Neighbor upset with my smoke dragon

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fespo

fespo

Minister of Fire
Dec 14, 2005
730
South West burbs of Chicago
Well there is always a first for everything. I have the Lopi in the house, flue inside all the way up through the peak of the roof, no problem. Last year I had a pleasent hearth in the green house with just double wall b lack pipe as a flue no problem. Now the problems start. This past summer I made the green house 50% bigger , its 10 x 18 now. Last winter the stove had a hard time keeping up. So my dad had a 30 year old Clayton 7.1 wood burning furnace in his basement that has not been use it the last 27 years. Great added some insulated duct work, couple holes, put up some metal roofing up above the unit and around it . It keeps that green house nice and warm. The flue is about 10 ft from the house and about even with the roof line, its about 11' of flue. I have been burning only pallet wood nice and dry. Well the smoke is going right toward her house to the east and hanging low. She told me tonight she sleeps with the window open a little at night and it's smelling up her house. I told her will try to improve it. So, do you think by adding 3' more of flue it will help? I bought the flue tonight, I going to try tomorrow once the high winds slow down.
Any other ideas? Thanks
 
She's going to smell it if she's still sleeping with the windows open no matter what you do.

How close is the neighbor?
 
I really don't talk to her that much,In the last 12 years this is the second time she complained about something. The other thing was my evergreens and birds that made a nest in there and trying to attack everyone. She is a widow of about a year or so. Never really says anything about all wood and stuff. Just smoke from the beast
 
Maybe a little rock and hard place situation. If it isn't burning secondaries smoke is always an issue. And such tight quarters.

Both my neighbors have outdoor heat-more wood boilers. They are about 1000 feet away equal distant. Some mornings when they are outside reloading it is just a stream of smoke headed towards my house.

We all burn with wood and neither my wife nor I care (But the smoke doesn't enter our house...) By the time wood burning is started all the storm windows are up.

If I lived in the suburbs and someone that close to me had billows of smoke flowing towards my house I would be polite but would have to say something possibly. Not Sure. I really dislike neighbor confrontations which is another reason we moved out to the sticks.
 
I trying to figure out what I can do. I do not want to cause problems. I hoping the taller flue will let the smoke catch a different draft away from her house. I choked down the lopi after filling it to make smoke so I could see what way that smoke went. It went south with the wind, the other went east go figure
 
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Frankly I don't think there's much you can do apart from not using the wood stove. A few extra feet of flue isn't likely to make much difference. I often sleep with the window open and frequently get a bit of smoke from the neighbor's stoves as well as our own. It just depends which way the wind is blowing.
 
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More flue is worth a try. Are you hoping to run plants in the green house all winter?
 
can't control the wind......tell her she may have to close the window, but you will make a change with no promise of a solution
 
That's a tough situation, do you grown year round vegetables in the green house? If you do you may want to put an extra length of pipe on the stack then go over to her house with a basket of vegetables knock on the door and say " hey I just wanted to tell you I added a length of chimney to get the smoke higher, and btw her are some fresh vegetables from the green house where the smoke was coming from."
 
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I to don't think you can fix your proximity to your neighbors house. This must be a common issue. I guess this is what gotten some towns to ban woodstoves.
 
Well this afternoon my buddy is coming over and we are going to try to add one section, to see if that will make the smoke go up. For some reason the smoke is just hanging low. like it won't lift into the air. We do have alot of mature trees in the yard. We have the old farm row of hedge apple, that is about 25 higher on the hill to south of the stove. I know if this does not work, I will have to find another stove or shut down the green house, because I do not what problems. I had problems with neighbors at my old house before and i will never do that again. I will move before I live through that again.
 
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If the smoke is hanging low, that's a weather problem and adding a few feet is not going to change anything.
 
Smoke hanging and staying put is do to warmer moist air holding it in place. Wind changes direction...constantly. Maybe she can open a window on another side of her house which is drafting differently. Not much you can do on your end though unfortunately.
 
fespo said:
Well this afternoon my buddy is coming over and we are going to try to add one section, to see if that will make the smoke go up. For some reason the smoke is just hanging low. like it won't lift into the air. We do have alot of mature trees in the yard. We have the old farm row of hedge apple, that is about 25 higher on the hill to south of the stove. I know if this does not work, I will have to find another stove or shut down the green house, because I do not what problems. I had problems with neighbors at my old house before and i will never do that again. I will move before I live through that again.
Click to expand...
You sound like a good responsible neighbor. I hope you can work out your problem, but respecting your neighbor's right to fresh air is the right way to go.
 
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I'd say the norm in the suburbs is that there is not smoke drifting towards a nearby house. If you have this problem, I would work to be as pro-active about it as possible as others in "the suburbs" are likely to take a more kindly view towards your neighbors view of the problem than yours and this would not be in your long-term interest (whether you agree with their opinions or not).
 
Well we added 3ft of flue and remove the cap. Wow with out that cap the smoke is shooting straight out and up. So far this afternoon and till now no smoke or smell towards her yard. I choked it down just to make alot of smoke and check. I plan on going over there tomorrow and explain what I did and hope it helps. Thanks everyone
 
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Well "SHE BACK" . My neighbor followed me around into my back yard and complained more about the smoke smell. I explained what I did, she watch and saw me do it. She ask me to move it over to the other side of the green house. I tried to explain the wind factor and by moving is not going to help anything different. So after lunch today I have to move the complete set up.Shelter,hot air out flow and cold air in take, new hole in green house Everything!!! I cant wait to move in five years, once my youngest is out of High school and head to warmer climate
 
Fespo - I can honestly respect your attempts to make this right. Not everyone would do that. To keep honor umongst our wood burning brethren we need to be conscious of how we might be affecting others.

Nobody would stand for the neighbors oil burner venting into your bedroom window. Smoke is no different.
 
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Maybe the smoke is not hot enough with all that length of stove pipe - try insulated stove pipe to keep the exhaust hot and moving.
 
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The installation you describe sounds closer to a OWB than an indoor wood boiler. In NH the minimum recommended clearances is 300 feet from the stack to the nearest neighboring dwelling or the stack of the unit has to be 10 feet above the maximum height of any other dwelling unit within 300 feet. My neighbor bought an older model OWB and installed in violation of state law as it was an older non EPA model. In order to make it borderline acceptable he added a 30 foot extension onto his stack (and had to support it from a pole). It is still not legal height but it improved things considerably. When he first started using it, my smoke detector would go off in my attic and most days the surrounding neighborhood smelled like he was burning trash. Depending on the prevailing wind and topography you may never be able to get it acceptable but generally getting the exhaust up above the tree canopy and above nearby structures can help.
 
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