Is wood smoke harmful to your lungs?!
Question: My brother was wondering because we burn wood to heat our house.......and he just wanted to know if the smoke is harmful to our lungs. Thanx!
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Answers: My brother was wondering because we burn wood to heat our house.......and he just wanted to know if the smoke is harmful to our lungs. Thanx!
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Anything but clean air is harmful. Wood smoke is as bad for you as tobacco smoke. Both can cause harm after years of exposure. Wood smoke, however, is not addictive.
Anything you breath goes to the lungs fist and is then transported to the heart before it is filtered. Fortunately, the body is great at fixing things and cleaning out the lungs.
Don't mean to make you paranoid. Occasional exposure should not hurt you.
in a word: YES. If you are using a wood burning stove to heat your house you must make sure that it is properly vented so all the smoke goes outside, usually thru the chimney. Another, and probably more important thing to be sure of, is that all the carbon-monoxide is properly vented. With smoke, you can usually see and smell it so you know that there is a problem but carbon-monoxide is odorless and colorless, if your stove is not properly vented, it can kill you and you would not know about it. I would have a qualified person come out and check to make sure everything is operating properly and have your wood burning stove inspected AT LEAST yearly.... usually at the beginning of the fall/winter season.
If you are burning treated wood (treated with arsenic---usually "green" wood --in color), this is dangerous and can cause cancer. There is some wood that is "arsenic free", but I would stay away from burning wood that you got from scraps from a torn down outdoor building structure. Outdoor buildings such as sheds or wooden fences, are typically made of treated wood. If you are just burning regular firewood, then you should be alright. Just make sure that your flue is open in the chimney.
Rule of thumb...if it is green, don't burn it.
Smoke is smoke. As long as it is NOT weed, then it's fine with me. LOL.
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