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?

I can’t stand the smell personally, awful things. DH thinks they are fab, he also has asthma, so I have said no way are we having one installed.

Our council issued a no burn notice last year because of the impact of the smoke on coronavirus patients trying to recover.

So people who live in close proximity to neighbours polluting the already polluted atmosphere are hysterical are they Bluntness? Nice.

It’s a real pain for so many people that would have installed burners over the last 20 years who were being told that it was an environmentally friendly or carbon neutral heating source. Like the car industry did a proper job lying about the benefits of diesel and fixing emissions testing to make the vehicles look cleaner than they are. People have been duped and air quality in cities has headed back in the direction of Victorian days with smoke puffing from chimneys (though of course that would have been coal not wood that people were burning then).

I don't think it's hysterical @Bluntness100 when people actually physically suffer from it. Fine if you're rural and not affecting people but in a city?? It also might be nice atmosphere for you while drinking wine sitting down in a sofa, but definitely not nice for people not being able to breathe properly and having headaches in their own houses because the air quality is so bad.

I live in a city and you can really tell when people are burning wood again especially on a cold night, it really sticks to your clothes and hair. The problem is how does the government ensure that people are burning the right stuff. It also seems very backwards for me to pollute the already polluted cities even more when you can choose alternative means of heating.

To be honest, Bluntness, you have no basis for any argument for wood burners when you admit you live rurally with a very large garden.
You shouldn't even be in the argument.

@Bluntness100

Loving this thread. The hysteria. They stink! Yout house stinks if you don’t open the window? The animals stink! Everyone stinks! Stop using it . Won’t someone think of the stink! 😂😂😂

I’ve two wood burners. We love them. But then we are self sufficient in wood, and live relatively rurally with a very large garden. They are also Defra approved. And we burn seasoned wood.

Nothing nicer than sitting with a glass of wine on a winters evening, cuddled up with the fire going.

Op, just make sure the stove is Defra approved, wood is properly seasoned and the stove is installed properly by hetas. Then enjoy.

We moved to an area full of Victorian houses and most of my neighbours have wood burners. At night there's a faint smell and that's it. We have a black car and have never seen any wood dust on it. If it's fitted properly and you're using kiln dried wood, there won't be any of these plumes of smoke people talk about seeing. A lot of them are multi fuel so some people are probably chucking all sorts in!

Just tell your neighbours to shoot off !!!! If they don’t want dirty cars build a garage.

My next door neighbour burns wood all the time , he’s a real tight arse and won’t put the heating on 😀. He just goes around and collects it for free. You get a slight whiff of smoke when he first fires it up if I’m outside, but after that you can’t smell anything.

Those people who say it fills their house up with smoke even with the windows closed ??????? You must have some really shit windows 😀

Sales of bagged traditional house coal will be phased out by February 2021, and the sale of loose house coal direct to customers will end by 2023
Sales of wet wood in small units (less than 2m cube) will be phased out from February 2021. Wet wood in volumes greater than 2m cube will also have to be sold with advice on how to dry it before burning
Makers of solid fuels will also need to show they have a very low sulphur content and only emit a small amount of smoke.

@Nanny0gg - good! Most of us who are defending the use of wood burners don't burn that shit. I pay a lot of money for properly dried wood. Therefore I have no guilt.

My neighbour who revs his ancient Porsche on his drive for at least 15 minutes on his drive every time he takes it out, however, he should have guilt. Same twat who has garden bonfires every week in the summer.

I only burn kiln dried wood and smokeless fuel. My house is over 100 years old and originally had at least six open fires. The last fire in the living room we converted to a more efficient multi fuel stove.

Not dust but I absolutely hate the smell of our neighbour burning theirs. It is such a strong smell, gets in to everything!! My hair and coat smell of it just from walking down the path.

We have one too, was here when we moved in, looks pretty but is never used.

I wonder if part of the issue is modern houses not having as high roofs or tall chimneys because I can’t smell mine when I’m outside. But my chimneys are over 12ft high on quite a tall house.

We moved to an area full of Victorian houses and most of my neighbours have wood burners. At night there's a faint smell and that's it

Yup. If done correctly, with the correct stoves and the correct fuel there is no issue, hence why there is no move to make that illegal.

People saying I wouldn’t know as I live relatively rurally is silly. I am able to actually stand outside my home and see if there is a smell. To see if there is smoke. To walk round my garden. . I am also able to see if there are dust issues on the patio. The garden furniture etc. There is not.

But again, you need a modern stove, properly fitted, and to use the correcr smokeless coal or well seasoned wood. If you’re not doing this, then yes, I imagine it’s problematic.

I can smell my neighbours every now and then because my windows have a permanently open vent in them and I have a gas fire, which, from reading this thread, may also be helping the smoke to come in. I'm not sure what can be done about it but it fills my living room and smells awful. They're probably sitting in theirs congratulating themselves on having such a wonderful wood burner!

Are you burning an approved and correctly stored fuel?

My neighbour burns wood gathered from the woods at the back of our road which I suspect, he doesnt dry out properly and the smoke belching out of the chimney is horrendous and definitely leaves soot on my car. The smell is awful too and even though theyre about fifteen feet away, the smell comes into my house.

@NuclearDH

I wonder if part of the issue is modern houses not having as high roofs or tall chimneys because I can’t smell mine when I’m outside. But my chimneys are over 12ft high on quite a tall house.

I think you are right. Especially concerning my neighbours skink funnel. It is such a strong smell, gets in to everything but it is not a proper on top of house chimney like in previous properties I've lived in. Its a modern metal type chimney coming out if a mainly glass single story extension.

@BrilliantBetty

Not dust but I absolutely hate the smell of our neighbour burning theirs. It is such a strong smell, gets in to everything!! My hair and coat smell of it just from walking down the path.

We have one too, was here when we moved in, looks pretty but is never used.

They mustn't be burning seasoned or kiln dried wood then.

This whole thread reminds me of all the old arguments between smokers and non-smokers.

Such a depressing thread. I appreciate individuals have health problems and with that I sympathise, but a live fire really is such a simple joy of life which harks back to our earliest days as a species. It would be a real shame to ban this simplest of lifes pleasure.

I do get that, I really do. A wonderful pleasure I enjoyed growing up, or on holidays in the dales. But I think of the hidden particulate deaths - remember that case recently where it was proven a girl died due to the pollution in her area - that's the tip of the iceberg, these are unseen deaths in huge numbers and lovely wood burners used by 8% of the population are causing 3 x the amount of particulates that traffic does, that just seems huge and disproportionate impact for the pleasure they bring. Yes, I suppose it is like the smoking arguments. The evidence is overwhelming but people don't want to see it or change. But it is affecting theirs and others health right now. I would probably feel like you if we had one, which we nearly did. But I couldn't in all conscience risk dh's health for it.

Do you have a source for that stat? Id like to share it with my husband who romanticises wood burning fires.

Very bad for the environment, I'm not surprised your neighbours are unhappy. Lots of councils are looking to ban them in coming years so you may not be allowed one soon anyway.

Really wondering what an earth people are burning on there to have thick smelly smoke, I live in the countryside, and most people have a wood burner or an open fire, and the only smell you get is a light one of warm wood. No thick smoke, and certainly not the type of smoke that clings to your clothes, it doesn't even come down to your level…I'm guessing that where you live people must be burning the wrong things, it really doesn't make any sense otherwise.

Have to admit even the I only burn kiln dried wood and have a modern stove I don’t know if I’d be in a hurry to have one fitted knowing what I know now. Ok, so with my tall chimneys I can’t smell the smoke but I accept it’s putting particles into the atmosphere. Which isn’t good.

Saying that if I didn’t have the log burner I’d use the central heating more. That electricity comes from somewhere. My nearest power station is a coal burning one. What’s the biggest polluter? Just because you flick a sterile switch and don’t see/smell any pollution doesn’t mean that your heating choices aren’t causing pollution. 🤷‍♀️ Though hopefully we as a country will use increasing amounts of solar and wind energy. Also nuclear energy but again I’m not sure if the environmental impact of that......better than coal power stations until suddenly it isn’t?