Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Avoid using wood burning stoves if possible, warn health experts

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 116 posts

Re: Avoid using wood burning stoves if possible, warn health experts

#31

Post by gnicholas »

irq wrote: post #28
gnicholas wrote: post #7

I have a neighbor who burns wood every day, and I bought an air quality monitor to see what the impact is on our air. The AQI hits 150 when it’s burning, which is really unhealthy. I was surprised it was this bad, especially since he’s not that close of a neighbor (on a different street even).

I, too, have a neighbor with a wood burner (used during the cold months only fortunately) that easily adds 75 to 100 to the outdoor AQI (using Purple Air). My indoor air quality is unaffected due to central air filtering. Given the health impact, these burners should be seized and replaced with almost anything else, with full financial assistance. (Why? It's cheaper to replace these burners than it is to suffer the l…

In California, it is illegal to burn (except for cooking or if you have no other way to heat your home) on Spare the Air days. Unfortunately, there are a surprising number of homes in the Bay Area that fall into the latter exception.

I recently heard about this nonprofit that is helping people retrofit their homes and get rid of wood burning stoves.

http://www.rebuildingtogetherpeninsula.org/

Re: Avoid using wood burning stoves if possible, warn health experts

#33

Post by FlyMoreRockets »

rlonn wrote: post #21
jeffbee wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low Tech Magazine is pretty much bullshit from cover to cover and these articles are great examples of the genre. Read the first one with a critical eye. It doesn't make any sense. It's just a deceptive argument constructed to make performative primitivism seem competitive with modern technology, which it isn't. An electric induction cooker is superior to any kind of fire, in all aspects and ways, by large margins in…

Try roasting marshmallows on your induction cooker.

Wouldn't a cast iron skillet on an induction cooker radiate enough heat to roast marshmallows?

Re: Avoid using wood burning stoves if possible, warn health experts

#34

Post by jeffbee »

rlonn wrote: post #21
jeffbee wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low Tech Magazine is pretty much bullshit from cover to cover and these articles are great examples of the genre. Read the first one with a critical eye. It doesn't make any sense. It's just a deceptive argument constructed to make performative primitivism seem competitive with modern technology, which it isn't. An electric induction cooker is superior to any kind of fire, in all aspects and ways, by large margins in…

Try roasting marshmallows on your induction cooker.

I can easily heat a carbon steel crepe pan to red hot on an induction cooker. Roasting marshmallows is no problem.

Is there anything else you haven't tried that you'd care to opine on?

Re: Avoid using wood burning stoves if possible, warn health experts

#35

Post by iknowstuff »

corty wrote: post #12
gruez wrote: post #6

>Wood burners have become increasingly popular in recent years [...] Almost 16% of people in the south-east of England use wood fuel, and 18% in Northern Ireland, according to 2016 government data, and about 175,000 wood burners are sold annually. If you're wondering why they're so popular, it's because wood counts as "renewable fuel", so it helps EU countries meet their renewable energy targets. https://news.ycombin…

Additionally, electricity, district heating, coal, gas and oil are getting more and more expensive due to carbon and renewable taxes. Renewables like photovoltaics and photothermics, along with heat pumps, are also increasing in price, because there is high demand on specialized workers for installation. The only thing that actually is getting cheaper is wood, a stove is comparatively cheap anyways (few hundred euros…

Electric heating using a heat pump or especially photovoltaics (with net metering) is cheaper than burning fossil fuels in Central Europe and completely emission free.

Re: Avoid using wood burning stoves if possible, warn health experts

#36

Post by myself248 »

fasteddie31003 wrote: post #20

If you smell wood smoke your fireplace is either not an efficient design or you are burning the wood wrong. A modern efficient fireplace with a catalytic converter does a really good job at converting wood to heat.

And the article makes no mention of catalytic wood stoves, which drives me nuts because I thought pretty much all the recent ones included at least an option for a catalyst.

Re: Avoid using wood burning stoves if possible, warn health experts

#37

Post by DoofusOfDeath »

fasteddie31003 wrote: post #20

If you smell wood smoke your fireplace is either not an efficient design or you are burning the wood wrong. A modern efficient fireplace with a catalytic converter does a really good job at converting wood to heat.

Does a wood-stove catalytic converter help with PM2.5? That seemed to be the main focus of the article.

Re: Avoid using wood burning stoves if possible, warn health experts

#38

Post by Fradow »

MattGaiser wrote: post #18

I am surprised to learn that burning wood for heat/cooking is something done outside Amish type communities at any significant level in the developed world.

On the Old Continent, there are a lot of old houses (I'm writing from a 400 year old one, older than the USA), about 10% being more than 100 year old [1], most of which comes with a central chimney (or several).

While a lot of people have other heating/cooking systems, those chimney are still in use to some capacity.

[1] http://www.iut.nu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Housing-Statist...

Re: Avoid using wood burning stoves if possible, warn health experts

#39

Post by driverdan »

MattGaiser wrote: post #18

I am surprised to learn that burning wood for heat/cooking is something done outside Amish type communities at any significant level in the developed world.

When COVID dies down please spend some time traveling outside of cities so you can understand how people outside your bubble live.

Wood is very common in rural areas. Cold areas that don't have city gas largely rely on fuel oil (diesel), propane, and/or wood. Fuel oil and propane are both significantly more expensive than wood, even if you buy it pre-cut. If you have land and cut it yourself the biggest cost is time.

Post reply on HN