Does the DEP or EPA have standards for residential neighborhoods or are there local ordinances that cover such? I have an oil burner and my house sits in a valley and the soot covers my siding and vehicles and the carbon dioxide settles in the valley?
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USEPA will not set oxygen limits, because that varies with weather, is hard to measure, and unless you have a forest fire around you, the O2 level is fairly constant within the measurement system limitations. What they do regulate is the particulates in the air and the organics in the air. These are a good surrogate measurement for the "liveability" of the air because they are not naturally found in the air. Contact the state EPA for your state for more particulars in your area. See the reference for details.
i don’t know of any community, or agency, that has regulations for ambient CO2 levels.
however, oil produces soot also.
you might see if there are any air quality standards that do not apply to CO2.
they’ll be more likely force something to be done.
however, the answer might be that you’re the problem, and you cannot burn oil.
The oxygen levels will not drop, at least not significantly to warrant action. However the ”tannic oil” released by such stoves can ruin the interior of a home so much so that many insurance companies charge additional fees if you have one. Also the soot and ash material, also containing the tannic oil is not only a nuisance, it is costing you additional maintenance fees. Go to your city’s web site or City Hall, the feds (DEP or EPA) won’t be much help.
NIOSH has recommendations regarding workplace exposures to chemicals. The maximum exposure to CO2 is the IDLH or Immediately Dangerous to Life/Health of 40,000 ppm. That equates to 4% in air. If for some reason CO2 levels rose above that level – outside, the EPA would probably get involved.
Again workplace numbers – for reduced Oxygen, concern would start at 19.5% oxygen. (as opposed to the 20.9% in ambient air.)
CO2 data – http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0103.html
Smoke particles are much larger than oxygen molecules. That floating in the air doesn’t cut down on the oxygen in the air, it just makes the air carry other things into your lungs.
Here in Phoenix we have bad pollution days because of the dry air and all the dust that gets carried in it. The solution here is to wet down construction sites so it doesn’t get blown into the air. The EPA sets levels for this and they measure it by using filters that take the smoke, dust and smog out. They measure the volume of air that they pass through the filter and compare it with the amount of junk in the filter. They use highway funding as the lever to make states clean up their air. I’m sure they have acceptable levels of smoke guidelines. Check out their web site.
Wood will not burn if the oxygen content is below 17%, so thats probably the lower limit. In my area, a person can get fined if their chimney smoke is not transparent for more than the initial startup period.