On 15 Aug 2006 01:21:23 -0700, "Aidan" wrote:

Surely oil fumes are a much greater pollutant.
Yes. But you would have difficulty in finding a smoke plume from even
one oil or gas boiler in your neighbourhood. Most wood/coal fire can
usually be smelt or seen.

Certainly when pubs and restaurants have log fires you can usually
smell the fire well away from the building in the car park. Prolonged
exposure to wood smoke can cause eyes to become sensitised to it.

If a large percentage of households suddenly
start lighting wood burners, that they hadn't used in years, then you
may have a problem.


They'd all have a problem with the Council if they tried it round
here.

Actually to illustrate that, I once started a small petrol engine
generator inside a house forgetting to site it outside the door and
went upstairs for a few minutes.
To my horror the house filled up in minutes with terrible fumes and
Of course it did. If you'd lit a small wood fire in the middle of your
kitchen, that would have filled the house with smoke and fumes as well.


OTOH, I've seen a small generator set running on LPG used to power a
christmas side show on an internal balcony in Marshall Field's Dept.
Store in Chicago. It was almost 100% silent and discharged it's
exhaust straight to the atmosphere in the room. It was undetectable

DG