City wood-boiler proposal revised
By MIKE ZUMMO, The Leader-HeraldGLOVERSVILLE - After the vote on a local law to regulate the use of outdoor wood-burning boilers in the city wound up in a tie, 6th Ward Councilman Ray Hindes Jr. made some additions to the proposed law and plans to bring it up at the next council meeting.
Hindes brought the proposal back to the council Tuesday and changed the dates on the months of operation. The new proposal states that an outdoor wood-burning boiler shall be operated between Oct. 1 and April 30.
Hindes, 1st Ward Councilwoman Robin Wentworth and 4th Ward Councilwoman Ellen Anadio voted for the proposal, while 2nd Ward Councilman John Castiglione, 3rd Ward Councilman James Robinson and 5th Ward Councilman Matthew Myers voted against it at the July 28 meeting.
Councilman-at-Large James Handy was absent.
"I think it's important that if anybody has any other changes they would like to see to express them before we put it up for a public hearing," Wentworth said.
Robinson questioned a provision in the law that says an inspection of an outdoor wood-burning boiler can take place at any time. The council agreed to change that to between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Castiglione continued to voice his opposition to the proposal, stating the houses in most parts of the city are too close to each other to allow for wood-burning boilers. Smoke from the boilers has caused widespread concern.
"I just think we're asking for problems, healthwise, if we allow this," he said. "If people want to burn wood, let them get a wood stove in their house or a pellet stove or something of that nature, which we know is pretty safe."
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AirFreedom
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08-20-09 3:02 PM
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Please visit the websites below to learn more about OWBs and the victims they have claimed throughout the U.S.: www(dot)myspace(dot)com/freedomofair *******freedomofair(dot)webs(dot)com *******burningissues(dot)org
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AirFreedom
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08-20-09 3:01 PM
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Also take into consideration the $2,000 -$5,000 in installation costs that are associated with this. You can easily spend $15,000 before the so-called savings even start. So don't believe the "I'm so poor I can't heat my home" argument because it is all bogus. The other thing to mention is that these things consume and use electricity about 3 times as much as a normal furnace. Electricity bills nearly triple when using these. So spend $150 a month on electric instead of that price on gas? So in closing would you want this across from your home? Probably not......
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AirFreedom
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08-20-09 3:00 PM
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The problem is this as quoted by the U.S. EPA: "Current outdoor wood-fired heaters are substantially less efficient and more polluting than other home-heating devices." That pretty much sums it up. An OWB creates on average 72 g/hr of pm 2.5 particulate matter as compared to other forms of heating (even with wood) of: OWB = 72 g/hr Conventional Wood Stove = 18 g/hr EPA Certified Stove = 6 g/hr Oil Furnace = 0.07 g/hr Gas Furnace = 0.04 g/hr Secondly, these DON'T I repeat DON'T save a person money. These cost around at minimum $10,000-$15,000 to purchase and operate before you even throw your first log on the fire. So when someone claims "I can't afford my bills" well they sure could afford $10,000 to buy one of these monstrosities. I know I don't have $10,000 to throw down on anything much less, something like this.
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JtownBob
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08-14-09 11:09 AM
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I smell more lawsuits against the city of G'ville if they allow these boilers. The neighbors of the council-folk who vote for allowing the boilers should be given free boilers, so these yeah-sayers can bask in their own ineptitude.
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JtownBob
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08-14-09 11:05 AM
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an excerpt from an article..From Washington State EPA: Are OWBs Worse Than Indoor Woodstoves? Yes. Newly manufactured indoor woodstoves are required to meet strict Washington State particle emissions standards, 2.5 grams per hour for catalytic stoves and 4.5 g/hr for noncatalytic stoves. Certification tests are conducted in EPA approved laboratories. In contrast, tests done by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) found that the average fine particle emissions (a particularly harmful pollutant) from one OWB are equivalent to the emissions from 22 EPA certified wood stoves, 205 oil furnaces, or as many as 8,000 natural gas furnaces. One OWB can emit as much fine particle matter as four heavy duty diesel trucks on a grams per hour basis. The smallest OWB has the potential to emit almost one and one-half tons of particulate matter every year. Although older style indoor wood stoves emit more than new certified stoves, they are still several times less pollut
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JtownBob
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08-14-09 11:00 AM
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wood boilers should not be allowed in the city- any city.With the amount of smoke and soot they create, ample distance between your neighbors is needed for it to dissipate. I encourage anyone who believes differently to sit 30 feet or so away from one in operation for an hour or so. That should be all it takes to change your mind.
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FireKatt
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08-14-09 10:14 AM
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DISCO! That was Roxalana Druse....he was a real abusive man and she got her son and nephew I think to help...her daughter was in on it somehow too. Poor woman. I still have that story somewhere in my library at home.
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Discobulous
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08-13-09 11:59 PM
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I read they hung a woman in Herkimer County in the 1880's for cutting up her husband and trying to get rid of him in her wood stove. If she had one of these modern super cookers, she might have got away with it.
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Vroman
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08-13-09 4:37 PM
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Castiglionay, how come he calls himself Castleline? He changed the pronuciation of his name, why not his opinions? It's a bunch of poop. We're all encouraged to save energy. Now our sensitive nostrils can't tolerate wood smoke. How many of you grew up with the smell of leaves burning in the fall? Nice memory, isn't it? Can't do it anymore cause it's bad for us, so we're told. Jim
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Deerhunter
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08-13-09 4:06 PM
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I am an owner of an outdoor boiler. If you burn dry woood and no GARBAGE, they smoke less than an indoor wood stove or fireplace insert. When our house comes up to temp. the woodstove just "idles" with very little smoke. Also, the higher the chimney, the less smoke going in the neighbors windows. Maybe if NYS would remove some of the taxes on fuel to heat our homes, we wouldn't have to resort to heating with wood. It's an enormouse amount of work.
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shotgun
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08-13-09 2:39 PM
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Reader, I suggest you READ the article again. Castiglione has been against these wood boilers from the start and has not changed his mind. I for one commend him for his stance on this issue.
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Adirondackal
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08-13-09 1:20 PM
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Who wins and who loses here? National Greed wins and the little guy loses. The clueless council has never passes any law that benefits the working people of Gloversville. WAHH! could care less.
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reader
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08-13-09 11:11 AM
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Whatever way the wind blows so goes Castiglione. In the beginning wasn't he opposed to any regulations on wood burners? Now he's on the other side. Isn't the proposed law asking that 100 feet be allowed on every side of the burner? How many houses in Gloversville are in the middle of a 200x200 foot lot?
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Discobulous
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08-13-09 11:09 AM
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It's a burning issue.
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resident69
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08-13-09 11:06 AM
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The Gazette has "INVESTIGATIVE" reporters. They are the ones that found out the Schenectady police had an officer sleeping with his girlfriend on the clock, sgt that was at the dentist on the job and the latest one the cop that was working as security while on the clock. Fulton County does not have any investigative reporting, they get the news from the Gazette or the network news....
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PAMOJA
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08-13-09 11:00 AM
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This is OLD news....we want to know more about the sexual harrassment case involving John Castiglione...Gazette seemes to be able to get alot of information on this.
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