My family has burned wood in the fireplace almost every day in the winter for a decade now, so I would say I have more of an attachment to fireplaces than most. I still didn’t feel any jerk reaction to being told that fireplaces are bad, though.
I have to say that “Smoke is dangerous” is only true if you’re inhaling it. As anyone who’s actually burned something in a fireplace knows, there’s a strong airflow generated, that sucks in air from the room, and sends it up the chimney with all/most of the smoke. That is, our homes don’t fill up with smoke when the fireplace is lit. Our family uses a heat exchanger to bring heat into the room without bringing smoke into the room.
On the other hand, I read this passage from the article: “These findings imply that even woodstoves and fireplaces operating well that vent most smoke outside may produce sub- stantial exposures through penetration back into the house, a characteristic of “neighborhood pollution.”
So fireplaces might not hurt me very much, but they have a tragedy-of-the-commons effect. Since my family lives in a remote area, perhaps we can go on burning wood in our fireplace to our pleasure.
My family has burned wood in the fireplace almost every day in the winter for a decade now, so I would say I have more of an attachment to fireplaces than most. I still didn’t feel any jerk reaction to being told that fireplaces are bad, though.
I have to say that “Smoke is dangerous” is only true if you’re inhaling it. As anyone who’s actually burned something in a fireplace knows, there’s a strong airflow generated, that sucks in air from the room, and sends it up the chimney with all/most of the smoke. That is, our homes don’t fill up with smoke when the fireplace is lit. Our family uses a heat exchanger to bring heat into the room without bringing smoke into the room.
On the other hand, I read this passage from the article: “These findings imply that even woodstoves and fireplaces operating well that vent most smoke outside may produce sub- stantial exposures through penetration back into the house, a characteristic of “neighborhood pollution.”
So fireplaces might not hurt me very much, but they have a tragedy-of-the-commons effect. Since my family lives in a remote area, perhaps we can go on burning wood in our fireplace to our pleasure.