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tj444 -> RE: Smoking at home (3/13/2015 10:58:44 AM)
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ORIGINAL: Gauge
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In addition to the injunction, their lawsuit asks for $500,000 in damages.
This is as far as the article has to go.
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Inspectors determined that Gray’s decaying chimney, in part, allowed smoke to seep into his neighbor’s home.
As a heating and air conditioning professional, this is the most ridiculous statement ever in the history of stupid statements. Secondhand smoke is quite a bit less alarming than the products of combustion from a fuel burning appliance potentially seeping into a home. I have witnessed the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning on entire families, secondhand smoke has got nothing on the potentially lethal effects of CO.
Frankly, there is really no renovation to fix a leaking chimney especially if it is a common chimney which is a chimney that is shared between homes. If the deterioration of the chimney is that bad that it is leaking within the home, the only viable solution would be to put a stainless steel liner inside the chimney. The other, less viable solution would be to abandon the chimney in favor of a direct vent (through the wall) heater.
From what little was shown of the legal documents, the symptoms described were that of carbon monoxide poisoning, not secondhand smoke. In order for cigarette smoke to have that direct of an impact on a body, one would have to have a very serious level of exposure to it, and it would be basically intolerable for an extended period of time. Additionally, what is totally fucked up about this is that no one, not even the inspectors seem to understand how a chimney actually works. Granted a leaking chimney can exhaust products of combustion into a home, but cigarette smoke would be much, much more difficult unless the deterioration of the chimney is that bad that there is direct cross-ventilation between the living spaces. I could get more technical into looking at the connected homes which would go to a certain degree to validate the possibility of the plaintiffs in this case, however that would be a discourse that no one would really want to read. The brief summary of the theory is that connected homes would indeed share some of the same air, even if by accident, or an perfectly intact chimney.
As far as my opinion on this case goes, to the point that the freedom granted to an individual is fairly unlimited until it interferes with the freedom of another individual, the court is right in it's ruling. The "pants on the head stupid" part of this is that they blame the cigarettes rather than the furnace which is the very first place they should have looked.
Edited for a bit of clarity to a statement.
so (assuming you are right) once the guy has stopped smoking inside and the neigbors are still having the same problems (due to it being carbon monoxide & not cig smoke), then what are they gonna do? Seems like the guy should just move elsewhere.. even if the problem is resolved, there are bad feelings and all that negativity that will remain..
I gotta say tho, i would never have either a gas or wood burning fireplace in my home, only electric fireplaces.. but then i would not have a gas appliance or gas connection to my home anyway as i feel their are too many problems with gas and then there is the whole "boom" gas line blowing up potential problem..
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