Restrictions on Outdoor Wood Boilers? 31 comments
With the high price of home heating oil, outdoor wood boilers are becoming more popular in the Adirondacks and throughout the country.
The small, freestanding structures burn firewood to heat water, which is then circulated to heat the home. These boilers are adaptable to many existing heating systems, including forced-air, water baseboard and radiant heat. Outdoor wood boilers can cost up to $10,000, but can pay for themselves in just a few years.
On the other hand, outdoor wood boilers can produce an abundance of smoke, a fine particulate matter that can be annoying and hazardous. If homeowners burn material other than dry, well-seasoned firewood (like garbage or pressure-treated wood), the thick smoke can be overwhelming.
Many New York State communities, including several in the Adirondack Park, are imposing regulations on the use of wood boilers: prohibiting their use within village limits, requiring that they be located at least 200 feet from neighboring property lines, and stipulating that smoke stacks be taller than the peak of the residence roofline. In some jurisdictions, regulations define what may be burned in the boilers and when the boilers may be operated, usually early September through late May. This eliminates heavy smoke when many folks are outside and often have their windows open.
Many communities are making exceptions, grandfathering in those who have already invested significant amounts of money in an effort to save on rising fuel costs.
What do you think? Should New York State implement laws restricting the use of outdoor wood boilers to reduce air pollution? Should the restrictions be left to individual communities to enforce?
With the rising cost of gas as well as the decrease of many fossil fuels it’s important that alternative energy sources are used. Restrictions as to what can be burned should most definitely be applied. However, restrictions as to where wood burning boilers should be placed are detrimental to those who are trying to switch over. As long as the smoke stacks are regulated as are the contents that can be burned I see no problems with allowing anyone who wishes to put one in their home. After all not only is it a sustainable way to heat, but it saves people money during this time of economic recession.
yes these should be regulated, i would not want to be next door to someone with this and breath in toxins.
and what do you use for heat? if you burn any kind of fuel wether it be propane or natural gas or fuel oil, i hate to tell you but you are making more toxins than wood. sorry i disagree completely with you.
Check your facts John - the emissions from these burners is hundred of times more toxic than convention fuels.
I do not think that there should be out
door wood boilers to show the ADK air as fresh as it is it pollutes the air with smoke.
ALOT OF THE SMOKE THAT IS GENERATED FROM OUTSIDE SYSTEMS COULD BE ELIMINATED IF A REBURN SYSTEM WAS PUT ON THEM(REBURNING THE SMOKE TO BURN THE PARTICLES IN THE SMOKE)LET’S FACE IT-WOOD IS CHEAPER AND WITH THE STORMS WE HAVE HAD RECENTLY-BLOWDOWNS NEED TO BE CLEANED UP AS TO NOT CONTRIBUTE TO LATER FOREST FIRES!
we in TL have baned wood boilers but why? its wood!!! some say its bad because other people have been burning other stuff so why don’t we just burn wood and not other stuff? Can’t there be a law for that?
No burning of garbage, only well dried wood, no burning of waste oil ,as our local car repair shop was doing ,no restrictions of distance from property lines- that is gov’t over stepping and penalizing villagers , something must be allowed to ease the high costs of fuels and oil. Perhaps we should charge the members of Congress more for their fuel. perhaps then they will act in the best interests of their constituents
Outdoor wood boilers should be regulated to limit the harm to the environment.+
I think that this is an excelent way of heating your house. We need to start getting away from using oil and use alternative methods to heat our homes, although it takes trees to run this heater it would be more beneficial to the enviroment. But than there is the problem of deforestation. Over all i think it is a good idea and could be one of the factors helping to get away from being dependant on oil for heat.
No I think that wood boilers should be alowed. I know that many people in my community use them and they are cheaper and more efficient than oil and the common folk can always log and split wood and they don’t have to be rich oil owners.
I think outdoor wood burners should be allowed. Affordable heat is necessary for everyone.
It is extremely difficult for a retired person on a fixed income to aford to live and heat one’s home. My fixed pension is $12,000. Fuel oilto heat my home this year is $4,500. A wood burning stove would pay for itself within tweo years. What choice do I have?
IF THEY CAN’T BE ENVIROMENTALLY FRIENDLY ,THEY SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED.
Why are you shouting? and why don’t you put your name? The new line of outdoor wood furnaces from Sequoia are EPA stickered and what about the people that burn wood in their furnaces in their houses and wood stoves? they are not environmental friendly. and how environmental friendly is it to drill oil overseas; ship it here; refine it here or there; then ship it to your house; cutting a tree in your back lot seems more environmental friendly to me than all that; as long as you replant it for your kids to do the same.
I think the regulation of outdoor wood boilers should be a local issue.Their are many people who will have to struggle to heat their homes this winter because of our government not acting on regulating home heating oil prices.They could regulate home heating oil and let the oil companies do what they want with gas pricing.You can park your car and walk to save money and gas.But you can only turn your thermostat down to a point.
Besides,what about all the open fireplaces that burn constantly at the State Campsites all summer long?
Both my brother and I as well as a number of our neighbors have wood boilers. We try to be courtious of our neighbors. Blanket regulations for these shouldn’t be imposed however communities need to make owners aware if the smoke is causing others problems so that the problem can be corrected. Hopefully we all can be conciderate of those living next to us.
I love my outdoor boiler. All present units should be Grandfathered. Quit picking on solid fuel burners. Do large power generating plants also produce polution? The policy again, seperates out the litle guy.
i believe that useing the wood stoves can be helpful to people with not alot of money it is a cheaper sorce of heat if you use good wood the smoke put out is very low i hearing lots of people complaining about how much we are depened on other people oil this will drive our dependency on other people oil
This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in alomg time!! We live in an area abundant with natural wood resources and we aren’t allowwed to burn them!! Thank God my house already has a wood stove heating system or I would be fighting this issue tooth and nail!! Our leaders complain that we need to stop pur dependency on foriegn oil but wait … as soon as we try they complian that ohh it smells like smoke… Oh I can’t bbq outside my summer home with out the smoke bothering me…!! Lest they forget about the average guy who is just trying to keep his family with hot water!!! If these ELECTED leaders actually cared about the people they were representing and the ENVIRONMENT they would allow these stoves!! Yes some people do burn thier garbage and pressure treated wood but a vast majority of people are doing things right and shouldn’t have to face absurd regulations!!! Homes were heated with wood for thousands of years!! Only in the recently has heating oil become a popular choice…why all the complaining now???
ROCK ON DUDE!!!!!! tell them they way it is.
I would agree with some regulation defining areas of dense population where they should not be used or required to have additional pollution control abatement. However, should restrictions prevent their use, they will not have nearly enough police agencies to handle the influx of calls I will put forth for the open trash burning that occurrs in this county that has significantly higher pollutants and health hazards associated with it.
to be quiet honest i see no difference betwenn burning in my outdoor boiler as to a household that has a wood stove inside thier home. No matter how high you put the smoke stacks, if the wind is blowing you are going to get some smoke. Now if i were to burn garbage or anything other than wood i would definately agree against that but who would want to ruin thier stove by doing foolish things like that. There is too much $ involved. i guess if NYS DEC wants to put regulations on this then i think they will need to reimburse those of us who already have existing systems or just pay for our heat every year. that sounds even better.
I feel they should be outlawed, because of increase in cancer and athsma in children . We have enough pollution to handle now. Why add more?
Unless you can burn wood without smoking out your neighbors, don’t burn wood. I’m caught in the middle of an OWB and some wood stoves and it’s hell for 9 months out of the year. Saving money should not be an issue when it comes to the health of humans, animals and our planet, all of which are threatened by wood smoke from OWBs and wood stoves. Burning wood is the dirtiest thing you can do to your neighbors and our planet. To John: Wood smoke creates more pollution than electric, gas or oil. Check your facts on http://www.burningissues.org. Just because it’s “wood” doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Breathing the toxins and gases from burning wood is lethal. If you want to burn, keep your smoke off my property. What gives anyone the right to pollute everyone else’s air - causing illness and annoyance. We can’t even open windows! Stop wood burning all together. OWBs AND wood stoves are a public nuisance. Ban them.
I’m a wood burner for heat. I have a woodstove in my home. But I have a neighbor with an outdoor Wood furnace who burns wood, garbage and plastics. I can not even have my windows open in June to the toxic smoke that drifts up hill to my home. DEC according to my neighbor said he can burn what ever he likes on his property. This cant be true. I don’t believe that people should be grandfathered in to raising the height of there flues.
It is unbelievable that NYS has been dragging their feet for 4 and 1/2 years on this issue. OWBs are highly polluting, torture those downwind and are highly inefficient. It is time for the Governor to issue an Executive Order banning them. Since they have so botched this issue they also need to issue tax credits to those that unwittingly bought this bad “technology.” Now is the time while NYS has Weatherization Stimulus monies to help homeowners to buy efficient clean systems. DEC completing opacity tests to shut them down one at a time is ridiculous. All 62 counties passing separate laws is ridiculous. Code Enforcers using the Property Maintenace Code is ridiculous. DOH doing air studies is ridiculous. Everyone knows these stoves are designed to cut oxygen supply so what is the mystery when they spew smoke and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) for hours at a clip. This is just another issue that shows how inept government has become at protecting what is important. We do all need clean air don’t we? One hospitalization for asthma costs $8900 in the DOH 2005 report. $284 million in 2002 total. Where is the Deputy Secretary for the Environment, Judith Enck? Where is Pete Grannis? Where is Peter Iwanowicz of the Climate Change Office. Lots of high salaries w/little to show.
I find outside wood boilers can be a money saving, renewable, safe source of heat for rural America. The draw backs are improper smoke stack heights, unseasoned wood products, garbage, products that shouldn’t be used for fuel, and applications that cause emission polutants, many emissions go right back to the structure they are heating, and adjacent structures that are too close. Some restrictions need apply: Density of structures in a habital community, height of smoke stacks vs. the nearest structure, type of product used for fuel, distantance between unit vs.nearby residence. Note: there is no free heat.
Modern, efficient and clean burning wood boilers are available today. Any regulations should be directed at providing incentives to folks to use better wood burning technology, rather than making life harder for folks who can’t afford oil or gas. Wood is not necessarily more polluting than fossil fuels. Blanket bans against wood burning are foolish to the extreme. In the near future, wood boilers will be available that produce electricity, are highly efficient condensing boilers with wet scrubbers removing nearly all particulate matter. Do you (addressed to the burningissues.org folk) really want a blanket ban that stops such technology from developing? If so, I suppose you are against nuclear power and burning coal too!? Absurd!
I am directly downwind of an outdoor wood burning stove. The only annoyance is the occasional smokey air. But the smoke is no where near as insulting as the manueur being spread over the fields or when I lived in a town, the spraying of lawns with chemicals. I am completely against the ban of wood burning. I am, however, in support of intelligent regulations, such as those imposed in in my town. They restrict use of OWB furnaces by proximity regulations. 250′ from neighbors, and 100′ from property line. NYS is very diverse and therefor cannot impose general regulations to fairly govern this issue. Leave the regulating to the local communities. God bless small town America!
If it is illegal to subject someone other than yourself to the smoke from a cigarette, how in God’s name can forcing someone to breathe in the poison spewed from these burners be legal? Wake up people you are killing your own children.