What Is My Neighbor Burning?

 
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Wheelo
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Post by Wheelo » Wed. Jan. 01, 2014 7:47 pm

So a neighbor who lives about a mile away, every time I drive past his garage, I see a steady plume of yellowish looking smoke belching out his chimney pipe. It kind of has a coal smell to it, and being that we both live less than 5 miles from a mine that sells lump coal, I can imagine he's getting the same stuff I am. My smoke looks rather dark grey, and clears up shortly. Not this cat, his is ALWAYS yellow, and never clears up! I'm just curious, and not bothered at all by the smoke. I've just never seen anything burn like that.
Wheelo


 
waldo lemieux
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Post by waldo lemieux » Wed. Jan. 01, 2014 7:48 pm

Tires! :D

 
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Berlin
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Post by Berlin » Wed. Jan. 01, 2014 8:00 pm

He's probably got a large stove and he's smoldering the fire a bit. When bit coal isn't burned hot enough to get a good fire burning the vols, you get the yellowish smoke; it's very common, i'm surprised you've not seen it before. It also tends to happen more burning the smaller sizes of coal, and many times guys that are heating a shop w/ it will just buy the cheapest ROM coal they come across, heap it into the furnace and shut the air down.

 
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dcrane
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Post by dcrane » Wed. Jan. 01, 2014 8:22 pm

Corn! (im just spit ballin' again).... but upon recently touring a home in Pembroke I looked at the weirdest stove ever (realtor left me and my stove background kicked in as went to investigate).... CORN! it was a corn burner toothy (the buyers with me were like "wtf are you doing") lol

 
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Wiz
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Post by Wiz » Wed. Jan. 01, 2014 8:26 pm

not corn smoke, I burn corn for 4 years. Black smoke with a black oil ash, smelled like burnt pop corn. :D

 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Wed. Jan. 01, 2014 8:57 pm

waldo lemieux wrote:Tires! :D
You get thick, black smoke with tires ... sometimes with fire still burning in the center of it all. I'm a tire burning expert, ya know. :D

 
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EarthWindandFire
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Post by EarthWindandFire » Wed. Jan. 01, 2014 9:02 pm

The yellow smoke is indicative of high nitrogen dioxide levels. Which means he may be burning wood scraps such as pressure-treated lumber or even painted wood like fencing or siding.


 
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Post by jackpine » Wed. Jan. 01, 2014 9:21 pm

Railroad ties?

 
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Hambden Bob
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Post by Hambden Bob » Wed. Jan. 01, 2014 9:25 pm

Yeah,I was thinkin' a dash of the 'Ol RR Ties Trick ! myself. :roll:

 
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Post by SMITTY » Wed. Jan. 01, 2014 9:31 pm

MMmmm ...... those smell GREAT when they burn. :D

 
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Post by Hambden Bob » Wed. Jan. 01, 2014 10:43 pm

Choo-Choo ! :rofl: toothy Followed by:"Hold My Beer" as the sound of a chainsaw fills the air ! Oh God,that 'aint gonna end well ! :whistle:

 
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Post by EarlH » Wed. Jan. 01, 2014 11:35 pm

My brother traps and he will burn the raccoon fat in his stove. It doesn't have yellow smoke, but it does kind of smell like food is cooking. His neighbor even asked him one time where his BBQ was! It really burns hot though and keeps his garage warm. An old guy that used to trap told him that was how he got rid of the fat back in the 30's and I guess it works. I'll stick with coal...

 
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Post by Wheelo » Thu. Jan. 02, 2014 4:42 am

Thanks all!!
By heaping the coal in a stove, and turning the air down to kind of let it smolder and produce that much smoke, isn't it a good recipe for a nice puffback due to all the volatiles not being burned off? Growing up around big trucks my whole life, and owning a few, I know it's definitely not tires burning, been there, done that! Hahaha I guess it could be junk wood he's burning. Maybe I'll get curious, show up with a quart of moonshine, and make a new friend.
Wheelo

 
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Post by rustyrelics » Thu. Jan. 02, 2014 8:51 am

Wheelo wrote:So a neighbor who lives about a mile away, every time I drive past his garage, I see a steady plume of yellowish looking smoke belching out his chimney pipe. It kind of has a coal smell to it, and being that we both live less than 5 miles from a mine that sells lump coal, I can imagine he's getting the same stuff I am. My smoke looks rather dark grey, and clears up shortly. Not this cat, his is ALWAYS yellow, and never clears up! I'm just curious, and not bothered at all by the smoke. I've just never seen anything burn like that.
Wheelo
yellow sounds like sulfur sounds like lignite or bituminous perhaps ? people can burn some strange stuff though. the old guy that lived next to my mother in law, had a big old coal hot air furnace as main heat for his old stone foundation 100 year old farmhouse. he also had a beagle dog for just a few years. in the winter he brought the beagle inside and it would live in the house, and do its business in the basement. the old guy would shovel you know what into the hot fire to get rid of it. talk about some strange smells in that neighborhood during winter. fortunately the dog didnt live long, the homeowner moved in with their kids for assisted living. but yeh people will burn some stuff in house furnaces that isnt just coal or wood, especially in country rural areas. my grandmother used to take the entire bag of trash and papers from the kitchen and just toss it on top of the furnace fire to burn it. no food or rubber or tin cans, but everything else. it was a common way to get rid of the trash. if someone in the family got a rabbit, squirrel, grouse, etc. small game hunting, thats where the hides and guts went too, in the winter time. her pet parakeet died one day, guess where the parakeet corpse went. you guessed it. in the kitchen cook stove and cremated. my brother's neighbor is burning green wood and trash in his basement woodburner right now, and the smoke from that will gag you 200 feet away. plastic food containers and food trash in the furnace makes for some smoldering putrid smoke.

 
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Post by warminmn » Thu. Jan. 02, 2014 9:27 am

EarlH wrote:My brother traps and he will burn the raccoon fat in his stove. It doesn't have yellow smoke, but it does kind of smell like food is cooking. His neighbor even asked him one time where his BBQ was! It really burns hot though and keeps his garage warm. An old guy that used to trap told him that was how he got rid of the fat back in the 30's and I guess it works. I'll stick with coal...
I used to throw whole carcasses in my Dads garage wood stove. A big raccoon would heat the garage a long time, but don't open the door, lol I had to get a good fire going before I threw a beaver in, lol Not as much fat on them. It was a great way to get rid of them.


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