... to be (slightly) freaking out about my woodburner?

[HappyAlley]

The Guardian is going really big on this (although we all know they have a track record of ignoring other vital concerns) & other news outlets have been reporting on this for a while. It does seem obvious that burning fuel inside a house is, in fact, very bad for you. I have a four-year-old & we've had a woodburner for 5 years, since we bought this (draughty, Victorian) house. Used a fair bit to cut down on energy bills. Two - four times a week in coldest winter; sometimes all day on weekends etc. I try not to open it loads but DP won't bloody listen; he's got that man-disease of constantly tending/fiddling with the fire for no fucking purpose whatsoever.

But you realise that just because this isn't a trigger for wheezing you are still risking worsening respiratory function in already compromised lungs, right?

It si being pushed because in urban areas they are a major contributory factor to air pollution, That increases heart attacks and respiratory conditions like asthma. But people just don't want to hear it.

They are an unnecessary fucking menace in urban areas which already have poor air quality because of increased traffic and density of population. Still though, some people think they look pretty.

I think the research is flawed. And my own internal readings of my monitor show that it doesn affect my air quality

Someone has already posted on this thread the problems with the research and the fact it doesnt differentiate between different woods, devices and ways of burning wood.

Im highly suspicious of what the agenda is here because its constant, its untrue and misleading.

Even just on this thread, misleading information about life expectancy over the centuries, misleading information about whether they're banned or not in other countries, misleading information on PM inside the house. Why?

I HATE THEM! Live in the centre of a town - both neighbours have them, make my house smell like it's on fire. I'd be thrilled if they were banned

Honestly the calling out of details of hand picked research just reminds me of the same denials that cigarette smoking is bad for you.
They will be banned eventually. The evidence is building.

They do look lovely. Stress is also a massive cause of MI's sitting by the fire with a glass of red is very relaxing and a massive stress relief. We are here for a fun time not a long time so why not enjoy it

I love them but haven't got one, I have to say, cars concern me more

We are on the verge of deciding what to do with our fireplace. Our ndn has stockpiled enough logs for the next ten years. People are using them as a main source of heat now due to energy costs. It's very worrying what it will do to the outside air, let alone what's happening inside your home.

Given the links to ppm2 pollution and cognitive decline you might be hoping it's a short time.

It's not denialist to have zero good quality evidence. Anything else is simply bad science.

"the life expectancy at birth for males born between 1276 and 1300 was just over 31 years. But for those who reached age 20, it jumped to 45 years. And if they reached 30, living into their fifties became likely."

learn.age-up.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-human-longevity/

Actually, I remember a smoking lobbyist on morning television extolling the stress relieving benefits of smoking some time in the early 80s. Interesting parallels.

Even wood-burning stoves meeting the new “ecodesign” standard still emit 750 times more tiny particles than a modern HGV truck.

It is topical "all of a sudden" because we have had a massive increae in wood burning stoves recently and in the South at least recent weather has been dry, still and cold. Just the right conditions to "hold" air pollution.

Air pollution in London has increased massivelt recently, a lot due to increased wood burning, you can see the smoke hanging in the air.

I'd never have one with children in the house. The research showing increased cancer links is quite scary.

I'm sure they will be banned in years to come.

I have noticed this.

It's like we are heading back towards the "pea-souper" fogs of the 50s.

My dickhead neighbours lit their stove a couple of Saturdays ago when it was really cold and still. Lord knows what they were burning but a pall of smoke hung over the road for a good few hours.

They are an unnecessary fucking menace in urban areas which already have poor air quality because of increased traffic and density of population

And you blame the fire?

It’s honestly fine. I’ve been monitoring the particles for years (part of my job)
we have two wood burners and they barely release any pm2.5 or pm 10 internally. I use special monitors and you can see from the photo how low the levels are in the room.

Ours are lower than that, but your burner is bigger.

Or you might have the oven on

When I cook my dinner tonight I know the levels will rise. They're around 2/3 and then went up to 4 during cooking times.

People do not tend to have the oven on every night for hours though.

The building up of wood burning emissions is worse than traffic for bad air quality in cities. Unfortunately it's seasonal, weather dependent and kills people slowly.

This won't make anyone change behaviour because 1. It's not just one stove but combined effect of thousands of them and 2. The people affected aren't usually the wood fire owners.

Yeah, and people died much younger back then from breathing in crap that affects your lungs. Just because it was used years ago doesn’t mean it’s good for you

The HGV statistic looks well dodgy to me. It may be technically accurate but I imagine a HGV on the road doing regular trips uses a hell of a lot more gigajoules than a wood burner used for 3 hours per day in winter and half of both spring and autumn.