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?

My NDN has one and I have never one smelled it.

Unfortunately he's also got a bloody burn barrel in the garden into which he chucks anything he can get his hands on and pours petrol on top. Now thats a huge problem.

Very interesting link to information about health risks associated with wood burning stoves

London gov site

I honestly believe they will be banned in towns and cities before too long.

@NuclearDH

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?

Are you in the UK? You can opt for all renewable energy from lots of big suppliers now. You do pay slightly more sometimes, but the one I'm on is only £5 more per year.

@Chicchicchicchiclana

Very interesting link to information about health risks associated with wood burning stoves

London gov site

I honestly believe they will be banned in towns and cities before too long.

Yes they will be banned. There have already been consultations in my local council, and the plan is to phase out the use of them in the council area over the next few years, with bans on certain types of fuel/wood to start with with an outright ban coming in later.

I think a pp hit on something - to those who are complaining about the smell, what sort of chimney do your neighbours have & how high is it?

I'd agree that having a modern metal chimney sticking out the side & just above a single storey extension, almost level with & a few meters from your neighbours windows in a typical London terrace etc, is incredibly antisocial & selfish & should be more highly regulated.

@AdobeWanKenobi

My NDN has one and I have never one smelled it.

Unfortunately he's also got a bloody burn barrel in the garden into which he chucks anything he can get his hands on and pours petrol on top. Now thats a huge problem.

Report him to the council. I can't believe that's allowed in a residential garden in a built up area.

I'm not sure about the dust on the cars thing, but our neighbours have a wood burner and I'm not a fan. I think there's is a cheapy one, as smoke goes everywhere and it stinks. They used to use it in the daytime alot last year in Summer, we had to close our windows and couldn't put any washing out. I've seen them put wet logs on it so maybe that's why it smokes even more.

We get on well with them, so I mentioned it to them and they moved it to the end of the garden, problem solved...sort of.

@Combandgo I think you're talking about a fire pit rather than a wood burning stove inside a house.

Thats the plan if he doesn't knock it on the head @GreyhoundG1rl
Last summer it was every time the weather was nice from 2 in the afternoon until 11 at night. I couldn't open my windows at it enveloped my house. Utter nightmare.
I've had a word and he's not lit it since (literally the first nice day we had this year he was out, can of beer in hand). If it continues into the warmer months I'm absolutely reporting because I can't take another summer of it.

@Combandgo

I'm not sure about the dust on the cars thing, but our neighbours have a wood burner and I'm not a fan. I think there's is a cheapy one, as smoke goes everywhere and it stinks. They used to use it in the daytime alot last year in Summer, we had to close our windows and couldn't put any washing out. I've seen them put wet logs on it so maybe that's why it smokes even more.

We get on well with them, so I mentioned it to them and they moved it to the end of the garden, problem solved...sort of.

Think this thread is about household log burning stoves mainly not garden type ones. Though I bet they’re a real pain.

Haven’t RTFT but yes. Live next door to someone with a wood burning stove (there are 3 in the cul de sac - none have brick chimneys so have the metal chimneys on the outside of the house). Since they got them my black sports car gets covered in ash. Very obvious what it is. I don’t make a fuss because they are otherwise good neighbours and it rains so much here the ash isn’t usually there for long.

More concerned about the carcinogens we’re all breathing as a of them though.

@FurierTransform we are in a bungalow as is our neighbour with one of those ugly metal chimneys protruding 3 or 4m up from his flat roof extension, it’s not on his actual roof, his house isn’t side on to ours and probably 15m from our house. I don’t know what he burns but it produces a lot of smoke and if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction it blows straight at our house. We have to make sure the vents in our windows are closed all the time or our house stinks of smoke. I honestly don’t know what we can do about it. It’s interesting people saying that it causes lung problems as I have been to Drs a few times with breathing difficulties since we moved here and they can’t find a cause, it’s always in winter and I had never contemplated it could be from the log burner.

They kick out more particulates than a diesel car.

I appreciate individuals have health problems and with that I sympathise

But they aren't only bad for people with existing health problems, they contribute to causing health problems! I like the atmosphere and smell of a real fire or a log burner too, but there is no way I would have one now.

People don't want to believe it, because they love their woodburners, don't want to get rid of them, and don't want to think about whether their use of one might already have affected their future health.

They should be banned because they damage air quality, I’m not sure I care about dirty cars, but it’s unconscionable to damage the lungs of growing children and people with respiratory problems. Perhaps you should think again?

I have a wood burner that is really a gas fire, it was expensive but I love turning it on with a press of the remote control.

My neighbour has one and my house stinks if i leave a window open at night. The side of my dorma is filthy off it and My cats also stink of burnt wood. Awful things

They don't smell any different to a normal fire. Why would they smell stronger? As for dust, I don't think so....really??

It's bitterly laughable that your neighbours are complaining about your air pollution landing on their creators of air pollution...

But yes, we have a neighbour luckily quite a few houses down the road, but when we went out for walks on cold winter nights, more than once we thought there was a house fire somewhere because there was so much smoke coming from it.
There's an area near us where wood burners are popular, and again the amount of smoke from them is astonishing, and it makes it really unpleasant to walk around on cold days.

To be fair, it's probably been much worse this year because people are at home for much longer, so they've had them on more.
I can't say I've ever seen ash on cars/the street, so your neighbours may be being fussy about that, but your burner probably is letting off a smell if they're mentioning it. Sorry - a friend of mine got one recently, and I didn't say anything (we're not close) but I did feel sad that she'd spent all that money and presumably hadn't thought about how it might go with her neighbours (terraced street). They do look beautiful inside, but they are horrible from the outside of your home, sadly.

We recently bought a bioethanol 'wood'burning stove as we live in London and didn't want to pollute the place further (we already have an open fire in one room, we don't use it a lot though)

It is really lovely, looks just like a normal stove and you get a real flame but there is no pollution. If anyone is hankering after a real flame I can recommend them. Ours is in an open fireplace and has a fake chimney too so it looks real, you can have them out in the room too.

We have the trad looking one in the link but they do the modern sort too.

www.imaginfires.co.uk/bioethanol-fireplace/woodburner-stove

You need to be responsible neighbours and take steps to make sure your woodturner isn't chucking out particulates that are harmful to health. I've read up on woodturners because I thought I might like one, but would never have one now. They're horrendous for lowering local air quality and, as most homes in the UK have some form of central heating or wood/fuel-less heating, I don't understand why they haven't been outlawed - government are constantly banging on about the need for us all to lower our carbon footprint and yet woodburners are still seen as a must have for so many people.

You stick with your woodburner my love, they're comforting and the smokey smell outside is one of my favourite scents. Can't see how they could be getting dust on their cars from it, but why not ask them to show you for yourself if the subject comes up again? It's a perfectly legal and very effective form of heating: you spent a lot of money on it (I presume, since they've never struck me as cheap!) and you like it. It's your property. Your choice.

People have a right to clean air, wood burners should be outlawed and enforced. My mum would end up in hospital if our next door were burning logs, she’s severely asthmatic.

Really isn’t fair to use a wood burner on a regular bases, just because you like it doesn’t mean others do.

They’re an environmental nightmare, unfortunately. Polluting and carcinogenic. I speak as someone who was about to get one installed then read the facts. . Indefensible I’m afraid. Shall spend the cash on a nice holiday instead - not by plane obvs!!

Was looking for something to politely annoy my neighbours 😂 thanks for the idea 😅