Wood Burners Open Fires and Stoves

[Murdoch]

We are in tonight and our house is being heated by ....... our wood burner, with perfectly dry wood

 

[Ric2013]

Well, I once bought some roadside 'seasoned firewood'. Good hardwood, it was, but about 40% moisture and therefore useless. In principle, regulation is a good idea.

To be honest, however, my biggest air quality issue at home in the UK is people with bonfires of garden waste. Quite why people with massive gardens don't have space for a compost heap, if they object to going to the tip, is beyond me, particularly when I've opened my windows on a winter evening for some fresh air and find my eyes stinging and feel like I cannot breathe.

Here in my current location, in Italy, nearly everyone burns wood. Those who cut their own sometimes have the best quality of all as collecting it becomes a hobby and then they have several years' worth in storage, and thus it becomes very well seasoned (dry mountain air helps too). The sold wood often isn't much good until it's been stored for a season - but it depends on who sells it, and whether the buyer knows their stuff.

But a culture of wood burning helps a lot - in Wales, you often see piles of firewood stored exposed to the rain, which would not happen over here. Perhaps once people get to see what genuinely dry wood burns like, the informally sourced wood will have to improve in quality?

 

[gmartine]

Here in my current location, in Italy, nearly everyone burns wood.

Don't know if you've mentioned it before Ric but what are you doing there, are you stuck for the moment?

 

[oz-plumber]

Isn't burning wood considered carbon neutral?

 

[Ric2013]

Don't know if you've mentioned it before Ric but what are you doing there, are you stuck for the moment?

One of my parents is unwell and needs support at the time being, hence been here since December.

Isn't burning wood considered carbon neutral?

Yes, if sourced locally. I'd be interested to know, in real-world terms, if NOx gasses are produced during combustion. Might mean it isn't climate neutral... but perhaps a domestic fire doesn't get hot enough to produce nitrous oxides?

That said, I know a lot of ecos who would say wood isn't really an eco-fuel in the UK on any kind of scale. Too dense a population, and growing "bio" fuels on what could be farmland simply results in more fuels being used to transport food from overseas.