[Greenbuilding] No place for wood burning fireplaces in GreenBuilding

[Norbert Senf]

At 07:22 PM 12/7/2006 -0800, Reuben Deumling wrote:
>(snip)Generating local
>pollution seems to me a better way to close the loop, to keep things local
>as it were. If we can do that, and avoid heating with fossil fuels, so much
>the better, I say.

I've been involved with PM testing of stoves for quite a while. It is worth
noting that the range between best and worst practice is huge - around two
orders of magnitude.

So, 1 dirty stove/operator = 100 clean stoves/operators

In an urban area, or an airshed where you have 
temperature inversions, this would make
a huge difference in terms of what we are discussing here. Particularly, as
others have pointed out, since there is an upside to woodburning. Namely,
  wood is potentially a renewable and carbon neutral fuel.

Very dirty (high PM) = smoldering fire:
- outdoor boiler
- wet wood
- fireplace or stove operated improperly
- airtight stove turned down too much

Clean = bright fire with no visible smoke

Even an open fireplace can be burned cleanly, with some difficulty.
However, it requires dry wood and a knowledgeable operator.

In Washington state, it is illegal to sell firewood with more than
20% moisture content. There are "smoke police" that can shut you down
on "no burn" days.


-------------------------------------------
Norbert Senf---------- mheat(at)heatkit.com
Masonry Stove Builders
25 Brouse Rd.
RR 5, Shawville------- www.heatkit.com
Québec J0X 2Y0-------- fax:-----819.647.6082
---------------------- voice:---819.647.5092