Or does every small town stink of smoke?

[Flamingnuisance]

I drive for a living and I have noticed that as I enter smallish towns and villages the smell of wood smoke hits me and when I exit the vehicle I then stink of bonfire. It’s not bonfire it’s wood burners in peoples homes. When did people think it was a good idea to go back to the old days of smog and smoke? What’s it doing to our health and our children? It’s getting worse now with the energy crisis but these things are thousands to install and when do you even recoup the money? I just don’t get it. And yes I think it’s mighty selfish to use one. And these people act like they give a shit about the environment.

Has it occurred to you that many villages aren't on gas mains ! Older houses tend not to have underfloor heating, solid fuel has always been used.

I haven't noticed a smell though and I cycle a fair bit.

I'm currently burning a pile of old slats, having had my roof replaced. They've been drying for 70 years so definitely not wet. I have enough to halve my heating bill until March. Plus it meant I didn't pay for a second skip. How is that a bad idea?

I have noticed this in my small town as more people seem to be using log burners. It can trigger my asthma and I am concerned about the effect on air quality. We had been thinking about getting a log burner but glad we didn't now.

Ooh, are you selling tickets? 😀

Yeah is weed here too 🤣

As for cost, I spent £1,500 on a log burner 10 years ago. I'll recoup £1,500 this year alone.

Living rurally, it is also our (and our elderly neighbours) only source of heat during power cuts.

😀

Think my new neighbour have just installed one. My house stinks. The first few times we checked all over for something burning.

It’s very on trend here. For a while I thought my cat was eating lots of smoked salmon on his visits to others but then I realised he was sitting in front of log burner. I really don’t understand that the same people who won’t live on a busy room for their children health happily have a log burner in their house. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I live in a city abd gevebt noticed this.

What a poetic thread, a mix of drama and humor. Well done and thanks. Incidentally I went for a walk last night and the smell of car fumes hit me as I walked out, clinging to my clothes all day.

I have witnessed the rebirth of flat caps and clogs too op.

Its terrible.

Our small town smells of eggy farts at the moment. I'm assuming it's some kind of agricultural thing.

There’s lots round me. The smoke doesn’t seem to lift like from a chimney.

I love the smell of wood smoke! Here in my big of London the only smell is weed. Everywhere.

I was in a town last week and twice when I went out for a walk I came back smelling of smoke.

I normally enjoy going out for walks, but in the winter I have to stay indoors more. The chimney smoke triggers my asthma and makes me cough horribly, I'm not a fan.

OP how about you campaign for gas companies to connect us all to the mains gas grid if you're so concerned?

Our only option to heat our home is electricity (very expensive- heat pump installation quote came in at £15,000) oil- expensive and delivered in diesel spewing lorries, or wood.
Which we cut ourselves from our own trees, season for 2 years, keep dry, and burn in a modern woodburner.

Whilst planting more trees to replace.

No doubt you walk into your house, press a button and the gas boiler warms your house up.

Same here. And more locally the traffic fumes from the lorries/cars avoiding the clean air zone and polluting our streets instead.

🤣🤣🤣

I'm with you OP. I live in a medium-sized town and one of our neighbours has a log burner. If we open the door in the evening our house stinks of smoke.

Another neighbour loves weed. So opening windows in the summer makes the house stink too 🙁

I live in a nice London commuter town. Lots of houses near us are 20s/30s housing stock and have fireplaces and chimneys that allow easily for wood burner installation or still had open fires in. Normally you’d smell woodsmoke on Christmas Eve /Christmas day evening dog walks - but this year as the temperature has dropped you can smell wood smoke much more - I guess it’s more economical to light the fire than put the heating on.

I worry about people who’ve not had the chimneys swept though - lots of those fires have been effectively decorative.

I love the smell of the log burners in our village. Coming back from a major city every day, going from all the car pollution to a few chimney stacks - in comparison your concern seems ironic.

are you saying there is a difference between a wood burner and an open fire?
and that smoke is worse somehow?

there isnt new

I love walking the dog in the cold evenings smelling the wood burning round my village. It smells delicious.

However I don’t for one second believe it’s all you can smell as you drive through small towns. Have a day off 🙄