What is causing breathing problems?

[Joemohar]

Hello--
My husband and I are having a disagreement about what could be causing my allergic response to our BRAND NEW Pacific Energy T5 woodstove. Long story short, we have a TON of green wood and a lot of kind of dirty, rotten, dry wood. We have been burning the latter. Because of the quality of the wood, he has to blow on the fire to get it going. My asthma has definitely been worse since getting the stove. I have had to use my inhaler every day and my lungs don't feel all that great. SO. He thinks that it is only the fact that smoke is getting in that is causing my asthma. I also think that this crappy wood might harbor more mold or other bad things, and may also be a problem.

What is the protocol for an asthma sufferer that heats her house with wood?

Any thoughts would be great.

 

[Shari]

How about don't store crappy/moldy wood inside and close the door on the fire as soon as possible?

Shari

 

[HotCoals]

My sister has it bad.
My BIL ended up with hot water baseboard heat.

 

[Nic36]

I don't have asthma, so I can't relate. All I can offer is some guesses. If your stove is drafting well, I don't see how it could be a smoke issue. Other than the smell of lighting a match, I rarely smell smoke from my stove, especially once it is up to temperature. I can always open the door quickly to reload without smoke entering the room. Are you having a smoke issue? My home never smells smoky, yours shouldn't either.

Since you said your stove is brand new, could the curing of the paint on the stove and pipe be aggravating you? I know my stove smelled bad initially for a good while. It smelled for quite a while actually, especially when it would reach a higher temperature.

As you mentioned, the rotten wood may be a problem. It may be aggravating your lungs. The only way to know for sure would be to remove the wood and use clean wood.

 

[North of 60]

From the description of the wood and having to blow on it, it will never get it up to temp. That new curring smell will stay a long time.

 

[soupy1957]

Your description of the wood you have available for burning, sounds like the wood is not in very good condition. I'd agree with the "mold" factor here. Our daughter has had Asthma since she was quite small, and finds herself sneezing when I open the door to the wood stove, to stoke it, or add to it. Moldy wood would CERTAINLY give her breathing, sneezing issues.

-Soupy1957

 

[moosetrek]

Can you find some better wood, about 2 weeks worth, to test the theory? If so, remember to account for the curing smell - a couple good hot fires will stink a bit but after that, see if good wood, a hot fire, and a cured stove fixes the problem - assuming you have good draft you should be fine. Are you using the blower as well?

 

[EJL923]

I think you would notice if it was a smoke problem, even with bad wood. Ive burnt some wet wood, but the smoke doesnt pour out. its not very common to have back pressure like that. I would put my money on dust. Theres no doubt a wood stove dries a house out, and increases the dust in the air. I would try a humidifier and air cleaner. Also check on the cured paint idea.

 

[madrone]

My wife has asthma, and hasn't yet had an issue with the wood stove. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say either the off-gassing of the paint or the mold is the culprit. There should be very little, if any, smoke coming in the house. I store wood for burning in the near future on the porch, and never more than a day or so worth inside. If it's punky, there's mold. My wife's asthma is triggered by all sorts of things, but the Fall rains (bringing mold) and cold weather seem to be the factors right now as we've only had about 4 fires in the stove, mostly when she's not home anyway. Spending more time inside with the dust and dust mites also seems to be a factor. If you're affected by dry air, maybe a humidifier is in order? The stove can really dry out the air.

 

[SteveKG]

We don't have anyone in our household who has asthma. But we do have three woodstoves, two of which burn daily in winter. I don't know whether your stove is the culprit [or smoke from it]. However, if there is smoke in the home, you will almost certainly smell it. Particularly if it is punky, rotten wood, which can really be foul-smelling and quite smokey.

If you can afford to get ahold of some seasoned, good firewood, switch to that for a while. I burn some questionable stuff now and then, mostly to get rid of it, but I just add a piece to an established fire of good wood. The stove will not work right with bad wood. It isn't designed to. Think of a campfire: if you are burning good wood, you get nice flames, heat, and little smoke. You burn bad wood, you get smoldering, smelling, smokey fire with much less heat.

My doctor [GP] is absolutely convinced that wood-stove users are being exposed to injurious gases even when there is no visible smoke [or any you can smell] in the house. He sort of rants about it for lung health. I don't know whether he is right, and I, so far, don't seem to have any issues after burning wood for several decades. However, for the sake of your health, nice as it is to avoid heating costs of gas/elec/oil, ultimately you may have to do without wood heat. But test some good wood first. I have a nephew with asthma problems who has been visiting me during ski season for over 20 years. I only have wood stove heat, and he has never had any trouble up here at our place.

 

[tickbitty]

Hello--
My husband and I are having a disagreement about what could be causing my allergic response to our BRAND NEW Pacific Energy T5 woodstove. Long story short, we have a TON of green wood and a lot of kind of dirty, rotten, dry wood. We have been burning the latter. Because of the quality of the wood, he has to blow on the fire to get it going. My asthma has definitely been worse since getting the stove. I have had to use my inhaler every day and my lungs don't feel all that great. SO. He thinks that it is only the fact that smoke is getting in that is causing my asthma. I also think that this crappy wood might harbor more mold or other bad things, and may also be a problem.

What is the protocol for an asthma sufferer that heats her house with wood?

Any thoughts would be great.

I guess it must be the wood, but before the current stove, I bought a used older EPA Englander insert from someone who could not use it due to the wife;s allergies, she said it was just awful... but they had it installed as a slammer, which I imagine released a lot more smoke into the house than if they had a liner and a good draft.

 

[r_d_gard]

My two little kids have Cystic Fibrosis, a chronic lung illness. We have none of the problems that you are having. If I was to say anything it would be: it's your wood. Since I have had this stove we have only had half a dozen or so smokey fires where we have had to clear the kids out of the house, and then air the house out and run the fan on the central air to filter the air. I would also say that you might need to look at some of these threads here to see how to start smokelss fires. We also don't get any smoke in the house when reloading. There are little techniques to prevent the machine from backpuffing into your house.

Whatever way you look at it, there is something wrong with your hubby's technique.

Ray

 

[Joemohar]

Thanks to everyone so much. We did make attempts at getting good, clean, seasoned wood to use (had a bunch delivered that turned out to be green), but it didn't work out, so we are using substandard wood for the moment. We definitely need to get some seasoned wood and we see if it helps. I wouldn't say our house smells like smoke very often but sometimes it does a little, mostly when we are trying to get it going. I don't see smoke pouring in or anything.
Thanks again-- much appreciated. And the asthma success stories really help a lot because I have wanted a wood stove for years and really want it to work out