Look for alternatives to heat your home. Thank you! EPA certified wood stoves burn more efficiently and cleanly. Ensure a hotter, cleaner burning fire by using dried “seasoned” wood, particularly hard woods (maple, ash, oak, beech), which outperform softer pine and fir. Smoke is made up of a complex mixture of gases and fine, microscopic particles produced when wood and other organic matter burn. How indoor fires are suffocating cities ... which plans to release an air quality … But keep in mind that the wood-burning stove will need to be installed, and this can add thousands of dollars to the price of the stove. More and more homes are shifting to alternatives such as solar panels and electric or geothermal heat pumps. Emissions from wood smoke, discussed below, can cause coughing, wheezing, asthma attacks, heart attacks, lung cancer, and premature death, among other health effects.1 Many of these pollutants can worsen air quality indoors and outdoors. Find information on these heat sources for your home at www.energy.gov. ... Is your wood stove choking you? If you smoked, low dose CT screening could save your life. It uses excess combustion air to make a fire burn hot and clean. The Lung Association is working with some local communities to implement woodstove change-out programs to help residents upgrade to cleaner-burning, more energy-efficient heating appliances and technologies. Learn more about Lung Association woodstove change-out programs. Select your location to view local American Lung Association events and news near you. Our Tax ID is: 13‑1632524. Contact Us to ask a question, provide feedback, or report a problem. Share your voice and advocate for policies that will save lives. You've been successfully subscribed to our newsletter! ©2020 American Lung Association. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted new standards for wood-burning devices in 2015, but manufacturers will have until 2020 to phase them in and make their equipment cleaner and more energy efficient. These stoves are considered the most efficient stoves available with efficiency ratings exceeding 80%. Fine particles can also aggravate chronic heart and lung diseases, and are linked to premature deaths in people with these chronic conditions. If these are chronic problems for you, indoor air pollution could be to blame. This #GivingTuesday, your donation means more than ever. If you decide to burn wood, then look for the cleanest burning devices. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Controlling Air Pollution from Residential Wood Heaters. Certified stoves use about one-third as much wood and circulate more heat into the home instead of out the flue. They are small enough to enter the lungs where they can cause bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, or other serious respiratory diseases. Indoor wood and pellet furnaces: 2.5 grams/hour for catalytic furnaces 4.5 grams/hour for non-catalytic furnaces A wood stove emits more harmful air particulates than a diesel truck. Changing out wood stoves requires a financial investment; however, there are programs that provide financial assistance and manufacturers that provide discounts. Pellets and dry wood can burn cleaner and more efficiently than other woods. EPA has guidance to help communities put such program in place. People with lung disease face special risks, but so do children, older adults, people with cardiovascular disease and diabetics. Install a wood pellet stove, which uses compressed wood waste. Talk to our experts at the American Lung Association Lung HelpLine and Tobacco QuitLine. Smoke from residential wood heaters contains pollutants that can worsen indoor and outdoor air quality and cause harmful health effects, both long and short term. For Air Quality Program Officials - Information to help tribal, state, and local air quality officials address wood burning emissions in their air quality planning. Especially during high pollution days, burning can add pollution to the outdoor air. Read our simple and effective tips for protecting you and your family from the dangers of air pollution. No wood stove is 100% air tight, and the door gaskets and general sealing of the cast iron / steel / stone / ceramic parts may still leak some, but it still has to be better than a wood stove drawing combustion air directly from the indoor air. Our service is free and we are here to help you. Thank you! Stop smoking for good - don't switch to vaping. Strategies for Reducing Residential Wood Smoke, March 2013, EPA-456/B-13-001. Wood-burning stoves can help save you money on your heating bill, and burning wood as a heat source can be easier on the environment than gas or coal. Wood stoves, hydronic heaters and other appliances are often used 24-hours a day, which can substantially worsen air quality outdoors. Wood smoke Health Effects: A Review. For a limited time every donation you make will be matched, up to $25,000, thanks to Dyson. Never burn wet, painted, or treated wood. The biggest health threat from wood smoke comes from fine particles (also called particulate matter). ft. Wood-Burning Stove. However, they need to be fully vented to the outdoors as they also produced some of the same pollutants indoors and out, including carbon monoxide. Wood-burning stoves can help save you money on your heating bill, and burning wood as a heat source can be easier on the environment than gas or coal. February 2015. An official website of the United States government. Burning eyes. Take the proper precautions when using your fireplace to protect indoor air quality: Choose the proper fuel. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Basic Information Cleaner Burning Wood Stoves & Fireplaces, How-To Guide for Implementing a Wood Stove Changeout Campaign, Health, Energy Efficiency and Climate Change. U.S. EPA. EPA estimates that 65 percent of the woodstoves in use in the U.S. are older devices that produce significant pollution and do not burn efficiently.3 Some communities have put in place woodstove change out programs to help communities, especially low-income families, benefit from cleaner air and more efficient heating. Stuffy nose. If you cannot switch to solar, heat pumps or natural gas and still need to burn fuel in your device, then make sure your fuel burns as cleanly as possible. If wood-burning is affecting air quality in your neighborhood: Avoid burning wood, corn, switchgrass or other products to heat the home or water. You’ve been successfully subscribed to our newsletter! Your tax-deductible donation funds lung disease and lung cancer research, new treatments, lung health education, and more. But keep in mind that the wood-burning stove will need to be installed, and this can add thousands of dollars to the price of the stove. Inhalation Toxicology. Yet residents of many communities in the U.S. still depend on wood-burning stoves in their home as a primary or significant source of heat. Wood stoves, hydronic heaters and other appliances are often used 24-hours a day, which can substantially worsen air quality outdoors. Recent evidence suggests that indoor air quality may improve in homes where older, non-certified wood stoves are exchanged for lower emissions EPA-certified alternatives. A financial investment ; however, there are programs that provide financial assistance and manufacturers that provide financial and. 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