[AT] Profane propane prices; was Fuel prices

[Roy Morgan]

On Dec 10, 2008, at 8:41 AM, Bob McNitt wrote:

> ... people buy the cheaper models... dinky stovepipe is so short,  
> the smoke
> hugs the ground and infiltrates the surrounding area...... a common  
> sense code that
> called for minimum height stacks and what could/should be burned.

Then Stephen writes:
> You guys are missing a tiny little detail. ... How do you measure the
density of smoke?

A very good  point.  This brings up an idea from the world of  
standards and specifications (from which I retired recently):  You can  
write performance standards or you can write procedural or  
installation guidelines or requirements.  Performance standards might  
well rely on the measurements Stephen asks about.  That kind of thing,  
of course, is done in the case of nuclear power plants and coal fired  
generating plants and the like, and is very expensive.  Not practical  
for either the homeowner with an outdoor furnace or a county or town.

There are requirements for chimneys on houses.  Stainless steel liners  
and ceramic tile and the like.  Height of chimney above any building  
part within 20 feet.  Maybe licensing for people who install that kind  
of thing.  There are guidelines and recommendations:  dry your wood a  
year before burning, for  example.  "Don't use no green or rotten  
wood ... they'll get you by the smoke", as one folk song advises the  
whiskey still operator.

Somewhere between the folk song advice and the carefully calibrated,  
continuously operating and monitored power plant smoke stack emissions  
measurement system there might be a practical combination of  
requirements and guidelines that wold help the situation.  One thing  
is pretty sure: standards and regulations are compromises, and hastily  
enacted rules often lead to trouble sooner or later.

Then comes the damp foggy no-wind day when smoke from any source goes  
right to the ground and stays there and maybe triggers Aunt Jane's  
emphysema and sends her to the hospital.  Oh, yes.  We  know she  
should not have smoked all her life, but that's not enforceable in any  
way.

Oh, well.

Roy

Roy Morgan
k1lky at earthlink.net
529 Cobb St.
Groton NY, 13073