Fireplaces/stoves

Make sure that all combustion appliances (fireplace, stove, water heater, furnace, etc.) are (1) installed according to the manufacturer s specifications and (2) properly adjusted and maintained. 

Whenever unvented combustion occurs iadoors or when venting systems attached to combustion units malfunction, a variety of combustion products win be released to the iadoor environment. Iadoor combustioa units include nonelectric stoves and ovens, furnaces, hot water heaters, space heaters, and wood-burning fireplaces or stoves. Products of combustion include CO, NO, NO2, fine particles, aldehydes, polynuclear aromatics, and other organic compounds. Especially dangerous sources are unvented gas and kerosene [8008-20-6] space heaters which discharge pollutants directly into the living space. The best way to prevent the accumulation of combustion products indoors is to make sure all units are properly vented and properly maintained. 

Even though society has moved toward centralized industries and utilities, we still have many personal sources of air pollution for which we alone can answer—(1) automobiles, (2) home furnaces, (3) home fireplaces and stoves, (4) backyard barbecue grills, and (5) open burning of refuse and leaves. Figure 6-4 illustrates the personal emissions of a typical U.S. family. 

The kitchen has an ancient bottled-gas stove, a Formica table with an oil lamp on it and a scatter of jewelry tools and materials, a tiled fireplace laid ready with raw-smelling coal, and a beautiful inlaid Queen Anne wall clock tocking away in the corner, showing the phases of the moon and the movement of the sun through the zodiac. As I head out of the back door and find the privy, a black shadow of a cat with blue eyes slips past my legs and away like warm smoke. 

Karlsvik E., Hustad J.E., and Sonju O.K.., Emissions from Wood Stoves and Fireplaces , in Advances in Thermochemica Biomass Conversion 1, ed. Bridgwater A.V., Blackie Academic Professional (London), 690-707 (1993). 

Carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen cyanide, particulates, nitrogen dioxide, benzoapryene, etc. from combustion sources including gas ranges, dryers, water heaters, kerosene heaters, fireplaces, wood stoves, garage, etc. Aminos from humidification equipment ... 

Kerosene heaters can be significant sources of particles under some circumstances. For example, kerosene heaters were reported to contribute to indoor PM2 5 in homes in Suffolk County, New York, but not Onondaga County wood stoves and fireplaces and gas stoves did not contribute in either case (Koutrakis et al., 1992 Wallace, 1996). A similar conclusion was reached in a study of eight mobile homes in North Carolina (Mum-ford et al., 1991). 

Emissions from fireplaces and stoves have been reported in several studies testing furnaces and wood fuel typical for different areas of the world. Wood smoke emissions typical for central Europe were investigated by Schmidl et al. [22, 23]. In these studies, different common European wood types were analysed to derive chemical profiles of wood combustion emissions for various types of wood. An overview of the fuel wood types used in the Alpine countries is given by Kistler et al. [24]. In the above-mentioned emission studies, wood has been burnt in a tiled wood stove [22] and in two automatically and two manually fired appliances [23]. The authors found a high variability for the emissions from small-scale manually fired wood combustion appliances in the performed individual tests. 

Many studies have shown that in North Europe major biomass burning emissions are mostly linked with wood smoke from fireplaces and stoves, whereas in Southern Europe wildfires can be the most important biomass combustion source. The Mediterranean region is frequently under the influence of this phenomenon, especially during dry periods. Although wildfires can be a major contributor of particulate matter into the atmosphere, forest fire emissions are poorly quantified in the literature, due to the difficulties induced in estimating their temporal and spatial distribution. 

Clement RE, Tosine HM, Ali B. 1985. Levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofiiran in woodbuming stoves, fireplaces. Chemosphere 14 815. 

Chimney soot and bottom ash from wood-burning stoves and fireplaces in individual residences have yielded measurable levels of TCDD.27 28 A study of PCDD/F emissions from residential wood burners in Switzerland found that a household stove burning natural beech wood yielded 0.77 ng TEQ kg-1 with the door open and 1.25 ng TEQ kg-1 with the door closed.29 Applying an average emission factor29 30 of 1 ng TEQ kg-1 for the 41.4 million metric tons of wood combusted in US homes each year14 yields an estimate of 41 g TEQ yr-1 for emissions from residential wood burning. 

In the absence of sufficient oxygen, carbon-containing compounds undergo incomplete combustion, leading to the formation of carbon monoxide, CO, and water. Carbon monoxide is a deadly gas. You should always make sure that sufficient oxygen is present in your indoor environment for your gas furnace, gas stove, or fireplace. 

If there is a relative shortage of oxygen, however, and the mole ratio of carbon to oxygen is closer to 2 mol C 1 mol O, carbon monoxide forms. Carbon monoxide is colourless, tasteless, and odourless. It is a highly poisonous gas, that is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people in Canada and the United States every year. Carbon monoxide can escape from any fuel-burning appliance furnace, water heater, fireplace, wood stove, or space heater. If you have one of these appliances in your home, make sure that it has a good supply of oxygen to avoid the formation of carbon monoxide. 

The Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) emission limitations required by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) show the ultimate effect of the ratcheting process. After a little more than two decades of ratcheting, MWCs have become a comparatively minor source of combustion-related air pollution. Other artificial and natural sources such as automobiles, trucks, power plants, fireplaces, wood stoves, metal production furnaces, industrial manufacturing processes, volcanoes, forest fires, and backyard trash burning are now the major known sources of combustion-related pollutants. 

Karlsvik, E. (2000) Development of Low Emission Stoves and Fireplaces in Norway, Proc. of Nordic Seminar on Small Scale Wood Combustion, Turku, Finland... 

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