Neighbours Wood Burner

[Livingonaprayeryeah]

My Neighbour had a wood burner installed a few weeks ago by a legit Company and the flue looks to be legit height, approx 4m tall on the external wall.

The problem is, the top of his flue sits below my bathroom & bedroom windows since I live in a house and he is a Bungalow, and the road slopes down. Now I can’t have the windows open or put washing out as it smells of smoke.

It’s not terribly bad and the smoke isn’t black, but it is noticeable. If I open the back door or window, I can smell it. He has it on literally all day.

Is this normal? Should I be able to smell it?

I raised the issue with Neighbour politely and he said he is burning the right fuel and it is a new burner and he has all the certification and follows the rules etc. So I’m wondering, is this it then. Is this the new norm for us. We live in a Smoke Control Zone.

It’s very annoying as it blows on to the bathroom window, my DC bedroom
window & the downstairs loo window, as well as the back door. All windows that I need to keep open after showers/toileting. I also hate not being able to put washing out now as I have done for years. I have young Children, one has serious respiratory issues, so I wouldn’t allow him out in the garden now if the burner is on.

Is this the reality of living next to a log burner? I don’t know if not being able to open my windows & put washing out would be classed as nuisance by the Council? I can’t and don’t want to move; just want to know if this is our new reality or if there’s anything I can do?

It's experience not opinion I was unlucky enough to live next door to twat neighbours who had one of those things burning 24/7 made my life hell and made me unwell - i feel deeply sorry for anyone in that situation I was expecting twats with woodburners to come at me after my post and you didn't dissapoint well done you 👏

Can you link to that study please> because from my understanding there was no differentiation in stoves and open fires and types of fuel being burned, in addition the study I saw which claimed this in wood burners v vehicles, was completely debunked, as they ran the vehicle very slowly, ran the wood burner hotter than normal, only took the vehicles exhaust into account, which is half the pollution, also ensured they failed to capture correctly as the exhaust fumes come out close to the ground.

so basically unscientific, flawed, and biased.

Burning wood emits more CO2 than gas or coal

I'm puzzling over that claim because what happens to the wood that wasn't burnt, that means no CO2 got released (never) from that same lump of wood.

Is the 'more CO2' after adjustment per unit of heat obtained by burning?

I've an ecodesign woodburner and burn only very well seasoned wood, ash or sycamore.
Luckily live in the middle of nowhere.

The smoke and smell whenever first started is very noticeable especially when we have a lot of high pressure & little wind, once its running hot, there is virtually nothing.

However, they really should be banned in an urban setting including villages, it does sound like your neighbour either has a multistove or he is burning poorly seasoned wood or wood that smokes a lot, regardless of its moisture content, such as Pine/Spruce.

It’s not at all hyperbole. Wood heating, even in a Defra-approved stove, is incredibly polluting and does harm others living nearby. The certified stove info here gives an overview of the problem.

It’s interesting some of these comments seem to be written by people in the wood burning industry, using talking points only they believe and repeat. Are wood heater sellers feeling so threatened they are now monitoring Mumsnet for posts written by people whose families are being victimized by their products? Interesting.

I think the people going on about how the correct usage produces no smoke must be fully healthy without respiratory problems. We're not necessarily talking about smoke you can see. It's invisible smoke/fumes but it's still there in the air and we can feel it in our constricted lungs and our inability to breathe properly. I can breathe better inside these properties than outside where the fumes are.

A lot of people I know with them who use them regularly seem to have access to free wood from felled trees. They use the wood burner because it's cheaper than any other form of heating for them, it looks nice to have a fire burning, they're not affected by the fumes at all themselves and can't smell it when they're inside with the windows shut. Their laundry isn't affected by it because they're using a tumble dryer, in summer too, some of them. They aren't interested in the environment/global warming and think it's a load of bollocks. They also don't care about anyone outside in the street who's affected by the fumes or smell because however nice they are/seem, they've got a selfish streak.

My neighbor downstairs flat has GCH, but I can't have my windows on one side open to air a room if their gas boiler is on because their flue is below my living room window so the fumes come straight in.

24th January Clean Air Night "Shining a light on the uncomfortable truth about woodburning"

www.cleanairhub.org.uk/clean-air-night

Huh? That’s a level of paranoia seldom seen. Are the people against them all working for energy companies then? By the same metrics they must be.

What the Stove Industry Alliance supporters on here fail to grasp is that this is not just about general neighbourhood air pollution, but also the disproportionate health impacts on close neighbours of wood burners. Until your neighbour installs a wood burner in a position that causes toxic fumes to enter your home, you cannot imagine the stress and physical health impacts this has on your life, particularly if you have a lung or heart condition. Experiencing PM2.5 levels of up to 200 micrograms per cubic metre (normal levels are around 5) and warnings on our Carbon Monoxide detectors when the stove is in use is clearly dangerous. But this is an "Ecodesign" stove, approved by HETAS and supposedly burning kiln dried wood, so nobody cares. There is nothing “Eco" about these wood burners. They are deadly and it is a dangerous marketing ploy similar to "low tar" cigarettes i.e the difference between extremely toxic and very toxic.

It is not as easy as "just move" which always seems to be the solution offered by abusive trolls on social media. Most people don't have the luxury of being able to move home at short notice as they have employment, family, schools commitments, etc. as well as it being prohibitively expensive. Realistically, there is nowhere we could move anyway where it could be guaranteed the neighbours could not install a wood burner and ruin our lives yet again. Road vehicles are not allowed to idle for more than 2 minutes because of the high localised pollution this causes, but we have to suffer much higher pollution levels than this in our home because our selfish neighbours like staring at a pretty flame.