Adjusting to wood heat?

[Sarah K.]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I are planning to buy our first house soon. One of the things that we have really been looking forward to is having a woodstove. The other weekend we rented a cabin with a woodstove, and since it was chilly we fired it up. My husband (who has dust allergies and generally sensitive lungs/sinuses) felt miserable the whole time the fire was lit, to the point that we had to let the fire go out. I had a bit of a runny nose/dry sinuses myself, but not to the point of being totally miserable. We did put a pot of water on the stove to try to add some moisture back into the air, but it didn't seem to help much.

My question is, has anyone had a similar experience and if so, are there any ways of making the situation livable? Are there ways to alleviate this problem in your own home, for example installing an exhaust fan near the stove for when you are starting the fire? Would a humidifier help much?
Is it something that you get used to after having the fire going for a week or so? Or, should we give up on the idea of having a woodstove in our home?

Thanks for your input!

-Sarah

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Yes a stove will dry the air, more so than a regular furnance because it is pulling in cold dry outside air and warming it up, making it even "dryer". The tea kettle is the age old cure, and it has always worked for us. But a humidifier may work as well. You could also pipe in outside combustion air, an option available on many stoves, which will keep your moister indoor air from being sucked up the chiminey. A proper stove should rarely smoke at all, if ever, if you are continually smelling smoke in the house something is wrong. If it only smokes during start up, light a piece of paper in the back of the stove before lighting the rest of the wood to get the draft going. If your stove smokes a bit when you open the door to reload, open the draft all the way and let the fresh air clear the smoke in the stove. If it is still smoking, make sure the chiminey is clean and has a cap, and if it STILL smokes you may need to make the chiminey taller. Perhaps what was bothering your husband may have been dirt/dust off of the wood, certain woods are more allergic than others, but the main thing is just to try and keep the wood clean and not stir up a lot of dust when loading the stove. My wife has pretty bad allergies but we don't notice any more problems when we use the stove. Maybe try someone elses house while their stove is running. Good luck!

[Jim S.]

A wood stove means a generally dustier, drier interior. The ash will settle in your rooms, especially during cleanouts. We always heat a pan of water atop ours, which keeps household humidity up well. We love it and DW has a lot of allergies in summer but seems unaffected by the stove. But if smelling wood smoke makes you clog up, you probably need to invest in an outdoor wood stove with water baseboard heat in the house.

I don't think I could ever go back to "conventional" heat again. Coming in cold as a fish and backing up to that wood stove is such a nice feeling! It does get to be a drag when it is the brunt of winter and you have to haul wood and load it, but even buying all my wood, I am heating for a quarter of what it costs with natural gas. And I don't have to be a thermostat Scrooge. I can be warm when I want to!

[tamsam]

Once you learn your stove you should never smell smoke. We have had people come to visit us who said they had tried to heat with coal and it near killed them. After being in the house for an hour or so I would say I better go put some coal in the heater and they couldn't believe we were burning coal. We only use coal when it is really cold and other times we use wood. I have copd and do fine with the wood heater. Natural gas in an unvented heater gets me, but propane doesn't. Good luck with getting your house and your wood heater. Sam

[Alice In TX/MO]

NO NO NO! We have heated with wood since 1980, and we have NEVER had ash in the house!

If you have a properly sealed and vented stove, you do not get any smoke or ash in the house.

Buy a good modern stove, not an old Franklin or other unsealed heater.

[pheasantplucker]

If wind is blowing some, you get a better draft. Some people leave the damper closed, especially smoky if they're just trying to get the thing fired up. An airtight stove with seasoned hardwood should not create a smoky room. My wife has bad allergies and is sensitive to smoke. We had fires going in our wood stove all last winter, and she was never bothered by the smoke at all. If you're building a place (esp. a cabin) then IMO a wood stove or fireplace is a must, but if you and your husband can't stand the smell or dirt, then opt for a fireplace that uses gas logs. My sister has these and there is absolutely no smell, fumes, dirt. You get real heat, and she can even control hers with a remote. I know this wouldn't fly with a lot of homesteaders, but it's your place and you can do as you wish. Good luck.

[Jen H]

You will get dirt coming off of the wood itself and the air will be dryer. We heat with a fireplace insert, and we only had smoke problems the first month we were using this insert. Once you learn the stove and it's idiosyncracies, smoke inside is a complete non-issue.

I have allergies and asthma, and I do just as well with wood heat as I do with the propane forced air furnace.

[threadneedle]

About a gas fireplace - We have one but no longer use it. When we first moved here and tried to use it, I'd get a headache and the air felt tight to me. Had it tested and nothing wrong. Any ideas why I get a headache?

I'd like to put a woodstove in our basement for backup heat.

[PineRidge]

Originally Posted by threadneedle

About a gas fireplace - We have one but no longer use it. When we first moved here and tried to use it, I'd get a headache and the air felt tight to me. Had it tested and nothing wrong. Any ideas why I get a headache?

I'd like to put a woodstove in our basement for backup heat.

Do you have a CO2 detector? That's the first thing that I think of with having a headache in your situation. Is the fireplace vented or unvented. How tight is the house sealed up? I know draft free homes are good at keeping cold air out, but they also keep fresh air out.



For the OP. You could try getting an air purifier for the room your stove is in. My house is dusty all winter (ok, all the time but worse in winter) from cleaning the stove out. We have an ash pan on ours, but it's useless due to poor design, so I end up throwing ash everywhere while cleaning the stove.

A humidifier would help, but young children should not be able to reach it since they seem to like to throw toys and cookies into the water resiviour, so we use a pan on the stove full of water.

If dh's allergys are really bad, I would still put in a woodstove for back up heat. They are pretty much mandatory in my house.

[homebirtha]

Our house is definitely dustier and drier from heating with wood. We probably could use a new gasket on our door, which would help with any smokey smell. But cleaning out the ash always leaves some stirred up in the air.

In our last house, the stove was in the basement, and that helped keep the dust level down. But I agree with another poster, I would spend some time in someone's house who heats with wood and see how you feel.

[veme]

I'm a very fussy house keeper and we have 3 wood stoves My house gets dustier too. Now I wouldn't trade my stoves for anything, but they are are a lot of work to keep going not to mention constant mess from wood bits, ash & snow.
I never smell smoke but on some days if it is really humid (especially in the Summer) I can smell soot.
I always look forward to the first cold days of Fall so I can fire up my cook stove and the parlor stove. It's very cozy, but honestly...by the time March or April comes I've just about had enough.

We use the cook stove well into June and when the warm settled weather arrives I couldn't be happier to let the whole mess go. Not to mention the stiff back I sometimes get from loading stoves & hauling wood Things were easier 30 years ago.

[grayrecliner]

Agree with the rest that a properly installed and operating stove should result in no smoke and little ash in the house. We have LP and wood and can't wait for it to get cold enough to use the wood. DW loves to set the clothes rack near (safe distance) the stove and that is the clothes dryer for the winter. Adds moisture to the air. We make a mad dash to move it when company stops in (of course depends on who it is).

[michiganfarmer]

when the economy crashes, and there is no other heat scource everybody will adjust.

[chickenista]

I love my wood heat. It is a gentler heat, unlike the heat pump which freezes me with moving air. Yes, you get dust and wood chips everywhere, but I find it oddly beautiful.
As for the ashes when cleaning it out.. I use a mister of water to dampen the ashes, that way they don't lift into the air and settle everywhere.
I second the vote for dust on the stove in the cabin... the first use of the year is always a bit rough. Usually I do it on a day when I can open the house and just burn it all off.
You could also try an air filter. One of those upright ones with the cleanable metal "filter" I can't remember what they are called.
Word of warning though.. Your hands will suffer from stocking the stove. I cook mine all winter. Invest in some good moisturizer an you will do fine! Here's to a warm house and a warm feeling about the type of heat you use!

[DocM]

Install hepa filters in your house. An alternative to an inside woodstove is an outside wood furnace. The advantage is you can use it to both heat your home and water. Much of the problems associated with the dust and ash can then be eliminated.

[farmerscotty]

allergies can be triggered worse with inside heaters......and the mess......and the room taken up by a heater. We had a stove inside for one year and then went with an outside wood heater. Wife doesn't mind that.......but like any wood heat the air is dry.........I would tell anyone to keep it outside regardless of what you buy......less work too since you don't carry the wood inside.

Scott

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

I love the woodstove, husband built ours. We vent in air from under the house, and we never have smoke, we can even leave the woodstove door open. A good working stove should not smoke. I keep the smallest shopvac in a wood box right by the stove to quickly clean up messes when bringing in wood and also when cleaning it out.

We have a fan on our stove ran by a steriling engine to circulate the air.

We do have a propane ventless which I hate...I want the wood fire to dry out all this humidity in Texas! Vicki

[Beeman]

I never knew what a sinus was until we heated with wood heat. Definetly dries out the air and can cause reactions.

[Ramblin Wreck]

Originally Posted by Rose

NO NO NO! We have heated with wood since 1980, and we have NEVER had ash in the house!

If you have a properly sealed and vented stove, you do not get any smoke or ash in the house.

Buy a good modern stove, not an old Franklin or other unsealed heater.

That's consistent with my experience. You might also invest in a hepa air filtering system (Home Depot and Lowe's sell them), but I use mine (the filter) when I'm letting in fresh (but possibly pollen laden) air into the house in the Spring or Fall, not for the wood stove so much. Best wishes at finding a solution that keeps you both warm and healthy.

[Shepherd]

I replaced the gaskets on the fireplace doors (our fireplace heats the house and is ducted thru the house with a blower system and thermostat) and since then the doors won't close tightly like before. All I can figure is the gaskets I got are a little too large, altho they looked like the right size. All they had were 2 sizes and the other size looked way too small.

There are times in the middle of winter I actually ventilate the house for a few minutes every now and then to get fresh air in and that always helps. The only time we really get smoke in the house is with a downdraft, or when starting up a fire when the fireplace is cold. As Matthew said above, "If it only smokes during start up, light a piece of paper in the back of the stove before lighting the rest of the wood to get the draft going." We get the fire all ready to light, then add a fair amount of newspaper at the back of the stove so when we light it, it takes off quickly and heats up the chimney faster so the smoke rises better.

I clean the chimney every year before the cold weather sets in so I know I can safely use it all winter and that the smoke will draw out well. The wood heat is so much warmer. I find when we use the furnace instead, I just feel chilly more often. But it is a much drier heat, so getting more moisture in the air is important or I have sinus trouble.

You can also get hepa filtration systems for your house that tend to help. We got one that will filter the air in our entire house.