Wood smoke in Willamette Valley? (Newberg: sale, homes, backyard)

[CARas2020]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Yes. And even when they ban it, those who have no other source of heat except wood-burning appliances still get to use them. That likely won't change despite efforts from transplants to ban it altogether.

Had the same thing when I lived in Seattle. I do miss having a wood burning fireplace. We have a gas fireplace which is nice.


I live in WA county and I don't think there is any issue here.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Yes. And even when they ban it, those who have no other source of heat except wood-burning appliances still get to use them. That likely won't change despite efforts from transplants to ban it altogether.

Good to hear-always sad when transplants with their attitudes and desire for control ruin an area for the locals.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

Good to hear-always sad when transplants with their attitudes and desire for control ruin an area for the locals.

Yes, it's only "transplants" who desire clean air. Born and bred Northwesterners love choking on wood smoke. Especially those who's kids have asthma. It's part of the ambience of the place.

And no, no one *has* to burn green firewood to heat their house. There are other options. High efficiency oil stoves like Toyo and Monitor are economical alternatives. They are extremely popular in Alaska including off the grid locations despite lots of firewood. I had a Monitor oil stove in Alaska that worked well, put out basically no smoke, and was every economical to use despite high oil prices up there.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Yes, it's only "transplants" who desire clean air. Born and bred Northwesterners love choking on wood smoke. Especially those who's kids have asthma. It's part of the ambience of the place.

And no, no one *has* to burn green firewood to heat their house. There are other options. High efficiency oil stoves like Toyo and Monitor are economical alternatives. They are extremely popular in Alaska including off the grid locations despite lots of firewood. I had a Monitor oil stove in Alaska that worked well, put out basically no smoke, and was every economical to use despite high oil prices up there.

Of course. Burning green firewood is just rude. I would hope that born and bred Northwesterns would know better.

There are definitely economical alternatives to burning wood, but last time I put a Toyo stove in my home in Alaska, it cost me over 3K (edit: I am not complaining about the price; just acknowledging it). There are people who simply can't afford the initial outlay even though it's a better long game strategy. I read a depressing report on rural poverty when there was a big outcry against wood burning in my hometown...some of them couldn't even afford washers and dryers, and you can get those pretty cheap second hand. The outcry was led by transplants who couldn't understand why some couldn't just replace their wood burning stoves (the town has a high rural poverty rate; a good friend did her Masters thesis about the similarities between it and generational rural poverty in Appalachia). I know there are tax writeoffs and rebates and whatever for environmentally friendly heating alternatives, but people still have to come up with some cash. It was eye-opening and — like I said, depressing.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Yes, it's only "transplants" who desire clean air. Born and bred Northwesterners love choking on wood smoke. Especially those who's kids have asthma. It's part of the ambience of the place.

And no, no one *has* to burn green firewood to heat their house. There are other options. High efficiency oil stoves like Toyo and Monitor are economical alternatives. They are extremely popular in Alaska including off the grid locations despite lots of firewood. I had a Monitor oil stove in Alaska that worked well, put out basically no smoke, and was every economical to use despite high oil prices up there.

So you've gone from firewood, to GREEN firewood in this post? No experienced wood burner burns green wood, it's not efficient, and leads to creosote buildup. I had a Monitor-but they are expensive to operate-especially now with fuel prices running nearly $5 a gallon for #1 diesel (stove oil). Besides, burning firewood is carbon neutral, and in fact "cleaner" than a "natural" wildfire that would be the alternative. Modern wood stoves have to meet EPA standards and emit very little smoke, either with non-catalytic reburner technology that essentially "burns" the smoke, or a stove that uses a catalytic converter. Instead of burning hundreds of gallons of stove oil, I can burn 1 gallon of gas in my chainsaw and perhaps 2 in the tractor bringing in the winter wood supply.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

So you've gone from firewood, to GREEN firewood in this post? No experienced wood burner burns green wood, it's not efficient, and leads to creosote buildup. I had a Monitor-but they are expensive to operate-especially now with fuel prices running nearly $5 a gallon for #1 diesel (stove oil). Besides, burning firewood is carbon neutral, and in fact "cleaner" than a "natural" wildfire that would be the alternative. Modern wood stoves have to meet EPA standards and emit very little smoke, either with non-catalytic reburner technology that essentially "burns" the smoke, or a stove that uses a catalytic converter. Instead of burning hundreds of gallons of stove oil, I can burn 1 gallon of gas in my chainsaw and perhaps 2 in the tractor bringing in the winter wood supply.

If everyone burned dried and cured hardwood in high efficiency wood stoves then wood smoke would be less of a problem. Unfortunately that isn't what actually happens. Around here people burn a lot of green wood that is sitting out in the rain or at best maybe covered with a blue tarp rather than stored in a woodshed for a year. And I would guess that most of it is people who do have other sources of heat just burning up wood in their fireplaces or wood stoves.

When I lived in Alaska (Juneau) we had a Monitor oil stove and my 100 gallon oil tank lasted more than a year. Which is pretty reasonable. I tore out the original electric baseboard heaters because the Monitor was so much better.

For those for whom alternatives to wood stove use is economically problematic I would support some sort of financial assistance program from the state to help them transition to better sources of heat. Perhaps such programs already exist, I don't know. That doesn't mean ripping out wood stoves. Just giving people options for when climatic conditions make wood stove burning problematic in populated areas.

[Metlakatla]

I should clarify: there are times when wood burning is banned for a period of days or however long because of poor air quality. When this occurs, those who have no other heat source still get to burn wood. I'm not sure how enforceable this is; it probably goes by the honor system. Anyway, I wasn't talking about it being banned entirely.

I suspect those who burn green wood are only burning for aesthetic effects -- it makes a pretty picture in the fireplace or it feels cozy to have the woodstove going. I agree that they probably have other choices. If nothing else, those portable oil heaters seem to work pretty well.

There probably are very few places in Eugene proper that only have wood-burning appliances for heat; it's more common the further out you get, but I'm not sure why someone who's concerned about air quality would want to move to the southern Willamette Valley. Smoke from wood-burning appliances is minuscule compared to other air quality issues.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

So you've gone from firewood, to GREEN firewood in this post? No experienced wood burner burns green wood, it's not efficient, and leads to creosote buildup. I had a Monitor-but they are expensive to operate-especially now with fuel prices running nearly $5 a gallon for #1 diesel (stove oil). Besides, burning firewood is carbon neutral, and in fact "cleaner" than a "natural" wildfire that would be the alternative. Modern wood stoves have to meet EPA standards and emit very little smoke, either with non-catalytic reburner technology that essentially "burns" the smoke, or a stove that uses a catalytic converter. Instead of burning hundreds of gallons of stove oil, I can burn 1 gallon of gas in my chainsaw and perhaps 2 in the tractor bringing in the winter wood supply.

This. Counties and municipalities elsewhere, that ban or restrict wood-burning stoves allow high-efficiency ones for people who have no other heat source. If wood smoke is a concern in some parts of Oregon, the bolded could be one way to go.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

This. Counties and municipalities elsewhere, that ban or restrict wood-burning stoves allow high-efficiency ones for people who have no other heat source. If wood smoke is a concern in some parts of Oregon, the bolded could be one way to go.

You can learn more about how this actually works in Oregon here:


https://www.oregon.gov/deq/Residenti...stovesFAQ.aspx

Oregon law requires removal and destruction of uncertified wood stoves and fireplace inserts when a home is sold. If a stove or insert is certified to meet wood smoke emission standards, it can remain in the home. The 2009 Oregon Legislature passed this law to help protect people from unhealthy wood smoke pollution.

[ejisme]

Just curious, has anyone ever had the state, county or city come knock on your door at night forcing you to put the fire out in your fireplace/wood stove, or even a backyard firepit? Like I said earlier, mom is in Newberg and burns her fireplace a few times a year. The house was built in the 60s and the fireplace has never been updated (maintained, but not updated). No one has ever knocked on her door, posted a fine, etc. I wonder if these laws are enforced, or just put on the books and only enforced if a neighbor(s) complain to the city many times? I've never heard of anyone being fined, or met anyone who knew someone, who knew someone, who was fined for burning in their homes.