EPA Article

[Ohiowood]

http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/2013/11/25/unbelievable-seven-states-sue-epa-to-crack-down-on-residential-wood-burning/


Another EPA article

[CTYank]

Some people just don't get it. Their insistence on burning tires, RR ties, green wood rounds and garbage eventually bites them on the butt. Many older OWBs are super-smoke-dragons. Bad choice. Maybe feeding them a better diet more carefully would clean them up some; that takes thought and effort.

What makes white wood smoke is largely POM- polycyclic organic matter. An incredible chemical soup. Lung cancer anyone? Are we supposed to be cheering on these idiots?

[NWP]

Let's be realistic, this isn't about clean air or health. I'll stop there so this doesn't go to the restricted topics section.  ;D

[AnthonyW]

Around here most of the complaints I hear of are from people using their OWB during the summer to heat their hot water. People get tired of the smoke and the smell and then complain. Of course it gets blown out of proportion. So the argument goes from 'John Doe is smoking up the neighborhood in the summertime' to all 'all OWBs make too much smoke'.

There is no denying the possibility that big oil might be behind this as well.

[doctorb]

If your neighbors are close enough to have to tolerate the smoke and the smell, then.....

1.  Burn practices should be analyzed to minimize these irritants/pollution, and/or...
2.  A different and more efficient OWB should be used that decreases the amount of smoke, smell, and pollution, and/or...
3.  Maybe OWB's shouldn't be placed that close to your neighbors.

The EPA got involved with the Phase I and Phase II requirerments for a reason, i.e. particulate matter and air quality with the old-style OWB's.  I agree that some people want to ban all wood burning, which is just plain crazy.  But I can forsee a time when the older, "grandfathered-in" OWB's will be given a certain amount of time to be replaced, after which owning one will be illegal.  I know that will make some people cry "foul", but, IMO, that's where this is heading.  One could easily complain that this is "just a few bad apples spoiling the whole barrel", but the reality is that further regulation of these things is inevitable.

[Gary_C]

This is from the EPA website.

The term polycyclic organic matter (POM) defines a broad class of compounds that includes the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds (PAHs), of which benzo[a]pyrene is a member.  POM compounds are formed primarily from combustion and are present in the atmosphere in particulate form.  Sources of air emissions are diverse and include cigarette smoke, vehicle exhaust, home heating, laying tar, and grilling meat.

So I guess the idiots are the ones that smoke cigarettes, drive vehicles, heat their homes, drive on tar roads, and use a grill to prepare their meats.

Wood stoves are, for the most part, NOT a major problem in the rest of the country other than the heavily populated east coast. And the most complaints come from people in the cities burning their garbage and yes, dirty diapers in their fireplaces. The overwhelming majority of people with outdoor wood stoves only burn good clean wood.

But you never know what the EPA is going to do next. And you have to read the following excerpt from the article carefully to see how the facts are being spun.

Although wood is a renewable resource, "EPA estimates that outdoor wood boilers will produce more than 20 percent of wood burning emissions by 2017," the lawsuit claims.

[AnthonyW]

But you never know what the EPA is going to do next. And you have to read the following excerpt from the article carefully to see how the facts are being spun.

Although wood is a renewable resource, "EPA estimates that outdoor wood boilers will produce more than 20 percent of wood burning emissions by 2017," the lawsuit claims.

And to the filer's of the lawsuit I ask "and so? What the problem is with that?" There are worse things out there that should be regulated instead of the burning of a naturally occurring renewable resource.

[snowstorm]

the same gang that want to stop wood stoves or owb are the same ones that would not want the forest fire put out because its natures way. that smoke would be just fine

[John Mc]

I have a hard time ascribing the move to regulate dirty-burning heating equipment entirely to "big oil" or some sort of government plot.

Several times a week, I drive by a number of residences and a couple of small businesses with wood boilers that burn so dirty there is a fog over their whole area. I find my self thinking "how can anyone live in this neighborhood?"

I've flown over a few valley towns where I can see a yellow-brown haze settled in over the whole valley. It's so nasty-looking that I hesitate to descend into it land in those towns.  You can pick out a half dozen sources which make up the vast majority of the haze -- all wood boilers.

It would be one thing if the people doing this affected only themselves, but they don't. They are significantly adversely affecting their neighbors and their community. I'm all for wood heat, and heat my home primarily with a wood stove.  However, these folks are giving wood heat a bad name. It's no wonder that there are those who seek to regulate it, and ban equipment or practices that can blanket a neighborhood with this pollution.

The vast majority of those I see around here use good equipment, make an effort to operate that equipment properly, and burn appropriately seasoned wood.  The few bad apples are giving the whole wood heat industry a bad name.

[jwilly3879]

I live in a small town in the Adirondacks and there are 3 OWB's and 4 woodstoves in a 1/4 mile radius, the houses with the stoves will have smoke from the chimneys occasionally, must likely after reloading, the OWB's seem to have a steady stream of smoke that hangs in the low lying spots except when it is very cold.

Part of the problem is the idea that bigger is better and with an oversize unit they are running dampered down most of the time.

The DEC is supposed to be coming up with a way to check the opacity of the smoke and will begin to issue warnings and violations if the smoke contains too many particulates.

Burning seasoned wood is the easiest answer to clean burning but some people buy the OWB's because they can burn anything. More and more towns are introducing ordinances about OWB's and with good reason.

As others have stated, it is not every OWB that is a problem, some people just don't care what they burn.

The woodstoves don't seem generate the same number of complaints. We upgraded our stove in 2007 (non cat) and our neighbor asked if we were no longer burning wood, most of the time there is no visible smoke from the chimney but we are burning well seasoned hardwood.

[thecfarm]

I can only defend my OWB. I have the old style,no gassier.Mine will smoke when it calls for heat. But when it's not cycling,there is hardly any smoke coming out. I have seen my wood stove smoke more than my OWB. But when people are complaining that is ok. I have seen smoke comming out of a house, I tell the wife if that was a OWB the neighbors would have a fit.I just went out to fill my OWB, It was cycling,burning the wood,fans was on,and hardly any smoke was comming out.

[jwilly3879]

http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/51986.html


Are You Being Impacted by a Neighbor's OWB?

What conditions constitute a nuisance under Part 247?

Nuisance situations typically arise in cases where an OWB is installed too close to a property boundary line, or with a short stack or where the operator uses unseasoned wood or other inappropriate fuels. There are nuisance prohibitions in Part 247. Subdivision 247.3(c) provides that "no person may cause or allow air contaminants from an OWB ... which interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property." This subdivision is modeled after Section 211.2 and includes three examples of a nuisance condition:
•Activating smoke detectors in neighboring structures;
•Impairing visibility on a public highway; or
•Causing a visible plume migrating from an OWB and contacting a building on an adjacent property.

The above list is non-exhaustive and other conditions may also constitute a nuisance. Furthermore, subdivision 247.3(d) provides for an opacity limit of 20 percent (six minute mean).

What should you do if you are adversely impacted by smoke from a neighbor's OWB?

Contact the DEC regional office for your location. You may be asked to maintain logs to identify periods when smoke emitted from the OWB appears heaviest (PDF) (30 KB) and when/how your enjoyment of life and property are compromised (PDF) (29 KB). These logs may help the DEC resolve your complaint.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/regs/71720.html

[Windy_Acres]

Years back, I lived in my Mother-n-laws house for several years, at the end of her run, we moved in to take care of her in lieu of putting her in a home. She lived in town where almost no one heated with wood.

The next door neighbor was a 40+ year old drunk, living on welfare and smashed 24/7. He had a buddy with a tree service, that would dump trunks off at his place. 1/8 acre lots. His house, was 600sqft, the balance of the ground was partially cut up wood. He dried nothing, except for what was laying on the ground. That is how it got "seasoned".

I got tired of listening to him cut wood. Because he was lazy, it was a all year event, just a little at time, instead of just knocking it out. It was/is quite the eye soar.

Anyhow, he used the fireplace in the tiny house to heat. The house was not 25' from the MILs home. and unfortunately, down wind, 75% of the time. From fall to spring, we choked on the exhaust from his fireplace, he kept a cold smoky fire going. Im guessing he burned his trash as well, because he only had money for beer. He affected other neighbors. These rotten apples do exist.

I partially heat with VERY seasoned wood, and my closest neighbor is a 1/4 mile, I doubt they know we have a wood burner. I kind of figured this was coming,...

[jdonovan]

We as an industry/consumers have done this to ourselves.

The makers of all these boilers told the customers "It will burn any wood you put in there. Green, unsplit, rotten,  etc... Cut it down today, burn it tonight."  And the customers did.

At first only the out in the country folk were buying them. And that didn't disturb the neighbors because they were 100's of yards to the next house.

Now we find these units installed on 1/2 suburban lots, and people are still feeding them poor feedstock, and they smoke like heck, and enough neighbors are upset. Enough complaints to the elected officials, and you get rules/regs/laws because people were not being reasonable about how they were operating their boilers.

We don't have any boilers in the immediate area, but what a basic wood stove can do for smoking out the neighborhod is amazing. With the down turn the last few years I see more and more neighbors heating with wood. Some of these folks have chimneys that constantly spew dark smoke, that comes out the top, and then sinks down around the house... and spreads across the neighborhood.  I don't know how they can run a stove so cold, for so long.