Cleaner Air In Home

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here

Ravenvalor

Member
Hearth Supporter
Jul 28, 2008
82
Piedmont NC
Greetings Fellow Hearthlings,

Last night for the first time in about 5 - years I woke up in the middle of the night with an asthma attack.

I am not sure whether or not the culprit is the stove. It probably is not but it has me wanting to take steps to make the air cleaner. Does anyone know of

1) Ways to test or have tested the air for wood ash particulates?

2) Ways to prevent wood ash particulates from entering the home?

3) Ways to clean the air of wood ash particulates?

The Woodstock Fireview is 10 - years old and I replaced the gaskets and re-caulked 3 - years ago.

Thank you,
 
I've got mild asthma and have the Woodstock Progress Hybrid. I haven't had any asthma attacks in numerous years and the wood stove doesn't seem to aggravate my lungs. Have you done the "dollar bill" test on the gaskets in your stove? Are they still sealing properly? Regarding testing for particulate in the air, I'm not sure how to do that. If your stove is sealed properly, you shouldn't have much, if any, particulate in the house. Hope that you feel better!
 
I had heard of these previously, https://www.specksensor.com/ (These are reported to measure particulate levels)

I do not know if there are others out there that would work better, that is just something I had heard of. I would be interested in hearing if any one else had tried this in their home.
 
Last edited:
Is there some reason that you think the stove has something to do with your asthma? Most of the mess that comes from my stove occurs during ash emptying procedures.
 
If you have forced air heating get a quality hepa filter installed and leave your fans running on low. It will amaze you how much crud is in the air that the filter will catch.
 
Everything in my house gets covered in a fine layer of dust from my stove. I tried a small table top air filtering unit and while it collected tons of dust it still didnt really seem to help much. Agree emptying ash pan is the worst as far as spreading particles in the air. I use a big shovel to clean out my stove and i walk it right out the door 6 ft away to the bucket outside but that doesnt seem to help either. I don't know what the solution is.