Its cold and people are burning coal etc!!

Saruman

I remember years ago Dublin was full of smog. You could not even see the clouds with it. Then someone banned smokey coal so all fuel was smokeless. Grand it was gone within months and now we can see the clouds

Anyway since im now living in Westmeath i have noticed that a lot of houses which have coal fires etc have smoke pouring out of their chimneys. And there is a bank of smog over the towns. Now im not too bothered.. i like the smell and it sort of gives the towns a nice 1900's feel to them... however... is this not illegal everywhere or just Dublin? Or was not not made illegal and just people only used smokeless coal?

I was going to post in green issues but i do not think its much of a green issue unless its every small town outside of Dublin.

Karoma

Are you asking whether coal fires are illegal?

Smokeless coal still makes smoke. It makes fire. Allegedly, there's a correlation between the two.


Many of them probably need to get their chimney cleaned.

Saruman

Im sure smokeless coal has some smoke... but not a constant stream as if it was a factory! Maybe its just the older houses and so as you said they need their chimney cleaned.
And no of course im not asking if a coal fire is illegal.. thats stupid as i think every house has to have a fireplace. I was just wondering what the story with smokeless coal is... does everywhere have to use it in Ireland? Or just Dublin?

phantom_lord

It's banned in all of ireland afaik.

And your piece of trivia for the day is....it was mary harney that banned it.

Wertz

I recall smog very well from our estate in the early 90's especially on frosty nights like tonight.

Since the change to smokeless it's no longer a problem but over the passing years people are returning to bituminous coal over anthractie (smokeless) since there's a "nicer" fire out of it (better flame, light's quicker and easier)...

Burning smokey coal isn't illegal; selling it within urban settings is...I can for instance go out the road a few miles and buy a bag of smokey coal and burn it quite happily....however my coalman cannot sell it to me legally or he risks a large fine. Although that doesn't stop all of them, especially when people start asking for it again.

I've happily since switched to gas, only light the fire the odd time now to keep the crows out of the chimney.

[edit] as for smokeless coal having smoke? Sure it does, it's just not sulphurous smoke...it burns at a much higher temperature whereas bituminous coal burns at a lower temperature and that's why the unburned impurities in the coal smoke.
The soot given off by smokeless is really fine and creates much more risk of a chimney fire than the other stuff....

nando

The areas where you must use "smokeless" or "low smoke" fuels areas are:

Arklow
Bray
Celbridge
Cork
Drogheda
Dublin
Dundalk
Galway City
Kilkenny
Leixlip
Limerick
Naas
Sligo
Tralee
Waterford City
Wexford.

Above copied from http://oasis.gov.ie/environment/smokeless_fuel_allowance.html
about the smokeless fuel allowance for low income households.

ETA: Same link implies burning other smokey fuels is illegal in these areas but spotchecks are only carried out on retailers not homes. Complaints about burning illegal fuels should be reported to local authority and they will investigate apparently.

BrenC

I used to like our coal fire, now its a gas fire, pssshh

joejoem

In my day we didnt have fire. When it got really cold we used have to go out into the car and turn on the climate control.

petes

Turf ftw.

The Hill Billy

Good ol' polish coal (of the smokey kind) is still in use in Fingal.

Dragan

joejoem wrote:

In my day we didnt have fire. When it got really cold we used have to go out into the car and turn on the climate control.

How come you car has climate control but no wheels?

phantom_lord

Dragan wrote:

How come you car has climate control but no wheels?

Because your climate control can't be robbed...

Saruman

so that explains it... The local centra and a texaco garage are the only places you can buy coal in Rochfortbridge as far as i know... so its probably ordinary coal etc... or they are burning cardboard etc.... i know i did that when i first moved in as i had too much to get rid of and still a massive pile out the back until i could get it to the recycling place in mullingar 6 months later