jetsam
Minister of Fire
At least OP's not suffering from a dearth of opinions, or all the advice being the same. This much I can say for us.
I've seen your video of a fire start (https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/top-down-burn-not-the-best.184638/post-2478411), so I doubt to you ever show more than a minute or so of smoke.Unfortunately it's totally dependent on what your municipality has for regulations. By my understanding most places in NS are fairly lax as far as wood stoves go, especially considering how many people heat with them there.
Otherwise there's not much you can do, the best is to somehow work out a deal with that neighbor to limit smoke output. Next to that I'd be looking at air purifiers within the house, if that's not effective I'd be installing a positive pressure (supply only) ventilation system with a high MERV rated HEPA filter on the inlet. There's no way I'd be giving money to my neighbor to correct his issue, I'd be installing a ventilation system like those described above with that money.
I'm also in a tight neighborhood like you, my neighbors are roughly 12 feet away on either side. and as such I'm quite diligent in minimizing smoke output. I must be doing something right, we have a group Facebook page with complaints about everything, yet wood smoke has never come up. Part of what helps me is my house is the tallest on the street, and my chimney is also the tallest point on the street, 90% of the time my flue gases never reach ground level anyway. But we also have little regulation and no enforcement of air quality, many of my neighbors have open firepits in their back yards, my stove emissions are negligible compared to a dozen houses having backyard fires on a friday night.
I did and that cured my bad neighbor problem instantly.You could always move
I was leaning toward that option. And perhaps adding a HEPA-filtered HRV with intake on the opposite side of the house, set to positively pressurize the house.Have you tried HEPA filters in your home? Assuming you get nowhere with your neighbor, you can always work to improve the air quality in your home.
How elderly? Time eventually solves problems, but just a matter of how many years.Thanks for the reply
I have spoken to him and the reply was “nothing you can do about that”. There’s definitely visible smoke most of the time during their burning. They also burn during 5c-8c temps on the reg. He’s a of an older gentleman