banning use of owb in ohio

[badtry]

too many people have the its all about me syndrome. I have a neighbor that burns three acres of leaves, every fall, in the ditch with no respect for where the smoke goes (wet or dry) or who it affects. Take a good look around, if you cant effectively install an owb without smoking a neighbor out, or dont have the ability to season your wood to burn cleaner, dont do it!

 

[iCreek]

Neighbor not to close ...

Take a good look around, if you cant effectively install an owb without smoking a neighbor out, or dont have the ability to season your wood to burn cleaner, dont do it!

I guess I am OK, my nearest neighbor is within view, and my brother in law... Heck, he don't mind much he heats with an OWB also !!

Just simple folk here in Missouri, trying to get by and save some money !!

ps. the horses seem to like the smoke

 

[R W Ohio]

Last year we started the OWB in the 2nd. week of September and put the last wood in it the 2nd. week of May.

 

[badtry]

nice spread icreek! looks like you can do what ever you want.

 

[blizzard]

I live up in NE ohio and we don't fire up till late october and firing is spotty in april. in may really not much need to unless get a big cold spell. sun is very strong by then in ohio

 

[Lignum]

too many people have the its all about me syndrome. I have a neighbor that burns three acres of leaves, every fall, in the ditch with no respect for where the smoke goes (wet or dry) or who it affects. Take a good look around, if you cant effectively install an owb without smoking a neighbor out, or dont have the ability to season your wood to burn cleaner, dont do it!

Common courtesy is fleeting, and sometimes even rarer where people are living in more populated communities.

 

[cmetalbend]

I live up in NE ohio and we don't fire up till late october and firing is spotty in april. in may really not much need to unless get a big cold spell. sun is very strong by then in ohio

This is ironic considering Ohio came up as a For-runner in the government fight againt OWB's.opcorn:

 

[Tesen]

I'm not a fan of government regulation of anything, but I have to say I can in some instances see the need for something to be done with OWB's. I drive by one every night on my way home from work and there are times (probably at least 1 night a week) it nearly creates a traffic hazard because the smoke blowing across the road is so thick. If I lived next to that guy I'd certainly not be a happy camper. All this being said I drive by others that you almost never see any smoke at all coming from, so I'd never say they are all bad. But it's like everything else, the bad ones ruin it for everybody.

Sounds like 21 Southbound; I drive from Massillon to Cleveland everyday, coming home down 21S I drive past an OWB, I have to smile that they are heating with it, but the problem is the smoke coming across the road sometimes totally blinds traffic. Unfortunately, this is more than likely the owner burning green wood; the problem is, the general public only see lots of smoke from it and they assume all OWB's are like that.

Ignornace combined with owners/operators that don't care what they burn is going to hurt everyone.

Tes

 

[porta mill]

owb regs

I live in PA and there are problems with local governments banning owb's but most or the problem units are located in neighborhoods where there is not sufficient space between the houses and people burning trash in the owb's . i have been reading this thread since it's beginning and there is a few standards trying to be placed on owb's . like a 20' 25' smoke stack . How is the general home owner going to clean out that tall of a stack . with the price of under ground pex it will break the bank to place the unit 250' away from the nearest house, I think there should be regulations put on these units but the government is getting a little crazy . like in my case I live on six acres in which i have a house and my dad has a house and no neighbors in sight there should be no regs imposed on my owb that is just my opinion . i do not burn garbage or tires yes some rotten wood but it is better than burning oil or gas . I believe that a few few rotten apples are running the whole bunch .

 

[oneoldbanjo]

I don't burn tires, garbage or wet wood - but yesterday I was surprised how much smoke I made. I was cleaning up the garage area and had a bunch of OSB and regular plywood scraps left over from the construction - and now that I am sure I can't use any of the leftover scraps I decided to burn them. The furnace was down to a nice coal bed and I kept raking the coals until just ash remained with enough coals to get the next load of wood burning. I then threw in a few dry branches and a pretty good stack of plywood that was cut up and layered to give plenty of airspace around the wood. The weather was about 36 degrees and very damp as there is about 4" of snow melting on the ground - with no wind and an occasional light snow.

When the plywood started to burn the furnace put out a huge column of smoke that went straight up to about 80 feet before it started to spread out and dissipate. The color of the smoke was very dark - I guess a result of all the wood surface igniting without enough air supply to make it burn cleanly. Luckily there was no wind and the closest neighbors are 400-500 feet away. I really didn't think that burning a stack of very dry plywood that had been stored indoors would be a problem.

For the remainder of the plywood stack I will just be adding a few pieces at a time to the regular wood. Even with the best intentions us new guys can make mistakes in choosing what wood to burn.

 

[Tesen]

Isn't plywood chemically treated? That maybe what caused the smoke. But hey we all make mistakes, you learned from it you are not the problem. The problem is the owb operators that don't care what comes out of their stack.

I've also noticed that a lot of OWB's have short stacks on them, why? I'd think getting the stack up higher would allow higher airflow currents to catch the smoke and pull them away from your house and neighbors.

Tes

 

[oneoldbanjo]

I didn't burn any pressure treated plywood (the green tinted stuff that is OK for wet areas) - only plywood and OSB. I am sure there is a bit of glue in them - but on the few times that I burned plywood in waste piles I never noticed a smoke problem. It sure did make my OWB smoke though!

 

[django]

THIS is what my EPA is worrying about? Nice. Wher I live there are several "mega farms" within 20 miles of each other. There is a constant dumping of pig and bovine manure on the same ground over and over. There is fecal matter in the ditches, that runs into the rivers. That seems to be O.K. Just don't burn your outdoor stove. Please. My stove is 75 feet from my 40 foot tall house. A 55 foot stack? What if I build a building over my stove? Is it O.K. then? This is typical restrictive legislation. You think you'll be able to build your own anymore? Only if you spend hundreds of dollars to make it meet standards and to have it "certified". Ask for the max and "settle" on a compromise. This is only the beginning.Trust me. If you think your state won't follow suit, you are dead wrong. It just takes a precedent. Outdoor stove owners are right to ask.... " What about that guy over there that burns indoors? He makes smoke too!" " "His chimney is lower than the roof of my house." etc... That will lead to.... "You know, your right! we'll put stiffer regs on them as well!" Nasty Nasty wood smoke. This is guaranteed. This type of legislation is seriously bad news. Unfortunately, it is i'm afraid, inevitable.
There are a lot of morons who put these things in residential areas. I know of several. What did they think? all of that smoke wouldn't bother anyone? That nobody would complain? Heck, I'd complain. I can see the local news crew now, camera pointed at a OWB belching smoke all over a neighborhood or grouping of houses on a nice low barometric pressure day. Smoke just hugging the ground. Maybe some kids playing in the smoke. Whos' gonna say that that person has the right to smoke up the house(s) and grounds next to them? If you think we're getting any sympathy from the non-burning public, think again. The number of people who own these really is'nt that large, but with $4 gasoline and $3 propane on the way, it could grow significantly. Better nip it in the bud now, is what they're thinking. My nearest neighbor is 1/8 mile away, if they were within a few hundred feet, I wouldn't use an OWB. Just not neighborly.
So here we are. Or were.

 

[Lignum]

THIS is what my EPA is worrying about? Nice. Where I live there are several "mega farms" within 20 miles of each other. There is a constant dumping of pig and bovine manure on the same ground over and over. There is fecal matter in the ditches, that runs into the rivers. That seems to be O.K. Just don't burn your outdoor stove. Please.

That is being addressed as we speak.

Poultry runoff.

 

[Husky137]

I am sure there is a bit of glue in them /QUOTE]

Only a bit of glue in plywood? Are you for real? There is probably as much glue in plywood and OSB as there is wood fiber. Ever wonder why the stuff is so friggin' heavy? :jawdrop:

 

[django]

Incidently, 200 feet from a property line is essentially right in the middle of 4 acres. How many of these are on a smaller plot than that?
Most of them.

 

[TheInstaller]

outdoor wood furnace smoke

In the cases of people that complain about smoke. Im more concerned about all the smoke that the gov. allows people to suck through a cancer stick and then blow the toxins into the air. Most people dont realize that wood rotting on the forest floor puts out the same amount of pollution or darn close to that as the act of burning it the only thing that is different we are speeding it up but instead of leaving the forest cluttered with rubbish to promote forest fires we are using the wood. The forest and us benefit. The gov. doesnt like it because they own stock and companies involved with the oil business.

 

[TheInstaller]

smoke concern and regs

There are regulations popping up everywheres even in WI. Part of the problem with the smoke problem is because people burn garbage like plastic, rubber, grain bags, and etc. Another part of the problem is that most of the natural draft furnaces dont burn hot enough to burn up the gases. The only way you can burn the fire hot enough is with forced air and or a mile of insulated pipe on the chimney. I install an outdoor stove system a day(a simple house hookup). Out of all the stoves out there the natural draft stoves dont burn hot enough, smoke to much, and dont recover from a big heat draw.

 

[irishcountry]

I find it funny that even the EPA will allow large corporate companies like Arrco (I think thats the right spelling) to contaminate the ground around their setups with lead and then also allow them to claim bankrupcy so they aren't financially responsible for the cleanup then let them move the operation to the next state and do it all over!! Thats just one company times that by how many are doing some of the same things. This was recently a story on the news and they interviewed the head honcho at the EPA and she said "Oh no they are not doing this on purpose to get out of cleanup they really can't afford it" Now Joe Schmoe puts in a outdoor woodboiler and quits handing over his/her cash to big oil and its under fire imagine that! Not doubt that there should be ongoin R&D to make them as effiecient as possible and putting one right on town square probrobly shouldn't fly but to outright ban them for the argument of pollution is absolutely fishy!! Period! I (like a dummy) called our local township and was told I cannot have one if I wasn't zoned AG and they are banned already for new installs!! Guess what I just seen in our local paper? The board meeting just recogonized that they should probrobly write some ordinances dealing with these "New" outdoor devices governing the placement and operation of them. Wow I called last fall so someone completely lied to me I supposed they felt it was their job to impose their own opinion of the wood boilers onto my situation. Now I have really lost faith in our system it seems that corruption, greed, power, and control is running rampant allover and all us Joe Schmoes get to foot the bill. I'm sure Michigan will follow suite soon even though I recently stumbled onto a site ran I believe by Michigan State University promoting wood burning?? HUH Well thats all I had to throw in I say run em' if you got em till they want to pay your heat bill for free but that didn't work out to well in Russia!

 

[berry5]

down here they are building this mega powerplant clean coal and they are going to use 25 percent wood to off set the price of coal they had a big article in the paper about how good wood is to use