Outdoor wood-burning stoves are unhealthy to public

Outdoor wood-burning stoves are unhealthy to public

By By NANCY ALDERMAN
Norwich Bulletin

Posted Jan 12, 2011

Although New York has tried to get outdoor wood furnaces under control, its new regulations will not protect people who live in the vicinity of one.

The newer phase II units have not gone through field testing, and only the industry is claiming that they burn 90 percent cleaner. Environment and Human Health Inc., a nonprofit organization that receives no funding from business or corporations, has monitored the inside air of homes near outdoor wood furnaces and found that homes as far away as 850 feet have wood smoke levels way above Environmental Protection Agency standards.

So far, only Washington state has banned outdoor wood furnaces. It’s now time for other states, such as Connecticut, to follow. If people’s health and property values are to be protected, then a ban must be enacted.

The Farm Bureau fights regulations in every state so farmers can save a few thousand dollars on heating bills. But neighbors lose the entire value of their homes and their health. Outdoor wood furnaces emit as much smoke as 22 indoor wood stoves. Outdoor wood furnaces are not certified by EPA. Indoor wood stoves are.

New York’s new regulations require that units be 90 percent cleaner, but that does not apply to those already in existence. So, 90 percent clearner than what?

The industry claims phase II units are 90 percent cleaner than the old ones, but these newer units have never been tested in the field and people living near them say they’re almost as polluting as the old ones. The technology is the same — and it’s flawed.

Exposures of two hours or more — peak exposure — is enough to cause serious health effects. The 90-percent-cleaner claim is based on a 24-hour average, not peak exposure, which causes the greatest harm. The industry’s 90-percent-cleaner claim will not bring those peak exposures down to levels that will protect health or home values.

Not enough

New York requires only a 100-foot setback. Smoke from these furnaces, whether new or old, forms in a plume up to 1,000 feet — and sometimes a half mile. One hundred feet will in no way protect neighbors.

New York established stack-height requirements, but it doesn’t matter how high because the wood smoke that comes out of the stack falls toward the ground.

New York mandates “only good wood” can be used. Burning even the best and driest wood in the world will still give off toxic emissions. This is like saying when you smoke a cigarette, be sure to use “only good, dry and clean tobacco” as if that would keep the cigarette smoke from being toxic.

When an agency tries to regulate a product that is harmful, the agency often tries to please both the industry and the public. When this happens, too often, the public good is sacrificed.

These devices do not lend themselves to regulation. They must be banned until better technologies are found — and they have not yet been found.


Nancy Alderman is president of Environment and Human Health Inc. in North Haven.
Copyright 2011 Norwich Bulletin. Some rights reserved

Henrietta Township couple suing maker of wood boiler

From----BurningIssues.org Web site-Forum


Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:34 am---Post subject: OWB lawsuit (Michigan)

Henrietta Township couple suing maker of wood boiler

by Danielle Quisenberry | Jackson Citizen Patriot

Thursday November 13, 2008, 7:15 AM

A Henrietta Township couple is suing a Minnesota outdoor wood boiler manufacturer that they allege knowingly creates and sells heating devices proven to be harmful to human health.

A Texas lawyer filed the suit last month in the District Court of Hennepin County, Minn., on behalf of Roger and Mary Soldano — whose neighbor used a wood boiler. The defendant is Red Lake Falls, Minn.-based Northwest Manufacturing Inc.

"Northwest Manufacturing has known about the dangerous emissions and smoke generated by the (outdoor wood boiler) in question and others like it for some time and has failed to warn the public or take any action to correct a defectively designed product," the lawsuit reads.

"As a direct and proximate result of the reckless, negligent, callous, and outrageous acts and omissions of Defendant Northwest Manufacturing Inc., Roger Soldano has sustained serious debilitating injuries."

The company's president could not be reached for comment.

Soldano's wife also has suffered long-lasting health effects and the company should be held liable for the pair's past and future medical expenses, loss of earnings and earning capacity, and their diminished enjoyment of life, according to the document.

The Soldanos' neighbor, Richard Cady on Hankerd Road near Mud Lake, for two heating seasons used an outdoor wood boiler that transfers heat through water lines from an outside structure to a home. He bought the device, a Woodmaster 4400, from Northwest Manufacturing.

Increasingly popular and largely unregulated in Michigan, the boilers are touted as inexpensive alternatives to gas or propane heat.

They also have been proven to be inefficient polluters, according to health and environmental organizations.

"It is really surprising these things are still on the market," said Soldano's lawyer, Joseph E. Ritch, who specializes in product-liability law in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Todd Strem, Northwest Manufacturing's sales and marketing manager, said last month that the company is developing more efficient, cleaner-burning models and encourages users to be conscientious of their neighbors and follow "best burn practices."

The company has worked with the Environmental Protection Agency to come up with federal standards, now voluntary, for outdoor wood boilers, he said.

On Sept. 30, Jackson County Circuit Judge Chad Schmucker ordered Cady to remove or make inoperable his wood boiler after a Jackson County health officer informed Cady the boiler was a public health hazard.

The order prohibits Cady from using the burner until the matter is settled before or after a trial scheduled for Feb. 25.

The Jackson County case is separate from the Minnesota case, which does not involve Cady.

Cady's burner sat about 180 feet downwind from the Soldano house, according to court records and caused a cloud of smoke to settle over his neighbors.

Note...From-BurningIssues.org Web site-Forum. Great web site to visit!

An American Dream Goes Up in Smoke-article

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Illinois Sierra Club Newsletter

An American Dream Goes Up in Smoke

by Barbara Vrchota

Joel Laws has a problem. "My wife and I are a recently newly married couple and moved into our first home together in December of 2005. If you can, for a second, try to remember when you and your significant other first started out in the adult world. Imagine starting a chapter in your life of starting a family, moving into a new home and looking forward toward your future together."

"Now imagine having all that taken from you. This was our case, as we have had our clean air and enjoyment of our property taken from us without a choice. Additionally, we have been told by our community leaders and our state and federal public administrators that we don’t have a legitimate complaint for our clean air. This is what has happened to us by our neighbors’ actions by installing an Outdoor Wood Boiler."

What is an Outdoor Wood Boiler (OWB). According to Central Boiler and Outdoor Boilers of Michigan’s web page, it is an efficient way to provide your home with all your heating needs. A homeowner can eliminate problems indoors caused by the standard indoor wood stove. There is no more tending to the stove, or fire hazards. Outdoorwoodfurnace.com claims in its ad that it can lower utility bills, and heat water heaters, spas, pools, and garages.

Here’s another burning question. Is it an eyesore? Does it take up a lot of yard space? Surfing sites such as www.centralboilers.com, you’ll find photos of these heat sources, which resemble small aluminum or wood sheds.

It doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Well, shortly after Joel and Melissa moved into their home in Albers, IL, a neighbor installed an outdoor wood boiler. Soon came the smoke and soot. Joel says it killed the bushes around the house and turned their white-sided home yellow. Next, constant sore throats, coughing and headaches started. The only way to relieve the symptoms was to leave the house. They were sick of being sick, says Joel.

Sounds nightmarish, but it only gets worse. When Joel contacted his local municipality, he was told he has no complaint. He can’t do a thing to protect the air he and Melissa breathe in or around their house. Joel says, "I have become passionate about my freedom for clean air. I had this circumstance brought upon my wife and I without choice. I am looking for support in any way possible."

After the holidays, Joel and Melissa decided to move from their home. Their American dream has, unfortunately, gone up in smoke.

There is some good news in of all this. Joel and Melissa have created a web page on myspace to educate the public and hopefully make a change. "I want the state to at minimum require people to fall under what the U.S. EPA standards are for these things. Not within 100 feet of someone’s home, not be used as a primary heat source, and burn dry seasoned wood. If my neighbor did any of the above items, we may still be able to live in our home." Joel says.

Joel Laws is now the Central States Regions Director for the Clean Air Revival Now, a non-profit group in California. Learn more about OWBs at www.burningissues.com or myspace.com80/freedomofair.

This article was featured in the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club’s newsletter, Lake and Prairie, cited below:

Vrchota, Barbara. (2008). An American dream goes up in smoke. Lake and Prairie, 49(2), 34.

Note: The author accidentally cited the websites incorrectly in the final paragraph. They should read http://burningissues.org and www.myspace.com/freedomofair

"Fighting for Our Clean Air Rights against Outdoor Wood Boilers in Illinois"

"Fighting for Our Clean Air Rights against Outdoor Wood Boilers in Illinois"

http://www.myspace.com/freedomofair


Our Mission:
My wife and I developed this page to show the horror of how lives can change because of the selfish action of a neighbor. Having clean air to breathe is a fundamental common law right. We have been forced to live with and breathe smoke on a continual basis because of an Outdoor Wood Boiler located directly across from our house. We are not just fighting for our own rights, but the rights of everyone else who wishes to breathe clean air. We hope the information on this page will benefit anyone who has a similar situation, and will find our experiences resourceful in the continuing battle for clean air.


About Us:
We are a recently newly married couple who moved into our first home in December of 2005. The fall of 2006 was when our nightmare began. We are an average couple trying to make ends meet, and have been struggling to do so. We hope to one day start a family, but feel that at this time our financial strain cannot allow us to do so. We certainly also fear the health risks of exposing a child to a lifestyle of constant smoke inhalation. We feel that not only our clean air has been taken from us, but also the opportunity for us to start a family.

Please examine the many features of this page, including the pictures and video in which we have uploaded. These are all pictures of the boiler that we have had no choice in living with. Many things have been chronicled in the blog section to make this page more accessible.


http://www.myspace.com/freedomofair


Editor’s note….Please visit and support this great web site.

Smoke Gets in Your Lungs:Outdoor Wood Boilers in New York State

Smoke Gets in Your Lungs:
Outdoor Wood Boilers in New York State
October 2005

Eliot Spitzer
Attorney General of New York State
Environmental Protection Bureau
October 2005

Excerpts from Report

Full report..
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2005/aug/August%202005.pdf


Executive Summary
Homeowners, especially in rural communities, are increasingly turning to wood burning units installed outside the home, known as outdoor wood boilers (OWBs), to heat their homes. OWB sales have tripled in New York since 1999, with over 7,000 OWBs sold from 1999 to 2004.
The New York State Office of the Attorney General (OAG) Environmental Protection Bureau reviewed information on OWBs and analyzed the manufacture, distribution, testing, and sales of OWBs in New York State. We found that while OWBs are advertised as a clean and economical way to heat one’s house and water, OWBs may be among the dirtiest and least economical modes of heating, especially when improperly used. Even when used properly, OWBs emit, on an average per hour basis, about four times as much fine particulate matter pollution as conventional wood stoves, about 12 times as much fine particle pollution as EPA-certified wood stoves, 1000 times more than oil furnaces, and 1800 times more than gas furnaces. Such emissions are significant because fine particulate matter pollution has both short-term and long-term health effects.

II. OWB Pollution
State health and environmental agencies have received a growing number of complaints from owners and neighbors that OWBs produce thick, acrid, foul smoke that permeates buildings and homes, causing not only a nuisance, but also environmental degradation and health problems. Even when operated using clean seasoned wood, OWBs can emit significant pollution because the basic design of the OWB causes fuel to burn incompletely, or smolder, resulting in thick smoke and high particulate emissions. The problem is aggravated when other materials, such as wet wood, processed wood, and garbage are burned. The short OWB chimney and reduced draft often fail to disperse the smoke, resulting in more concentrated pollution at lower heights reaching residents and neighbors. Exposure to this smoke, like other pollutants, can cause or contribute to short-term health harms such as eye, nose, throat, and lung irritation, coughing and shortness of breath, and may exacerbate asthma or trigger asthma attacks. Chronic exposure to smoke can cause long-term effects such as asthma, heart and lung disease, and cancer.

A. OWB Operation and Smoke
Wood smoke is one of the primary contributors to certain types of air pollution in the United States,5 especially in rural areas. Even though wood combustion accounts for only about nine percent of the nation’s home heating needs, it accounts for an estimated forty-five percent of the total fine particulate matter directly released by all fuel combustion used for residential heating.6

B. Human Health Impacts of OWB Smoke
Exposure to various components of wood smoke and the contaminants found in wood smoke has been associated with adverse human health impacts, as discussed below. The likelihood of health effects depends on many factors, such as the amount of smoke to which one is exposed, the frequency and duration of exposure, and the sensitivity of the individual exposed.

Fine Particulate Matter (PM 2.5)
Exposure to PM 2.5 can cause short-term health effects such as eye, nose, throat, and lung irritation, coughing, sneezing, runny nose, and shortness of breath and can also affect lung function and worsen medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease. While the upper respiratory system will filter out particles larger than ten millionths of a meter (or microns), PM 2.5 can bypass the body’s natural filtering mechanisms to lodge deep in the lungs.16 Scientific studies have linked increases in daily PM 2.5 exposure with increased respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions, emergency department visits and deaths. Recent studies suggest that long-term exposure to PM 2.5 may be associated with increased rates of bronchitis and reduced lung function, and increased cancer risk. People with breathing problems (such as asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, or pneumonia) and/or heart problems, and certain members of
the general population (such as children and the elderly) may be particularly sensitive to PM 2.5.17 More than 60,000 deaths each year in the United States can be attributed to exposure to air polluted with PM 2.5.18 Respiratory and cardiovascular diseases have been associated directly with wood smoke emissions.19

For example, a Seattle area study noted increases in asthma and other respiratory disease and declines in lung function among children exposed to wood smoke.20 Long term exposure to wood smoke, like other emissions containing PM 2.5, can lead to chronic bronchitis, obstructive lung disease, and an increased risk of cancer.21

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)
PAHs are a group of chemicals that are formed during the incomplete combustion of coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage, and other organic substances such as tobacco. PAHs generally occur as complex mixtures often containing hundreds of different PAHs. Tests on mice show that exposure to PAHs during pregnancy results in higher rates of birth defects, lower birth weights, and difficulty reproducing. Animal studies have also shown that both short-term and long-term exposure to PAHs can inhibit the body’s ability to fight disease. Some PAHs have been categorized as probable human carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.22


Editor’s personal note----The above are only excerpts from this report. Please go to the web site listed above for the complete report. Wood smoke kills!!!! No doubt about it!

USA Today Story-Outside Wood Burning Boilers

USA TODAY
January 16, 2008
Outside Wood Burning Boilers

In the winter of 2006, Joel Laws and his new wife, Melissa, were living in the Albers, Ill., house where his mother was born. They hoped to start a family there. Then a neighbor began heating his home with an outdoor wood boiler.
Smoke seeping into the house, Laws says, gave them headaches and sore throats. Melissa's mother, who has asthma, refused to visit. Their clothes smelled of soot.
The couple sued but, impatient for their lawsuit to come to court and convinced that a smoky house was no place to conceive a child, they moved out last week. "We're sick of being sick," says Joel Laws, 27, a graduate student. "We would rather pay rent than have to live with this."

AIR-QUALITY DEBATE
The Laws are among a growing number who say they have been smoked out of their homes and watched their health and property values decline because of neighbors who use wood-burning boilers. They are using local ordinances, lawsuits and the Internet — the Laws have posted video of smoke plumes on MySpace — to restrict or ban the devices.

'Very different smell'
David Cole, 60, a Hanover, N.H., lawyer who says his farmhouse is enveloped by smoke from a neighbor's boiler, won a temporary injunction to shut it down. Last week, he testified to the Legislature in favor of a bill that would crack down on the devices, also known as outdoor wood furnaces or wood-fired hydronic heaters.
"It's a very different smell than the lovely wood smoke you might get a whiff of in the countryside in the winter," says Cole. "It's a thick, oily, acrid smell."
More rural and suburban homeowners across the country's northern tier are turning to boilers as a cheap way to heat homes, bath water, swimming pools and hot tubs.
"I put it in to lower my heating costs," says Brian Wuebbels, the Laws' neighbor. He used to pay $500 to $800 a month for gas heat. Now, using wood he says he cuts himself, his bill is $36. Wuebbels denies that smoke from his boiler poses a health hazard. "It's not any more than leaves burning," he says.

Neighborhood air pollution is, "not just wood smoke," says Deidre Darsa of the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, an industry group. "There's car exhaust, indoor home cleaners. ... It's not just one particular source."

Government studies say wood smoke is a growing problem. A report issued in Connecticut in 2002, when there were fewer than half the boilers in use than in 2006, estimated that 38% of airborne particle emissions there came from wood burning, including stoves.

A 2006 report by state air quality agencies in the Northeast said one boiler can emit as much fine particulate matter as four diesel trucks. It also said it would take 205 oil furnaces or up to 8,000 gas furnaces to produce as much pollution as one wood boiler.

The agencies' group, the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), said there could be 500,000 outdoor wood boilers emitting nearly 900,000 tons of fine particulate matter nationwide by 2010.
The NESCAUM report said the increased use of boilers "represents a potential public health problem" linked to wood smoke, including asthma, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Boiler manufacturers recommend using only dry, seasoned wood. A 2005 report by the New York attorney general said, though, that even properly used boilers produce significant pollution because they "burn incompletely, or smolder, resulting in thick smoke and high particulate emissions."

Fireboxes are large enough that some owners burn tires, palettes, railroad ties, construction debris, plastic, trash and even telephone poles, releasing harmful chemicals. Those living nearby say it can be difficult to directly link health problems to boiler smoke.

When Brad Graham's asthmatic son Hunter, 8, had trouble breathing at school in Houlton, Maine, air ducts were cleaned, carpet removed and air intakes moved. Still, Hunter missed more than 60 days of school. "He would lose his ability to breathe," Graham says. One day, he and his wife, Lynn, noticed smoke wafting over the school playground. It came from a boiler near a private home 1,000 feet from the school. The owner of the boiler did not return USA TODAY's calls for comment.

Lobbying for change
The Grahams lobbied for a year for a town ordinance to force owners to modify existing boilers to reduce emissions. It passed in June 2006. This year, Hunter has been sick just one school day. "It doesn't do any good to confront your neighbors," Graham says. "You have to go through legal channels. It's a long, hard battle."
Beth Thomas, whose daughter was teased on the school bus because she smelled of smoke from a nearby boiler, moved after a Bowdoinham, Maine, town hall meeting voted against regulations. "People were confusing it with wood burning rights when it was an emissions control issue," she says.

Some boiler owners say they are trying to be good neighbors. Anita French, whose switch from propane has saved her and husband Donald $3,000 a year in heating costs, admits that when they installed a boiler in their Stratham, N.H., house in 2006, "there was a little more smoke than we anticipated."

Town building inspector Terry Barnes says the Frenches raised the device's chimney and switched to drier wood to reduce smoke. French, 48, says she doesn't use the boiler in summer and called complaints "unfair and unfounded."

Still, 15 neighbors complained to the town complaining that the smoke is so bad that it set off one resident's indoor smoke alarm. "The stench and odor are disgusting," says neighbor Lewis Ruffner, whose children often come in coughing from the backyard. "They say it's too smoky."

Fighting for Our Clean Air Rights against Outdoor Wood Boilers in Illinois

"Fighting for Our Clean Air Rights against Outdoor Wood Boilers in Illinois "

http://www.myspace.com/freedomofair

Note...The above personal myspace web page site is created by a Supporter of Breathe Healthy Air.

Our Mission:
"My wife and I developed this page to show the horror of how lives can change because of the selfish action of a neighbor. Having clean air to breathe is a fundamental common law right. We have been forced to live with and breathe smoke on a continual basis because of an Outdoor Wood Boiler located directly across from our house. We are not just fighting for our own rights, but the rights of everyone else who wishes to breathe clean air. We hope the information on this page will benefit anyone who has a similar situation, and will find our experiences resourceful in the continuing battle for clean air."


Who I'd like to meet:

"We want to meet anyone who wants to constructively contribute to our mission of getting back what was once free, clean air. We have already invested thousands of dollars in this fight, thousands of dollars we probably will never see again. If we can successfully maintain our ground and fight for what is right, not only will we personally benefit, but people in the community and with similar situations will benefit as well."

Editor's note----Read about the horrors of wood smoke emission and actually see wood smoke emission videos on this web site.... http://www.myspace.com/freedomofair

Forum Comment----Smoke lawsuit-Illinois

Forum----www. burningissues.org

Joel
BurningIssues.org Forum Index -> Smoke Stories

I am a resident of Illinois, and to the masses here whether they are pro/con OWBs I am in current litigation with my neighbor and his OWB. Anyone who wishes to correspond with me feel free to send me a pm. My story is listed below:

To start I will give my background. I am an MPA, which for some if you don't know what that is, means that I received my education with a Masters Degree in Public Administration and policy analysis. I have worked with a U.S. Congressmen, and currently work with a city government. And before you all say "Oh you're one of them" I assure you I am not a typical bureaucrat. I do not live in the city I work in, but instead live in a rural community of about 900 in Southern Illinois.

Last October after my wife and I moved in our first home for some peaceful 8 months my neighbor decided to place a OWB (in which he installed) about 30-40 feet from my property and about 40-60 feet from my house itself. The OWB has become a horror to us penetrating our home with smoke on a daily basis. It has created smoke soot discoloration of my home, damaging the siding and my front door, it has killed some of the plant life on my property, and has made us have bouts with nausea on many occasions.

As a normal calm individual my wife and I approached our neighbor about our concerns. He refused to appropriately solve our problems (raising the stack above the roof, burning dry seasoned wood) and basically told us to go to hell. I in turn began my own investigation on this individual and dually contacted every person possible who would listen to me at the federal/state/county/local levels of government. The reason I began this investigation was that prior to returning to college and finishing my education I was a private investigator.

My investigation found that not only does he burn wood, but just so happens to work for a pallet business his father owns. Well you can only guess what he was burning in his OWB then.... I in turn recorded at least 30 mins of video of this OWB crossing property lines and took some 200 pictures of my home, his OWB, and showed the gradual damage being done to my residence.

The long treacherous journey of contacting all of these government entities led them to all advising me to get my own attorney. My neighbor of course has strong ties to our community being a firefighter and Jaycee, so "he is such a great individual." So you can almost guess the approach that my local government took on handling this issue. In other words being I have only lived in this community for a year or so, my rights really don't exist in their eyes.

This led me to hire what is probably one of the best Environmental Lawyers in Southern Illinois. After 8 months of asking my government leaders for support I have given up faith in the federalism and bureaucracy that is taking place. Everyone locally takes the NIMBY "Not in my Backyard" approach to my problem. My attorney is filing three counts based on nuisance protected under my state constitutional laws and tort laws. We are basically fighting for our "entitlement to quiet enjoyment" which I guarantee that all of you who have a similar problem as mine will have these case laws or state laws in your respective areas. It might take a little work on your end to find these laws, as I as an MPA have the experience to look for this type of law, or hire an environmental lawyer to do it for you.

In closing after seeing some comments about some people talking about others throughout the country who are taking legal action I am one. And I will be happy to share the results of what is going with my case. This is a current situation and I will not stop fighting this until the day comes that his OWB is out of the ground. Also I want it to be clear I do not have a problem with people refining OWBs and making them positive useful alternatives to heating their homes, but I do have a problem with individuals encroaching on others rights. I am an advocate for freedom of choice, if you want to choose to use an OWB, all power to you, but I do not agree with individualistic rights that take away the rights of others. If you have the rural setting and the means of nobody who minds around you who cares, I don't, it is your choice to expose yourself to the effects of OWBs. Just like if you want to drink, use drugs, smoke it is your body not mine.

And the quote you ask from my neighbor's OWB manufacturer? "It is recommended you do not place any of our products within your neighbor if it is less than 100 feet from the property line"

Joel
Check this out at---BurningIssues.org Forum Index -> Smoke Stories