Problem with smoke from next doors burner.

FreeBear

Bigphil1474 said: There has just been some new rules on the use of log burners. Can't exactly remember the detail, but they have reduced the limit on how much can be burnt, and what can be burnt. I think the fine for producing too much soot is now £300, and there's a fine of £1k for burning illegal stuff.

Proposals only at the moment, and it only applies to smoke control zones. Burning of waste already attracts pretty hefty fines (unlimited and/or 5 years in jail I believe) under the Environment Protection Act. The EPA covers all areas, so is not limited to smoke control areas.

Soconfused14

Finally got up to courage to speak to next door. The reply was that they only burn at night, a lie , and that they use the right fuel, also a lie in my opinion. Will give it a few weeks and see where we are.

plumb1_2

Glad you managed to speak to them, they might now start burning the correct fuel.
If they don’t you can go round again and inform them there’s still a problem.

ThisIsWeird

Write a chronological account of events - when lit, the smoke and smell produced, conversations had.

Also try and get a witness - a visitor, family friend, even a helpful neighbour (tho' they might not wish to become involved); ask for their description of the smell, and write it down. 

With these sorts of unpleasant situations, you sometimes need to take a step back and look at the overall picture;
Would you do this to others?
Is their response to you contrite, or defensive/evasive/denial/untrue?
Should you have to put up with this?!
Are you being unfair or unreasonable?
Are they?!

Then you make the decision to act. Whether that's one more approach before reporting them to EH, that's your call. 

If they moan, you just shrug and say, "Well, what...did...you...expect?!!"

ThisIsWeird

I had a log burner fire on yesterday eve. I checked the smoke emission, and found that the initial lighting-up smoke was white - looked almost like steam. After 10 minutes of roaring, when I switched to 'secondary' air, it was like my earlier photo - you wouldn't know there was a fire on.

And, again looking at the photo of my stack, the pot has no obvious signs of blackening or soot - and it has never been cleaned, not in decades.

Grenage

ThisIsWeird said:

I suspect either unpleasant stuff being burned, or it simply being done at too low a temp - looks like tary deposits rather than 'just' soot, tho' both are obviously bad.

To reduce the output from a log burner, the best answer is to put in less fuel and keep burning it hot. Most folk - quite understandably - just shut down the air flow, so it burns cooler and more slowly, but more noxiously.

Yup, it makes all the difference; dry wood burnt at a high temperature will produce no smoke.  Bad wood leads to smoke and a strong smell.

Getting the air down is the most efficient use, but you need it up to temperature so it can sit in the secondary burn.

Soconfused14

Thats exactly the smell we get. Its awful.
Been little better since chat so have to see if it continues.

ThisIsWeird

Evidence evidence evidence