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Wood burners triple the level of harmful pollutant particles inside homes and should be sold with a health warning, say the scientists, who also advise against being used near the elderly or children.
Small particles flood the room when burner doors are opened for refueling, according to a study. In addition, people who load wood two or more times a night are exposed to pollution peaks two to four times higher than those who refuel once or never.
The particles can pass through the lungs into the body and have been linked to a wide range of health damages, especially in the young and old.
The research was conducted in 19 homes in Sheffield over the course of a month in early 2020. The wood burners used were all government-certified “smoke-free appliances”, meaning they produce less smoke. But this and the new EcoDesign standard, which will become mandatory by 2022, only assess outdoor pollution.
The government is phasing out the sale of wet wood, which produces more smoke, but the people in the study only used dry, cured wood. Burning wood and charcoal in homes is estimated to cause nearly 40% of minute particle pollution outdoors, but the new research is one of the first to look at indoor pollution in real-life settings. Almost 16% of people in the south-east of England use firewood and 18% in Northern Ireland, according to 2016 government data, and around 175,000 wood burners are sold annually.
“Our findings are cause for concern,” said Rohit Chakraborty of the University of Sheffield, who led the study. “It is recommended that people who live with people particularly susceptible to air pollution, such as children, the elderly or the vulnerable, avoid the use of wood stoves. If people want to use them, we recommend minimizing the time the stove is open during lighting or refueling. “
Wood burners cause less indoor pollution than open fires. “But every time you open the door, you turn the stove down to an open fire and particulate matter floods the house,” he said. Spikes take an hour or two to dissipate. “But when it goes down, someone opens the door again to refuel and you get peak after peak,” Chakraborty said. Some burners have filters, but these only reduce pollution that is vented to the outside.
Some people without central heating rely on wood burners for heat, and Chakraborty did not ask for a ban. “We should let people decide, but at least they should know what’s going on and of course not use it if they don’t have to.”
The study, published in the journal Atmosphere, analyzed data collected every few minutes from pollution monitors in people’s homes and in total evaluated 260 woodburner uses. The results showed that the burners generally lit for about four hours at a time, and during this period the level of harmful particles in homes was three times higher than when no stoves were used.
During those four hours, average particle levels rose between 27 and 195 micrograms per cubic meter of air. The World Health Organization limit is 25 μg / m3 for 24 hours. “Epidemiologists increasingly recognize that exposure to high intensities of [small particles] over much shorter periods of time, hours rather than days, is linked to a variety of health problems, ”the researchers wrote.
They concluded: “It is recommended that new residential stoves be accompanied by a health warning at the point of sale in order to indicate the risks to the health of users.” Government approval schemes should also assess indoor pollution, the scientists said.
Increased outdoor air pollution and kitchen fumes were ruled out as causes of indoor peaks. Particulates are the most harmful pollutants in wood smoke, but they also contain carcinogenic chemicals, such as benzene and formaldehyde.
“Rather than being seen as a harmless appliance, wood stoves should be recognized as potentially harmful,” said James Heydon of the University of Nottingham, who was part of the study team. “Most of our participants were not aware of this and more needs to be done to raise awareness of the risks.”
Three of the households in the study stopped using their burners after seeing the results, and 12 others took action, such as refueling faster or less frequently, or making sure the wood was really dry.
“There is no reason to believe that particulates from wood stoves are less toxic than those from other sources, such as the burning of fossil fuels,” said Professor Jonathan Grigg, Queen Mary University of London, who led a recent report. on the Health Effects of Indoor Air Pollution in Children for the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health.
“This study confirms that indoor wood burners contribute significantly to indoor air pollution,” he said. “It also suggests that even government-certified solid fuel stoves harm local outdoor air quality. Therefore, it is difficult to justify its use in any urban area ”.
A Defra spokeswoman said: “Air pollution has dropped significantly in recent years, and fine particulate matter emissions fell 9% in the last decade. But we know that there is more to do and domestic burning is an important factor ”.
She said the upcoming environmental bill would make it easier for local authorities to enforce existing restrictions within smoke control areas. The ministers do not plan to ban wood burners.
