A warming fire in a tiled stove or fireplace is very cozy in winter. However, you should always be aware that burning wood releases air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, soot, and dust. Even inside your home, concentrations of these pollutants can quickly rise, especially if the rooms are rather small and the windows are well sealed. Here are a few tips on how to get through the winter not only warm and cozy, but also in an environmentally friendly and healthy way:

• Rooms heated with stoves and fireplaces should be ventilated regularly.

• At the beginning of the heating season, the stove and the exhaust pipe leading from the stove to the chimney should be checked for leaks.

• Burning packaging material and other waste – even for kindling – is strictly prohibited.

• Open fireplaces, wood-burning stoves, or tiled stoves that are set up as a second heating system (supplementary heating) may only be used occasionally in the Mainz city area, i.e., on 8 days per month for up to 5 hours. This is based on the City of Mainz's usage restriction ordinance.

• In general, only untreated, natural, and dry wood in logs or pieces should be burned. Painted, coated, varnished, or wood preservative-treated wood, plywood, chipboard, fiberboard, etc. have no place in a fireplace or stove. Burning them can produce highly toxic substances that remain not only in the smoke but also in the ashes.

• Never put too many logs on at once.

• And the air supply should only be reduced once a bright bed of embers has formed and no more wood is being added.

• Firewood should be stored protected from rain and moisture by covering it from above and leaving the sides open.

• When purchasing firewood, you should ensure that the price is in line with the quality of the wood. Caution is advised if the following three values, which characterize the quality of the wood and determine its price, or the information on the type of wood are missing:
• Degree of processing: logs, split wood, ready for the stove
• Degree of drying: freshly felled, pre-stored, dry
• Heating value in kWh/rm (the higher, the more effective.

Environmental tip January 2014 (updated 2020)