I know in the past that it was a no-no to throw pressure treated lumber into a fireplace or woodstove. Either it was arsenic or some other nasty chemical that was the problem. But now that they have this new way to treat the lumber with apparently something more eco-friendly, can one burn the scraps. I have a lot of this stuff hanging around and would love to not burden the garbage man and landfill with it.
Still a no-go...ACQ removed the arsenic from CCA. The MSDS is available at
We are talking about several "treatments" applied to wood as a = preservative.
According to the EPA - put wood treated with these in garbage or bury = it.=20
--=20 PDQ
-- "Duane Bozarth" wrote in message = news: snipped-for-privacy@swko.dot.net... | warbler wrote: | >=20 | > I know in the past that it was a no-no to throw pressure treated = lumber | > into a fireplace or woodstove. Either it was arsenic or some other | > nasty chemical that was the problem. But now that they have this = new | > way to treat the lumber with apparently something more eco-friendly, | > can one burn the scraps. I have a lot of this stuff hanging around = and | > would love to not burden the garbage man and landfill with it. |=20 | Still a no-go...ACQ removed the arsenic from CCA. The MSDS is = available | at |
Yup. Just get rid of it. The new stuff is supposed to be more environmentally friendly by not leeching the treating chemicals into the soil; I guess by default this would make it more landfill-friendly.
On the other hand if you burn it, you will release these treating compounds into the air floating on the ashes. There are some talented chemists here that probably have worked out the new compounds formed when burning/oxidation takes place, and could tell you what they were as well as the level of toxicity.
But something intended as poisonous doesn't need to be inhaled by me no matter what molecular changes have occurred in my fireplace. I say toss it.
Robert
You shouldn't even burn untreated pine. It has little heat, but lots of ash and creosote.
Ash is a burden to be hauled out, the creosote can be dealt with by burning a good hot fire each morning to rid the flue of creosote. While pine is far from the best choice to burn as far as BTU output and burntime it can easily and safely be burned with good practices. We have heated several shops burning pine scraps for years. It beats throwing them in the trash or burrying them.
To the OP, improper handling (use, but mostly disposal) is by far the single most overriding factor as to why we lost access to CCA treated lumber and are now paying far more for ACQ and all the associated accessories (G185 hangers, ASTM-153 fasteners, no alum. flashing, on and on). This occured because idiots couldnt figure out on their own that pressure treated lumber is poisonous to organisms and pests which eat lumber, therefore it is only common sense that its poisonous to humans.
Before you burn your Christmas Candles do you sprinkle a little rat poison on them for your children to breathe and enjoy? This would sound idiotic right? Well this kind of lack of common sense is why companies now have to print on plastic bags used for packaging "This is not a toy".
Mark
Regarding untreated pine burning in fireplace, I have heard the same from other places. The key is to make sure the wood is dry and/or the fire is very hot. woodburning.org is a good resource for this and other items relating to burning wood.
Jeff
a steady diet of pine will goop up your chimney. mix it up with a hot burning hardwood to prevent that.
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