HIGHLIGHTING DANGER OF WOODBURNERS

[GlassHouseBlue]

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) -
essentially tiny particles of soot - is one
of the most dangerous air pollutants.
Breathing it in is linked to lung cancer,
heart damage, strokes, impaired cognition
and mental health problems, and can
exacerbate conditions such as asthma,
COPD and pulmonary fibrosis. Children
and elderly people are most vulnerable

Cancer research UK says that only 8% of lung cancers are cause by outside air pollution. And that's going to be including all the city dwellers constantly surrounded by cars, so wood burners are a tiny proportion there

Given all the risk factors around me for various cancers, I think I'll stick with my fires (I'd love a woodburner instead, much more efficient, but that will have to wait), and my oil-fired central heating - not that I have much choice in the matter given where I live.

Well we don't have one but but we are straddled by neighbours who do

Thank you! I'm so glad your son's asthma has improved.

OP of course you’re right but you’ll find that science generally doesn’t go down very well
on MN. The responses are always the same - anecdata, ridiculing the OP, personal attacks…

Anyone who likes can have a look at addresspollution.org and see how the air quality at their address measures up against WHO recommended limits. PM2.5 is already above the recommended limit where I live. Why would I burn wood and add to it?

And no of course I don’t idle my (electric) car.

@GlassHouseBlue

If Governments etc want people outside of the gas network to stop burning coal wood, then stop putting up the price of electricity???

We in the UK produce over 50% of our own electricity, most of it via cheap renewables BUT its sold to us global market prices... WHY???

Energy companies are now making a fortune, yet prices still go up, mostly to subsidise gas!!

I ve a wood burner, no gas network and electric only heating is too expensive as is having bottled gas, the most expensive of all.

I'd jump at the chance of gas or better still cheap electric heating, sourcing your own wood is hard work and not something i'll be able to do into older age.

Yep, it ends up outside being a pollutant.

You're welcome

Much worse (imo) is the burning of plastic done by some people round here. Rank poisonous stuff. There was a toxic fire burning yesterday on a beautiful blue sky, still day. Grrrr...!

That said I'm not such a cheerleader for woodturners as I used to be; you have to have properly seasoned wood and regularly maintain your burner and chimney; many people don't.

But I live in a listed, leaky old house whose windows the planners won't allow replacing. So I need extra heat! And I suspect the dodgy ventilation mitigates any problems with the fire.

Perhaps if people were encouraged to run their heating at a more comfortable temperature they wouldn't be so tempted to run a log burner.
But these days we are vilified if we dare to suggest we are a bit cold with the thermostat at 18 or 19.
When i was a child in the 80's people set their thermostats for 21 and it was much more comfortable, and nobody had a woodburner....
Lots of people, women especially are COLD at 18 degrees.

Nope, folk burning wood, and coal, is definitely an issue where we live.

Another neighbour getting a wood burner is what triggered this for me. I just don't think most people realise.

It’s fine to highlight the risks, although some of your posts have gone beyond facts.

One of the reasons you get a negative reaction is because everything is a risk and it’s like you’re telling people off. This is no different to cars, flying and any number of things people do that are massively polluting to broader society.

The difference with wood burners is for some it's the best source of heating, so it’s not optional like first class air travel to Hawaii.

Putting posts in capital letters with a “told you so style post” is hardly a successful way to influence people.

We live in identical circumstances. We have a sustainable source of dry, seasoned logs, barely a whiff of smoke. Regularly cleaned and swept. Love my log burner, curled up with a coffee and Stephen Fry's book in front of it as we speak due to the snow.

I agree, when I’m out running it really affects my breathing when someone is using one. I don’t believe it’s safe given how it feels just from breathing it in for a short while. I don’t have asthma or any reason why I’d be more sensitive.

Being 'dispersed into the air' is pollution!

It’s crazy how in denial people are of the fact that they aren’t great for you on the basis of ‘I like them’. That’s fine….I like bacon in moderation, alcohol, chocolate etc. but the evidence is there that wood burners and actively bad for your lungs. I’m a nurse and if patients have COPD or asthma we advise against them. If it’s someone’s only source of hearing and alternative is freezing then obviously it’s better then nothing but if you can afford to heat your home I’d use is sparingly especially around children.

Thank you for sharing

No, you are just responding to those in your echo chamber, and ignoring the voices that do not agree with your (skewed) view

Well, i ve a woodburner, latest spec, fully lined flue and i burn very well seasoned hard woods like Ash, Sycamore, Oak yet i see smoke from the chimney pot and when air pressure is low, the smoke doesn't dissipate, it sinks to lower levels.

I'm rural so its not a real issue but in built up areas, its pretty obvious that it will be, esp as many people chuck anything into their stoves.

I wonder if this is what the conversations were like when people first started pointing out the dangers of smoking.

To make it clear I do not represent the charity. It's a charity another parent highlighted to me.

The trigger for me was another neighbour getting a log burner and of course I'm not shouting at them. I'm just trying to provide information. As PP said it was probably similar when people realised the dangers of smoking.

I do know someone with lung cancer who has never been a smoker, it happens.

Please don't make it personal. Perhaps if you do feel the need to make it personal look into why it's triggered you so much, perhaps you do know there is truth in what I've said. Even if this thread makes one family reconsider their woodburner usage it's been successful.

We live rurally. We have no gas. We have a woodburner as do most people. We will be using it daily between now and Spring. I love it.

Thank you I hope the PP who has chronic asthma has read this.

We don't know how modern all the country's woodburners are, we don't know when their chimneys were swept, we don't know how dry their woodpile is.

So it would be rash to assume that all, or even most, burning is of a good standard.

I used to have a multifuel smoke-eater, but iron woodburners are a lot cheaper and more popular. And dirtier.