Injunction forces neighbor to shut down wood boiler
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I personally do not have any hands on experience with these boilers but I have a semi close neighbor that does. I have no idea if he is firing it correctly or even what fuel he is using so I will not jump to conclusions.
I do know that his puts out a ton of smoke. I am on the upwind side of him so it does not affect me directly. He has several neighbors close by on the down wind side and I can see that they get a lot of smoke. So far, I have not heard of a single complaint. There may be many complaints too, I just don't know.
In a typical subdivision setting, I can kinda see how there might be problems. I am not trying to start a fight, just an intelligent conversation.
I think that this ruling is a major setback to those of us that heat with wood. There are too many variables to consider when looking at smoke output to blame a particular appliance. For all I know, my neighbor might be burning sycamore that he just fished out of the local river.
I do know that his puts out a ton of smoke. I am on the upwind side of him so it does not affect me directly. He has several neighbors close by on the down wind side and I can see that they get a lot of smoke. So far, I have not heard of a single complaint. There may be many complaints too, I just don't know.
In a typical subdivision setting, I can kinda see how there might be problems. I am not trying to start a fight, just an intelligent conversation.
I think that this ruling is a major setback to those of us that heat with wood. There are too many variables to consider when looking at smoke output to blame a particular appliance. For all I know, my neighbor might be burning sycamore that he just fished out of the local river.
On an individual basis, our courts (and I assume Canada also) allows for this type of thing. I have no problem with that. If your neighbor is drastically lowering your quality of life with his BBQ, Stereo, Diesel Truck or Sweat Lodge - you have the perfect right to take him to court. That is the way it should be.
I don't look at these things as setbacks for woodburning except that it creates a bad reputation for the whole idea of wood stoves. That is not the fault of the courts or the regulators, that is the fault of the users and manufacturers of appliances that do not burn clean. My opinion, of course. Changes are coming and it would be best to be cooperative with reasonable directions toward cleaner biomass burning.....everyone, including the burner (more efficiency) will be happy. Win-Win, that's what I like.
I don't look at these things as setbacks for woodburning except that it creates a bad reputation for the whole idea of wood stoves. That is not the fault of the courts or the regulators, that is the fault of the users and manufacturers of appliances that do not burn clean. My opinion, of course. Changes are coming and it would be best to be cooperative with reasonable directions toward cleaner biomass burning.....everyone, including the burner (more efficiency) will be happy. Win-Win, that's what I like.
I imagine it'll just be a matter of time before some clever engineer make those OWB's comply with EPA standards too. When they resolve that issue the water coils for the indoor stoves will also work with the next Gen of indoor stoves too...maybe.
Yes, a loophole where they are going to tighten the noose. Just because it isn't going up your chimney is no reason to say the heck with it lets smoke'm out. I would be OK with having all new OWB's have to comply and it might make the wood they are burning go further as well.
Considering that I am the person that is at the center of this whole ordeal, how did I know that I would find that it is being debated on hearth.com
Iain Pike
Iain Pike
My goodness, we are everywhere - the scots will be on here next thing you know!
Last thing we need is more opinions on a hatfield and McCoy feud....
I'm just going to blame John Gulland, who said this:
"One household's woodburning activities can be considered appropriate only if they do not interfere with another household's enjoyment of their home and property"
Mission statement from Woodheat.org
Last thing we need is more opinions on a hatfield and McCoy feud....
I'm just going to blame John Gulland, who said this:
"One household's woodburning activities can be considered appropriate only if they do not interfere with another household's enjoyment of their home and property"
Mission statement from Woodheat.org
Sounds to me like a improperly fired and/or designed wood boiler. Any good wood boiler system should be able to fire without smoke once warmed up, particularly when burning properly seasoned wood. I agree Craig, this is exactly the type of situation courts exist for. The boiler is polluting the air of the neighbor and it is perfectly reasonable to expect the boiler to be fixed to not smoke or shut it down.
I would think any good neighbor would make every reasonable effort to stop polluting the air of their other neighbors.
I would think any good neighbor would make every reasonable effort to stop polluting the air of their other neighbors.
Since this is still before the court, I cannot say much. Just that, if you had access to the over 700 pages of court records, you would see that there is much more to this case than the newspaper article would have you believe.
I would think there are several things that could be done to mitigate the smoke issue including a taller stack, better wood drying practices, and additional water storage.
The outside boilers are very popular around here. I see many just boiling smoke like a coal train sometimes and sometimes little to no smoke at all. I think they ave auto dampers on them so maybe they smoke when they choke themselves down. Duno, dont know anything about them just merely an observation.
A properly designed wood fired boiler will not have an auto damper. The water is the storage medium and you should have enough storage to accept the heat produced by the boiler over the duration of the burn. This prevents dirty burning.
Garns burn this way.
Garns burn this way.
I would guess the Scott's are on the anti-wood smoke forum that someone had posted a link to here once.
The boiler is probably not what the argument is about. Happens all the time, heck the 2 neighbors could have a fued over property lines or teenage daughters and this is just the thing that they think they can "win" at. Not that the neighbor may have a good point, just that you would really have to burn green and choke it to really create that big a headache...or its installed in a city lot where it never should have been?
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