Heating your home, burning wood and air quality - they're all connected.
In December 2019, we ran a survey to understand where our Tasman residents get their firewood to heat their homes. Thanks to everyone who took the time to complete it.
You can see the results here. Firewood Survey Results 2019 (pdf, 647 KB)
This information will be used to help the Council better target our efforts to improve air quality in winter.
Don't forget, summer is the time to start getting your firewood ready for next winter. Burning dry seasoned wood creates hotter heat, cleaner air and saves you money by needing to burn less wood.
Good outdoor air quality is fundamental to our well-being.
On average, a person inhales about 14,000 litres of air every day, and the presence of contaminants in this air can adversely affect people’s health. People with pre-existing respiratory and heart conditions, diabetes, the young, and older people are particularly vulnerable.
Tasman communities can have poor air quality in winter and this pollution is measured as excessive amounts of small particles in the air (PM10).
The major cause of this poor air quality is emissions from domestic open fires and enclosed burners.
The way people manage their wood supplies and what they burn plays a significant part in determining how much of these particles are produced.
Read more about air quality on the Ministry for the Environment website.
The following companies are Good Wood suppliers.
| Company | Contact | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bay Firewood | Arlun Wells | 315 Takaka- Collingwood Highway |
03 525 9560 027 769 6348 |
| Richmond Wood and Coal | Barry Newport and Duane Whiting |
Beach Road, Richmond |
03 544 6473 |
| Buyright Firewood | Gordon Evans |
021 127 8957 |
|
| Wholesale Firewood | Kylie Stringer | Richmond |
03 546 9595 027 922 9611 |
When you choose a Good Wood supplier, you're opting for a trusted source of dry firewood that will burn well, helping to keep your home warmer and our air cleaner.
Remember to clean your chimney annually too. Not only is this important to help prevent chimney fires, it will also help your wood burner run more efficiently.
When ordering seasoned wood from a Good Wood supplier, request that the wood complies with Council’s moisture requirements. If it doesn’t, don’t accept the delivery.
A Good Wood supplier will have a moisture meter to measure the moisture content of wood if you wish to confirm that wood being delivered is dry enough to use.
Burning firewood with a moisture content of more than 25% is banned in Tasman and Nelson. Green wood that has recently been cut or wood that has not been stored properly or for long enough will have a higher moisture content and will not meet this requirement so should not be used for burning.
Council’s Good Wood Scheme participants have agreed to supply Nelson and Tasman householders with either:
Alternatively, you can buy green wood in time for it to be seasoned before winter. Wood will take between 4 and 12 months to season. Ensure that any green wood purchased is stored so that the air can circulate freely and is sheltered from rain.
Good Wood suppliers and Council encourage people to buy wood in plenty of time before winter starts.
Remember to get enough kindling to help with starting your fire.
If you choose to purchase firewood from a 'side of the road' source, you may get caught out with a green load. When wood is difficult to burn, it does not produce as much heat as dry wood, it will be extremely smoky, reducing cost effectiveness and will clog your flue with creosote, and become dangerous quite quickly.
If you have cut down a tree, stack it and allow it to season for 12 months before burning. Split wood dries faster.
Cut into suitable sized lengths in a variety of sizes for your wood burner as well. Chunks that are too large will not burn properly, meaning less heat and more smoke.
Cut enough kindling to help with starting your fire.
Timber treated with preservatives such as CCA (copper chrome arsenic treatment) must never be burnt. Burning treated wood exposes yourself and your family to its dangerous chemicals and the ash also causes long term issues in the environment.
Arsenic is released into the atmosphere when treated wood is burnt. Significant levels of arsenic has shown up in our wintertime air quality monitoring and this source is from treated timber being used for domestic fires.
Please contact the Council if you are unsure whether the wood you are burning is treated. Treated wood offcuts should be sent to landfill.
You should also avoid burning painted timber. Some painted timber still has paint that contains lead and the lead will also enter the air you breathe through the smoke.
Smoke = lost heat = lost money.
Start with plenty of crumpled paper and dry kindling wood and keep all the air vents wide open. Your Good Wood supplier can provide faster burning wood for kindling.
A Good Wood Supplier says, “It’s important to start with small pieces of wood and gradually add bigger bits as the fire builds up. Some people are tempted to put large logs on too soon, thinking they’ll get warm faster. It’s actually much worse; you just produce more smoke and can sometimes put the fire out altogether.”
The ideal size for your firewood is a thickness of about 10 – 15 centimetres. That will ensure your fire keeps ticking over and producing the best warmth while keeping the smoke down. Change to longer burning wood once fire is established.
Do not damp down the fire. There is a false belief that damping down the fire will keep the house warmer for longer. It doesn't, because lots of smoke means lost heat and lost heat means lost money and wasted fuel. Low temperature burning increases chimney accumulations of water and unburnt wasted products, called creosote, not a warm house.
Remember to clean your chimney annually. If done well, this will help prevent chimney fires, and help your wood burner run more efficiently.
Chimney fires are caused by a build-up of creosote in chimneys when wet wood is burnt or wood is burnt at low temperatures. A chimney fire can quickly lead to a house fire.
Richmond and parts of Nelson can have poor winter air quality with excessive amounts of small particles (PM10) causing pollution. The major cause of poor air quality is smoke emissions from inefficient burning in domestic open fires and enclosed burners. The way people manage their wood supplies and how they operate their burner plays a significant part in determining how much of these particles are produced.
The Nelson City and Tasman District Councils wish to promote the Good Wood Supplier scheme as a way of contributing to better wood burner operation. It is a joint project between the Councils and wood suppliers, who undertake to supply firewood according to best practice and contribute to improving air quality in Nelson and Richmond.
Using Good Wood also means you can be sure that you can operate your wood burner more efficiently, saving you money. Burning dry and seasoned wood gives better heat for cost as well as lower emissions.
Smoke can cause localised health and nuisance problems for people living nearby. Operating wood burners to minimise smoke also looks after your neighbours.
The Council monitors the levels of particulates in the air in the Richmond Airshed and publishes it to the website.
Good Wood practice guide for wood burners (pdf, 210 KB) (pdf, 211 KB)
This helps your fire burn more efficiently. Make sure the flue is insulated, is high enough to let smoke and gases disperse and does not have a 'hat'.
Check your home insulation to keep the warmth in.
See the heating and insulation page for more information
Green wood will not burn efficiently, leaving you with a cold house and smoky fire! Striking two pieces of wood together is a good way to check if it is dry enough. Dry wood will give a resonant crack and wet wood will make a dull thud.
Store wood in a dry place and stack it loosely off the ground in a criss-cross pattern to let dry air circulate around it.
Don't bank down your fire overnight. Tests have shown it does not add to the warmth of your home but greatly increases polluting emissions releasing higher levels of organic compounds.
If your current wood burner is over 10 year old, it may need replacing – modern appliances are far more efficient. Alternatively, you can install clean air heat source (heat pumps, gas fires, electric heaters).
The Tasman Resource Management Plan (TRMP) has rules that apply to the use of home heating appliances. This includes open fires, pot belly and domestic ranges or stoves, wood burners, pellet fires, multi-fuel (coal/wood and waste burning system) or any other similar appliance. Any new wood burners installed in properties up to 2ha must meet the design standards as set out in the TRMP and National Environmental Standards for Air Quality.
There are specific rules that apply to burners in Richmond as they contribute significant air pollution to the airshed during winter. Wood burners may require upgrading to clean burning appliances when a house changes ownership. New houses within the airshed can only install pellet fires, or use clean air heat sources such as heat pumps or electric heaters.
You will also require Building Consent for the installation of a wood burner.
If you’re thinking of buying a second hand burner, or importing a burner from overseas, be aware that these will also need to meet the design standards in the TRMP and National Environmental Standards for Air Quality. Testing an appliance to confirm compliance can be costly.
Authorised wood burners (including pellet fires) are listed on the Ministry of Environment’s Authorised Wood Burner list.
See also:
All wood burners installed indoors after 1 September 2005, on a property less than 2 hectares anywhere in the District, must comply with the Ministry for the Environment's National Environment Standards for Air Quality (NES).
Emissions must be less than 1.5 g/kg (grams of particulate per kilogram of wood burnt) and have an efficiency of greater than 65 percent.
To use your existing solid fuel burner in the most efficient and environmentally friendly way, do not burn any of the following:
Take these items to a Resource Recovery Centre to be disposed of safely either by recycling or safe landfilling.
Burning of such items is prohibited under the following rules:
This guide provides information about the effects of smoke from wood burners and how to reduce them.
Good Wood practice guide for wood burners (pdf, 210 KB) (pdf, 211 KB)
The guide explains:
Good outdoor air quality is fundamental to our well-being.
On average, a person inhales about 14,000 litres of air every day, and the presence of contaminants in this air can adversely affect people’s health. People with pre-existing respiratory and heart conditions, diabetes, the young, and older people are particularly vulnerable.
Tasman communities can have poor air quality in winter and this pollution is measured as excessive amounts of small particles in the air (PM10).
The major cause of this poor air quality is emissions from domestic open fires and enclosed burners.
The way people manage their wood supplies and what they burn plays a significant part in determining how much of these particles are produced.
Read more about air quality on the Ministry for the Environment website.
