How lucky are we to live in such a beautiful mountain valley? Unfortunately for us, air pollution continues to be a significant problem in Golden, and our steep (albeit stunning) surrounding topography doesn’t help matters.
Air pollution in Golden comes from several sources including vehicle exhaust, idling locomotives, road dust, industry, open burning, wildfires and residential wood stoves. Smoke and harmful contaminants settle in the valley bottom, trapped by temperature inversions and a lack of wind dispersal. Golden faces some of the worst air quality in Canada, periodically exceeding some locations in Delhi, India (famous for terrible air), for example on October 26th, 2024.
Who doesn’t love a cosy wood stove in the winter? We get it. It’s a huge part of the culture and for many, the only affordable way to heat our homes. It’s certainly not the only contributor to Golden’s poor air quality, however it is one of the few big factors that individual households can make a difference to. Choosing when and how to burn wood can drastically improve the quality of the air we breathe and the health of our community.
Fancy a nice fire after a hard day’s work or ski? First, check the current air quality by visiting purpleair.com and searching Golden. There are 6 monitors installed around town showing real time data. Also check the Air Venting Index (www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/venting/). This is a special form of weather forecast published by the Ministry of Environment. It’s good practice to avoid burning when the AVI is low, in order to prevent the build up of harmful pollutants in town.
Here are some tips to help you use your wood stove more efficiently:
- Use seasoned wood: dry wood burns cleaner, with less smoke and harmful pollutants. Aim for wood that’s been seasoned (cured) for at least 6 months! You’re looking for less than 20% moisture. We have been giving away moisture meters to help folks test their wood. After all, before the fire heats your house it has to evaporate the moisture from your fuel!
- Split wood into pieces that are 10-15 cm in diameter: fires burn better with more surface area exposed to the flame.
- Don’t overload the stove: a smaller, hotter fire burns more efficiently. Avoid stuffing your stove with too much wood at once, as it can lead to excess smoke and pollutants.
- Keep the fire hot: this helps reduce smoke and creosote buildup, keeping your stove working safely and efficiently.
- Clean your chimney regularly: a clean chimney ensures better airflow and prevents creosote buildup. During the first 15 minutes of a new fire some smoke is unavoidable, after that however you should see mostly just heat waves.
- Don’t close the damper so far that your fire smoulders: blue smoke coming out of your chimney means there is insufficient combustion and the heating potential of your wood is being wasted (smoke is unburned fuel). Don’t load your stove up just before bedtime and immediately close the damper – your stove will smoulder for hours, creating significant air pollution and dangerous creosote build-up in the chimney. Instead, leave the damper open for long enough (15 minutes or so) to allow the wood you most recently put in to turn black on the outside – this means it’s hot enough to burn cleanly after you damp down.
- Don’t burn treated or painted wood, garbage, plastics, cardboard or Styrofoam: this releases toxic chemicals into the environment through the smoke or in the ash that is disposed of later.
- Choose the right wood stove: if possible, upgrade to a modern EPA-certified stove or pellet stove, which burns more efficiently and emits fewer pollutants.
Better yet, consider retrofitting your home with an even more efficient heat pump which will not only improve air quality but also provide much needed air conditioning in our increasingly hot and smoky summers. Rebates from Wildsight Golden can be stacked on top of provincial rebates, so you get more bang for your buck.
Still have burning questions? Email goldenairquality@wildsight.ca for more information.