Woodstove question

Adirondackgal · #1 09/08/14, 10:02 AM

Does anyone have asthma and use a woodstove? We used to have one on our back porch but I would have issues with my breathing. Are there woodstoves that you can buy that don't cause problems with asthma? I would love to have a kitchen woodstove in our new house.

Solar Geek · #2 09/08/14, 10:08 AM

Not sure if you mean a cooking woodstove or simply a house heating woodstove that can double as one on which you cook? DD#2 has asthma as does MIL, Who came/comes over all the time, and we used a LOPI wood-burning stove in our log home for six years, and now again in our more standard construction home and neither has any problems. I cook on top of it fairly often.

Asthma doctor suggested the dry heat was the best thing for both of them, and the high humidity raised by standard kitchen cooking was not a good thing. MIL often as terrible asthma spells when cooking soups or stews or during Thanksgiving when the oven and stove top are running constantly

bryant · #3 09/08/14, 10:15 AM

When vented properly (the stove pipe draws as it is supposed to) you should not have any problems using a wood cook stove. As Solar Geek mentioned, the asthma attack is most likely brought on by the high humidity of cooking foods releasing moisture into the atmosphere. The aroma of certain spices can also be a factor, but these are born by the rising steam from the foods being cooked, not the wood or the heat from the stove.

7thswan · #4 09/08/14, 01:07 PM

Yes. And it is true about the humidity being the problem, the woodstove and cookstove -no problem.

andyd2023 · #5 09/11/14, 03:06 PM

The wife has asthma, we have used a woodstove for heat in the living room and back bedroom for the past 7 years as solargeek said, if it is drafting right you should not have problems with wood smoke in the house. Ours also have outside air for the draft so they don't pull air out of the house. Now another issue is mold, dust and bugs on the wood you bring into the house to burn. you may need to give some thought to how you would handle this aspect of wood burning if any of these things are your asthma triggers.
Andrew