Wood smoke making kids ill

[Sallybun]

I live in a smoke free zone in a popular tourist city. Over the past year the popularity of wood burning stoves has gone insane. So much so that our entire house is now filled with acrid wood smoke every evening. My throat stings it’s so intense and both my children have had constant coughs.

Not so much an AIBU but what can be done about it? The council don’t regulate it and neither do my neighbours - otherwise they wouldn’t have got wood burners in the first place! They burn from 4pm through to 10pm ish and we can’t seal up our windows as we need some air to breathe! Feeling desperate.

I believe it because mine is. I run an air purifier and it tells me when the air quality is poor so I can see it.

OP, get an air purifier.

We have one and are rural so any smoke indoors is from ours. I've noticed that on still, foggy days or when the wind is in a certain direction, or if the wood is slightly damp and smouldering rather than burning, we have noticeable smoke in our bedroom, and it's come from the flue outside rather than from the stove downstairs. I think in these conditions it's sort of trapped below roof-level rather than dissipating on the wind

I agree. It's the people doing the burning who need to shell out to make sure they are burning what they should. It's strange of that poster to suggest that's the same as you paying for a filter,

It happens in our house every single year too. Our house stinks, our dog comes in from the garden smelling of wood smoke.

It seems that the only solution is to open your windows during the day and use an air purifier.

I developed adult onset asthma after a wood burning stove was added into a property I spent a lot of time in. It really can affect you. I had to stop visiting as I was getting regular asthma attacks.

I hope they regulate them soon, but in the meantime time see if you can find an air filter system for your house to protect your kids.

Tons of research they are affecting air quality and harming people. Creating particulates research now connect to heart disease, diabetes etc... When people boast or post about having them I see absolute fools...
Why return to Victorian era pollution?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/23/wood-burners-linked-to-2500-deaths-a-year-in-the-uk-analysis-finds

just open a window and stop being ridiculous

1. Keep your windows firmly closed.

2. Your neighbors are burning any old crap on their stoves.

I ran a multi fuel stove and the only time it really kicked up a smoke was when I was getting it started. It barely smoked when in use (which is the beauty of stoves, you can regulate the output).

Air purifier and also air quality app

I can see that being a problem.

In my final permanent post, I had to use a so-called 'classroom' which was actually designed to be a study room or office. There were no windows, apart from a sealed skylight and a window to the corridor.

There was an air conditioning system over which I had no control.

Ever so often, we'd get the symptoms that you describe - courtesy of a nearby industrial estate where Lord knows what was being disposed of via fires. My protests to the LA were to no avail.

Wood smoke from fireplace/wood stoves doesn't get bad in our area, but I can't tolerate it at all. We shut windows, and we have air purifiers in all rooms except the loo. Forest fire smoke is the worst, I wear a mask inside then, try that. It does help.

Lobby your MP to support a ban on wood burners in urban areas. They currently have a target to reduce PM2.5 concentrations by 30% by 2030.

@Soontobe60 car emissions, gas boiler emissions should be tested and fall within certain guidelines.

OP’s neighbours are not following guidelines

There’s no way other peoples smoke invades your house to that degree .

@swingingbytheseat @hattie43 why would the op make it up? She’s said the flue is close to her house due to livong on a hill. I for one can smell wood burning a lot now in the evenings when I walk my dog - I’ve never noticed it before, but I live in a semi rural
area so it’s not a huge problem for us. In regards to it getting trapped - my neighbour used to burn garden waste and even with the windows shut and our gardens being a fair distance apart - I could smell it strongly in my house and especially my airing cupboard for some reason.

I’m with you OP and people saying you’re lying are very lucky to have not experienced this. Our neighbours have a wood burner and also happily burn painted wood, wet wood, anything they find.

The smoke gets in through our vents above the windows. I have asthma which is affected by smoke but also need air circulation so we leave our vents open. As they only use it once a week or so it’s usually fine but by the time we smell it it’s too late.

Even on days where our vents are closed it still gets in one way or another. It doesn’t take much, such as popping out the back door to put something in the bin, to let the dog out etc.

there is a man round the corner who goes out and collects branches
it doesnt come in my house but i am affected when i walk my dog near to where he lives

If this is Bath they're bound to clamp down, all that lovely bath stone to keep clean if nothing else.

Complain to the council.

Councils can’t easily monitor things, but they can investigate complaints. So speak to them in the first instance.

Some burners can be really quite noxious if the right stuff is not being burnt. It can be very noticeable when out walking the dogs and enough for me to start coughing. I can well imagine how it feels in your home if you have a close neighbour using one and burning the right stuff. One of our neighbours has one and on occasion burns what the shouldn’t. Despite them being over the road, we have been able to smell the smoke in our property even though the windows and vents are shut.

in the meantime if its affordable, its worth doing some research about air purifiers.

Where do you live where you have your windows open at night in December?

They will probably be banned in a few years given how polluting they are. They look lovely and can be a cheap source of heat but it’s proven they are big pollutants. I really sympathise op. Hopefully an air filter will help in your home.

@opencecilgee lots of people have their windows open all year round including overnight. I must say it’s not for me, if nothing else I don’t want to be disturbed by any sounds outside, but I can’t tolerate the cold air coming in and cooling down the room either. My windows are open on a morning for a short period of time to air the house, but that is it (other than dogs being let out multiple times a day which also lets air in).

I believe you, this happened to us. Neighbour has an extension and the flue to the stove was level with our bedroom window. You can complain to the council, they will advise you to keep a diary. We realised that some of our windows were not great and needed replacing. In the interim we bought some draft excluder tape to put round the edges of the windows to seal the gaps- you can still open them in the day. We also got an air purifier and don’t open the doors and windows in the evening. Neighbour also got a fan type thing for the top of the flue and a device to test the wood before he burns it. It’s very rare we smell it now.