Hi all,
I'm new to posting but have been lurking for more than a year, and will be installing a free standing wood stove next year (at least that is the goal). My house is small, about 600 sq ft.
Since the new EPA guidelines are confusing, I'm reading up on those issues as well, from the actual source, since there is a lot of incorrect info online. I've also come to see the EPA & related sites are pretty vague.
Of course, I plan on getting an efficient/clean burning stove, but now, my dream of being more self sufficient is being tainted a bit by what is occurring in my area, meaning Pennsylvania.
Around my area in southwestern PA, there is a BIG move, almost like a witch hunt, that is focusing on people with wood stoves, it's just popped up recently, but I find it disturbing on a level I've never quite experienced. By 'disturbed' I mean--elevated to a level of "legitimate paranoia".
There are sites for PA reporting wood smoke--ANY wood smoke--even properly functioning chimneys that have small amounts of smoke on firing up their wood stove.
Then there are maps that show exactly where the smoke seen has been reported. The one site is I see Smoke PA, a clean air council site. It covers the entire state of PA.
Apparently there are aps you can use from your phone to report as well.
Now I understand the new EPA push & wanting clean air, I have no problem with this, but I do have a problem with people getting reported to the PA DEP who are not doing anything wrong & having the area mapped to your residence. It seems like this is a 'guilty until proven innocent' invasion of privacy.
It seems they are really creating a neighbor against neighbor type of environment & in some areas, neighbors are not close-I have a few co-workers, who live in more rural areas, that have had authorities show up, like the fire dept, because the DEP reports to the local authority, & the local authority decides who to send out to the property.
This seems a waste of valuable time & $$, someone can be dying from a structure fire while local fire depts. are sent because some neighbor, or a person driving by reported you having smoke.
Anyone can report on anyone without needing a VALID reason.
This creates a hardship on small towns with small budgets.
There are whole groups that are so against wood burning of any kind, who take no time to understand that if you have electric heat instead, you're aiding in the destruction of entire mountaintops, & that natural gas causes much destruction as well. I guess these people on the hunt live in areas disconnected from where their energy is actually coming from. They believe electric & gas is the cleanest of all, which might be the case at the end point where it is used, but do not consider the damage to the environment at the SOURCE.
I'm a bit stressed out, I do not even have my wood stove yet.
I am still moving forward with my plans, but trying to incorporate as much planning ahead as possible, because the regulations regarding emissions are just going to get tighter, so I want to be 'ahead' of the game as much as possible, since I don't want to invest in something that I might be forced to remove in a few years.
My new house has an oil furnace, I have no natural gas service. It also had coal stoves, but they have been removed.
I'm new to posting but have been lurking for more than a year, and will be installing a free standing wood stove next year (at least that is the goal). My house is small, about 600 sq ft.
Since the new EPA guidelines are confusing, I'm reading up on those issues as well, from the actual source, since there is a lot of incorrect info online. I've also come to see the EPA & related sites are pretty vague.
Of course, I plan on getting an efficient/clean burning stove, but now, my dream of being more self sufficient is being tainted a bit by what is occurring in my area, meaning Pennsylvania.
Around my area in southwestern PA, there is a BIG move, almost like a witch hunt, that is focusing on people with wood stoves, it's just popped up recently, but I find it disturbing on a level I've never quite experienced. By 'disturbed' I mean--elevated to a level of "legitimate paranoia".
There are sites for PA reporting wood smoke--ANY wood smoke--even properly functioning chimneys that have small amounts of smoke on firing up their wood stove.
Then there are maps that show exactly where the smoke seen has been reported. The one site is I see Smoke PA, a clean air council site. It covers the entire state of PA.
Apparently there are aps you can use from your phone to report as well.
Now I understand the new EPA push & wanting clean air, I have no problem with this, but I do have a problem with people getting reported to the PA DEP who are not doing anything wrong & having the area mapped to your residence. It seems like this is a 'guilty until proven innocent' invasion of privacy.
It seems they are really creating a neighbor against neighbor type of environment & in some areas, neighbors are not close-I have a few co-workers, who live in more rural areas, that have had authorities show up, like the fire dept, because the DEP reports to the local authority, & the local authority decides who to send out to the property.
This seems a waste of valuable time & $$, someone can be dying from a structure fire while local fire depts. are sent because some neighbor, or a person driving by reported you having smoke.
Anyone can report on anyone without needing a VALID reason.
This creates a hardship on small towns with small budgets.
There are whole groups that are so against wood burning of any kind, who take no time to understand that if you have electric heat instead, you're aiding in the destruction of entire mountaintops, & that natural gas causes much destruction as well. I guess these people on the hunt live in areas disconnected from where their energy is actually coming from. They believe electric & gas is the cleanest of all, which might be the case at the end point where it is used, but do not consider the damage to the environment at the SOURCE.
I'm a bit stressed out, I do not even have my wood stove yet.
I am still moving forward with my plans, but trying to incorporate as much planning ahead as possible, because the regulations regarding emissions are just going to get tighter, so I want to be 'ahead' of the game as much as possible, since I don't want to invest in something that I might be forced to remove in a few years.
My new house has an oil furnace, I have no natural gas service. It also had coal stoves, but they have been removed.