WA wood heating/smoke/asthma (Shelton, Spokane, Newport) (Seattle, Olympia: real estate, renters)

[bobcatpossum]

I'm looking to relocate to Washington and can move pretty much to any area except more expensive real estate stretch of West Coast from Seattle to Canada.

Trying to understand where I could avoid heavy wood smoke from heating. I have asthma and can't be around this on daily basis. Average wildfire smoke doesn't bother me nearly as much as heating smoke, so wildfires are not an issue. I know that in WA electricity is cheaper than in many other states and natural gas is often available (according to statistics wood is not a predominant heating source even in rural areas in WA), but trying to understand the real situation with smoke in the air.

So far, I was considering 3-4 areas:
- general area North of Olympia towards Shelton, within a large radius,
- Newport (by Idaho border north of Spokane)
- and Spokane vicinity/suburbs.
- rural parts inland around Raymond
but I'm open to various areas, just don't want to be in heavy agricultural/flat/open landscape part.

Can you share any experience with amount of wood smoke in the above areas? Or, recommend any WA area outside Seattle suburbs where people mostly use gas and electric and no heavy smoke in the air?

[509]

You should read this recent thread:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/vanco...uver-area.html

[bobcatpossum]

Yes, I read that thread and noticed your information about Wenatchee Valley. Considering there's Fiberoptics internet possibility there as well, I'm definitely expanding my search to this area now.

But I wonder about how much smoke is there in Shelton and Newport areas, really....
Statistic say most use either electric or natural gas to heat, so trying to figure out why massive wood smoke would be in Olympia or other areas I mentioned.
(in the city of Olympia, I haven't noticed any smoke at all, in late fall, but I'm talking about outside the city)

I had been around other places, where wood or heating oil (or expensive propane) were the only heating options, and smoke was intense (combined with massive amount of trash and construction waste which was obviously burned). I had to let my house go, because of this. I'm trying to understand how smoky it really is around Shelton, Newport or outside Spokane. Is this a slight smell of smoke when it's cold...or heavy billowing smoke lining the streets sometimes, perhaps with trash burning in wood stoves...or anything in-between?

[Ultrarunner]

I would think anywhere rural could be an issue unless you happen to be on large property upwind.

Many rural residents have access to free wood.

I have a friend that is very sensitive to things like wood smoke and she finally found relief by moving to the coast... as in where you can see the ocean and the onshore sea breeze is constant.

[bobcatpossum]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

I would think anywhere rural could be an issue unless you happen to be on large property upwind.

Many rural residents have access to free wood.

I have a friend that is very sensitive to things like wood smoke and she finally found relief by moving to the coast... as in where you can see the ocean and the onshore sea breeze is constant.

I see...I wonder about severity of smoke, though. I can work around this, to some degree, by airing the house on schedule, and then closing all shut, but not when there's truly a lot of smoke. More like in a place where people enjoy a fireplace once in a while, but not as a primary heat source.

I found that availability of natural gas or cheap electric truly makes a difference here: I had been in Western OR rural towns in winter without smelling any smoke almost, as they had cheap electric.
Also would something like in-town Newport, Shelton or suburb of Spokane be even considered rural...
Plus, in some areas, trash burning is just more popular than in others...would be good to know in advance.

I had considered the coast, but there're additional factors, like a lot of tsunami and flood zones, and cost factor in nicer areas.

[Ultrarunner]

I've found it is not that wood is used for heating but how it is done.

The new EPA certified stoves are super efficient when sourced with properly seasoned wood.

My grandparents heated only with wood... whole house radiant space heating, water and cooking before all of the modern stoves were available and smoke was never an issue...

He would season his split hardwood for two years before using and never burned trash...

A smokey fire is not efficient...

[bobcatpossum]

This is why I'm asking about the actual "atmosphere" in these areas...

The place where I had to let go a house...could see thick black smoke creeping along the street level towards my house, from neighbors chimney on the inversion days, or, could try to walk but be hit with such smell of burning plastic that could only hope to make it back to the house without passing out (there was not even a way to tell where it was coming from)...in general, it was very bad. Even in supposed "nice" places, like Tahoe area, definitely can smell trash burned. But being in Western OR, in some towns that were way out there, it seemed like everyone either just used electric or new high end stoves, as hardly any smoke could be smelled. Electricity is really cheap in some of PNW areas.

Also, wonder if heavy rains in WA can wash the smoke out of the air.

[Ultrarunner]

Rain always clears the air...

I think it has more to do with what and how it is being burned.

You might want consider moving to the SF Bay area which has some of the strictest wood burning regulations in the country...

No Burn Days, Roving Smoke Police, Anonymous Reporting Hotline, Prohibition Against New Construction Fireplaces, Pays a Bounty for Fireplace/Stove Removal.

Even EPA certified Catalytic Equipped Stoves are subject to No Burn Days...

I'm in Thurston County Washington and the electric rates are a fraction of what PGE charges in California... that said, it can still be very expensive to heat all electric... at least in my home...

That month when we had the cold snap... my electric bill was $800... after that, I did start using my pellet stove, fireplace insert and pedestal stove in the family room... my electricity usage dropped almost 80% when using wood to heat.

Important to remember power does go out... the longest was about 10 years ago in January... 7 days with no electricity and overnight temps in the teens... thank goodness for the 3 fireplaces... heat and cooking!

[bobcatpossum]

Oh no, not SF Bay area!!! I live there for now! (I'm from somewhere else, originally). Counting months to my liberation. Aside from many other things I don't like there...astronomical costs of living.

There's some smoke in Bay area too, by the way, sometimes quite a lot, and one even can smell trash being burned, in Mountain View, on some days... I usually don't open the windows in the evening in winter until late, until fireplaces run out of wood. Vehicle pollution is so bad in most places here, ever since the 2nd bubble started, it can easily compensate for whatever lacking smoke pollution.

Yes, in CA electricity can be very expensive. I definitely know about importance of independent backup heat source, I had a house in Sierra Nevada at high elevation, before... wood or at least a propane tank. Back then there was a big shortage of pellets and people with pellet stoves were out of luck sometimes. Plumas county wouldn't even consider the house livable with electric source only, required 2nd source, which was mostly oil monitor heaters/highly recommended by the county over wood/pellets.

When I stayed in Eugene OR, I saw people running electric heaters with open windows, and every place being super heated-up with electric, the electricity must be really cheap there, and air was very clean, just like in many little towns in Western OR, so hope in WA there're similar areas. I find that if the place has natural gas, many prefer this. Say, in Tahoe area---smoke isn't that strong as many properties are on gas line, and renters also prefer gas property over one on primary wood source.

[Ultrarunner]

Tahoe also has regulations regarding fireplaces...

We were always on propane... and the power was always going out... at least we had hot water and could cook.

Even natural gas went out for an extended time and that caused all kinds of havoc as it was in winter... we were not affected as we had propane.

I do think you will find more wood burners in Washington/Oregon than the SF Bay Area... although Olympia has imposed wood burning restrictions.

I have a friend who is super sensitive... she moved to Pacifica and that took care of 99% of her problems...

Another friend/coworker has two boys and they had weekly visits to Kaiser for allergies... she moved to Hawaii and that was the end to their allergy problems...

It's good you are looking into this cautiously before making a move...

I use to make a little side money selling firewood in the East Bay... basically can't give it away today.