Ban on Wood Burning Fireplaces? (Waterville Valley: house, new construction, camp)

[MtnFlyer]

I read a reference in another thread about areas of Colorado that have implemented bans on wood burning fireplaces. Are there such laws in NH?

As always, thanks in advance.

[Rexicana]

No. There are some places that ban outside the home boiler things - hopefully someone will have the more eloquent name of it , but wood stoves are everywhere here. Lots of people are replacing them with pellet stoves though.

[GregW]

The outdoor wood burning (more like wood cooking) boilers produce many times more particulate and VOC pollution than a properly operating wood stove. Until the OB produce less pollution they should be banned. During calm winter nights an inversion can form over a valley and trap almost all the smoke from the fireplaces and stoves and make the air dangerously foul.

Don’t misunderstand me. I do think that wood, in log or pellet form, is a viable renewable fuel and should be used. I think it should be used in properly functioning stoves with catalytic afterburners or over fire air to increase heat yield and reduce pollution. The outdoor wood heaters do not operate at a high enough temperature to completely combust the wood without pollution. I think they could be redesigned as wood burning heat storage boilers and then would work well with minimal pollution but then they would be more expensive.

In the meantime I suggest all you wood burners have your chimneys inspected and burn good dry hardwood or pellets.

[WannaComeHome]

but in any case... I never heard of a ban on burning wood in your living room (or wherever) fireplace! I can just imagine trying to pass that and insisting that everyone use a gas fireplace.

[MtnFlyer]

Originally Posted by WannaComeHome

but in any case... I never heard of a ban on burning wood in your living room (or wherever) fireplace! I can just imagine trying to pass that and insisting that everyone use a gas fireplace.

It's something I would expect out of California, but apparently it's being enforced in areas of Colorado which surprised me as well. Glad to hear it's not happening in New Hampshire.

[GregW]

I would expect that with the increased popularity of places like Vail the wood smoke became a public health issue. Air circulation can pretty much die in some of the enclosed valleys. If a ban has been imposed on wood burning fireplaces it was done for very good reason. Colorado would not challenge the realtors without a good reason.

Maybe the conditions in New Hampshire provide enough ventilation to allow for direct wood burning. I'll check out Waterville Valley some winter night to see the effect. Waterville Valley is one of the few "closed" valleys in NH.

[BF66389]

I seem to recall hearing that often times a state/area may ban wood burning fireplaces temporarily (or for extended periods) due to dry conditions with the worry that an errant spark could start a fire.

This happened to us in NJ once. They weren't worried about pollution- they were worried about people burning down the place by accident.

[Rexicana]

The valley issue was the reason for banning new construction of wood fireplaces in San Jose CA. The air just sat there, so it was an easy way to help (considering how rarely you need them there too . . .).

[WannaComeHome]

I'd expect something like that in CA, CO is a bit more surprising.

Greg, it will be interesting to hear what you think of the situation over WV.. I know my architect (who lives there) uses a fireplace for the main heat in his house.

BF, sure we've had temporary bans like that here, too. But they were always in the summer (mostly focusing on camp fires or possibly stump or other outdoor burning) when it gets really dry. Not during the winter when you'd want to heat your house with either fireplace or wood stove.

[proud American]

many poorer people use wood to heat their homes and so to ban them would leave them colder in their home

If NH tried to ban them then it would be just another nanny law .

Of course those elitist types would want to ban them as they can afford to heat their homes.


As for being surprised about CO , well remember many CA folk are moving out to CO and thus bringing their liberal left wing votes with them,
Their not happy with just ruining their old state by their voting but now pack up and now are trying to ruin their new state with their votes.

Look at some of those who have moved out of MA .
They have gone onto other states and are now ruining them because of their non thinking voting pattern.

Never understood why someone would want to move into a new and then want to change it to how their old ruined state looked