There will be many more of us - the majority will not know who to turn to for support.

I've written to MCS and filed a complaint against this appliance - A Central Boiler - asking for it's Certification to be removed. I've attached photos and offered them a Toxicology report. They must respond within 7 days.

Outside Wood Boilers are being imported by 'Bentley Fire Shop' - they qualify for the Renewable Heat Incentive which means the owner receives money from the Tax Payer every quarter for 7 years - amounting to around £7500.

The manufacturer claims they are smokeless - when they are clearly not. The County Councils rely on the 'competent person's scheme' for assurance that fires and OWBs are correctly installed - that is why complaints are met with a shrug. The lazy EH officers don't want to get involved because its 'not our job'. The installers are required to take site conditions into account - therefore things like wind direction, buildings, trees etc should all come into the assessment because of the effect they will have on the smoke plume. Some Installers don't care - they just want to be paid.

HETAS are toothless - they can't just turn up and shut down an installation. All they seem to do is train the installers who are then free to go out installing fires, stoves and OWBs and self-certify their own work. There are no checks. If you complain to HETAS and the owner refuses to let HETAS inspect the site then there is nothing HETAS can do.

The installer of my neighbour's OWB has gone bust - so HETAS can't even contact him.

I persuaded Ceredigion to do their own 'independent' inspection by a qualified person - guess who organised that? Bentley Fires - the sole importers. The result was 'it has been properly installed' and 'we are closing our file'.
Under the Freedom of Information Act I am entitled to a copy of this report - they continue to ignore my request despite having had instructions to release the information - by the Welsh Ombudsman. It is a story that is being repeated all over the country because our EH officers are poorly trained and Councils have no spare money to carry out investigations and do their jobs properly.

I did my own research on OWBs and downloaded the manufacturer's installation diagram - I sent it to the Council - identifying all the ways the site is non-compliant. They ignored it. I asked them for a copy of the installation diagram their 'independent' expert was using as I'm entitled to, under the Freedom of Info Act - they haven't responded.

I've just written to Ceredigion County Council letting them know that I will take them to Court for their failure to issue an abatement order - it's been three years of research - to get to this stage. The OWB is non-compliant, should never have been installed and is a very serious risk to health. All smoke is life threatening but OWBs are the worst because of the tiny (invisible to the human eye) particulate matter size. It penetrates homes no matter how airtight you think your home is. These PMs build up inside the home and can reach levels that are many times higher than outdoors -Putting individuals at high risk of cancer, strokes and heart attacks - particularly at risk are infants, children and the elderly.

All this information has been verified and toxicology reports and expert studies from Europe and the States were send to the Welsh Ombudsman, NHS Wales, Mark Williams the Ceredigion MP and Kirsty Williams (Lib Dem), Ceredigion County Council and Victoria Derbyshire at the BBC. So far no one has acknowledged the seriousness.

Apparently woodsmoke is still seen as harmless even though we spend millions enforcing smoking bans on cigarettes.

An OWB can be as bad for your health as breathing in the fumes of upto 50 diesel engines.Yes FIFTY.

OWBs are never 'off' - they burn 24/7, 365 days of the year and if we don't get them banned there will be one coming to a house near you - soon. (Remember - there is a £7500 incentive waiting to be collected)

Mikee and Waddler - can you ask your Councils for copies of the installation diagrams for the offending appliances?
If these are newish installations they need to comply with strict regs and site considerations are part of that.

Regards
KB1

Thanks for spreading the word - people need to know about this - I just wish I was more internet savvy so this information could go viral ....

Posted By: SteamyTeaA lot of people do know about it, most of the technical side of the renewable energy industry knows it is a problem. Just, as you say, it is hard getting the message across.

Not so much hard getting the message across, rather I think that the LAs and EHOs etc. are frightened of the deluge of work if they pick up a few cases and enforce the polluters to clean up or stop polluting and are seen to be doing something.

KB 1 at the moment thanks to Brussels you are entitled to peacefully enjoy your property (Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees the right to property. It provides: “Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions.) (Brexit would do away with this right!!)

The Government and their agents (agent = anyone to whom the Government delegates powers i.e. (IOM) HETAS if their actions are carrying out duties delegated by the LA ) are in law duty bound to uphold this right. It is also quite clear that INACTION can also cause a breach of this right.

So if the LA (or their agents) fail to act on the law regarding this smoke pollution their inaction can be classed as a breach of your Human Rights under the above mentioned article. This is pursue-able through the UK courts in the first instance as Member Countries are duty bound to uphold the European Convention on Human Rights This is perhaps another lever you may wish to use when writing to the various authorities and / or their agents.

IMO you are not correct in requesting the Certification to be removed for the Central Boiler - in all probability the OWB will comply sufficiently for the certification to be continued and if it is investigated and found to comply then you will be informed of this fact and the case closed!!. The problem is almost certainly (as with Mikeee5 neighbours stove) not the wood burner itself but the manner of its installation and use that is causing the problem. If you read Mikeee5s thread considerable time has been wasted discussing the type of wood, the manner of the use of the stove and the stove itself whereas in fact it is the unsuitable chimney that is causing the problem. I suspect that if the OWB chimney was lengthened sufficiently your problem would go away.

The fact of the pollution is your problem (and thereby the contravention of the building UK regs, other regs and the ECHR Article 1 of Protocol No. 1). It is not your job to point out the cause of the problem and offering solutions can actually be detrimental to your case. (If you say 'I think you should do .......', and they do it and there is no cure, where are you then). You can point out the breaches of regs and rights and it is up to the authorities to enforce the regs. and uphold your rights. It is up to the offender to comply in any way they see fit - providing they comply with the regs. and don't infringe your rights.

Unfortunately as you are finding out the authorities have little appetite to pursue these issues.

IMO you are correct to write to Ceredigion County Council telling them that you will take them to Court for their failure to issue an abatement order but as with Mikeee5 case I suspect their first line of defence will be that the OWB complies with the regs. The authorities and their agents are fond of forgetting that the building regs require that chimneys are required to carry away the products of combustion, and when they consistently don't then the chimney fails the building regs. but it's the chimney at fault not the stove or the type of fuel!!

It is a different matter that when the chimney does work the pollution still occurs but it is carried away from you, diluted by distance and lands on someone else who may not know where it is coming from and will have little or no chance of doing anything about it. - But eventually that will be a problem for society as a whole.

As I said to Mikeee5, until the problem is resolved you want the OWB to be producing visible smoke, and sorry, the thicker the better, if it was actually smokeless then you would still have the sub-2.5 particles which whilst invisible would do more damage than visible smoke and you would have no chance of doing anything about that!

Health warning - I am not a lawyer but I am a user of a gasifying wood burning boiler

I do not like the idea of dissecting the appliance, the fuel, the installation and the flue.

The problem is nuisance.

Posted By: Peter_in_HungaryKB 1 at the moment thanks to Brussels you are entitled to peacefully enjoy your property (Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees the right to property. It provides: “Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions.) (Brexit would do away with this right!!)

Pedantically, the ECHR has little to do with Brussels [¹]. Being a signatory to the ECHR is a requirement for being a member of the EU so, for those who want to get Britain out of the ECHR Brexit is a step required to that end [²], but the opposite is not true: a country does have to be in the EU (or the EEA) to be a signatory to the ECHR.

All countries in Europe (the continent, not the union) with a few exceptions (Belarus, the Holy See, Kazakhstan [³], Kosovo, a few other small ones?) are members of the ECHR.

So Brexit would be a step towards doing away with this right but would not in itself achieve that.

[¹] Literally in that its sponsoring institution (the Council of Europe) and enforcing institution (the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)) are based in Strasbourg.

[²] Something the Home Secretary appeared (pretended?) to not understand recently.

[³] A tiny corner of Kazakhstan is considered to be in Europe. Russia is a member of the ECHR in the same way even though a lot of it's in Asia.

Point taken, signatory to the ECHR is a requirement for being a member of the EU, but at the moment you do not have to go to the ECHR (Strasbourg) to pursue infringements of your human rights (ECHR Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 in the context of this thread) the infringement can (at the moment) be pursued through the UK legal system.

Have you thought of setting up a twitter and facebook page. As much as I hate those social media sites, they are an affective way of getting a message out. Just keep it to general facts, not opinions, and don't you your own examples as proof.

Thanks Peter, Steamy, Mikee et al - for your help and support

As suggested I've started a new thread about these OWB's = if that's the correct protocol - apologies - I'm new to Forums.

OWBs -KB1- SMOKE HEALTH HAZARD

Peter if you have one of these boilers - you will find this link interesting reading :

http://www.ehhi.org/reports/woodsmoke/woodsmoke_report_ehhi_1010.pdf

http://www.ehhi.org/reports/woodsmoke/woodsmoke_report_ehhi_1010.pdf

Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI) is a ten-member, science-based organization composed of physicians, public health professionals and policy experts. The organization is dedicated to protecting human health from environmental harms through research, education and the promotion of sound public policies.

EHHI is not a membership organization and therefore all of its support comes from foundations and committed individuals. EHHI does not receive any funds from businesses or corporations.

Kind regards
Karen


The study it reports was peer-reviewed and published in 2014 in the Journal of Inhalation Toxicology :

Mikee - heres the link:


http://www.ehhi.org/reports/woodsmoke/woodsmoke_report_ehhi_1010.pdf

Wow. Thanks for all the information Karen, looks like you have been doing your home work! I've been at it since 2011 and I've not found anywhere on the net where it says wood smoke is good for you. I just can't understand the EH officers, it's crazy. The expert witness that my neighbours employed for their defence was very clued up on particulate matter and the associated health effects !

I will have a look at your thread when I've finished updating my databases for this weeks euromillions !!!

Mikeee5

Wahooey, the smelly tubbies planning application has been presented to my local planning department. They are seeking permission to chuck a 1.5 m x 125 mm Flue on top of the existing stack.

Anyone know if there should be drawings available to view the design, how it's going to be secured etc? Can't see anything online.

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: Mikeee5</cite>
......................., how it's going to be secured etc? Can't see anything online.

Over a certain height flue manufacturers fitting instructions usually require guy lines. They may have opted to stay just under the critical height, 1.5M doesn't seem much to cure the problem.

Totally agree we have felt totally isolated and pooling knowledge can only be a good idea.

At the moment we just keep putting everything in writing to the case Officer, Local Council etc. We keep a detail log of everything related to the nuisance and refer to it in correspondence with the EHO (which seems to make the EHO a bit tetchy). It often feels like we are hitting a brick wall as no one with the powers to act seems to want to do anything to help (money?).

We have had a variety of officers to visit disrupting our lives while the person creating the nuisance just carries on polluting us. Some of the Officers visiting have given us the impression they don't see the problem and/or only know about bonfires, sewage smells and noise nuisance but not much about wood burners or the associated health risks, one of the Officers early on in the process gave the impression they see nothing much wrong with wood burners, suggesting we just close off rooms and a couple of Officers who who were more informed about the nuisance.

Perhaps you may want to look on twitter @cleanairforall2, posted resource information about all the health risks which may be of interest.

Posted By: martintI think I generally accept that (locally sourced) wood is CO2 neutral

We have been over this quite a few times. Over about a 50 to 100 year period, timber may be carbon neutral. It does very much depend on where you start your accounting period and the speed that your woodland matures at.

As an experiment, I am growing some sycamores. These are fast growing. Each year I dig them up, clean the dirt off and weigh them.
At the start of year 3 (so a two year old sampling) my biggest sample weighed 0.139 kg. Now that is 'wet mass' not dry mass.
So it has absorbed about 1/3 of the emission of 1 kWh of electricity.