Wood burrners

[tony wright]

Presently away at the moment but my Daughter is house sitting. Before we left (2 weeks ago) the neighbours over the road had a single storey extension built to their kitchen/diner and whilst we have been away have had a wood burner installed. Not a problem, other than my Daughter says every time they use it the smoke drifts straight across to our house and if the windows are open you get a lovely smell of burning wood inside the house. Obviously when we get home we will see for ourselves and if a problem will have a word, but should they have sought permission from nearby neighbours? I assume it will also affect next door and possibly others depending on wind direction.

Whoops, don't know how to edit spelling mistake in title.

Edited by tony wright on Thursday 19th May 13:15

[Truffs]

Bar making sure that the stove is defra approved for a smoke free zone (if you are in one) no.

Its encouraged these days as its considered carbon neutral and environmentally friendly.

[akirk]

do a search on:
building regs woodburner flue height

to see any regs...

[TooMany2cvs]

There are building regs considerations, and the stove should have been installed to HETAS specs - but that doesn't necessarily make it illegal, and there's not necessarily any planning permission required.

http://www.hetas.co.uk/consumer/regulations/
http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/articles/build...

[Matt_N]

Here's a good start on flue exit heights:

http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/flue-outlet-height.h...

And here's the full regs:

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20151113...

[tony wright]

Okay thanks for that, hopefully won't be too bad. Seems a little strange though that they can sit it their lovely warm ext burning logs while everyone around them have to close their windows. Would imagine if other neighbours are having similar problems they may already have spoken to them making this post pointless, fingers crossed.

[Vaud]

tony wright said:

Okay thanks for that, hopefully won't be too bad. Seems a little strange though that they can sit it their lovely warm ext burning logs while everyone around them have to close their windows. Would imagine if other neighbours are having similar problems they may already have spoken to them making this post pointless, fingers crossed.

Or then again, they might have just been relying on their installers to advise and install something appropriate that wouldn't inconvenience anyone.

[John145]

Vaud said:

tony wright said:

Okay thanks for that, hopefully won't be too bad. Seems a little strange though that they can sit it their lovely warm ext burning logs while everyone around them have to close their windows. Would imagine if other neighbours are having similar problems they may already have spoken to them making this post pointless, fingers crossed.

Or then again, they might have just been relying on their installers to advise and install something appropriate that wouldn't inconvenience anyone.

Surely you only need to burn the wood when it's cold and people have their windows closed...?

[Mr GrimNasty]

It doesn't matter what regulations or certification they've got, if smoke/fumes are spoiling your enjoyment of your property, it is an actionable nuisance.

[mgtony]

I have this a couple of doors down. I believe for a single storey building the flue only has to be a minimum of 2.8m away from a neighbouring building.

Putrid smoke wafts straight down into everyone's windows.

Pic on the wonk!

[gus607]

So you think you may have a problem ?

This idiot installed an industrial burner with the chimney just clearing roof height. My back garden filled with smoke & fumes everyday also when my wife hung washing out on the line to dry it got covered in soot ! After I complained to the local council he had to apply for retrospective planning consent to use it.
Planning consent was granted provided he raided the chimney height to my roof level.

Still a problem with smoke etc, the burner is less than 1 metre from my boundary fence.
Idiot burns anything in the burner, wood, painted wood, plastics, in fact anything.

This local council are an utter waste of time.

[bobtail4x4]

usually its operator error, in that they try to burn wet wood, or they throttle the stove back so it slumbers,
either way you get smoke.

[Trixxz]

bobtail4x4 said:

usually its operator error, in that they try to burn wet wood, or they throttle the stove back so it slumbers,
either way you get smoke.

This ^^

We have a log burner and its incredibly clean burning (granted it uses the chimney stack) but still,

Most folks round us have log burners and even in winter, its not like London in the 1800's.

[MoggieMinor]

Set up properly and using seasoned wood there should be very little, if any, smoke. Stoves are far more efficient than open fires too. Most of the heat off those just goes up the chimney.

[tony wright]

John145 said:

Surely you only need to burn the wood when it's cold and people have their windows closed...?

Correct, but I live in the North East so probably most of the year

Edited to say, after looking at the above photos I may of gotten off lightly

[Vaud]

gus607 said:

Still a problem with smoke etc, the burner is less than 1 metre from my boundary fence.
Idiot burns anything in the burner, wood, painted wood, plastics, in fact anything.

Keep a log.
Keep rising it to environmental health. Remind them of their statutory duty to investigate.
Raise with your councillor. They are useful for applying pressure to council functions.

Bottom line, environmental health, etc are all really stretched and you need to make a pain of yourself to get sanctions.

Certain materials are a no-no for burning, regardless of the height of the stack.

[Oceanrower]

Vaud said:

Keep a log.

[Rude-boy]

If they refuse to burn smokeless or properly hire a big fan.

[OldGermanHeaps]

Expanding foam

[Black_S3]

tony wright said:

Okay thanks for that, hopefully won't be too bad. Seems a little strange though that they can sit it their lovely warm ext burning logs while everyone around them have to close their windows. Would imagine if other neighbours are having similar problems they may already have spoken to them making this post pointless, fingers crossed.

It might work out less of an issue come cold weather when your windows are shut... Using it in recent weather might just be trying it out as it's new?