OWB coming to your back yard, act now before it's too late

Got SMOKE? If you live in NY, here is the number to call. 800-771-7755, at the prompt, press 5 to get to the Environmental Protection Bureau....Please get involved. These are popping up all over the country. Outdoor Wood Boilers, the stacks are low and the constant smoke will choke the life out of you, your kids, your pets, etc.. these smokers can burn 20 or more logs at a time (and who knows what else)!

The video doesn't let you smell the full effect, like your home is on fire and you cannot escape it! This OWB is located less than 50' from my house in Ulster County, NY. This is a residential neighborhood, not open fields.
This video was shot from my porch.
We don't get to enjoy it, the smoke keeps us from going outside. We will be pursuing a decrease in our Property Taxes, our Right to Enjoyment is gone. We spent tens of thousands of hard-earned dollars into this Town, in Building Permits to fix this old house up, in local suppliers, increased tax assessments yearly. We had planned on creating a nice outdoor grill area and landscaping, but have decided against it, we know we will not be able to use or enjoy it in these conditions.
OWB decrease property values as nobody wants a house that smells like smoke, is harmful to the respiratory system and poisons our citizens and the environment. The medical costs alone for respiratory illness is crippling. Add in paying high property taxes and getting No Right to Enjoyment, Environmental Lawyers are gonna love this.
Smoking is banned in public places, but you can't breathe clean air in your own livingroom, bedroom or back yard? These issues should be addressed in the Clean Air Act (but I don't think they are), and State Leaders as well as Local Counties and Towns should take the initiative and not wait.
Most towns have no regulation on these smokers, so one could be installed tomorrow right next to your home, just like this one was last winter!

Some people burn these things year round to heat their water. They should at the very least be banned from burning in warm months, have higher stacks and have minimum setbacks from surrounding homes.. It is not energy efficient, especially if it costs others to "spin the meter" running air purifiers and air conditioners, instead of simply opening a window to get some clean, cool air! It is not energy efficient if it still requires electricity to run the circulator. These don't work when the power goes out.

It would have been more cost effective to just buy an electric hot water heater and put it on a timer, or saved the $5000.00 that box cost you and used it to upgrade your heating system. You could have gotten a non-invasive Solar water heat system for less than that!

At the very least a catalytic converter should be mandatory and inspected yearly to make sure they are working properly. While I know wood burning is somewhat cost-effective to my neighbor, what is the price the rest of us will pay?

In NY State, there is forward motion happening since the NY Attorney General put out this report. http://www.oag.state.ny.us/bureaus/environmental/pdfs/Smoke%20Gets%20in%20You...

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• smoke
• OWB
• Clean Air
• cancer
• invasive
• right to enjoyment

[LyricLover4ever]

I would like to add, I know plenty of folks who have wood stoves, pellet, etc., there is such a thing as burning responsibly. .when something is smoking like this is, not only is the wood being wasted, it is running inefficiently AND putting out more acrid smoke and particulate. This is smoldering. It should be more like temperature wave, like the heat coming off the highway in the desert.

[Giuliano083]

I have one. You want to buy my oil to heat my house, and I'll let the fire go out. Until then, it's burning.

[LyricLover4ever]

Just wanted to show how the other guy thinks. I respond with the following.. Are you going to pay the medical bills of your neighbors with respiratory conditions exacerbated by your toxic smoke? Are you going to kick in towards some of the electric bills for the air purifiers others have running 24 hours a day to protect their kids? You selfishly thumb your nose at others. If some folks cannot afford to heat their homes responsibly, maybe they are living beyond their means. Clean Air trumps.

[GoReps]

Have you had any luck stopping this yet? This looks like willful neglect and disregard for the health and safety of others. Everything you wrote is correct. What's ironic is that as I watch this, Aqua-Therm OWB's has an ad for an outdoor wood boiler in the upper right corner of this video page. (it probably rotates to other ads, too). Aqua-Therm is helping to pay for anti-OWB posts!! It shows how stupid OWB mfrs are. A little bit of just desserts to a company polluting our neighborhoods!

[LyricLover4ever]

Yes, the logic escapes us on this whole issue. The polluters stopped burning it for a few months after we got the DEC and Local Codes involved. They put on a taller stack, but obviously it was out of their realm of installation DIY. After a few windy days it was leaning badly.

Now colder weather is here, they took off the stack completely and have been running it for the past week without one! I thought they were waiting for it to burn out so they could re-install the stack, I was wrong. Sigh.

[LyricLover4ever]

Update: The pipe vent is now back on top of it, no stack, still smokin' away. They must have me saved in faves. I also noticed the OWB mfr on your page. The ad forgets to tell you how popular you will be in your community. From what I've experienced, most folks that have OWBs don't care, they claim others are trying to "control" them. Wish they could see they are NOT giving others ANY choice whether to breathe their smoke or not. It is totally invasive, permeating everywhere. Ignorant at best.

[VictoriaSkyline]

OWBs are disgusting. There is one about 600 feet away from my home and I still smell and feel the effects. I can't imagine one next door - although we have wood stove burners next door on either side that in conjunction are almost as bad when they burn 24/7. I spoke to them - one stopped - the other refused. In a conversation with police officer relating to another issue - I mentioned this problem with the OWB....

[saltysam203]

NYS DEC is responsible for this. They will not post that OWBs do not meet current air standards on website. Instead they do opacity tests, levy fines and shut them down one at a a time w/Orders on Consent. Call your DEC Regional Office. FOIL for the case from Buffalo DEC office in Eden NY shut down in summer 2009. Contact your NYS Senator. It takes time to catch the OWB in opacity violation. Be persistent. Call Judy Schreiber at NYS AG.Tell her she needs to speak to Gov. and stop this abuse.

[cyops]

the problem with this is that prople don't consider the other people around them. you can't have owb's if you have close neighbors, you can use them if there is nobody around you not in communities. I have one and don't have neighbors and I own the land around me so I won't have neighbors!

[VictoriaSkyline]

the officer's comment: "Wow - I wouldn't want that in MY neighborhood. I can't believe it's still standing...." No one would except pyros! I've been told by law enforcement and the town to sue them. It may come to that. This is no way to live. Wood smoke is DISGUSTING! and UNNECESSARY. If you want to burn YOU breathe it up in the north woods where no one else is affected.