how can nuisance claims be more successful?

Highbeam said:

Try it sometime. 6 minutes and (essentially) no smoke from a cold start. That's year round. I can't/don't do the top down burns but even if you could I know it takes longer than 6 minutes to engage the cat and go smokeless.

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If I'm crankin' flame on the ramp-up it might be less that 20%, I don't know. The whole thing seems a bit arbitrary; How do they tell the difference between smoke and steam?

Chuck Pearson said:

Here is a chart showing what 20% opacity means. http://smokeschool.net/ringlemanchart1.htm

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Yeah, 20% doesn't look very dark, does it?

Chuck Pearson said:

I have my fireplace burning clean long before it gets light, long before the neighbors are looking outside or going outside and long before an inspector working 8-5 would be around. If somebody is serious about heating with wood there is no reason for him to be smoking up the neighborhood after it gets light. Here is a chart showing what 20% opacity means. http://smokeschool.net/ringlemanchart1.htm

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That's a great practice. Thing is, the smoke police have night patrols too. Shining a light (or night vision goggles) at a 20% smoking 6" stack is pretty obvious.

Yes, the air is polluted. No, it's not because of rural burners of EPA stoves burning 7 minutes of 21% opacity and no, those burners do not deserve the 1000$ fine.

Woody Stover said:

If I'm crankin' flame on the ramp-up it might be less that 20%, I don't know. The whole thing seems a bit arbitrary; How do they tell the difference between smoke and steam?
Yeah, 20% doesn't look very dark, does it?

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That's what I was thinking. 20% doesn't look very dark at all. When I'm up to temperature, there is no visible smoke. But it probably takes me at least 20-30 minutes to get up to temp on a cold start and at least 15 minutes on an overnight reload. If I'm at 400 with a large coal bed, I can probably hit 6 minutes, but that isn't how I usually work my burn cycles.

I saw my first outdoor wood boiler in action today and WOW did I feel bad for the neighbors. There was a putrid yellow brown stream of smoke exiting the stack which stunk something awful. It was in Pelham, NH.

I worry about the slippery slope - a good law, with common sense enforcement, is a great thing for the conscientious wood burners, who otherwise get a really bad rep because of the unfettered tire burners. But one neighbor with a burr up their a$$, or an enforcement official who's a bit too zealous, and the good guy pays the price for making the 5 or 10 minutes of smoke at the start or end of their day. Regardless, if someone is choking you out of your home, you need to have some way to deal with the extreme situations. OWB's appear to be a loophole that needs to be closed without wrecking things for every burner out there.