Wood & Pellet Stoves and the Aggrevation of Asthma and Other Allergies

[apples439]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum...well, sort of. I've been reading through this great wealth of information for months but have never posted. My wife and I purchased our first house several months ago and have been exploring alternative ways to heat our home. We currently have oil-burning furnace and it just seems wrong. We are still in the deciding phase regarding if, what and when, and it seems that while discussing the all-important "if" we keep coming back to the same unknown variable...my wife's asthma and allergies. I've read some of the Q&A;on this site that have dealt with this issue, but I was hoping to get broader feedback from the whole community. So, if you or someone you know has moderate to severe asthma or other allergies, please share your honest thoughts on living/breathing in a home heated with modern wood or pellet stoves.

Many thanks!

 

[DBoon]

My wife has modest asthma and she does just fine with our woodstove. I've found that as long as you get a good fire going quickly and don't open the door to the stove unless the wood is down to coals, then you don't get smoke in the house. Have to keep the door gasket in good shape also. I had to tighten mine halfway through our first burning season to ensure it kept a tight fit.

 

[griz7674]

I have asthma and use a wood stove. Even when smoke does get into the house it is not in the quantity that flares me up. I have truly noticed no ill effects of burning wood. With that in mind, if your wife's asthma is not controlled by steriods (ie Advair etc) then she might have issues. My advair allows me to never use an inhaler. I use to go through 2 two hundred count inhalers a month. Now, one inhaler will last me well over a year!

Griz

 

[Backwoods Savage]

And of course there is more than meets the eye. For example, the most common mistake new wood burners make is to burn not properly seasoned wood. It is natural because they simply do not know what seasoned wood is nor do they know even what kind of wood they are burning. If your wood is not properly seasoned, I can see where that would be a big problem with someone who has asthma.

So if you are seriously looking at burning wood, then I suggest to you to buy or cut your wood even before starting the plan on a wood stove. Let that wood sit for at least a year before you burn it. That way you will have a whole lot less smoke and/or creosote. Also get a good stove, not a cheap one. Get one that burns extremely clean.

Please do not take this wrong (I'm not bragging but only trying to show what can be done), but the wood we are burning is a minimum of 4 years cut, split and stacked. The stove we use is a catalytic stove which burns very clean. Yesterday, it warmed and the fire went out. My wife (that's right! My wife) checked the chimney. There was a little fly ash at the bottom but the rest of the chimney is clean. This chimney was put up in the summer of 2007 and has not been cleaned yet! That is what you call clean burning and that would no doubt allow someone with asthma to burn wood.

EDIT: Forgot. Welcome to the forum Ted.

 

[BrotherBart]

With a modern stove after you load it there shouldn't be any reason to open the door and get smoke into the house. Load it, use the air control to control the burn and reload after it has burned down to coals and the nasties have all burned or gone up the chimney. Poking around in the fire and getting smoke in the house is a relic of the old pre-EPA stoves.

Now dust from cleaning out the ashes is still the same as it has always been. And that could and I think does cause some respiratory irritation.

Of course Backwoods Savage is correct. Dry wood will fix anything from a broken heart to the crack of dawn. :lol:

 

[JustWood]

I have mild asthma and the wife moderate.
This is all very good advice. Creosote smell has been the worst irritant for me in the past. It stopped when I started drying my wood for 3 years.
I have noticed that locust smoke will set me off immediately. Other wood smoke does not bother me.

 

[apples439]

Thanks everyone! My wife and I read all your replies as well as anything else we could find and she gave me the go-ahead to purchase a stove. We took a ride up to the Woodstock Soapstone Company on Saturday and purchased a Fireview. I'll post a description of our wonderful expeirence in another thread.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That's great Ted. You will love this stove. Now get out there and get some wood. Do not wait on this most important step. You will be very happy next winter!

 

[karri0n]

Congrats on the Fireview Ted, Can't wait to see that install. I'm sure you'll be very happy with that stove, as It's gotten just about the best reviews I've seen on any stove, from the company, to the workmanship, to the burn quality.

 

[oconnor]

Ted

Welcome to the board. In addition to the dry wood - an essential point - pay close attention to your chimney set up during your install. Optimising flue type and length (flex vs rigid liners vs clay tile flues) will do a lot to reduce smoke spillage, as does understanding the other factors that promote and reduce draft. Recommend you look at some articles on chimney issues on this site, as well as www.woodheat.org - great article there on smoke spillage and chimneys. Alos, check the link in my signature on the Guide to residential wood heating - good points there too.

Beyond that, BrotherBarts comment on letting the fire burn down to coals before poking around (respecting the fire cycle) is the number one way I have reduced smoke entry into our house this winter.