# Is it safe to burn Tanalised wood?



## Graham Orm (8 Sep 2015)

I have masses of decking off cuts that would go in my wood burner nicely. Most of what I can find via Google says that it's OK in a closed wood burner but not an open fire.

Your comments would be welcome.


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## blackrodd (8 Sep 2015)

I've been burning my offcuts in the Rayburn for years, having been given the same information,
Not to be used on an open fire.
Regards Rodders


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## woodpig (8 Sep 2015)

I suspect if you knew what chemicals were used in the process you'd have second thoughts. Not something I'd do in my house but it's possible any effects could take years to present themselves.


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## Sheffield Tony (8 Sep 2015)

Graham Orm":330v1tpu said:


> I have masses of decking off cuts that would go in my wood burner nicely. Most of what I can find via Google says that it's OK in a closed wood burner but not an open fire.
> 
> Your comments would be welcome.



I think this is a case of reading what you want to hear. Most of what I see says not. Towarde the top of the first page of Google hits:



> Can you burn treated wood?
> 
> Treated wood should not be burned in stoves, fireplaces or outdoors because toxic chemicals are produced as part of the smoke and ash and can be harmful if inhaled. It is legal to dispose of treated wood in the landfill, although it's always best to find a way to re-use it.



Most stove manufacturers will say not in the stove manual. If you have a stainless steel flue liner, there is the effect on that to be considered too (for the same reason, it is a bad idea to burn driftwood).


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## Phil Pascoe (8 Sep 2015)

I've never had qualms about burning treated timber but I've always put it on a roaring fire (stove) late in the evening, so the smoke and any smells are minimal. Same goes for any sort of rubbish. I suppose technically it's killing the planet, but in the greater scheme of things I suspect China's doing a better job.


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## Droogs (8 Sep 2015)

Ah phil.p I'm guessing you're a Tescos man - every little helps :wink:


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## Sheffield Tony (8 Sep 2015)

phil.p":7azfsrk0 said:


> I suppose technically it's killing the planet, but in the greater scheme of things I suspect China's doing a better job.



Do remember that mostly China is making pollution in the process of manufacturing goods to be consumed by us (amongst others). We have essentially subcontracted our polluting to them. Sorry to digress.


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## woodpig (8 Sep 2015)

Good point Tony.


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## Doug B (8 Sep 2015)

Whilst burning in a sealed burner will prevent most of the toxins entering into the room once they have exited the chimney you will be breathing themi in when you go outside,
So while any effect would be fairly immediate if burning on an open fire it could take years for the effects to show up from breathing contaminated air around your home


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## morfa (8 Sep 2015)

I wouldn't burn it at all. I don't burn plywood or MDF for the same reason. Nasty fumes that will probably have a bad effect in the long run.


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## Phil Pascoe (8 Sep 2015)

I hope some of you never go within a mile of a bonfire - you'd die.


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## Doug B (8 Sep 2015)

phil.p":pssiugog said:


> I hope some of you never go within a mile of a bonfire - you'd die.




Just don't change your name to Guy Fawkes before hand then I'm sure everyone will be ok Phil


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## Graham Orm (8 Sep 2015)

Thanks for the input guys. I've got bags of the stuff and it seems a shame to just tip it....although apparently we're not supposed to do that, so what do we do with it? It'll be burned in my rocket stove in the workshop which will be sealed off from the inside of the workshop and at the other end of the garden from the house. I'll restrict it to just a bit every time I light it, I have stacks of other offcuts as well. The beauty of the rocket stove is the second burn in the riser pipe which re-burns the gasses, so hopefully some of the nasties will be even more diminished. I don't know whether or not this will help save the Earth or not, not really bothered to be honest, the immeasurable difference it would make for a couple of evenings a week would be irrelevant.


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## Phil Pascoe (8 Sep 2015)

Precisely. Put things in perspective, you're not burning tons. The stove in my old house burned so clean you couldn't see from outdoors whether or not it was lit. I know that doesn't mean it was clean, but it wasn't dropping soot everywhere. The millenium fireworks on NYE caused more pollution than a power station in twelve months - people get odd ideas sometimes.


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## Doug B (9 Sep 2015)

phil.p":2pnvkwme said:


> people get odd ideas sometimes.



Yep, like long term exposure to smoking doesn't cause cancer

http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/RelocatedU ... ochure.pdf

& just as I wouldn't expose myself to a smoking environment I also wouldn't contaminate my living area even if it was only my garden with the toxins released from burning tantalised timber, not forgetting what is breathed in whilst loading & cleaning out a sealed burner.
Just plain odd me I guess :shock:


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## Phil Pascoe (9 Sep 2015)

We all know smoking causes cancer. I just find people odd when they worry about something on one hand, then happily do something worse on the other. People worry about throwing a bit of treated wood in a stove, then go and stand next to a bonfire, go for ride in a diesel engined car or go really green and take a ride in a decades old filthy diesel engined bus.


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## Phil Pascoe (9 Sep 2015)

Actually, thinking about it, I should move out of the County to get away from the radon. My last house, where I live for twenty years, was 8x over the safety limit. Probably did me loads more harm than any piece of treated wood.


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## Doug B (9 Sep 2015)

Everything's a risk Phil, weighing up whether it is a risk worth taking when it comes to your personal health is up to the individual.

Standing in front of a bonfire once a year is a risk I'd take, regularly burning tantalised timber isn't but then I have experience of the side effects of this so perhaps my view is skewed.


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## ChrisR (9 Sep 2015)

You just as well burn what you can get hold of.

As around here you don’t have a choice of breathing fumes in the winter, the air is heavy with the fumes from so called clean wood burners, I don’t have one, I use mains gas, now somebody will comment on how burning gas is bad for the environment. It probably is, but we have gone past the point of no return for the environment, and it is not at the hand of man.

Man is not capable of generating enough pollution or otherwise to damage or save the environment, or to control climate change, much greater forces are responsible.

Take care.

Chris R.


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## Jacob (9 Sep 2015)

ChrisR":10lqo991 said:


> .... we have gone past the point of no return for the environment, and it is not at the hand of man.
> 
> Man is not capable of generating enough pollution or otherwise to damage or save the environment, ......


If you know something which the collective majority of the world's scientists and experts have missed, you should let them know immediately! You could be famous!

We burn almost everything in our multifuel but avoid plastic as I wonder if it might set off chimney fires. Stuff that is supposedly toxic will end up in the environment anyway so it might as well go up my chimney. MDF burns brilliantly - just like Phurnacite.


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## ChrisR (9 Sep 2015)

I realise the climate is changing, probably for the worst, but unlike the arrogant scientists who believe they can change/control the climate, I realise we have to live with what we have.

The Earth’s climate has been swinging up and down dramatically, long before these so called learned scientists were around.

Next thing they will be telling us that man has been to the Moon. :roll: 

Take care.

Chris R.


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## Jacob (9 Sep 2015)

ChrisR":z3f4g67l said:


> I realise the climate is changing, probably for the worst, but unlike the arrogant scientists who believe they can change/control the climate, I realise we have to live with what we have......


They don't say that _they_ can change the climate but rather that there's a chance that _we_ could if we move fast enough to zero fossil-fuel use*. Possibly we don't have to live with what we have. Arrogance has nothing to do with it - more desperation than anything.

Nice to meet a climate change sceptic - a dying breed - not many of them left nowadays!

*And/or carbon dioxide sequestration. Not much prospect of that except in growing wood - and using it in place of high energy input materials. It's all down to us woodworkers!


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## Sheffield Tony (9 Sep 2015)

Jacob":15tz2nab said:


> Stuff that is supposedly toxic will end up in the environment anyway so it might as well go up my chimney.



Scrap wood collected at the tip is used for power station co-firing. But it is ground up so that it burns hot, and the chimneys have scrubbers etc on them. I've also heard that the glues in manufactured boards like MDF produce acidic condensate that can shorten the life of stainless flue liners/systems.

I know it is off topic, but I have never quite understood the climate change denial argument that 7 _billion_ people acting together in burning fossil fuels can't really make much difference ?


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## Kalimna (9 Sep 2015)

Climate change denial is frankly equivalent to evolution by natural selection denial and earth-is-actually-4-billion -years-old denial. 

Adam S


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## Jacob (9 Sep 2015)

Sheffield Tony":25dk1xw7 said:


> ......
> I know it is off topic, but I have never quite understood the climate change denial argument that 7 _billion_ people acting together in burning fossil fuels can't really make much difference ?


60 million year accumulation of carboniferous deposits burned by us in only 200 years, plus massive forest clearance just to make sure! It's mostly going back into the ocean , and also the atmosphere, with catastrophic results in both.


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## bibio5 (9 May 2018)

It's NOT it contains poisons that are released when burned

If in doubt don't burn it, The safest timber to use in your fireplace or
BBQ is natural 100% untreated wood.

"The preservation of timber/wood (tanalising) used to be carried out using a mixture of salts of copper sulphate, potassium dichromate and arsenic pentoxide.

The timber was pressure injected with the preservation liquid in large pressure cylinders, after which it was stacked in the yard while still wet with preservation chemicals. It was not sold till completely dry to reduce contamination.

This was fine in dry conditions, but in the wet, the chemicals could leach out, and the arsenic is transferred to the hands simply from touching the timber.

Children, in particular, are prone to use their hands for eating without washing them first, and can get arsenic poisoning as a result. Food plants grown near tanalised decking can accumulate sufficient chromium to cause symptoms of heavy metal poisoning in anyone eating the produce.

A family in the Antipodes (Australasia) used offcuts of tanalised timber on their barbeque. The cooked meat killed their dog and resulted in the prolonged hospitalisation of the entire family.

Recommendations include avoiding drilling or sawing or use a dust mask if this is unavoidable. Wash thoroughly after touching tanalised timber, and avoid use where people are likely to come into direct contact with the treated timber."


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## thick_mike (9 May 2018)

I’m not an expert, but I don’t believe arsenic is used in tanalising any more. Seems they are using copper triazole which explains the green staining around knot holes.


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## Jacob (11 May 2018)

Toxic preservatives will poison the environment wherever they go. They might as well go up my chimney. 
I've burnt tons of peculiar stuff over the years.
OOps just noticed this is an ancient thread so I'm probably repeating myself.


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