My neighbours hate my wood burner.

[HollyBerryTree]

We are in a cul de sac of detached bungalows.
My wood burner was fitted last Autumn and at the moment we are using it a lot and we love it.

But the neighbours says it creating dust which lands on their cars.

Is this a possibility?

To the best of my knowledge it's all properly fitted, it came from a reputable local company. If it's dropping dust on my car I wouldn't notice. I've got an old Fiesta that's on its last legs. I work full time. The neighbours work at home and polish their lovely cars a lot.

Can you get filters?
Maybe it's just because it's been super windy?
Does your wood burner make dust?

Domestic wood burning is responsible for 38% of pm2.5 particulate matter compared to 12% from road vehicles. Traffic is responsibly for a heap of other nasties like Nox pollution - and this also needs tackling.

And it’s not just outdoor pollution. Every time you open a stove to put on a new log, the room the stove is in is flooded with particulate matter. British Lung Foundation and Asthma U.K. both recommend only burning wood if there is no other alternative source of heat because of the immediate risk to health.

I loathe my neighbour's wood burner, and we have had to put up with the nuisance for years. The smoke from it absolutely stinks and when they have the fire going, even though all our windows are closed, we can still smell it. It is absolutely vile.

Someone in our neighbourhood has one and it smells like bonfires every night.

I agree with a pp, may be the Saharan sand we have had in the past couple of weeks .
We had a new multi-fuel burner installed when the pollution issue was raised last year . It was an expensive exercise but the new models are very well engineered and emit 99% less noxious gases. We are in the country and the only alternative is extremely expensive electricity . Probably produced by environmentally ‘friendly’ coastal wind farms that are causing untold problems for migratory birds, whales and dolphins . Or perhaps the fields of solar panels on arable land ...

@Thesunrising

Domestic wood burning is responsible for 38% of pm2.5 particulate matter compared to 12% from road vehicles. Traffic is responsibly for a heap of other nasties like Nox pollution - and this also needs tackling.

And it’s not just outdoor pollution. Every time you open a stove to put on a new log, the room the stove is in is flooded with particulate matter. British Lung Foundation and Asthma U.K. both recommend only burning wood if there is no other alternative source of heat because of the immediate risk to health.

Yes, but did you read further than the headline? And see what percentage of that was open fires? Old stoves, and what tiny percentage modern Defra approved stoves burning seasoned wood causes.

I have a wood burner. I don’t like it much because of the dust and the smell.
My neighbours don’t like my cats and have poured anti freeze into their outside water bowls and glued spikes onto the adjoining walls. 2 of my cats have been injured and died due to my neighbours behaviours.
My neighbour has 2 shiny Porsche cars plus they put their tumble dryer vent through a window that they leave open for this purpose.
Every time I see the cars out and window open I go and light the wood burner and I use paper that turns interesting tiny black flakes. I like to do this when the cars are freshly washed and damp or if I see them go out fort the dar leaving their window open.
I won’t be walked on

Could someone please point to large-scale research that demonstrates that wood burning stoves with DEFRA approval are bad for health or the environment and how they compare to other sources of airborne contaminants in terms of their relative risk?

It’s disgusting, I hate it.
Mine have one and it’s a panic to shut all of the windows as soon as it goes on.

I love the look of wood burning stoves - considered having one a couple of years ago. Then my son had one fitted. I suffer from asthma and I could not be in the same room as a wood burner.
In fact I can’t be in any room where there is a wood burner, no matter how well insulated it is, it puts particles into the air that irritate peoples lungs, in fact it deposits particles in everybody’s lungs but you probably don’t react to it unless you have a lung problem.

Wood is a carbon neutral energy source. Better for the environment than using gas/oil.
People need to be much more concerned about dogs/cats when it comes to the environment- they have a very bad carbon paw print due to them eating so much meat. Assistance dogs excepted, no one should be buying a cat or dog in this time of climate emergency- they are a luxury the planet cannot afford.

I would genuinely like to see this too.

We have 2 burners and use regularly but I honestly wasn’t aware of a lot of the issues raised here. A lot of the houses have them here and I quite like the smell of woodsmoke, it is a smell you often find in rural areas. I’ve never noticed it coming inside from other people burning, but then I don’t tend to have windows open in winter. You can smell it outside but really just a whiff. Must admit I don’t like the smell of smokeless coal burning though, even if it is made from recycled materials.

Seriously, I wouldn't take any notice. People have been burning wood since the dawn of time. Personally, I hate the traffic, noise, pollution and risk to life caused by cars, but I don't try to stop my neighbours from using one!!

We had a wood burner in our previous house and no-one ever complained.

I think your neighbours could just be jealous. Ignore their complaints, there are dust molecules in the air anyway and as another poster has said, there's no way of knowing whether the dust on their car has come from your chimney or not.

@HedgeSparrows

Wood is a carbon neutral energy source. Better for the environment than using gas/oil. People need to be much more concerned about dogs/cats when it comes to the environment- they have a very bad carbon paw print due to them eating so much meat. Assistance dogs excepted, no one should be buying a cat or dog in this time of climate emergency- they are a luxury the planet cannot afford.

Air pollution is a different issue to carbo neutrality.

Wood burners are damaging people's lungs.

@Aalvarino

Could someone please point to large-scale research that demonstrates that wood burning stoves with DEFRA approval are bad for health or the environment and how they compare to other sources of airborne contaminants in terms of their relative risk?

Lots of info is easily available, including scientific articles.

It is pretty non-controversial science - breathing stuff in is bad for your lungs.

There has been dust on our cars (south east) over the last week. I don't know why - I have seen dust from the Sahara rained onto our cars before now - could it be this?

I would hate bro b your neighbour too. They stink and I can't understand how they are allowed.

@Harmonypuss

We had a wood burner in our previous house and no-one ever complained.

I think your neighbours could just be jealous. Ignore their complaints, there are dust molecules in the air anyway and as another poster has said, there's no way of knowing whether the dust on their car has come from your chimney or not.

Dust, no. Ash, yes.

I think that oil-fired central heating is probably worse, if it using gas oil then that is the same as diesel (but with lower tax). Central heating systems generally run much longer, for a whole house and may heat the hot water too, whilst I would suggest that a wood burning stove is only used for one room and for considerably less time.

Worse in what sense though?

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles

I think that oil-fired central heating is probably worse, if it using gas oil then that is the same as diesel (but with lower tax). Central heating systems generally run much longer, for a whole house and may heat the hot water too, whilst I would suggest that a wood burning stove is only used for one room and for considerably less time.

Oil-fired central heating can also be bad yes. If someone is using a log burner for heating then it is less of a problem as it is instead of central heating, though the particles emitted (pm2.5 in particular) are still a problem. It's the people using them as well as central heating, who have installed them because they look nice that are more of a problem.

The whole situation is a bit like diesel cars. Years ago I bought a diesel,car because the govt were falling over themselves to tell people they were less polluting than petrol. Now it turns out they are less polluting in one respect but more in another and are being totally demonised. I think it’s the same diesel are better for the environment but worse for people’s health.

Seems to be a similar thing with log burners. Not that long ago people were saying how carbon neutral they were, etc. I thought having one put in and using it instead of central heating was a good thing. Now it seems it may be better for the environment but not for people. But only a few years ago that research wasn’t there or if it was nobody was talking about it.

I wonder if you are in a hollow so the 'smoke' goes down to the ground so neighbours can smell it. Otherwise I don't see how they know it is lit - unless they see you wheelbarrowing in mounds of logs (perhaps do this after dark).
I can smell our neighbours' stove sometimes, the smell of woodsmoke but seldom smell ours and there's no dust outside, our cars sit directly outside.

Our next door neighbours have a wood burner in their house, but I can never smell it. What I can smell though is the brick fireplace that’s been built outside in their garden. Can smell it without opening windows. Probably using any kind of wood. They put it on in the evenings, with their music blaring out into the garden. No thought of their older neighbours. So we get smoke and noise pollution.

@TomHardyAndMe....

The ash from a log burner settles at the bottom of the burner, very little, if any, goes up the flue.

I just think the OP's neighbours are, as previously said, jealous, or they're simply nit-picking. Cars collect also of dust, dirt and crime from simply sitting outside, the OP cannot be blamed for that!

@HedgeSparrows

Wood is a carbon neutral energy source. Better for the environment than using gas/oil. People need to be much more concerned about dogs/cats when it comes to the environment- they have a very bad carbon paw print due to them eating so much meat. Assistance dogs excepted, no one should be buying a cat or dog in this time of climate emergency- they are a luxury the planet cannot afford.

Clearly NOT an animal lover then!

Pets are, in their own way, ALL assistance animals because they improve the mental wellbeing of their owners!