Q: We'd love to install one of your beautiful wood stoves, but my husband is concerned about upcoming EPA emissions regulations. He says he has
heard that wood burning is going to be outlawed soon, and doesn't want to shell out good money for a stove we can't use. Are you aware of any
pending legislation that will make burning wood illegal?
 A: We get this inquiry fairly often, and it is a sad example of how the news media trades on sensationalism. When the EPA first started
looking at wood stove particulate emissions, the front pages were emblazoned with headlines screaming, WOOD STOVES TO BE OUTLAWED!!
When the regulations which specifically allow wood burning were subsequently passed, the story got maybe one paragraph on page 23. People are
still talking about the headlines, and that's where your husband most likely got his mistaken impression.
The fact is, EPA wood stove regulations aren't upcoming; they're ongoing.
When cleaner burning woodstove technology first emerged in the
mid-80's, the EPA announced a four-year, two-phase plan to incorporate this technology into every new wood stove to be sold in the US. The
regulations pertaining to wood stove exhaust are very similar to those that apply to automobile exhaust. Older technology cars may remain on the
road and old technology wood stoves may remain on the flue, but any new car or wood stove sold must comply with current emissions standards. As
the old-technology cars and wood stoves die off and are replaced with new-technology models, air quality is automatically improved.
Here's a brief description of the history of EPA wood stove emissions legislation:
1970's: Spiraling fuel prices cause consumers to turn to airtight wood stoves as an economical heating alternative. A typical airtight wood stove of
this vintage emits 40-60 grams of particulates into the airshed every hour, and airborne wood smoke particulates become a problem in rural areas
where wood burning is prevalent.
Early 1980's: State and Federal EPA offices set up air testing stations to study wood stove particulates. Several States pass legislation limiting
wood stove emissions: some areas institute "burn bans", which limit or prohibit wood stove use during periods of high airborne particulate pollution.
Mid 1980's: Motivated by existing and pending emissions regulations, wood stove manufacturers develop and introduce new, "clean air" reburn
designs which dramatically reduce particulate woodstove emissions. There are two designs that prove effective: Catalytic wood stoves reburn the
exhaust gases by causing the exhaust gases to come into contact with a catalytic converter element, similar to those used in automobiles;
non-catalytic designs cause the exhaust gases to reburn in a secondary burn chamber located at the top of the firebox. The public shies away from
these newfangled critters, which are a little more complicated and slightly more expensive than the older, more familiar high emissions designs. The
EPA decides that a slight nudge will be needed to speed up implementation of the new technology, and legislation is drafted regulating
wood-burning heater emissions on a national level. Because catalytic converters become less effective over their 3-5 year lifespans, it is decided to
hold new catalytic-equipped wood stoves to a lower emissions standard*. Wood furnaces, site-built masonry fireplaces and wood cookstoves are
exempted from Federal EPA emissions requirements (a complete list of exempted appliances can be viewed on the
EPA's website).
July 1, 1988: The EPA's Phase I regulations go into effect. All wood stoves manufactured after this date must emit fewer than 8.5 grams of
particulates per hour (5.5 grams/hr if catalytic equipped), and are to be exempted from local "burn bans". Existing inventories of non-approved
wood stoves may continue to be sold until 1990.
July 1, 1990: All wood stoves sold at retail after this date must comply with Phase I emissions regulations.
July 1, 1990: Phase II regulations go into effect. All wood stoves manufactured after this date must comply with Phase II limits of 7.5 grams/hr (4.1
grams/hr if catalytic equipped). Existing inventories of Phase I approved wood stoves may continue to be sold
until 1992.
July 1, 1992: All wood stoves sold at retail after this date must comply with Phase II emissions regulations.
1992-2000: EPA approved wood stove owners report a dramatic decrease in fuel usage. Chimney Sweeps notice a tremendous decrease in creosote
formation in flues venting EPA approved stoves. As the number of homes being heated with "clean air" wood stoves increases, areas that had
experienced numerous "burn ban" episodes each Winter due to wood smoke pollution back in the 1980's report no such incident days whatsoever.
As you can see, the EPA wood stove emissions legislation was never designed to outlaw wood burning. The intent was to cause a gradual changeout
of the old 40-60 gram "smoke dragons" for the new, environmentally friendly models. And within a decade, the program proved to be an
unqualified success: the EPA estimates that these higher efficiency wood stoves save the nation $29 million annually by reducing wood use and the
need for chimney cleanings.
July 1, 2000: First Revision of the Clean Air Act: in the spirit of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", Phase II wood stove emissions standards remain
unchanged.
January 1, 2011: To encourage the changeout to clean-burning wood stoves, the IRS offers a tax
credit to consumers who purchase EPA approved
models in 2011.
January 1, 2013: The IRS extends the tax
credit to include stoves purchased in 2012 and 2013.
December 16, 2014: The IRS extends the tax
credit to include stoves purchased in 2014.
December, 2015: The IRS extends the tax
credit to include stoves purchased in 2015 and 2016.
Meanwhile, wood stove engineers just can't seem to stop tweaking their reburn designs,
until the vast majority of wood stoves in the US marketplace meet Washington
State's emissions standard of 4.5 grams/hr (2.5
grams if catalytic equipped). Not surprisingly, this comes to the
attention of the EPA.
February 3, 2015: The EPA
publishes a new
Phase III performance
standard for residential wood heaters, lowering the emissions limit to
4.5 grams/hr for all wood and pellet stoves. The very few
manufacturers who still have models which don't comply with the new standard
will have until December 31 to sell them off.
The 2015 revision also includes several types of
biomass heaters which were previously exempt: pellet stoves; indoor and
outdoor wood-fired hydronic heaters; wood-burning forced-air furnaces;
and a type of previously unregulated wood stove known as single
burn-rate stoves.
The Future: The EPA's new
performance standard includes a provision for "Phase
IV" regulations, slated to go into effect in
May, 2020. This final phase would lower the emissions limit to 2.0
grams/hr as measured by existing test protocols using dimensional lumber
"cribs", or 2.5 grams/hr as measured by a still-in-development procedure using
cord wood.
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Q: I visited the
EPA's approved woodstoves list, and just for grins, looked up my old Kent Sherwood. Lo and behold, it's on the list, with a score of
8.1 grams/hr. You say the standard for wood stoves is now 4.5 grams/hr: if that's the case, howcum my stove is listed?
EPA regs allow installation of used stoves which passed the 1988 "Phase I" standard of 8.5 grams/hr. To enable local code inspectors to
determine if a new install of a used stove is legal, all models that passed Phase I testing remain on the EPA's list. For example, let's say you decide
to sell your Sherwood to your neighbor, who takes out a permit to install it in his house. When final inspection day rolls around, the code authority
simply has to verify that a) the stove is used, and b) it is on the EPA approved list, and he can sign off on the installation, even though the
Sherwood, at 8.1 grams/hr, doesn't meet today's Phase II standards.
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Q: First off this country was BUILT by THE PEOPLE, not by the EPA. Second off if it wasn't for crackpot backyard inventors from way back you
wouldn't be hosting a website or talking on phones, third if the EPA wants to help out and pay about a $1000 on the new fireplace inserts people
probably wouldn't be trying to make them anyway, and fourth and probably most important people work they lives away to make it in this world
and i personally thing there are to many people running around trying to run others lives anymore. Can't burn a fire to stay warm cause it will hurt
mother earth, please there is actual Factual prove that the damage done to the environment is not even being done by us and that we aren't the
cause for global climate change, only a lot of crocked people trying to twist scientific facts to make a LOT of money, especially when you consider
the carbon trading game that generates millions of dollars in revenue that i would bet isn't being spent on planting trees or saving polar bears. So
while you maybe happy jumping on the band wagon with the rest of the ECO er' um.. people. I'll stay happily planted in the fact that we are
supposed to be a free country and i don't need the slowly growing communist movement in the USA to tell me what i can or can't do. Good day to
you and seriously hope you think about how you take your stance on things more, before you begin shooting down others stances.
My Dad had a phrase for people with your attitude: he called it "willful ignorance."
The first fact you're ignoring: the EPA woodstove emissions regulations have
nothing whatsoever to do with global warming. They're about
breathing (or not breathing) your neighbor's wood smoke. If you lived in an area that is subject to air inversion episodes like I do, you'd appreciate
the difference between the eye-stinging 40-60 grams of unburned particles the old non-EPA stoves belched out every hour, and the hint of wood
smoke aroma produced by EPA approved stoves.
As to your closing comment, " I'll stay happily planted in the fact that we are supposed to be a free country and i don't need the slowly growing
communist movement in the USA to tell me what i can or can't do," I'll simply say this: laws that protect the rest of us from the harmful actions of
willfully ignorant people aren't communistic. As long as there are folks who go around abusing others with their excessive wood smoke or by any
other means, such laws appear to be necessary.
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