I expect!

You are claiming just having a burner in the house is dangerous?

And this is based on a study of 53 people?

Because they provide a reliable and ever available source of domestic heat, plus a way to cook food, when the power goes down, which is does regularly in many rural areas.

or

Because they provide an affordable alternative to gas or electric central heating, which for many has become an unaffordable luxury.

This has been a topic of conversation in our house lately as my Mother has a wood burner and someone went to the trouble of posting her anonymously (of course 🙄) an information leaflet about the damages of a wood burner to the environment and health.
I can only assume they had see her log store from the road and decided to give her the benefit of their wisdom…. She was really upset as it had been posted and not hand delivered so someone had gone to a fair bit of trouble and they had no idea who lived there.
Im a big believer in you do you and let someone else do what is best for them. I wouldn’t have one with alongside my children for multiple reasons but I don’t ask my family members who do have them (and only 2 of us don’t) not to light them when we’re there.

Healthy changes to our lives that resulted in a longer lifespan are so broad that you can't attribute it to a single factor.

Natural gas is nowhere near as bad as wood.

Smoky fires since time began, this is a really nonsensical rationale.

People have been smoking cigarettes since the 1600s ! Therefore it must be OK. Or maybe not.

Neanderthals using fire didn't really have to worry about the effect smoke had on their long term prospects. Because they were all mostly dead by the time they were 40. And even if 25% of them did keel over before then from respiratory issues due to smoke, there was no one around to record it !

I'm just dropping this quote from the paper here again:

"Lastly, while contextual data helped identify likely pollution sources, source-specific quantification (e.g. distinguishing between cooking, smoking, or wood burning) was not feasible."

They also did not distinguish between stoves and open fireplaces in the survey.

I'm not saying wood burning is safe. I am saying that this research does not show it is the cause of the poor air in the environments of the children studied. I wish people would actually read the article published by the scientists rather than the newspaper headlines.

Not suggesting this study is government backed but I wouldn't trust any study that was. The government do not want people using log burners and that it is NOTHING to do with health 💰💰💰

I would also suggest that people who are concerned for their children's health need to stop using candles, air fresheners, fabric conditioner, wood polish, chemical cleaning sprays, hair spray, dry shampoo, plastic chopping boards, fire retardent infused clothing and bedding, plastic eating and drinking utensils and food prep items, non organic food, aluminium foil, deodorant, tap water.... I could go on and on.

Believe it or not lots of life-long smokers live to old age. Doesn't make it healthy. And doesn't make second hand smoke healthy either.

Pre nineteenth century, the average human life span was stagnant. Unfortunately, amongst other pollutants, open fires caused many respiratory conditions. It wasn't until the latter half of the nineteenth century and the twentieth century that human life span increased significantly. The first half of the nineteenth century, only 50% made it past 50 years old. In contrast 97% of people born in the UK today will see 50. Healthy changes to our way of life makes a big difference.

I don't doubt that there are particulates released from log burners and there are health implications which should be borne in mind.

I also don't doubt that there will be campaigns and studies backed by share holders in the energy firms. Can't be having their profits affected by all the peasants burning wood now can we?

How about, people with children shouldn't live in big cities because their lungs will be subject to more pollution?

You could extend that form of argument in so many ways with equal validity it just isn't a tenable approach to life.

I've lived most of my adult life heating mainly with wood. It's fine, and it's fine to use it as a back up or secondary source. My kids spent a good bit of time outdoors as a result, ds spent half a day splitting wood and stacking it inside last weekend. I imagine the extra physical activity counts for something...

But due to the nature of burning things and creating smoke it does affect everyone else. It's like littering.

I'm not saying that my domestic air monitor is up to the quality of a professional air quality monitor but it would at least register a change in PM2.5 and VOC levels if the wood burner produced them - when the reality is that it doesn't.

That said it will register changes if I leave the door open on the wood burner or use cleaning products or put up a Christmas tree. So whilst the levels may not be accurate it would at least register any changes.

Why not research what causes health problems, irrespective of whether it's produced by wood (natural but of course not burned by non-humans) or man-made materials?