Wood Stove Pollution and PM2.5 Particle Emissions TESTED ✓
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- čas přidán 22. 11. 2022
- Should you be worried about wood stove / log burner air pollution? Many articles state that PM2.5 particle emissions are tripled indoors when using a wood stove. But is that the full story? No! In this video I talk about the tests that I carried out using an air quality monitor to find out what levels of air pollution are caused by lighting up a fire to keep warm!
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This fire pit is one of a few covered pits that is on the list czcams.com/users/postUgkxAU9pOCSV9Y5JprooHvfxTpOrt4hx8uRM of approved products for Disney Fort Wilderness. The product served its purpose well and provided excellent fires throughout the evening. We were able to open the door and do s'mores, but I had to be careful because the handle was a bit hot on occasions. Additionally, I wish they had replaced some of the standard nuts with lock nuts in some places. We lost the door handle after just a couple of days of usage. Not a deal breaker, just a recommendation. I still give it 5 stars.
My tip being a pyromaniac. Always do a top down method of fire lighting. Large logs on the very bottom then a layer of slightly smaller logs, then kindling and then the lighting nest on top. Like a pyramid. The heat from the top makes the syn gasses come out from the wood underneath which are then ignited rather than loose the un-combusted gas out the chimney. You'll have a much more efficient burn that way. cheers J
I find doing that way to result in large amounts of " charcoal" being made as mine is a wood burner only and has no grate and the charcoal gets buried under ash that means an incomplete burn
Stupid method if you actually want to get warm.
@@pictlandpickers1171 it burns the most efficient way that a fire can burn. It is a slower burn and doesn't require as much fuel. If your house is poorly insulated then I can see why you wouldn't like that method.
@@joshuadelisle so you let the fire go out so you can start the process again? My stove is not like this one so wouldn't work. It certainly wouldn't give off heat which if you are only using a stove for heat not decoration it defeats the point. When I come home and want some heat I want a roaring fire the slow it down with bigger logs. I don't use the central heating.
@@pictlandpickers1171 my stove has fire bricks so you only need one burn and the heat radiates out all night with embers for the morning. To constantly feed the fire is work...
Well, just to add a comparison number to this: I have an air quality monitor in my living room, and over the summer, when windows are open, I regularly saw it spike up to around 100 µg/cm³. The reason for that always being my neighbours working their charcoal barbeque on their balcony next door to mine.
So while your oven was giving you values that would be critical over extended periods of time, using a barbeque on a regular basis without masks will also do that.
Great video! I'd be really interested in seeing what your sensor picked up from having a couple of those horrible scented candles that people seem to be so keen on as a comparison 🤞
Yeah my mother loves those things they smell awful after ten minutes and contain god knows what
I watched another video about these wood burners, having exactly the same monitor and had a joss stick lit and it went up to 80.
Many thanks for linking to the air quality monitor. We're about to move into a bungalow that has an open fire and I'm really keen to get a reading on it when we get it up and running, hope to move in around January or February. It has a detatched garage so will be setting that up as my workshop.
Another excellent video, thank you, I have only a wood burner for my heating,but thinking now of getting an air quality monitor, thanks for posting
Hi Keith,
My brother-in-law fitted a wood burner in the living room of his timber framed bungalow. Unfortunately, it produced so much heat that it cracked the external render!
I think that the main advantage of a wood burner is the aesthetics, i.e. the visual appearance! My own personal opinion is that when I arrive home, I want an immediate and convenient heat source i.e., a gas/electric fire. I couldn't be bothered to faff on loading wood etc and waiting for the stove to heat up! Also, the fumes would be a major concern not only for humans (especially babies/children etc), but also for pets. I think anyone who fits a wood burner is turning the clock back 70 odd years to the 1950's when open fires were commonplace!
Having said that, I accept that everyone has different views, and of course, as you say, being a wood worker, your fuel is free! Another great vid!
Hi Kevin, as the air quality readings show, pm2.5 particles are not an issue. I would expect with an open fire the readings would be much higher. Thanks, Keith
Thanks Keith very helpful.
Whenever you open the door to put in wood, open a window just a little to let air into the room. If not, you can create a vacuum and pull smoke participles back into the room. I'm interested in a test to see if that changes your reading. Thank you for all the great content and I'll keep watching.
A stove so close to flowing curtains would be more of a worry to me!
Thank you for the detailed information. i was not aware of it...
Very good and helpful information.
That is really interesting. Well done for putting this together!
Thanks
Great video thank you for sharing! Do you continue to monitor PM2.5? I’m very interested to hear what range of concentrations you have observed
Very interesting, and a little spooky. I had an identical stove installed recently in my bungalow. IIRC stove was £475 + vat. Flue was £950+vat and fitting was £720+vat £48 for Carbon monoxide alarm Data plate and Certificate. I had several quotes with wildly different prices before I got the above. One guy quoted £1900 for flue parts, another £1500 for fitting. It seems the energy crisis is bringing out the best in people!
Indeed......nothing like human greed
Love the record analogy!
With so many burning wood this winter, the smell of burnt wood in the air is commonplace and as an asthmatic running outside is off the menu. Interested to see what these readings would be in a high population neighborhood outside 🤔
Have to agree, the outside air in winter has gotten awful where I live. All you can smell is burning wood like a million bonfires.
@@kimstockwell721 Yeah it's not great, thankfully with spring in the air I don't notice it so much now but can't be doing anyone any good.
Hi great video out of interest did you have to do anything to the exsisting wall/skirting board for fire proofing or is that ok very interested in getting a log burner.
I nice bit of Caveman TV for your living room!
Interesting info Thank you.
Interesting information.
We have one existing wood burning stove and ate just about to fit a second one in the kitchen area.
I have a particle meter so will start measuring and see if we get similar alarming readings.
Pure gold. I'm in a similar situation, was looking for exactly this type of info. Thank You for finding a time to post this video. 🙏
Nice video Keith! Thanks for always sharing with us! Merry Christmas! to you and the family🎄🎁✝😎JP
Happy holidays!
We live on a smoke control zone so we have a defra approved tiger inset and only burn manufactured logs. I definitely noticed more of an odour the first few times we used it but now I feel like it doesn't create much of a smell in the room. Thankfully there seems to be a good flow of air up the chimney and our stove being defra approved means you can't actually close off the top vent completely, which I believe increases the efficiency
Nice one, thanks. Hate to be a bore but feel it's worth pointing out that there is Air Quality Legislation to regulate what sort of wood you can/can't burn residentially. Cheers.
Dear Friend, i Love this!
Regards from Rio De Janeiro, where only few áreas needs warm de ambient. Neighborwoods a nove 800 meters from sea level, besides the citiescin the mountains 60 km from Rio such is Petrópolis, Teresópolis and Friburg.
Greatings from your friend. 🤜🤛 I try to watch each video you post.
Thank you!
I've had an Ecosy Hampton 5 Inset log burner fitted at beginning of Oct '22 and absolutely love it. It's in a regular 2 up 2 down terraced house ( mid 80s construction with cavity wall infill ) and after about 3 hours use it's raised the temp upstairs by about 2-3 degrees and the lounge it's sited in by 5 degrees even on a slow burn
Thanks for the video, I’m just about to have one installed and I’m surprised how close it is to the wall. Our installers would not put it that close. 🤷♂️
I think I'd be more worried about the long-term health effects of main road you live by than the log burner tbh. Enjoy the fire!
Interesting video thank you. Like yourself we recently moved to an oil burner property in deepest Cambridgeshire and have inherited two wood burning stoves! Thanks also for the air monitor link... I just purchased one. Hopefully its an affiliate link from your channel.
I'm a Heating Engineer, self employed, quite surprised at that cost of install tbh !! You won't believe how hard it is to close a sale for a new combi boiler, a product that is full of technical parts and knowhow, not to mention all the pipework and gas that's part of the install, and a 10 year parts and labour warranty with the premium brands .. and customers still wince at a 2500 install price !!! And a simple, old fashioned log burner with an open flue is pulling the same money ... I think I'll do my HETAS ticket and start offering log burners 😁👍
Point about HETAS not strictly true - I self installed our (4.5kW) stove and then Building Control came round (for a "small" fee of £140 🙄) took a look and issued a certificate - I explained how it complied with Part J which they were clueless about 🙄 Total cost of stove and accessories was around £500 less the BC fee (fortunately the chimney and flue were good so no liner needed). We have a small woodland and plenty of prunings that we handsaw and air-season - totally self sustaining. I don't understand the premise of 'saving' money by newly installing a stove and then buying imported, kiln-dried logs to burn - unless as you do, you have 'spare' fuel it's seems completely mis-guided to me that folks think they are saving money somehow 🤔
I would also add that the next season when you've had the flue swept and you fire up the stove again for the new season, you'll get the same weird smells and everything burns off and settles again...
informative, thank you
Very interesting, it would also be useful to see if an internal chimney fan makes a difference
Some good advice there Keith, we have had ours for 20 years with no issues, sweep the chimney every year, use DRY logs, they need to be under 20%, and leave the door ajar to start the fire for a couple of minutes to help warm the flue.
We are on our second burner in 25 years. We don’t burn timber off cuts as they burn way too fast. I get well seasoned wood locally from the bush (live in Australia) or from a reputable supplier. Our Fire stays in all night and like a previous comment, I use a burn down method as it warms the chimney quicker
You had me till the streaming vs album thing😮😂 give me streaming any day ❤
Hi Keith, I agree with the points you raised here. I can confirm that most of the pollutants/smell are from the curing process of the paint. I know this as we were unlucky enough to have a chimney fire a couple of years ago and after the fire brigade put water down the chimney to put out the fire, I needed to repaint the stove that rusted. This resulted in the same smell as on first burns, so like you we opened windows for these burns and stayed out of the room (IMO these burns only have to be short so no cause for concern).
So just a word of caution on having your chimney swept, you need to do it at least once a year, we had,only gone 13 months when we had the chimney fire that was a scary experience. This will also be a little known clause on your insurance.
Well maintained we absolutely love ours. We’ve had it for 10 years and wouldn’t be without it.
Darren - With the flue only so old curious to know what you think caused the fire? Was it an old chimney flue or did you have the chimney relined with metal tubing?
Hi Keith,
I used to work in a stove shop (admin not installer!), just a couple of pointers/thoughts
The skirting and door frame are wood, looks a bit close and breach of regs? The closeness to the curtains makes me a bit uneasy too!
Storing wood outside is OK bu not ideal. Also kiln dried joinery wood gets wetter outside.
Wood stored outside is not ideal to burn, it's still generally kind of wet.
Wet wood = more deposits in chimney = more chance of fire. Kiln dried is optimal for efficiency and 'clean" burning. In all honesty I wouldn't burn anything else than kiln dried, but that's my preference.
Don't burn any painted, ply, treated wood, mdf etc, recipe for a chimney fire due to deposits in the flue.
The high particle reading I would suspect is from curing the paint, this is normal.
When building the fire it's best to put more in than less, the more wood the slower and longer the burn.
Warm chimneys are better for drawing smoke, as are longer ones. You are at a disadvantage in a bungalow unfortunately.
Make sure to get it swept yearly to keep it as efficient as possible and reduce the chance of chimney fire.
I don't mean to sound dramatic but I had all the above drilled into me. Stoves are fab but need to be treated with care which I know you will. Happy stoving!!
Hi, I'm not aware of the rules, sorry. I think our installer said a distance of 300mm from the curtains, which is ok. In the longer term though we're looking to replace the curtains with shutters anyway. Not sure re: architrave/skirtings though but not something I'm worried about - they installed and signed off so I'm trusting them. Cheers, Keith
This is really interesting, something I have wanted to look at for a few years. Please could you try the PM2.5 sensor with other normal household actions - e.g. candles, burnt toast, cooking bacon, hoovering carpet, incense stick. My feeling is that many normal actions cause an increase in PM2.5 particles, and having a well-fitted woodstove needs to be seen in context. I have been living with woodfires for 51 years now and believe in them, so would really appreciate a balanced view. Thanks for the good clear video. Vince
I've had one for ages, and the things in the house that cause the biggest increase are burning things on the stove and frying things. Also, seasoning cast iron pans seems to cause it to go through the roof.
Interesting to watch this Keith. We only rent our house but have been here ten years and the landlord has let us put our own stamp on it. About 4 years ago I knocked through the plasterboard covering up the old fireplace, got in a tradesman who re-established an open fire. Best thing we ever done, it’s a totally different type of warmth and it’s kind of hypnotic just watching it. I will be checking the air quality in the lounge though as I expect an open fire to have a higher 2.5 rating than a wood burning stove. Also putting your Mirka day into practice 😀😀👍👍
Cheers Leo. Open fire sounds lovely. I'm sure you're right, higher reading probably, but most the bad stuff should be going up the chimney 👍interested to hear the readings you get
@@RagnBoneBrown hi Keith, is the "T E L E G R A M" reply on my previous message genuinely you or a scam?
@@JohnColgan. It's a scam so that they can get you off CZcams and into private messages so you can send someone cash for "shipping" your "free prize" or "gift" to you.
There is no giveaway, there is no prize, and that reply was not even posted by this channel.
A legit message from Keith (or any other YT channel) will look like the one you just replied to above, with highlighted channel name and a checkmark beside it.
If you see this kind of message, report it as spam so it gets removed and move on. It's happening to all the good channels anymore, and CZcams doesn't do jack about it.
@@JohnColgan. scam, definitely.
Open fire will definitely be far higher and they're not even allowed in many parts of the UK
Very interesting
Had a wood stove in my last home. Part way through a full solo renovation of my new home and have a wood stove (multi fuel) on the list of things to install. Everything about them is just magic, and after the collecting, chopping of wood and making the fire, you get to enjoy it. Glass of wine and Floyd on the turntable. Like you say if they are new, they do need to be burned in. Think of it like seasoning your wok, it’s a process.
Sounds great!
I have yet to meet a single person who uses the correct type of wood in a wood burner. Old furniture, painted wood, skirting, of fence panels, treated timber etc.
Same here, know for sure around here people are not burning the right wood.
I think we were very lucky we chose a British manufacturer cast iron multi fuel stove the people who fitted the stove built use a chimney breast and made the harth themselves and they do all the fitting . I would totally recommend you find a fitter who employs all his own workers and does not contract out.
They did the first and second firing for use the first fire there was a slight hot paint smell but there where no others fumes. .
Our house already has air bricks fitted so there was no neec for additional airflow. The firm we used did the survey and completed all the building regulations application for us I they where fantastic, if you live south Cheshire or North Staffordshire I highly recommend Newfield Fireplaces. They are a family business and very helpful.
Once fitted the came back 3weeks later to check there work make sure everything had settled this was April the in October the phone and ask if everything was going OK asked if he could come and check all the seals before heavy winter use .
They been great
Stove get very warm we leave our doors open and the travel into the hall and up the stairs our living room 6mx6m and it hot 🔥 with minutes . We use to gave a gas fire but it not warmed the room. This warms the house.
We use a small blow touch to warm our flue up and it make a huge difference in the draw. Without doing this we get some draw back. But since using the touch (it the type cooks use to burn sugar) fantastic results the flue get that quick warming and the draw is instant when the men installed it and did the first few burns they had all windows and french doors open
Very good, thank you for that. For me, even with central heating, I have a window open slightly, to allow ventilation and if we decide to install a wood burner, I/we will do the same, have a small window open in the room, allowing air to circulate and remove the bad air.
Has anyone done the same, I’d like to hear your views.
A vey useful video
Good Information, If I buy one, I'll burn some fires in it outside before install.
We had a major dust collection clog at work recently. A coworker set my PM2.5 monitor on the infeed table of the planer/drum sander and it reached 850!
Ouch!
Just had mines installed today and I was quite worried by the smell coming off it until I read about the first few burns
LOVE wood stoves. 🥰 And everything that comes with it, felling, cutting, splitting, stacking, getting a fire going, and maintaining it. The lovely warmth and ambience it gives me. It is just lovely.
nice video. Be carefully with that curtain...it is very close to your stove
nice stove Keith I'd recommend an ecofan that uses the heat of the stove to generate power to spin the fan it helps circulate the heat through the room. I also use an hepa air purifier mostly for pollen in the spring/summer but it helps with the particles in the air
We have one of those ecofans, it has a piezoelectric panel on the bottom which generates a small current to drive the fan when the plate gets hot from sitting on the stove. Really helps with the convection flows that heat the room up. They're about £20-30 on eBay
Second the fan, we've got one and it distributes though more than one room, with zero running costs.
Thanks for the tip! We will get one
Where do you place your air purifier unit, plz?
Really interesting video. Extremely useful for a new stove owner. Wood stove looks amazing and cozy too mate 😊👍
Spot on Keith your stove looks very nice, you'll love the radiated heat. I've had a Tangye stove in my house for over twenty two years. It was once in the workshop till I downsized lol. Tony
Thanks Tony - 22 years, wow!
@@RagnBoneBrown Hi Keith thanks very much for your reply. Great choice with your stove for looks in a modern minimalistic surrounding. I have an old YT starter video of my stove lol. It's one of my first videos but it shows my actual stove. YT Video link czcams.com/video/CQCij83rkXo/video.html This came out of a derelict allotment in Co. Durham gifted by an uncle just because I happened to mention we were freezing at the time, 1984, just after our first winter trying not to use electric heaters to save on cost as we were skint. The stove was rusty, full of muck and weeds. Thanks Keith, happy to help, any advice just ask. I've used four types of stove on my heating journey and still have five and umpteen tee shirts on what works. Tony.
Woodstove is a blessing in a home. I heat my apartment with AC and it is crap. It is never warm as with wood stove and it keeps air humid which in turn makes space feel more cold and also I have mildew problems so I have to vent quite often making heating very expensive.
I have wood stove in my workshop and it is an absolute delight having it there. I find that it is warmer in my drafty old (400 years!) woodworking shop than my well insulated home. Like yourself, I use scraps in the workshop to heat it so it is basically free.
Thanks Andrea - I agree!
Hi, very good video and I really like your new burner...Please don't think I'm asking a silly question as you've had it professionally installed and that means all will be well! When I installed mine, myself I had to have a fire board installed all the way up to the ceiling and all around the back of the stove...I can understand not having a fire board protection around the wall behind twin insulated pipe as it progresses up the wall but...not to have the fire board around the wood burner itself does seem odd unless they have moved on with new types of woodburner?...I did my own install over 10 yrs ago and was extremely thorough with the install and had HETA check the whole install once completed and signed off. Costing for our essential utilities has become impossible and even though Electricity has become over 3 x more expensive than Gas trying to keep homes warm racks up just as much per month as using the electric...I'm now in the process of installing new Solar panels which are designed for the poor UK weather...Batteries are a bit expensive at around £4000 so it will take a bit of time to get our money back:) Please let me know about the fireboard question as it's would be very interesting to know the answer:)
Hi Keith, interesting video. I have the same monitor (and I’m in a bungalow in Norfolk) so I decided to check our wood burner. It do appear to affect the air quality at all, the reading hovers around 3-5 whether the burner is alight or not. I am currently burning kiln dried logs as my supplier didn’t have any air dried left and even with the doors open the reading stays below 10.
When opening a stove to re fuel open the door 1/2 inch and wait a few seconds for the velocity to climb and clear the stove then open the door slowly not to drag smoke into the room , the stove will smell and produce smoke ( enough to set a smoke detectors off ) when you first commision it , ventilate first few fires .
We've had ours for a while now and love it. The first thing we did was buy a new turntable and dug out the Vinyls for a true throwback to the early 70's . I do get some looks from visitors to the home when they see my kindling bin full of segments and woodturning mistakes.
haha! thank you
Hey Keith we fitted a multi fuel whole heat system in our 3 bed semi about 8 years ago. We took out the old open fire I was skeptical but honestly best move we ever made. Runs the whole house heat and hot water and like u I've always got off cuts and I cut and dry all my own firewood so really it's just smokeless coal we burn little bit that to get fire going. Ours was 8k all in for big stove all radiator system towel rail removal old fire all the plumbing and electric work and really we only use a tiny bit of electricity to power the pump that sends it round the radiators and I see allot of people are putting them in now. 👍🏴
Great solution!
We've got a Dyson air purifier and keep it on auto mode. It barely does anything when our woodburner is on. Made sauteed potatoes the other day and it went crazy. It supposedly filters down to PM0.1 as well
Would it be better to burn the stove in outside before installation?
If I would recommend anything it would be to put something on the wall behind the stove. Some reflective material, backed metal or tiles. Have you checked the temperature of the wall/wood/curtain behind the stove when it's lit yet? I also agree with others about the stove fan.
Bet it’s red hot
Great video. Very informative. I think it might be best to get a wood burner installed during the late spring or summer so the breaking in can be done with all the windows open. 😃
What is the name and company that made this small wood stove ? Thanks
We have had our Contura stove a little under 4 years. It was installed by an approved installer and is fully HETAS certified. Our first few burns actually set the smoke alarm off unless the windows were open. Now it is nicely burned in we have no issues. Our installer did warn us this might happen because of the proximity of the smoke detector, so we were not awfully worried. Our sweep cleans the flue & sticks a camera up at the end of each burn season, and the soot removed is minimal.
The beauty of the stove for us is our house was built in 1950 and originally had a coal fire. The chimney is in the centre of the house, and our installer filled the gap between the original fire-clay flue and the new stainless liner with a non-absorbent vermiculite alternative. The stove heats the rest of the house residually, cutting down on the amount of gas used. Even after the gas prices rocketing, our heating is costing less to run than before the stove was installed.
Nice!
Where did you get your little gadget to messure air quality from?
This is very intresting indeed, most people do not realize that even when closed it emits some pollutants..q
Link in description box
Interesting and the opposite to what I thought would happen. With huge volumes of air going up the flue and being replaced with external air drawn in, l expected the air to be cleaner.
I hate to think what an old fashioned open coal fire would have created in the way of internal pollution, I’m guessing it’d be virtually off the scale, we live and learn! Well done for bringing this to peoples attention, the monitor you have should be supplied with the stoves I reckon! Cheers.👏👍😀
Probably a lot during lighting but I think once the chimney is hot and drawing the smoke up it probably drops right down as long as the wood is dry 👍
We still use our open coal fire 🔥
Excellent report! I love wood burning stoves, however I don't have one since I live in a place where natural gas is a much cheaper and cleaner option, and has the 4 seasons. I take the keep the windows open the first burns as the most valuable practical advice here. anyway, does like the stove?
Thanks Pablo! Oh I do wish we had gas here. Mickie was suspicous at first but I think he loves it now!
What about the pollutants coming out of the chimney?
Neighbour has one, makes inside my house smell like a bonfire when they use it
Mine too, horrendous smell, I swear people burn anything they can . That's the biggest issue, not burning the right wood.
Think it may have been said in earlier comments, I’d be concerned regards proximity to timber door frame and curtains also has fireboard been fitted to those walls, last point wondering why the chimney has been double skinned so low to stove, vast amounts of heat being lost.
Excellent video, Keith. We're (like lots of others in the UK at the moment) considering getting a wood burning stove but we're a little bit concerned about the health impact. But on the other hand, like you, I have a load of offcuts -I had to take a car load to the dump the other day 😞
In Norfolk we have to pay to take wood to the dump, it is considered DIY waste. Absolutely crazy!!
@@RagnBoneBrown some local authorities are now charging for "DIY waste", but do you know they can only charge for construction waste that derives from what the regs call "industrial" or "commercial" waste? They're not permitted to charge for "household waste".
Do not burn treated timber, you are releasing chemical's from the wood. Kiln dried give's a lot of heat and very little ash.
Thanks for the video. Would it better for the customer, if the company did the "break in burns"? If course, you purchase the stove, and the company does that part for the customer?
In winter time when I open the window to get some fresh air, I get fresh wood smoke from my neighbor.
Looks nice! I'm going to put one in the house at some point...once I've been signed off by building control that is 😏
Cheers mate - hope you do a video on it?!
Very informative, thank you. We live in a small all electric 200+yr old stone in-fill/cob house in the south west. Oil or gas central heating isn't an option for us. We have a storage heater, small electric heaters and a stove. Last year we did without the stove and froze. This year we are not using the storage and other heaters and relying on the wood stove. We use wood from a 'wood sure' supplier (
That would be the dream!
Little tip. When lighting a fire in a wood stove stack the tinder on top and large pieces on bottom
What about what is being pumped out of the chimney. I've read its equivalent to having 3 HGV's running right outside the house?
I was looking at getting a stove but this just wasn't comfortable for me. I've heard bioethanol stoves produce no emmissions, so this is a possible route for me.
It depends what you burn. If you burn responsibly it's not a problem at all, see Gosforth handyman latest video
My sister lives in rural Durham; in the Winter, a particularly cold & windy place. It’s a good job she has a cast iron duel fuel stove cuz during Storm Arwen, she had no electric for a week. Without it, she’d have frozen.
wood stoves have to be 'cured' to remove all the manufacturing oils and paint finishes. I have even seen stoves being burned outside, before installation, to make sure the stove is 'clean' when brought indoors.
Love your set up but would consider something on the walls behind the stove. Consider one of the fans on top to distribute air better.
Finally, you are right that it is like a vinyl record not streaming...and I love it.
Have you tried putting the detector in your neighbours bedroom Keith, assuming you have them. We have a wood burner a few doors away and the stench of burning wood is terrible upstairs. I now try and make sure the windows are closed before they light their fire, but the smell still gets in if the winds blowing our way : all the best - Steve
Sounds like your neighbour is burning things they shouldn't be then
@@RagnBoneBrown that’s not easy to determine, as they are rich but extremely antisocial. I might get a monitor and test it myself. However this is not my first experience of fumes from wood burners blowing into neighbouring upstairs windows. Especially from bungalows and it’s not nice
We've had our wood burner for a few years now and we love it, I collect pallets and any other scrap wood over the summer and once cut up they lasts us all winter, the only outgoing costs are paying for the annual service (less than £100) and the price of a few boxes of fire lighters. We also have oil fired central heating which we mainly use for the hot water but since we had a new condensing boiler fitted two years ago we are only using one 900L tank every 14 - 15 months.
thanks - I hope our usage will be low like that!
Wood should be dried for a long time to reduce smoke rather than burned immediately, but if you have neighbours within 100m or so it's better to burn as little as possible to avoid filling the air they are breathing with PM2.5. Even the level of around 25 in the video is above the WHO limit and there is no "safe" level - any increase is bad for you and 25 is the equivalent of moving from the countryside to a city centre.
Pallets are treated wood which gives off some nasty stuff when burnt. You need to use properly dry non treated wood and even then you are polluting the local air.
Burning pallets is illegal and you are damaging the health of your family and neighbours to save a few pennies on your heating bill. The cost is far higher than using a modern heating system like gas or electric as you have one body in this life.
Ours was the same, fitted 2 years ago it was £3300 but our fire was £1k we too have a twin wall flue in a two story house. The first I would say 6 or 7 burns created smell and smoke from the paint curing, like a oil smell, it set of our fire alarm every time we used it during those first 6 burns, once it’s been used in anger and everything is cured it was absolutely fine, again heats up well, occasional smoke in the room when first lighting but that is usually the kindling some of it is a bit crap. We use kiln dried ash as the main fuel, I do make kindling myself from those logs and they never smell or smoke, just don’t always have the time to get the axe out so I buy in kindling as well. But brilliant piece of kit, very efficient and very warm house as a result.
When the door is shut my Mila air filter detects no particulates, but as soon as the door is open it does. I try to keep the door opening at short as possible, and rely on the Mila to suck out the particulates from the air :) I get higher readings frying bacon, or pancakes though.
I have had a couple of woodstoves in different houses and could still smell something "off" from them even after curing time. So with the more recent one I had it shot blasted to remove all the paint and residues. This worked, but you obviously have to accept the varied patina of heated bare metal. I do find though, that with long evenings of stove use I end up with a dry, slightly irritated throat. I think these kind of stoves work best in older, leaky houses. Even though I provided a local external air supply to the stove, my draught free living space can feel a bit airless with it burning. My future plan is to have a masonry style burner that has low surface temperatures. This avoids over heating the air and dust particles being burned on the stove body and circulated by convection. They are more costly and complicated to install though.
My Mum's has the flue inside the existing chimney breast which obviously affects how quickly the flue warms up, quite often it will take ages to get a fire going because the cold damp air just won't let the flue warm up enough to create the draw for the fire to burn clean. I bet the readings on those days are horrendous.
Question- because I'm currently installing my own. How did the fitters get away with the distance to combustible materials (55cm to the sides on this model) with the skirting boards, architrave and curtains? I thought I'd have to remove my skirting boards and replaster but if there's a workaround I'd love the hear it before building control come round.
Hi Cozzy, I'm not aware of the rules, sorry. I think our installer said a distance of 300mm from the curtains, which is fine. In the longer term though we're looking to replace the curtains with shutters anyway. Not sure re: architrave/skirtings though but not something I'm worried about - they installed and signed off so I'm trusting them. Cheers, Keith
@@RagnBoneBrown cheers, I'll leave the woodwork alone and wait for building control.
We were told 500mm minimum from a wall and if it is a timber stud wall it has to be lined to keep the heat off it.
Some people are going to get a shock after the expensive purchase and installation costs. The shock is actually buying the wood. Its very expensive. I've done a quick calculation and the cost of gas to heat the home is cheaper than a cubic meter of wood. So along with the installation costs some unfortunate people are in for a shock
That's why they are burning any old bits of wood.
Good video, there will be a smell each first burn if stove is left unused over summer as dust burns off.
Dif used don't put fire lighters directly on the iron grate, it will corrode and distort them.
Top down burn best to start.
Buy from an established manufacturer, spares will be required long term.
Don't over size fire, or you won't be able to run it at a temperature that will clean the glass.
A conventional chimney stove ventilates the room by drawing air through it so reducing any pollution.
I wonder if these "room sealed/direct air" stoves that draw outside air directly into the stove are a problem?
We live in Spain and up in the mountains so it gets cold and snowy, we actually have 2 logburners, one downstairs ( Bronpi cast iron, cost €600 ,3 years ago) which is downstairs in the front room, and a second hand metal one purchased from friends which is actually a better one..I fitted them myself and couldn't believe how much you had to pay someone for fitting it ?
I find open fires especially in pubs with constant comings and goings make me cough fit to burst and my eyes sting. Woodburners the same. There's a road where i live that constantly smells of bonfires in the colder weather that has the same effect on me and i suspect some of the houses have wood burners . I grew up with open fires and my mother and husband smoked. We considered a wood burner years ago they do look lovely but not for me now, glad we didn't do it. And i have to say i've seen some filthy stuff coming out of house chimneys recently.
Me too.
My cousin had to block the vent's at the back of his house because a neighbour's burner would smoke when starting his fire. £2500 would buy a year's supply of oil, and hot water.
I seen a thing that said one small wood burner is worse than 18 small diesel cars for the environment.
When refuelling I set the flue choke vertical (fully open) to increase draw, then open the doors slowly to avoid creating turbulence. Providing the fire is burning well and you are careful not to disturb the flow, nothing will eddy back into the room. Having said that I’m ordering one of those meters to check!
Great approach. We do same and never see smoke enter the room. We also don't keep the door open for refueling longer than 20-30 seconds.
yes, some of the wood used contains scrap wood, that has been pressure treated or plastic coated.
The oil used in milling the wood contains a very large amount of benzine.
Good video I'm surprised they don't heat cure these at the factory! You can get a heat crystal fan to circulate hot air around the room better. No batteries required, generates electric from heat differential, have you Ever thought of putting a small wood burner or rocket stove in the workshop? Make it nice it there in winter!
Cheers John. We will get one of those for sure. I don't think I could spare the space in my workshop although it would be amazing! Also I don't think I could justify the cost right now, there is so much work to be done on the bungalow!
Thanks for this, just had one similar to yours, AU made, installed, not yet fired up, will follow your advice, makes sense.