Worry Over Air Pollution and Wood Burning Stoves

 

Honestly we have seen so many comments on social media, so many stories in the press and in the news recently about wood burners being dangerous – causing air pollution which in turn causes asthma, breathing problems and at worst, cancer! BUT, as I have said before on here – do take the time to look into these stories as most of them aren’t actually based on fact – more opinion*! So, with this in mind, I took the time, effort and money to buy an air quality monitor to track air pollution so that I could see for myself exactly how dangerous woodburners are, and what using one means for the quality of air in our homes.

 

 

PM2.5 (Particulate Matter) – this refers to fine particulates with diameters of 2.5 micrometers or less which cause air pollution. Due to its tiny size, PM2.5 can be absorbed into the bloodstream and the lungs, so that long-term exposure to high concentration of PM2.5 in the environment may cause eye and nose irritation, cough, asthma, emphysema etc. The UK’s target limits for air pollution with regards to PM2.5, are aligned with the EU target which is an annual mean of less than 25.

Normal day – no cooking, no candles, no stove on the go and indoors:

So here we have it – on a normal day, the air quality in terms of PM2.5 in my

downstairs (we are essentially open plan!) is 2.1 which is very low and

classed as “good”.

Our showroom – this day we had three stoves alight, and I took this ready straight

after opening the stove door and reloading with new logs to get the worst reading I could. The air quality went to 4.8. Still very low – below 5 and still classed as “good”.

Lighting a candle in my house – look at how the air quality goes from 2.1 to 8.1 in a matter of minutes after lighting a candle – this readying was taken 15 minutes after lighting it. Still low and still classed as “good”, but nearly twice as bad as the air

quality when we were using a stove.

 

 

Frying bacon at home – no candles lit and no woodburner lit. The air quality has gone from 2.1 to 69.1 – this is classed as “high” and prolonged exposure to levels above 50 can lead to serious health issues and premature mortality.

 

Cooking steak at home – this was taken just after we had cooked two steaks (which were absolutely delicious by the way) – again, no stove or candles were lit this particular evening. The air quality has gone from 2.1 to a staggering 330!!! Levels this high over a prolonged period are seriously unhealthy to everyone – let alone those with pre-existing health and lung conditions.

 

 

So, what we have learned from this, is that actually, when using a modern, efficient and clean burning stove with the right type of fuel and we use our stoves correctly, the air quality is actually fine and using a woodburner doesn’t have a huge impact on air pollution. We can also see that burning a candle at home is actually worse that having a stove on (even when opening the door to the stove to reload with wood), and that cooking bacon and steak is actually very bad for your health in comparison and a much bigger cause of air pollution. (This might be a good time to suggest meat free Mondays for more than one environmental reason).

 

*I will also say that if someone does come to us for a woodburner, and during conversation we find that themselves or someone in their household suffers from asthma or a lung condition, we will always, always say – “do you think a woodburner is right for you?”. If you have a condition that affects your breathing, you will know that even house dust can trigger an attack or episode of coughing, so we would always err on the side of caution and at least advise you to visit someone you might know who already has one fitted to see if it affects your breathing before having one installed yourself.

I really hope this helps – sometimes sensationalist headlines are exactly that!