Check Out This Sad Tale, Complete With Lawyer Logic.

[drizler]

http://7dvt.com/2009outdoor-wood-boilers-appropriate-technology-or-deadly-device

Nothing new here I guess, just our famous legal system in action as it is today. Pretty darned sad.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Somehow, it does not surprise me in the least.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

OWB's should be regulated the same as any other solid fueled heater IMHO. had the unit been installed correctly it still wouldnt have burned as clean as a phase 2 unit indoors will , but at very least it may not have been a hazard.

in my line of work i get amazed every season by descriptions of installations. bottom line , when you invite fire to live with you PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL dont cut corners, do read instructions , and above all , if you do not have complete confidence in what you need to do GET A PRO! the life you save may be your own , or in this case , a neighbor's.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Good post stoveguy.

We have a pastel of those things around here and to go past anyone's place who has one is awful....especially when you are on a bicycle. There are a few who burn year around for their hot water but it is really a smoky mess. And I never could understand the short chimneys on them. A few of the guys here have extended theirs and it helps a little.

 

[DiscoInferno]

That article suggests that some OWB's would qualify for the 30% tax credit. Are there any made that are 75% efficient by any definition?

My parents' "next-door" neighbor (they have 10 acres, so luckily it's not terribly close) evidently has no other heat or hot water except for the OWB. They say he burns all summer.

 

[webbie]

I don't understand what people find strange or ironic about this.......maybe I'm missing something....

The neighbor admits it is "a smelly freaking thing, no doubt about it.”

Does anyone think that something can pour out vast quantities of unburned gases and smoke and CO and NOT be a hazard to the air quality?

The OWB manufacturers have been getting away with murder for a long time. Maybe the deaths were slow, or maybe the woodsmoke simply hastened death by a day, a week, a month or a year....but, make no mistake about it, that kind of smoke affects the public health big time.

 

[begreen]

In this region, one can be fined for consistent smoky output from a stove, indoors or out.

 

[Wood Duck]

I'm sure there are some OWB operators out there who burn pretty clean, but there are plenty who burn a really smoky fire all the time. I wouldn't want to put up with one next door sending smoke into my house all the time. Actually, I have a neighbor with an OWB, and the year before last it was really smoky. Last year he did a lot better, I am not sure why. His smoke almost always goes away from my house, so I don't have to suffer when the OWB smokes, but somebody suffers, and it isn't the OWB owner. I am not a fan of regulations any more than anyone else is, but the way a lot of OWBs are operated is the reason regulations are being enacted. If everyone was burning responsibly, there would be no push for new regs.