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Air Quality

Smoke control

Using a woodburning stove or open fire

The smoke that open fires and wood burning stoves produce can pollute the air and affect everyone's health, particularly people who have respiratory conditions.

Crucially, these pollutants get released within your own home and people often have the windows closed so the emissions get trapped. This means they can easily be inhaled and transported around the body.

Fortunately, there are some easy steps you can take to help reduce the health and environmental impacts of burning solid fuels, including choosing cleaner fuels and regularly maintaining your appliance.

What you can do

  • Consider burning less - think about why you are lighting your fire, as well as how much fuel you use. Is it necessary? If your house is already warm enough? Not lighting your fire is the simplest way of reducing your costs and minimising airborne particulates.
  • Burn dry (seasoned) wood - if you burn wet timber or unseasoned wood as a fuel, you have to boil off the water before the appliance can give out the proper level of heat. In turn, this creates a lot of smoke, tar and particulates which can damage your chimney and appliance which contributes to air pollution. The Forestry Commission has produced a useful guide to using wood as a fuel which includes information on how choose and dry (season) your wood.
  • Buy ‘Ready to Burn’ fuel - use wood marked as “Ready to Burn” by a Woodsure Certified Supplier. Any wood displaying the Ready to Burn logo will have 20% moisture content or less so once you get it home it is “Ready to Burn”. These logs burn more efficiently than unseasoned, green wood and reduce environmental impact. You can find a local supplier by going online and putting your postcode into the HETAS website. Further information is provided in the “Ready to Burn” leaflet and at the Ready to Burn website.
  • Do not burn treated waste wood (e.g. old furniture or pallets) or household rubbish - treated waste wood (with paint or preservatives) can emit harmful fumes and household rubbish may include plastics that can release toxic pollutants, such as arsenic, into your home when burnt and may affect your health.
  • Consider using an approved smokeless fuel – a list of approved smokeless fuels is available on the HETAS website.
  • If you are buying a new stove - check it is Defra approved and have it installed by a qualified person, see the HETAS website for details.
  • Check how to operate your appliance efficiently - Always operate your stove in line with the manufacturer’s guidance. For example, by controlling the air supply correctly you will improve efficiency - this will save you money as well as reduce emissions.
  • Regularly maintain and service your stove by having it checked annually - this means it will work better and will generate more heat from what you burn.
  • Get your chimney swept regularly (up to twice a year) - during use, particulates build up in the chimney reducing the efficiency and increasing the risk of chimney fires. If you have it cleaned regularly, up to twice a year, it will burn more effectively. It is better to use a qualified chimney sweep who will also be able to advise you on good burning practices for your open fire or stove.

Following these simple tips will help to reduce the risks to your health associated with particulates and smoke in the air as well as improve the efficiency and safety of your stove.

More information and advice is available from:

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs: Open Fires and Wood Burning Stoves: A practical guide 

Woodsure: the woodfuel quality assurance scheme 

Bonfires

Bonfire smoke also contributes to air pollution and it can impact health especially for people with breathing or heart conditions.

There are laws about burning certain types of waste and to prevent bonfires causing a nuisance. You could be fined if you light a fire and allow the smoke to drift across the road and become a danger to traffic.

You can read further guidance about how to have a bonfire, along with further information about the regulations. 

Instead of having a bonfire there are a range of alternative ways to dispose of household and green garden waste, including: