To say don't use a wood burner if you have children in the house?

[MojoMoon]

AIBU to say anyone using a wood burning stove with children in the house when it is for cosy vibes and other forms of heating are available should be viewed the same way as someone smoking with children in the room or the car?

Particulate pollution has been linked to miscarriage, low birth weight, respiratory problems and a higher risk of developing dementia.

Why do wood burning defenders respond so vigorously to studies like this? Is it because they have spent money on a wood burning stove and don't want to accept that they should remove it? Is it because they have a feeling of guilt about having been using it with children for years and worry about the damage already done? Or do they simply not believe particulates to be dangerous despite all the scientific evidence to the contrary.

Study:

Children living in homes with wood burners could be exposed to over three times more particulate pollution than those in non-wood-burning homes. The results come from a study that looked at air pollution experienced by primary schoolchildren in Wales.

Fifty-three children from two primary schools in Anglesey (Ynys Môn) were given backpacks equipped with air pollution sensors. They took the packs home and carried them during their journeys to and from school.
Dr Hanbin Zhang, from the University of Exeter and part of the study team, said: “One thing that stood out was the home environment. This was the largest contributor to children’s daily particle pollution exposure – more than school or commuting. This was mainly due to indoor sources such as wood burning and indoor smoking.”

Short peaks in particle pollution were linked to home cooking and secondhand tobacco smoke. Home heating with a fire or stove was linked to longer exposures. In some cases, these persisted overnight in children’s bedrooms as fires remained lit or smouldering with poor ventilation.
Prof Zhiwen Luo from Cardiff University, who led the study said: “During home hours, the average particle pollution in non-smoking homes with wood burners was about 13 micrograms per cubic metre compared with 3.5 micrograms per cubic metre in non-smoking homes without wood burners.
“The study is small, but the contrast was consistent and supports the conclusion that wood burning can substantially increase indoor particle pollution.”
One school was in Holyhead, and the other was in a rural area. We often think of towns and cities are being the most polluted places, but on average, researchers found urban children experienced less particle pollution, compared with those at the rural school.
The study took place in winter, and researchers attributed these differences to contrasts in wood burning. This took place in 21% of homes for the urban schoolchildren and 53% in the rural school.

Cooking added to the measured air pollution, especially when the backpacks were left close to the kitchen in the children’s homes. Short pollution peaks were also measured when children walked past bakeries and restaurants on the high street.

Particle pollution inside the schools was much lower than during travel and at home.

Children who walked to and from school experienced less pollution compared with children who were driven. Parental smoking while driving produced the highest concentrations measured in the study.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/06/children-living-homes-wood-burners-exposed-pollution?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479725042677?via%3Dihub

I come from Denmark and we lived in the West Midlands for ten years. Definitely less cold and damp than Denmark!
Though I will acknowledge that we have not had rain 36 days in a row like I just saw in a British newspaper that some of you had. My condolences.

You can have some Daily Mail links

They also concerned they make you fat though which is a crime to the DM.
And they keep calling them "trendy".

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15431949/pollution-trendy-wood-burning-stove-fat.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-15144281/wood-burning-stoves-lung-decline-damage-smoking.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15170677/A-trendy-wood-burning-stove-killed-need-banned-anymore-damage.html

My wood burner is fine - no smoke gets into the room as it goes up the chimney, and once it's at temperature the particulates themselves get combusted - you won't actually see any smoke coming out of the flue.
My air purifier doesn't react to it, even when I open the door to add a log.
So I'm very happy to continue using it.

I do think if you are living in a densely populated urban area with central heating, and using a wood burner frequently just cos it's "pretty and cosy" then you are an inconsiderate polluting twat.

However, demonising them and banning them will greatly impact rural populations that really aren't causing the (urban) problem and they would otherwise be using expensive and polluting oil heating anyway. Urban people who have a real fire twice a year aren't the issue either.

It's not fair to just say "woodburners are bad".

YANBU. There is no reason for people to use them in the centrally-heated densely populated inner city area I live in, yet people do because it's 'nice' and 'natural' and 'sustainable' (no they aren't, not in most contexts). Each winter my clothes would reek just walking around my area for a couple of minutes. Before I realised how bad they are for health (YES, even the new 'clean burning' ones) I couldn't work out why I had a tight chest and post nasal drip all winter and couldn't get up the stairs at work without getting out of breath. Then I found out and bought massive HEPA air purifiers for our bedrooms. Haven't had a tight chest any winter since and luckily fewer people around here seem to be using woodburners now.

The fire on the TV is best

That's why we use a moisture meter.

@gaspanic How would you suggest it is policed?

In my log shed are logs cut from a sallow we took down in May '23, logs from an ash tree taken down in March'25, and kindling taken from a 120 year old roof. There is also a stack of wood from a hazel cut about 3 weeks ago.

The ash & hazel aren't fit to burn now, but in two years they will be. It's not bad wood, just not seasoned yet.

Anyone checking what I burn would have to check each log as I put it in the burner. Which obviously isn't going to happen.

And that's great, you'll be releasing fewer dangerous particles. Not everyone does though.

This thread has inspired to me use my air quality monitor. Woodburner in our sitting room has been going for hours, as well as 2 3 wick candles. I put the monitor close to the fireplace.

Air pollution level 001 (fresh)
HCHO 0.002
TVOC 0.010
PM2.5 0.03

About as good as you can get 😊

But it’s just so nice isn’t it?!

I think it very much depends on what's burned. My neighbour's chimney churns out smelly smoke because he's not very bright and he burns plastic and wet wood! But if you burn dry wood you won't have smelly fires. But re. the particulates, surely if you keen the door shut then you won't be breathing them in? They'll be escaping into the air outside, of course. But it's mostly car fumes I can smell outside.

I know that coal fires make my chest bad, and have avoided any form of open fire for that reason. Then wood burners became popular and I find I have the same reaction. Not just indoors, but outdoors too and I can smell them as soon as I exit our house.

I was always suspicious of gas hobs and apparently they are also big pollutants. And yes cars, particularly left ticking over cause me the same issues.

We do have gas central heating but I guess BC it vents outside it's not as bad.

But I do sympathise with those using wood burners to get warm and cosy when fuel prices are ridiculous..Just do it with the knowledge you are polluting your lungs and your families lungs too.
.

I'm fine with log burners. Scented candles on the other hand 😷. You'll find me in the garden coughing if friends burn them.

What do you mean when you say 'once it's at temperature the particulates themselves get combusted'?
I don't understand this sentence.

How did you test the air quality? My eyes have started stinging when I use the woodburner (HETAS approved and fitted), using kiln dried wood

I'm not a fan, I have a respiratory condition and I feel like it prolonged my cough when I was staying with family.

Diffusers can go to hell. I had a Rituals one and I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up gasping like an asthma attack and I don't have asthma. Got rid of the thing and was instantly better.

no idea what those numbers mean
where did you get the air quality measurer from?

YANBU. But it will fall on deaf ears. Wood-burner owners are evangelical and won’t hear a bad word against their excellent modern fixture.

Im just gonna come out with it and say jog on.

my cottage dated back to the late 1700s. Huge inglenook with a roaring multifuel burner. No aesthetically fake fire operated by a remote control would look right in it.

approved by hetas, fitted by a hetas engineer, which are given rules and regulations by the government.

so I aint worried a d frankly i don’t care. I pay for my wood and anthracite so i will burn away.

It's called secondary burn. The smoky crap and particulates themselves get combusted by the heat rather than going up the chimney as soot. It keeps the flue nice and clean too as creosote doesn't form.

Yes I think its inappropriate to talk about miscarriage when its so emotive and its natural to look for 'reasons', when in fact the vast majority of miscarriages dont have a reason at all, its very unfortunately quite a natural thing

Yes keeps the window of the burner nice and clean as well