Old shed for kindling?

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Old shed for kindling?
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chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 16 9:05 am Post subject: Old shed for kindling?
Is there any reason I can't break up the wood from our old shed and use it as kindling? I have a vague idea that it will give off Noxious Chemicals that will kill us all, because it's been treated. If this is the case, I will dispose of it elsewhere

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 16 9:31 am Post subject: Re: Old shed for kindling?

Chez wrote:

it will give off Noxious Chemicals that will kill us all, because it's been treated. If this is the case, I will dispose of it elsewhere

Prolly, not worth the risk

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 16 9:32 am Post subject:
Bonfire night, then .

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 16 9:44 am Post subject:
How old? If it is creosote treated, then that was originally produced from wood anyway, so isn't likely to be any real problem. Any smoke is noxious to some extent. Besides: how much kindling do you use in any one fire?

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 16 9:57 am Post subject:
Lets just say that it's going to take a while if we do it ... it was an eight by six foot shed. I might see if I can find a chap with a trailer to take it away for me.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 16 10:58 am Post subject:
The smoke and anything noxious will go up your chimney and not your nose.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 16 11:35 am Post subject:

creosote is nasty but stuff like tributyl tin and copper arsinate, both have been used in timber preservatives, have very nasty smoke especially the latter and will really mess up your compost if you use the ashes .

can it not be re-purposed as something ? there are quite a few jobs the parts could do.

landfill seems silly, a shed only bonfire with the wind in a sensible direction and dump the ashes in a barren corner is a bit messy but would be my option if i could not find a use for the panels and sticks.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 16 3:09 pm Post subject:

Bodger wrote:

The smoke and anything noxious will go up your chimney and not your nose.

Ah, is that what I'm doing wrong?

onemanband

Joined: 26 Dec 2010
Posts: 1473
Location: NCA90

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 16 3:24 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

...landfill seems silly......

and is expensive, so now where possible, timber is sent to power stations for burning.
If I have a lorry of 'clean timber' it is about 50% cheaper to dispose of than mixed(landfill) waste.
If Chez takes it to a 'tidy tip' and puts it in the wood container, it will probably end up in a power station.

I assume burning in a power station is less harmful to the environment than a bonfire.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 16 4:38 pm Post subject:

onemanband wrote:

I assume burning in a power station is less harmful to the environment than a bonfire.

Certainly in theory: a more controlled burn should be cleaner and they should have some facility to deal with toxins in the ash.

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6614
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 16 7:31 pm Post subject:

Hairyloon wrote:

onemanband wrote:

I assume burning in a power station is less harmful to the environment than a bonfire.

Certainly in theory: a more controlled burn should be cleaner and they should have some facility to deal with toxins in the ash.

They should have "scrubbers" on the smokestack to deal with what's going up, and the ash will be landfilled, IIRC.

Definitely wouldn't want to spread that ash on my land, and would avoid being near the smoke as well....

john of wessex

Joined: 18 Jun 2007
Posts: 2130

Posted: Sat Oct 15, 16 8:47 pm Post subject:
I'd certainly watch what you do with the ash as that could contain nasties

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Sat Oct 15, 16 8:56 pm Post subject:
https://www.ccaresearch.org/metals_concentration.htm

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Oct 15, 16 9:24 pm Post subject:

gulp , the last column is a bit scary.

if the shed is over 20 yrs old the chances of it having copper arsinate in the new or every few years preservatives are fairly high

again if over 20 yrs old it may well have had tri butyl tin in the mix as well

multiple applications could easily exceed the numbers in the chart.

i knew old sheds were a bit dodgy but seeing how much cu/as there is in ash (or even unburned timber) from one treatment wood compared to "acceptable" levels for landfilling without treating it as hazardous waste is a bit of a reminder to beware of things like old sheds ,fence posts and timber from houses treated for rot and worms.

i can think of quite a few london houses one could not landfill in florida

.on an even worse tack i can think of a few old timber treatment chaps who one could probably not landfill in florida, possibly me included .

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Oct 15, 16 9:38 pm Post subject:

ps tributyl tin,copper arsinate and lindane in a white spirit type solvent works a treat to eradicate and/or prevent any biological attack on your timber however it was banned for good reasons.

pps another thing often used on old sheds is used engine oil which has a whole bunch of nasty organics, some which would come out in the smoke and some might even stay in the ashes if the burn was less than 1000c (which is unlikely in all of a bonfire)

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