Anybody get sick from burning wood?

[rosencra38]

Everyone in my house has been fine all winter long until February hit. All month long the wife and kids have been sick with sinus crap, the kids have even been taking turns having high fevers off and on. I'm getting over a sinus infection right now as well. I ran out of my personal supply of wood the end of January and had to end up buying some seasoned red oak from a local guy. My wife swears that the wood is what is causing us the problems, I just wonder if I need to change the filters in the humidifier again. Most of the wood is good but there is a portion (10 - 20 percent) that is a little punky/spongy. Has anybody else had problems like this or does my house just need a good disinfecting???

 

[Rebel Wood]

The wood stove always gets the blame. Have been heating with wood 33 years, and my wife and I have gone through this several times. This year, home on early retirement, and everyone is fine, after a season of burning more than ever. Learn to keep the smoke out of the house. Always keep a source of fresh air, no matter what.

 

[Later]

I have been using a "netti pot" to flush my sinuses daily and haven't had any congestion/breathing problems all winter. I'll never give it up.

 

[CrappieKeith]

I highly doubt burning the wood is causing the problem.
I'd look to your kids bringing home viruses from school as the culprit.
My kids have been out of school and away from home for a few years now.
I can't remember the last time I was sick.

 

[rosencra38]

I highly doubt burning the wood is causing the problem.
I'd look to your kids bringing home viruses from school as the culprit.
My kids have been out of school and away from home for a few years now.
I can't remember the last time I was sick.

I doubt the wood too. I'm not sure it's school though either. My kids are 5, 2 & 1 so the 5yr old is the only one in school and he's been the healthiest of the three, he was sick early Feb but that was it. I guess the 5 yr old could be carrying this crap home and the little ones don't have an immune system built up like his yet. It's sad, my 2yr old doesn't even want to go to the monster truck show this Friday night because he feels like crap.

 

[begreen]

I've heard some late winter cries of being sick of burning wood, but not from wood.

Is there any possibility of mold buildup in the walls? That can initiate these type of symptoms.

 

[burntime]

I know if the house is too dry your sinus's are more prone to problems. Humidify, humidify, humidify.

 

[pen]

I agree, it doesn't hurt to change those filters on the humidifier. If "life" is forming on them, you might want to look into some of the chemicals you can add to the water to prevent the mold, mildew, bacteria that can live there.

pen

 

[labrador]

I doubt it is the stove. It's the easiest thing to blame. I have been burning wood for forty years and if I got sick I picked it up from the pupils I taught. Children would come to school sick and pass the bug around. My grandchildren have been sick often this winter and my son uses a corn stove. Best advice , wash hands often and put a cast iron humidifier on top of the wood stove. Fill the humidifier away form the stove to avoid craacking it.

 

[savageactor7]

hummm... I dunno.

We all know kids will catch things all the time until they build up a sufficient immunity. The OP's comments lead me to believer the adults are getting sick too. I'm thinking the wife is on to something with her observations.

There's could be some mold spores with the wood...who know maybe it wasn't in the sun enough. I would spray the heck out of that wood with some Lysol. The power of mold can't be underestimated... ...that was the source of Legionnaires disease back in the '80's.

That last statement was not intended to alarm anyone...

 

[Highbeam]

Are you storing all of this moldy wood inside?

In my part of the country we have just gotten in to the pollen season with major tree pollen releases. I don't use the neddi pot but I do use the squeeze bottle version of the same thing to hydrate and blow out pollen/debris. Maybe the pollen is buggering up the family?

 

[mikepinto65]

hummm... I dunno.

We all know kids will catch things all the time until they build up a sufficient immunity. The OP's comments lead me to believer the adults are getting sick too. I'm thinking the wife is on to something with her observations.

There's could be some mold spores with the wood...who know maybe it wasn't in the sun enough. I would spray the heck out of that wood with some Lysol. The power of mold can't be underestimated... ...that was the source of Legionnaires disease back in the '80's.

That last statement was not intended to alarm anyone...

Spraying wood with lysol cant be too healthy for you or the enviornment. Bet that'll drop your epa ratings way down too!!

 

[Rich L]

Good topic,I was suspecting the wood smoke from our down draft problem was giving my wife and I flu like symptoms.Since I installed the vacu stack cap the smoke isn't backing into the house and we're feeling much better.The comment of spores on the wood could very well prove true since the wood I'm burning has been drying for two or more years and though dry has a musty smell to some of the pieces.Not something you want to breath in.

 

[tradergordo]

Look for mold on the wood. Don't store more than a day's worth of wood inside the house. But its probably like others said, not related at all.

 

[kwburn]

we are pretty much in the same boat - right now!
must say we have had a very healthy winter and burned pretty much the whole way through. now last week my wife had the flu and then both kids had it by the weekend (fever/coughs,etc). Other kids in schools going through the same thing. So I have no doubt its a virus hitting them and not the wood stove itself as the cause. Now recovery is another topic all together and I think a dry house and the occasional smoke in the air can irritate the cough to linger longer. A warm mist humidifier in their bedroom has proven itself in these situations to help them sleep through the night. I'm now making a special effort to humidify the rest of the house better this week and I think we may give the stoves a break for a few days and get everyone back on track.

but when he11 is breaking lose with everyone sick it is easy to point to the stoves though.

 

[MovingOffGrid]

summary of some "possible" solutions:

- FRESH AIR - Check your stove Fresh Air intake and crack windows to get fresh air circulation,
nothing better for virus reproduction than a family couped up inside re-breathing the same old stale air over winter

- Check stove and pipes for leaks - keep smoke out of house - keep it drafting well

added ...
- Don't store wood inside your home

- Crank up the humidifier
germs evidently don't multiply easily in moist sinuses but have hey day in dry sinuses (contrary to what one would think)

- Check house for mold

- Neti pot to clean sinuses 2X day (always use salty water)

- A clove of raw hot Russian Garlic into every house members pie hole, every day

- Train kids to wash hands regularly, especially after coming home from school and before eating

- Crank up the organic carrot juicer and give kids a pint/day each !

- Partake of my "Doom Drink" when in the grips of nasty bugs - Home made Chicken broth, garlic, and flaming hot Cayenne pepper - yeeeoooowww! ( I take it easy on the little ones with the cayenne and garlic as I don't want to do any damage to them, just the bugs ;-)

works for me

 

[rosencra38]

Thanks for all the replies. Wife just called from the Dr office and they are telling her it is just a virus that they will need to work on getting over. It's supposed to get up to the fifties later this week so I might be able to open up a window to let some fresh air in for a bit, right now we've been hovering in the teens during the day and single degree temps at night. Also, I don't have any smoke in the house and have been storing 3-4 days worth of wood in the house.

 

[humpin iron]

A lot of it is common mold and spores that shut down in the cold, then you bring the wood in, it warms up and all this comes back to life. My wife also reacts with sniffles, but only to red oak. The problem tends to be the wood waiting to be burned, not the wood in the stove. I've had some customers that went to storing wood in the garage, instead of the living area and the problem went away.