Neighbor Issues

Can you smell smoke when you are outside? How close is he? Is he usually a pain, or do you feel that this is legitimate?

Is your smoke visible after 20 minutes? If so, I would question if your wood is seasoned. I can't see or smell smoke once my Jotul is back up to temperature. Is he someone who just likes complaining?

http://www.epa.gov/burnwise/

has a link to a pdf about new stoves

If you're only seeing steam - are you sure it's your stove causing the problem? has he left a damper open and blaming you for the smell? Someone else's stove? Just picking an argument?

i think u need to make the same reply that u made in the previous response to the neighbor. Understand i am not saying be argumentative (u weren't in the previous reply). If u are not seeing smoke, or very little at start up, you are not doing anything wrong, what is the problem?

Steam? Then your wood is not seasoned enough. I live 25' from my neighbors, and have the same stove as you, and I have never had a complaint. Oh, and I burn the 'dreaded' pine most of the time.

Use the top-down method to start the fire. It really does reduce the initial smoke from the stack dramatically.

man are u legally able to burn in your neighborhood if so you pay your morgage for your place. So that you can do what u want. maybe offer to go over there and find the source like somebody else said maybe its a open damper on his fireplace.

Jotulf3cb said:

..... I don't know what to do.

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Move to the country where neighbors are further away and also likely to be burning wood. Just hope you don't move next to someone with an OWB burning green Poplar.

Now there's something for your neighbor to complain about. I drive past a few smoke spewing OWBs on my way to work. Sometimes they can be a road hazard when they smoke out a half mile of highway like a dense fog. One guy switched from Poplar to Ash this year and it's not so bad. Another guy has two OWBs and he burns 4 foot unsplit Birch logs in it.

Does your neighbor smoke tobacco? Any other air quality issues in their house like mold? I work in IT and get people calling me worried about the EMR from their computer yet they are talking all day on a cellphone or thumbing out text messages with their crackberry in their lap just inches from their gonads.

He will be the first person at your door looking for a warm place should the power at his place ever go down

Whatever you do, keep it polite. Last thing you want is him going to the city/county/whomever and begin to register complaints. Even if you "win" in the end, who needs the brain damage. I know a guy a couple miles from here who lives in a small area of about a dozen homes. He began using a stove some years ago, and before long this one neighbor began complaining to him about the smell and really became a royal pain. The friend eventually gave up burning wood due to some medical issues that crippled him up and made it too much trouble. Couple years later, this same neighbor is still complaining to anyone who will listen. The friend has explained to him a number of times that he no longer has or uses wood heat, to no avail. The complaints keep coming. There is no wood smoke there and there seemingly is no way he can convince the neighbor that is the case. He even offered to bring the neighbor into his home and give him a complete tour to prove his case, but the neighbor wouldn't do it and is still aggravated by the wood smoke [which does not exist].

This same neighbor, by chance, hired me to do some stonework in his yard last summer. He would come outdoors and watch me work and chat. One time he asked me to bring over a chainsaw and clean up some storm damage which had left some large limbs lying in his yard. He mentioned my friend's wood stove thing, and I casually mentioned that the guy didn't have a stove and had sold it a few years ago. Didn't work, he still blames the friend for smoke coming over and into his house.

myzamboni said:

Steam? Then your wood is not seasoned enough. I live 25' from my neighbors, and have the same stove as you, and I have never had a complaint. Oh, and I burn the 'dreaded' pine most of the time.

Use the top-down method to start the fire. It really does reduce the initial smoke from the stack dramatically.

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Maybe not in Silicon Valley, but when it's 7 degrees outside, then I reckon you could see steam even from seasoned wood.

Reading SteveKG's post gave me an idea. Get your neighbor to keep a written record of when he smells smoke, including time of day. (Perhaps weather and prevailing winds as well). At random intervals do not light your stove and see if there are times when he smells smoke, but your stove is cold.

Jotulf3cb said:

he's claiming that its an issue that just started since I began burning. The only other neighbor on the block that burns lives three houses down in the opposite direction so that is a non-issue.

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Maybe he IS smelling smoke from your stove.

How often is he complaining? every day? has he mentioned it one time? Reason I ask is, if he's saying something daily, or a couple times a week, then stop burning without telling him and see if he stops mentioning it...that way you may be able to tell for sure that it is YOUR stove that he's smelling.

Pay attention to prevailing wind and see if it is always blowing his direction.

Really, if you check local statutes, and it is legal to burn, then tough toobers on him. I mean, what's you rother option? RIGHT, STOP BURNING to appease him. Are you prepared to do that?

You could make YOUR list of all the shiatt he does that bothers you and become more vocal about all that stuff hh:

Jotulf3cb said:

he's claiming that its an issue that just started since I began burning. The only other neighbor on the block that burns lives three houses down in the opposite direction so that is a non-issue.

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Are you sure there is only one other active chimney in your neighborhood? You live in the Northeast. Seems doubtful.

If you have an inspected install then your laughing if not I would get one before it becomes a bigger issue. I do not think you have aproblem besides a bad neighbor [thats an understatement] but check your chimney. Could it be if you put 3' more of chimney the smoke would really move away? Lots of nearby buildings means strange air currents. Just a thought and I would not tell him for he may demand it but keep it as a option.
You say there is another burner 3 houses away obviously he will not be able to get you to stop as there is more than 1 of you. If this escalates ask the other burner if he has had any complaints.
Its true that no matter how efficient your stove is there will be a smoke smell sometimes. I think the idea that his damper is open is good but I also suspect he does not want to smell it outside. You might just have to resign yourself to not getting on with your neighbor.

Boy I am glad my nearest neighbor is 25klm away!

I smell smoke all the time outside my house. Drives me nuts......because I think it's my stove.
Then I look at my chimney. No smoke.
Then I glance across the block...some 400 feet away...........it's the neighbor's smokey chimney.

CarbonNeutral said:

myzamboni said:

Steam? Then your wood is not seasoned enough. I live 25' from my neighbors, and have the same stove as you, and I have never had a complaint. Oh, and I burn the 'dreaded' pine most of the time.

Use the top-down method to start the fire. It really does reduce the initial smoke from the stack dramatically.

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Maybe not in Silicon Valley, but when it's 7 degrees outside, then I reckon you could see steam even from seasoned wood.

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Yup. Moisture's present even in seasoned wood, and (as I recall), water's a product of combustion as well. It's not uncommon for me to see some wisps of steam (really not steam anymore, per se, but condensing water...you can't actually see steam...but I digress onto a technicality) from my caps from time to time...especially when the temps are well below zero. Air that cold, the steam begins to condense quite rapidly as soon as it leaves the cap. Rick

how about changing your reloading times? try to do it earlier or later........and i have "seasoned" wood but sometimes it smokes like a mofo.... cause it wasnt as seasoned as i thought... other times the wood is burning before i can get it in the stove its so dry!