About my neighbours and their fire?

[Sparrowlegs248]

It's a lovely day here, warm, bit breezy. I've been in the garden in jeans and a vest top. Put a load of babies washing on the line. Neighbours have lit their fire. Washing stinks of smoke as they bur n all sorts of stuff.

Surely there's no need for a fire on such a warm day? Especially at 11am when they lit it.

if they made a habit of it i'd take it up with the council, your neighbour sounds a complete idiot and totally selfish.

Do you mean the fire they use to heat their house?

Is it possible it also heats their water or is used for cooking (raeburn type thing?)

I assume they would only light it if they felt they needed to, to be honest.

If it's outdoor then I'd speak to your council. I know in my area there are rules regarding what time you can light a fire & what you are allowed to burn.

Yes the fire to heat the house. Not used for cooking. I don't think.it heats the water, pretty sure they have an immersion heater.

I suppose the real issue is the stuff they put on it (chopped up furniture, pallets, painted wood etc)

My mother would only let my father have a fire once a year on bonfire night. That doesn't seem to be these days but yes they should be in the evening.

If it isn't a bonfire I don't think that there is much that you can do.
It's a bit off though

If the house is old enough to rely on a fire for heating, it is probably also poorly insulated so gets cold quickly. Presumably the chimney is high enough, it's just unlucky that it sounds like there is little wind to disperse the smoke.

I think YABU, sorry.

There isn't anything you can do so YABU. They can light their fire if they like

Is their chimney faulty?
In theory the smoke should be hot enough to be above your washing.

Unless they are hobbits the chimney should be above ground floor, are you certain it's making the washing smell or is it just that you can smell it?

In our old house we had to light the fire even on hot sunny days because our house was freezing! We were a detached house in the countryside. I have never been so cold in my life as I was living in that bloody house!! We literally had a fire in the living room and wood burner in the dining room. No other heating apart from plug in heaters.

In saying that we never burnt all sorts just seasoned wood and smokeless coal.

Could that be partly the reason for it?

It's a small (short) cottage so the smoke blows directly into my washing. They do have other heating (I do too, plus Woodburn and open fire, none of then in use as it's warm!)

Yes I think.the issue is the fuel, rather than the actual fire.

Washing smells, I brought it in an hour and half ago, it's upstairs and stinks. I wouldn't mind so much but it's all baby vests and sleepsuits.

Personally I think (unless you live in the middle of no-where) that garden fires are really anti-social.

They stink out a huge area and ash gets distributed over the entire neighbourhood.

People are just too lazy to go to the tip

ahh - not a garden fire....

Bit more tricky - that said burning painted wood can actually be toxic....

If it's getting on the washing enough to make it smell the chimney is too low. If it can reach your washing line it is low enough to blow in windows.

You need environmental services at LA.
Was your house built after theirs? A few courses of bricks should solve it.

It's not a garden fire guys.

It's annoying but ultimately up to them how they choose to heat their home. I don't think there's anything you can do or say.

are you in a smoke-less fuel zone?

if so, then you can complain to council. They may not care though.

Are you attached to their house? Make sure your insurance is good asburning that sort of crap is great for starting chimney fires.....

its not a garden fire

I live in an ex pit village so we all have the option of real fire.

It'd be nice to think it's just fashion to have real fires but sadly lots of folk are skint and can't afford to heat their homes so are burning more.

YABU

a properly swept chimney and proper dry wood fuel without paint etc should produce almost no smoke. As ours does.

you've got the stupid living next door, I'm afraid. And yes, if you are attached to them make sure your insurance is solid.

Really is a bad idea to be burning painted/varnished wood or even wood in the wrong type of appliance.
However they may need that stove for hot water if the have a backboiler, there is no way I would use the immersion in our house if I have coal in the bunker.
I guess they may be fuel poor and burning what they get for free/cheap.

Burning fires in the middle of nice sunny, breezy days boils my piss.

PIL's neighbours get paid cash to burn old pallets and other waste shite.

There are rules as to what you can burn, you need to speak to your council.
However, they will only issue them with a warning, and the neighbours may carry on burning illegal material.
Check out if it is a smoke free area too, in which case the rules are stricter.
iirc it has to be seasoned wood, certainly not any old wood.