Air quality: Many of us noticed that the air in Golden was very smokey on Thursday. What caused this?
An unlucky combination of events caused our air to be very bad–world-class bad. Here we explain how a combination of poor venting and a lot of residential burning dirtied our air to the point that it was dangerous to breathe!
Air pollution in Golden comes from several sources including residential wood stoves, vehicle exhaust, idling locomotives, road dust, industry, open burning, and wildfire smoke. 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 BC.
On Thursday, Golden’s air quality was downright terrible. At 11 pm the air quality as measured by a sensor in the south end of town measured the concentration of tiny particles (2.5 nanometers and smaller) in the air, averaged over a period of 30 minutes, to be 74 micrograms per cubic meter.
This corresponds to a US EPA PM2.5 Air Quality Index of 177. To put this in perspective, the sensor at Malcha Marg, in the centre of New Delhi, India had an AQI of 200. This is NOT the way we want Golden to be world-class!
Scientists reckon that AQI in the range of 151 to 200 means that “some members of the general public may experience health effects with 24 hours of exposure; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.” It’s a good bet that the particulate matter in Golden’s air on January 16th was mostly from residential wood stoves.
So what happened?
For starters, various weather forecasts predicted that we were going to fall into a deep freeze on Thursday. Presumably, this prompted many households to light their woodstoves.
Secondly, on Thursday evening Golden was predicted to have a “fair” venting index. This means that the atmospheric conditions were such that smoke doesn’t simply float away – it hangs in our valley.
The result was the terrible air quality we experienced Thursday night.
What could we have all done to avoid this situation?
First, check the current air quality by visiting map.purpleair.com and searching for Golden. There are 6 monitors installed around town showing real-time data. If the air is already bad, consider using an alternative heating source if you have one in your home.
Second, check the Air Venting Index (env.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/venting/). This is a special form of weather forecast that describes how effectively air pollution can disperse. When the AVI is low, it’s good practice to avoid burning in order to prevent the build-up of harmful pollutants in town.
Note that open burning is prohibited unless ‘GOOD’ venting is forecast.
If you need or want to burn, here are some tips to help you use your wood stove more efficiently. In general, a smokey fire is wasting wood (some of your money is going up in smoke..)
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! If you are buying damp wood you are literally sending some of your money up as smoke!
Split wood into pieces that are 10-15 cm in diameter (about the same as a CD). 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.
What mean hot? It means that the temperature of the gases leaving your stove is sufficiently high to indicate that efficient combustion is occurring. It’s hard to measure this at home – the best most of us can do is measure the temperature of the metal stovepipe on the outside of the flue just above the stove. If this is above 400°F (or 200°C) you are probably doing fine.
The best use of a flue temperature gauge, however, requires you to calibrate it yourself. This is a fancy way of saying you periodically step outside and look at your chimney. You will soon learn that for your stove or fireplace, you will reliably see plenty of smoke below some reading of your flue temperature gauge.
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 you should see mostly heat waves.
Don’t close the damper so far that your fire smoulders: blue smoke coming out of your chimney indicates incomplete 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.
Smouldering stoves also create dangerous creosote build-up which is a recipe for a chimney fire. Instead, leave the damper open for long enough (15 minutes or so) to allow the wood to turn black on the outside – this indicates that the newly added fuel has warmed up enough to burn well after you damp down.
Never burn treated or painted wood, garbage, plastics, cardboard or Styrofoam: 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 a 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. You can also now keep your old wood stove as an emergency backup if the power goes out.
Still have burning questions? Email goldenairquality@wildsight.ca for more information. Learn more about Wildsight Golden.
