If you use a wood burning stove - what would change your mind?

[letmeeatinpeace]

I live in a densely populated area in London, and the smoke from wood burners seems to be getting worse each year (it's coming into our home).

I'm intrigued to hear from people who use wood burners whether there's anything that would possibly change your mind to stop using them?

I would really love to persuade our smoke-producing neighbours to be more considerate and switch them off, or at least switch to something smokeless, so any tips on how to go about it in a positive way would be much appreciated.

I don't actually know which property it's coming from - it's probably several.

Would dropping leaflets with useful info about smokeless fuel, and proper stove usage be appreciated..? I'm pretty desperate..! (I'm borderline asthmatic, and really worry about my dc's exposure)

Also, is smokeless fuel genuinely smokeless?

(I will also go down the route of contacting my council, if needed, but I just don't imagine they'd do much specially as we don't know where it's coming from)

Also intrigued by the number of new or NC posters popping up on this subject.

And what would be the carbon footprint of demolishing all these houses, clearing the rubble (think of the addition to landfill alone)and manufacturing the materials to rebuild them? It would be huge and probably never offset by lower heating costs.

Lower energy prices. It's cheaper for me to use my woodburning stove than heat my (small) house with the central heating. If you can achieve that for me I will gladly go back to using central heating!

Even though the effects of climate change are very real and becoming more and more obvious, sadly, I don't think anyone would care. The world could be on fire (and is) and people will still buy unnecessary crap off Temu and Shein. They just don't care, even for the sake of their own children

I would still like to know, as none of the posters have directly answered this question - how do you feel that your wood burning stove is having a direct impact on your neighbours' health? Are you unaware, or just simply don't care?

Genuinely interested to know.

I don’t care/think about it in the same way that I don’t think about it if I ever drive my husband’s petrol car. I live in a highly polluted area and feel that my husband putting the woodburner on two nights is a drop in the ocean compared to all of the traffic pollution. Every single house on my road has at least one car, most have two, despite us being 10 mins walk from a tube station. So we’re all making totally unnecessary decisions that negatively affect our neighbours’ health.

I used this map to decide where to live in London - choosing an area with safe levels of pollution and away from main roads. I had previously lived in a more central area, and felt too bad for how it could affect my DC's health.
https://www.londonair.org.uk/london/asp/annualmaps.asp

We don't own a car, and I don't understand why anyone would need one in London unless they have a disability, or it's essential for work. I asked my neighbour why they have one (in a genuinely curious way) and they said it was so they could get to a different gym as they don't like the one that's walking distance.

Yes, I don't feel happy that our CH is destroying the planet. I'd be v happy to pay extra in tax if it could have a positive impact.

Maybe I'm particularly sensitive to the smell of smoke as my DP doesn't mind it, and actually likes the smell... he doesn't care about the health impacts, so it's interesting to see how different people react.

@user1477391263 we live in one of those draughty old houses which is also Grade II* listed and astonishingly beautiful. We rarely use our central heating and just put up with cold rooms and rely on heated throws, electric blankets and warm clothing instead (and one log burner which uses our own well seasoned wood). Most people I know who live in big old houses also just put up with it as the cost of heating would be prohibitive.

I find most shops and other peoples houses uncomfortably warm and stuffy and am baffled that people heat their living rooms to 22c and bedrooms to 18c. Our rooms are often colder than this in summer.

I’m always fascinated by Gogglebox as even in the depths of winter most of the people on it are wearing t shirts and light clothing. The exception is Giles and Mary who tend to be rugged up.

These threads seem to pop up regularly. The Guardian is obsessed with wood burners for some reason

I simply dont believe that wood smoke, is coming out of someones chimney and into your home.

We dont live in London but in a big town, we have one, its on every night at the moment. I wouldnt be without it, I love it. We do have gas central heating too but its not on if the burners on.

We have an air monitor, the few times its gone off is if we are frying something in the kitchen which is 2 rooms away. Its in the same room as the burner. I got it because of the hysteria on here about how Im poisioning myself (and others).

It has reassured me, as I suspected, that the air in the house is fine, as will be the air in other people's houses around us.

Next door have a coal fire, I certainly dont smell that.

How interesting, what kind of air monitor do you have and where did you get it from? I'm looking for something similar.

I stayed in a holiday cottage that had a sort of pellet burner- looks like a wood burner but has a pellet hopper on top and then it feeds them into a little burning tray automatically. V impressive heat generation and almost zero ash- you could just hoover it out every few days. I’d definitely consider one of those.

Ive got a feeling its this one. After being obsessed with the readings after we got it, we calmed down and dont check them on the phone anymore. The light shows if its green, amber or red and then you check on the phone to see what is happening.

Ive remembered the other time it goes red for a bit as well, when the cleaner has been!!! Spraying all her bloody sprays around.

OH linked it up with the amazon thing/alexa (whatever it is) and you can check the levels over each hour and each day.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/amazon-smart-air-quality-monitor-know-your-air/dp/B08X2V5K28/ref=asc_df_B08X2V5K28/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=534966840625&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5521597347720020679&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045060&hvtargid=pla-1466850089732&psc=1&mcid=77c9464542463eb3a07fda38ce6a6540&th=1&psc=1

I am always slightly bemused by these threads.
We live in a town. We have a woodbutner. At least 4 other houses in our quiet street have fires or woodburners.
Most are lit at the weekend.

You don't smell them in the street apart from the occasional waft. You don't see any smoke at all, and there are no issues with eg hanging out washing (which I have seen claimed on other threads)
Maybe it is because they are all using correctly fitted chimneys? Who knows.

We never buy wood. We have a huge wood stack under a tarp which is freshly cut wood seasoning. Then a proper wood pile under a roof which is this current seasons logs to use, and they are drying, and then we bring bags into the garage to finally dry out before burning.

Very very little smoke and no smell.

I use it becuase the wood is free, and it means that there are many days that I don't have to tuen on my heating. I also confess that I love the cosiness of it.

We save the environment and our 'neighbours' health in many other ways - minimal car usage, no holiday flights, solar panels, compost all our waste, keep chickens for eggs, grow our own veg.
we are very conscious of the carbon footprint of everything we buy, and try and be economic, low waste, etc, etc,

So I suppose it is all a trade off. This one thing I do, compared with whatever it is that is the one thing that you do.

We save the environment and our 'neighbours' health in many other ways - minimal car usage, no holiday flights, solar panels, compost all our waste, keep chickens for eggs, grow our own veg.
we are very conscious of the carbon footprint of everything we buy, and try and be economic, low waste, etc, etc,

Likewise. I consider myself to be very environmentally conscious. In general the environmental sustainability of heating with wood is far more important than particulates.

My former neighbour had a woodburner and she invited me round for drinks on a cold night, so it was lit. The heat was too much for me and my eyes were watering and breathing became difficult, but she was completely fine, so I suppose people's reactions vary enormously. I could also smell it regularly from outside, as I can the few others in my immediate area. Aside from the health impacts, I really don't like the smell of smoke, and definitely don't want it in my house, so I have to make sure the trickle vents are closed in the evenings.

CH is the lesser of two evils from my perspective, but I use it sparingly. I agree with the PP that it's surprising that so many expect to sit around in T Shirts in the middle of winter, whatever heat source they are using. Declining levels of physical activity may be a factor. I feel so much warmer after a good long walk than after a few hours sat at my desk or on the sofa.

@steppemum I agree with you, we live in the country but have 2 cottages right next to us. Both of them have wood burners going most evenings. I have never once smelt smoke. @ClematisBlue49 I would never have ours going without all the doors to the room open.

The “embodied carbon” thing is rather like “food miles” —a concept that’s been massively overblown and is becoming counterproductive.

https://capx.co/reaching-net-zero-means-changing-cities-and-more-demolitions/

Retrofitting is a good option for many/most old buildings. Some, however, should go. In particular, we should go for demolition where there this offers the option of building denser housing, because the UK urgently needs to find ways of building four million more homes WITHOUT creating even more sprawl and car dependency.

That article is not a serious investigation into the cost/benefit of demolishing housing stock.

I did a proper day by day calculation last winter, and prices have gone up again so..

If I had the heating on all day, I could easily spend £10-14 per day. I spend £100 a month on logs to heat the house all day. The log burner seems to get the house up to about a degree warmer than the gas, so similar result for a lot less.

Also, I can smell petrol in my house when people use my tiny street as a rat run each morning so are we going to ban cars too?

They need to be banned in London and other built up areas.

I'd love one but knowing what I know about how dangerously polluting they are, I couldn't in good conscious have one installed. I have no idea what proportion of people living in built up areas who use or install them know this and are just bloody selfish or don't know and assume they are ok because they are legal?

One of my neighbours smokes cigarettes so any lung damage is likely to be self inflicted.

Wood burners are actually more eco friendly than many have us believe, especially when using sustainable wood from forests purpose grown.Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and produce oxygen, offsetting any smoke pollution.

Do you use any form of eco friendly power, OP?
Solar panels ?
Heat pump?

What about your car ? Is it new? ( consider the carbon footprint in its manufacture, the amount of electricity used to make it, transportation to point of sale … on a diesel powered ship, diesel lorry )
Consider all the negative effects to the environment directly linked to that ! That’s aside from the damage and devastation caused by lithium mining for electric car batteries.
And if you use primarily electricity and gas then you are obviously unaware of the impact of your lifestyle on the environment and those around you and in the wider world … or you don’t care !

well, that is not our experience.
we never have it that hot.
My kids have been well trained to not ask for heat on until they have sweaters, socks and slippers on.
If you have a wood burner on and you have the room doors open, then the heat will go into the rest of the house.

But your neighbours' wood burners are damaging your lungs as well as their own.

Don't have a car and I'm afraid you are wrong about the eco credentials of wood burners v gas heating ( though clearly gas not great or sustainable). Report here.

Again, completely misunderstanding the article. Particulate levels are not the same thing as pollution and certainly not the same as environmentally (un)friendly

to take an extreme example it’s a bit like saying log burners are more harmful than heating your home with a lump of exposed nuclear material because the particulate levels from the wood burner are way higher. It may be true to say the particulate levels are higher. It’s certainly not true to say the wood burner is therefore more harmful than the nuclear material.

Can you not sort out your draughts if that's causing the issue?