Shame,shame on my drive back home from the mall this morning.

Yeah, I notice the same when I drive around.

I don't mean to steal your thread but I do the same thing. It makes me wonder what type of stove burns the cleanest.

I have a Summit non cat. It smokes a little as it's warming up, but not much because the fire is small, and as it grows the secondary air starts working. On reloads, when the stove is still warm, almost no smoke.

I have a neighbor with a Buck cat stove. This thing burns as smoke free as my Summit when its warm, but it smokes like you wouldn't believe when he reloads it and is waiting for it to get warm enough to engage the cat. I'm sure over the couse of a day he puts way more smoke out than I do.

Then there's the guy in between us with a pot belly stove. He's burning the same slab wood I am. He also burns a little coal over night. I have never seen a lick of smoke coming out of his chimney ever. He has a really short stack too. Infact, his whole set up looks shakey to me, but he's been doing it for years. He doesn't make smoke and the house hasn't burn down.

Even my wife notices those things!

I notice as well. First year burning, but there is never smoke coming out of my chimney. There used to be smoke on start up, but now that I'm burning 24/7 even getting the fire roaring again in the morning doesn't produce any smoke that I've seen when I've bothered to check.

However, there is a farmhouse down the road. These people have been here long enough that the road they live on - a long and relatively busy road - bears their family name. There is always smoke coming from their chimney, but I would guess that they've been burning forever. In fact, I would bet it is their only heat source. I can't believe that I could teach them anything about wood burning, and am sure that they could teach me tons. If they had an old, pre-EPA stove, would it smoke more as theirs appears to do? It's hard for me to believe that they don't know what they're doing, but sure enough, that chimney seems to be smoking every time I go by their house.

Every winter there is a house that always has smoke exiting the chimmney whenever I pass by on my way into town. I never see wood stacked to dry, only whole logs pulled from the woods, so I assume they are buring green wood and hence the smoke I always see. Well, yesterday I drove into town and that house had had a major fire. The top half of the house almost gone. I don't know if anyone was hurt but the house is a total lose. About a 1/4 mile down the road someone else has logs delivered in September, splits them in October and burn all winter two stacks a smokin'. I wonder when these people will learn. I hope before it's too late.

There is a house just down the street with a SS external stove pipe running up the side of his house. That thing smokes like a son-of-a-gun, makes me wonder what appliance he is running. The pipe exits the house through the foundation at ground level, so I assume it is a wood furnace or wood boiler in the basement.

pen said:

bsa0021 said:

Every winter there is a house that always has smoke exiting the chimmney whenever I pass by on my way into town. I never see wood stacked to dry, only whole logs pulled from the woods, so I assume they are buring green wood and hence the smoke I always see. Well, yesterday I drove into town and that house had had a major fire. The top half of the house almost gone. I don't know if anyone was hurt but the house is a total lose. About a 1/4 mile down the road someone else has logs delivered in September, splits them in October and burn all winter two stacks a smokin'. I wonder when these people will learn. I hope before it's too late.

Click to expand...

You don't happen to live in NE Pa do you? I just had that scenario you are describing happen in my neck of the woods. Haven't heard for sure if it was the wood stove, but it definately was in my mind knowing their habits.

Luckily no body was hurt but they did lose the family pets.

pen

Click to expand...

Different state - NE Ohio

I live next door to my father in-law and his chimney belches smoke all day long. He's the guy who throws one log at a time and closes the damper. He runs the same stove I did before I got the new one and I don't remember mine smoking like that.

Well, where I live Santa Clara County, CA also known as Silicon Valley you can now get a air pollution ticket.

http://www.sparetheair.org/ and http://www.baaqmd.gov/pio/wood_burning/

To be fair we have foothill-to-foothill people and when the winds fail the air gets pretty thick. We sit between to ranges of foothills down in a bowl.

Topography from ocean in is: Pacific Ocean, coastal range, San Francisico Bay, East Bay hills, Central Valley, Serria Nevada Mountains.

If you read the websites you will catch-on that they are very anti-solid fuels - aka wood burning. If you build a new house around here the only thing you can put in are gas appliances.

I have sent several emails commenting on their stance on several issues and I have never seen a reply, not even an acknowledgement my emails were received. To a certain extent I support some of their goals and I do not mind the ban on open fireplaces and outdoor firepits.

I have a Avalon PerfectFit and I spend far to much time outside with a flashlight checking for smoke. I guess if there were more people like us then there would be fewer burning bans.


-- Brandy

Blue smoke vs. steam type color smoke. Can one of the experts help me out on this one. I believe the blue smoke is a cooler wet wood type of smoke. I have a neighbor ( new) that fires blue all day long. Not wanting to be a but insky althougth I feel almost obligated to introduce myself and try to in form him or her that they might be burning incorrectly.

chutes said:

I notice as well. First year burning, but there is never smoke coming out of my chimney. There used to be smoke on start up, but now that I'm burning 24/7 even getting the fire roaring again in the morning doesn't produce any smoke that I've seen when I've bothered to check.

However, there is a farmhouse down the road. These people have been here long enough that the road they live on - a long and relatively busy road - bears their family name. There is always smoke coming from their chimney, but I would guess that they've been burning forever. In fact, I would bet it is their only heat source. I can't believe that I could teach them anything about wood burning, and am sure that they could teach me tons. If they had an old, pre-EPA stove, would it smoke more as theirs appears to do? It's hard for me to believe that they don't know what they're doing, but sure enough, that chimney seems to be smoking every time I go by their house.

Click to expand...

I think the main problem with our environment Chutes is that people don't CARE about what they're doing.

Mine has quite a bit of white smoke for the first half hour after a reload. It agitates me, not because I care about the environment (I don't) but because I just want to burn efficient as possible. I know my wood isn't perfect though because It's my first real season and I wasn't ready. I can't wait till next year when all my hard work will be seasoned out and I'll be burning 20% moisture wood instead of 25-30%. There is one house on the street that had a chimney fire last year. Their first fire of the year pretty much smoked the whole road. Guess they just go out and fell, split and burn... all in one day. What's funny is the smoke doesn't come out and waft away, it barely tumbles out their chimney and is like a blanket. I'm sure he'll get another visit from the fire dept this year.

I can count 4 close neighbors same scenario!
My concern is that they'll burn my house down while starting a forest fire!

I had a bit of smoke / steam this morning after I reloaded and left for work. Not a lot - but enough to see. It was cold though - maybe 10 degrees - so maybe that had something to do with it. Prior to this I never really saw smoke at all once the cat was engaged.

bsa0021 said:

pen said:

bsa0021 said:

Every winter there is a house that always has smoke exiting the chimmney whenever I pass by on my way into town. I never see wood stacked to dry, only whole logs pulled from the woods, so I assume they are buring green wood and hence the smoke I always see. Well, yesterday I drove into town and that house had had a major fire. The top half of the house almost gone. I don't know if anyone was hurt but the house is a total lose. About a 1/4 mile down the road someone else has logs delivered in September, splits them in October and burn all winter two stacks a smokin'. I wonder when these people will learn. I hope before it's too late.

Click to expand...

You don't happen to live in NE Pa do you? I just had that scenario you are describing happen in my neck of the woods. Haven't heard for sure if it was the wood stove, but it definately was in my mind knowing their habits.

Luckily no body was hurt but they did lose the family pets.

pen

Click to expand...

Different state - NE Ohio

Click to expand...

I was going to guess you were down the road from me. Whole logs delivered in August, split in October, burned in November. Same every year. Lots and lots of smoke.