Neighbours log burner

[billybeep]

NDN have an older log burner and use it all winter Oct-and it bloody stinks.
Mainly when they turn it on..so it's the opposite side of their 4 bed detached but when we open the hall window on the opposite side of our detached, it smells like something is on fire on our house.
Cant open any windows and our bathroom faces their house so it gets mouldy.
I can't cope with not hanging the washing out but am fed up of not being able to open a window for months.
Last year we kept quiet and bought a dehumidifier but it costs a fortune and makes DD 4 cough. She can't play in garden as it smells so much.
They are aware it smells as she jokingly said to me her DD gets fed up of their kids clothes smelling of smoke when they go round there/ surely that's not right as my DSis has one and you can't smell it and their bathroom windows are open all day.
AIBU to speak to them and say it's affecting us? They have gas central heating and plenty of money too so need for it.

I wouldn't be tolerating that for a minute.
I have two log/ coal stoves and dry all my washing on the line, absolutely no issue.

That is a polution issue and so bad for you all to be inhaling.
It is not funny.
I would be reporting it.

It's not the wind direction. There is no wind and we can smell it in our house or waking down the street.
Actually how much money they have is relevant. They can afford to put their GCH on all day and we can't, they have no need for a log burner..we also can't afford to be running dehumidifiers every bloody day to avoid damp as we can't even leave a window on a latch and using the dryer on sunny days when the washing could dry outside, BECAUSE of their log burner.
There's not a single house in the entire neighborhood that has one apart from them.

Then you need to speak to them and encourage them to see if there is a problem. It is not up to you to say if they use their heating or their woodburner as much as you think you can - 1 or 1000 properties near you with them is not the issue. The situation of both parties involved is not relevant, what is relevant is finding a way you can both be happy.

Just go and talk to them.

We have an open fire in the living room and a log burner in our annexe, both do not give off a lot of smoke or smell when burning coal or logs.

I think the issue here is what your neighbours are acting burning. Wet logs etc...

I have a log burner and it doesn't smell to that extent. I also test all the wood with a moisture metre which tells you if its the right amount of moisture. Sometimes it looks dry but can still have moisture in it, if you burn that it smells bad. They could be burning rubbish but hopefully it's just an oversight and the wood is wetter than they think.
You'll have to tell them, but tell them now before the burning season gets going. They should also have the chimney swept, soot built up can smell rank.

This really isn't normal at all. Obviously outside you can tell if someone has a fire lit but it shouldn't smell in your house. If you touch the wall when it's lit, does the wall feel warm or hot? I'm wondering if they haven't installed it properly which would be a fire hazard.

There must be something wrong with it - they need to get it checked out. Pretty much everyone in my Victorian Terrace has one and no smell - ours doesn’t smell at all.

@billybeep when was the last time their chimney was swept?? is their chimney high enough? are the logs they are using, dry enough? if they are using fairly new logs it actually coats the inside of their chimney with a substance which hardens and cannot be removed!! the longer the logs are left to dry, the better. two years minimum. maybe contact environmental health at the local council. they can demand that they check and sweep the chimney and the burner. perhap it is time for them to invest in one of the newer burners.

If this is a log burner inside the house using a brick chimney then the chimney should be lined. The liner prevents smoke from leaking through bricks into the house. The chimney should be swept annually to reduce the soot and the risk of chimney fires. You should burn kiln dried logs and smokeles fuel. I think even house coal has gone now.

I have a log burner, as do many many people in my village, and it doesn't smell when my fire is lit. The lighting of the fire with the door open can make a little smell of smoke inside my lounge but it doesn't last long once the door is closed, It certainly doesn't smell in my next door neighbours house (ahe would certainly complain if it did!) Our village has a hint of the smell of smoke on the wind on a low cloud Autumn morning when all the village has their fires lit and there is no breeze o shift the smoke along but it certainly isn't enough to make anyone's clothes smell or to cause people to close windows.

Your NDN either isn't maintaining the chimney or is burning crap or both. You could try approaching the council neighbourhood nuisance teams as there are rules about what you are allowed to burn to reduce smoke....

If you try talking to them and get nowhere you can report them, I think to your council. My mum got a log burner installed a couple of years ago and within weeks of her having it one of her neighbours anonymously complained and she got a visit from someone who had to test the wood she used and checked the log burner. It turned out there was absolutely nothing wrong with it and he said it must have been a malicious claim.

I live on a street with lots of wood burners. We have one. Once lit and burning we don't see smoke and it doesn't smell. My neighbour is a builder and burns all sorts of shit. It smells toxic. As others have said it is probably not seasoned enough.

My ex has one and when you’re outside in the garden you can’t really smell it. I’d say there’s a problem. But if your not prepared to speak to them or report it not a lot you can do. They won’t put the heating on to heat a whole house during the day if just sitting in the living room. Makes sense they want to use it. Maybe they don’t realise that’s not normal. You think one of their children would raise it with them though.

If they are elderly and good natures I suspect they don't know what they are using wrongly. They might be a ashamed if they know the truth. If their only frame of reference is their own wood burner then they will think it's normal.

Ask the council to pay them a visit and things might change. It wouldn't need them to know it was you.

The thing is, woodburners still produce smoke, smell and dangerous particles even when they are functioning as they are designed and used correctly. It is simply in the nature of woodburners.

Which is why they should be banned, other than in remote areas that are not on gas, prone to power cuts or the owners have some other reason why they genuinely need to use one.

We have two and about to put in another. Agree with everyone else that they are probably burning unseasoned wood or other stuff. My parents throw anything in theirs eg old crisp packets etc.

log burners are great if used properly. Ours put out very little smoke. I’ve had the one in the living room going for the past few weeks. It takes the edge off the cold and for us it’s free heat (we don’t pay for the wood). Our new one will go at the opposite end of the house.

No they should not be banned. It is not up to you how people heat their homes. There are regulations in place for installation and use of wood burners that is enough. Who decides what is a remote area? Who decides the number of power cuts per year there should be so you can use your wood burner?

1. Even woodburners used as per all the instructions still fill the air with dangerous particles. The odd person doing this does not matter; as woodburners have become more common, they have become a serious factor behind air pollution in many areas.
2. "Individual choice" is not enough here, because the pollution created by woodburners affects other people as well, not just the members of the house where it is located.
3. It is clear that loads of people are NOT following the rules - did you miss the previous post about people shoving crisp packets in their stove?
4. Of course we are capable of deciding whether an area qualifies as remote and what level of power cut risk is acceptable. We set a basic limit, and anyone not meeting the required levels does not get to install a woodburner. We apply these kinds of rules to plenty of other things in life.

Phase out urban wood burners in UK to protect children’s health, say doctors | Children's health | The Guardian

No they should still not be banned.

Of course they shouldn't be banned. My parents (who live literally miles from anyone else) do shove crisp packets etc into theirs but they also do it with their open fire in the living room. Are we banning open fires too which are much worse in terms of particulate levels?

We have no gas. We rely on the wood burners. We also have a log gasification heating system to heat our water which the government pays us a biomass payment for.. Its literally a massive wood burning stove that burns 8-10 logs at a time

”We have no gas”

“My parents (who live literally miles from anyone else)”

My post literally says that I am not talking about situations where people have no other options for heating, or where people lives miles away from anyone. Try reading posts properly.

And yes, we should be banning open fires in urban areas too unless someone can show that their home is unheatable without it.

what about if I have one of those fireplaces with no grate but I put a load of church candles into it and light those?

Get on to environmental health in your local council. They will sort it out.

They are either burning too cold or using wet wood. Banking the fire, etc.

But even if they aren't, it's so bad for you.

We moved house because neighbours put one in. Neighbour has now started burning 24/7 because he can as he's retired and got a load of free trees after a storm.

I dread the winter.

You need an air purifier with a carbon filter, not a dehumidifier. As I'm now obsessive (husband got really ill) I monitored the air quality last winter. It was actually even more complex than I realised. Very high levels of CO2 as we can't ventiliate to go with the high VOCs...

We have neighbours who I'm sure are oblivious to the amount of shite coming out of their chimney while they are tucked up in their living rooms like a pair of hygge twats.

They shouldn't be allowed in built up areas.