I'm looking for a compromise. Hubs won't give up his wood burning fireplace and ds and I are having trouble with the dust and smoke. we don't need the fireplace for heat it's just an ambiance thing with him, and when ever he is home from nov to March he has a fire going. Ds is contantly stuffed, my nose is super dry, and I have a cough, my eyes burn and I hate to be in the same room.
I'm wondering if air purifiers would help, would it allow him his fire and allow us to breathe and maybe my house wouldn't smell bad.
do airpurifiers work and how much do they cost and wouldhtis ahelp?
thanks I'll check into some. Our entire downstairs is an open floor plan so he can't close the door to that room. and any other room we are in at the time is freezing. he's ridiculous but like I said i'lm looking for a compromise so thanks for the advice.
Not sure about the air purifier, just wondering why there is smoke IN the house. We love to use our fireplace too but the smoke goes up and out the chimney. Maybe have it cleaned and the flue checked.
Yes, get an air purifier! My parents have burned wood since I was little and I was MISERABLE until they got an air purifier.
A humidifier is definitely a must, but the air purifier will make it bearable for you and your son.
We use Ecoquest air purifiers, not sure how much they are now but I think you have to buy them from a distributor or member of the company. I hope you find the right purifier for the job!
Does your husband have any idea how damaging smoke particles are to the lungs? I'd start there. Here's a well-written article outlining the risks: http://ehhi.org/woodsmoke/health_effects.shtml. Surely he isn't willing to trade his family's (and possibly his own) health and comfort for ambiance. And other people who are downwind of your fireplace are also being treated to those gasses and particulates.
Get your chimney and flue checked, and cleaned if necessary. This can be the cause of smoke flowing back into the room. But the design of the fireplace could be the problem – I've met a couple that were really bad, others that were just ambiance and warmth.
But as a person with chronic lung problems, I do recommend a good air purifier. There are several types using filters and/or electrostatic elements, and many sizes and price tags, so talk to knowledgeable sales people or check descriptions online to help determine what you need. But even a huge unit could remove as much smoke as your fireplace creates, the smoke will still enter the room first, and if people are in the room, it will enter their bodies. Daily exposure to less smoke might be an improvement, but not a fix.
wood heat is dry. You need a humidifier.
We have a wood stove insert for our fireplace. We keep a kettle of water on it at all times. We used to have a whole house humidifier, but it's kaput.....& the new models do not fit our old furnace. So we also run a tabletop humidifer.
Is it a regular built in fireplace or a free standing one? Smoke should not be going into the house. I hate clogging up too. We have a fireplace but it's never had a fire in it.
I think he needs to keep the door shut on that part of the house and stay there if he wants the fire. That way it won't be in the rest of the house.
A humidifier will keep the particles of dust and smoke debris out of the air so much. An air purifier might do the same thing but I think I'd do the humidifier first to see what effect it had over all.
We love a nice fire but we hated our wood burning fireplace in the first house we built for the same reason you and your daughter are not happy.
In house #2 that we built, we have gas logs.. the fire looks very realistic, generates good heat and we all breathe easier.
As for hubby who loves the real fire, we have a fire pit outside and he can burn that fire until his heart is content. Everyone breathes easier inside the house now.
I don't know about air purifiers and if they would work or not.
Good luck.
It helped in my inlaws house but the best bang for your buck is to get one for the bedroom. It's a smaller contained space where you spend more of your time on weekdays.
Get him a plastic wood log with an orange light.
It should not be that smoky. Has the chimney been cleaned recently? Maybe you could get a wood stove insert instead or switch to a gas burning fireplace.
