3 ms·

Do people with allergies or asthma experience anything from a large amount of wood burning ? My understanding is it causes the air quality to go down and some

Do people with allergies or asthma experience anything from a large amount of wood burning ? My understanding is it causes the air quality to go down and some people are affected. I like the smell of burning wood, but I can see how it can lead to an ashy experience.

marvin 4y ago
Air quality can be an issue for asthmatics in valleys when there is atmospheric inversion (common in winter). Indoors, smoke rarely enters the home if you're using a modern stove and lighting in correctly. Modern wood stoves are dramatically more efficient than the typical fireplace you'd remember from youth. If anything, the issue would be high radiant heating on indoor surfaces causing evaporation and out-gassing. I have heard people complain about this, but it would generally be more of a freshly-installed or newly-built issue. Or perhaps if the home in question is built for passive heating, meaning that it's practically hermetically sealed and hence would require active ventilation.
zdragnar 4y ago
If you can smell the wood burning, you're not getting a sufficiently clean burn. The post-2020-EPA-regulation landscape for wood burning appliances in the US at least are all significantly better than the older stoves. As for air quality, a rocket mass heater will get hot enough to put out zero CO, and most or all of the particulate will be broken down as well, but sadly there's only one device I know of that is UL-certified. They are very much a niche concept; most stoves and masonry heaters will be putting out some, and in a city there'll be enough that it'll have an effect on health.
jeffbee 4y ago
Wood smoke is very bad for asthmatics. It worsens their symptoms and triggers attacks. Where I live, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the air quality regulator says that wood smoke is the main source of air pollution. It's not ships or trains or trucks or cars or refineries. It's fireplaces and pizza ovens.

marvin 4y ago

Air quality can be an issue for asthmatics in valleys when there is atmospheric inversion (common in winter). Indoors, smoke rarely enters the home if you're using a modern stove and lighting in correctly. Modern wood stoves are dramatically more efficient than the typical fireplace you'd remember from youth. If anything, the issue would be high radiant heating on indoor surfaces causing evaporation and out-gassing. I have heard people complain about this, but it would generally be more of a freshly-installed or newly-built issue. Or perhaps if the home in question is built for passive heating, meaning that it's practically hermetically sealed and hence would require active ventilation.

zdragnar 4y ago

If you can smell the wood burning, you're not getting a sufficiently clean burn. The post-2020-EPA-regulation landscape for wood burning appliances in the US at least are all significantly better than the older stoves. As for air quality, a rocket mass heater will get hot enough to put out zero CO, and most or all of the particulate will be broken down as well, but sadly there's only one device I know of that is UL-certified. They are very much a niche concept; most stoves and masonry heaters will be putting out some, and in a city there'll be enough that it'll have an effect on health.

jeffbee 4y ago

Wood smoke is very bad for asthmatics. It worsens their symptoms and triggers attacks. Where I live, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the air quality regulator says that wood smoke is the main source of air pollution. It's not ships or trains or trucks or cars or refineries. It's fireplaces and pizza ovens.