I know in the past that it was a no-no to throw pressure treated lumber
into a fireplace or woodstove. Either it was arsenic or some other
nasty chemical that was the problem. But now that they have this new
way to treat the lumber with apparently something more eco-friendly,
can one burn the scraps. I have a lot of this stuff hanging around and
would love to not burden the garbage man and landfill with it.

warbler wrote:

I know in the past that it was a no-no to throw pressure treated lumber
into a fireplace or woodstove. Either it was arsenic or some other
nasty chemical that was the problem. But now that they have this new
way to treat the lumber with apparently something more eco-friendly,
can one burn the scraps. I have a lot of this stuff hanging around and
would love to not burden the garbage man and landfill with it.

Still a no-go...ACQ removed the arsenic from CCA. The MSDS is available
at
http://www.ufpi.com/literature/acqmsds-200.pdf

We are talking about several "treatments" applied to wood as a preservative.

1. Coal Tar - Creosote -
2. Pentachlorophenol -
3. Arsenical -

According to the EPA - put wood treated with these in garbage or bury it.

--
PDQ

--
"Duane Bozarth" wrote in message ...
| warbler wrote:
|
| I know in the past that it was a no-no to throw pressure treated lumber
| into a fireplace or woodstove. Either it was arsenic or some other
| nasty chemical that was the problem. But now that they have this new
| way to treat the lumber with apparently something more eco-friendly,
| can one burn the scraps. I have a lot of this stuff hanging around and
| would love to not burden the garbage man and landfill with it.
|
| Still a no-go...ACQ removed the arsenic from CCA. The MSDS is available
| at
| http://www.ufpi.com/literature/acqmsds-200.pdf

Yup. Just get rid of it. The new stuff is supposed to be more
environmentally friendly by not leeching the treating chemicals into
the soil; I guess by default this would make it more landfill-friendly.

On the other hand if you burn it, you will release these treating
compounds into the air floating on the ashes. There are some talented
chemists here that probably have worked out the new compounds formed
when burning/oxidation takes place, and could tell you what they were
as well as the level of toxicity.

But something intended as poisonous doesn't need to be inhaled by me no
matter what molecular changes have occurred in my fireplace. I say
toss it.

Robert

You shouldn't even burn untreated pine. It has little heat, but lots of ash
and creosote.

Toller wrote:
You shouldn't even burn untreated pine. It has little heat, but lots of ash
and creosote.



Ash is a burden to be hauled out, the creosote can be dealt with by
burning a good hot fire each morning to rid the flue of creosote. While
pine is far from the best choice to burn as far as BTU output and
burntime it can easily and safely be burned with good practices. We have
heated several shops burning pine scraps for years. It beats throwing
them in the trash or burrying them.

To the OP, improper handling (use, but mostly disposal) is by far the
single most overriding factor as to why we lost access to CCA treated
lumber and are now paying far more for ACQ and all the associated
accessories (G185 hangers, ASTM-153 fasteners, no alum. flashing, on and
on). This occured because idiots couldnt figure out on their own that
pressure treated lumber is poisonous to organisms and pests which eat
lumber, therefore it is only common sense that its poisonous to humans.

Before you burn your Christmas Candles do you sprinkle a little rat
poison on them for your children to breathe and enjoy? This would sound
idiotic right? Well this kind of lack of common sense is why companies
now have to print on plastic bags used for packaging "This is not a toy".

Mark

Regarding untreated pine burning in fireplace, I have heard the same
from other places. The key is to make sure the wood is dry and/or the
fire is very hot. woodburning.org is a good resource for this and
other items relating to burning wood.

Jeff

On 20 Oct 2005 07:06:57 -0700, wrote:

Regarding untreated pine burning in fireplace, I have heard the same
from other places. The key is to make sure the wood is dry and/or the
fire is very hot. woodburning.org is a good resource for this and
other items relating to burning wood.

Jeff


a steady diet of pine will goop up your chimney. mix it up with a hot
burning hardwood to prevent that.