Hearthlist Digest #577 - Wednesday, March 7, 2001 Outgassing, HPA positioning regards EPA MACT rule. by "heidi nichols" <[email protected]>
(back) Subject: Outgassing, HPA positioning regards EPA MACT rule. From: "heidi nichols" <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2001 21:18:26 -0500 Craig, Last year I wrote a short position letter that I meant to disseminate more widely. I never did anything with it, but it is now timely to send it to you and others: Sometimes what we don't know does hurt us. Recently a customer politely asked us to remove his new direct vent gas stove. It had been outgassing during intermittent use for almost a month. He was appalled and surprised that a stove could be considered acceptable while smoking and stinking as his stove did. As would most dealers, we tried to explain that all stoves outgas. We explained that new paint will burn off during the first couple of firings. He was persistent. Eventually we found a portion of the wiring harness that was melting, but having corrected that problem, his stove continued to smell of burning paint. While answers became scarce, the word unacceptable continued to ring in our ears. We decided that our customer is right! Outgassing is unacceptable. Whether outgassing lasts for one hour or one month, it is unacceptable. Given this recent history, we started wondering: Why must our customers and installers be expected to suffer through the outgassing of todays new stoves? As professionals in the hearth industry we know all of the standard answers. For instance, we have said that outgassing is an unavoidable result of the curing process of high temperature paint. Or we've said that outgassing only happens during a small portion of a stove's life so it should be tolerated as a temporary inconvenience. Or there is the old stand by: simply open the doors and windows during the first firing. We've heard all of these answers (excuses) before. Now we are convinced that it is high time to stop the excuses. Here's what we've noticed: 1) Indoor air quality has become a serious issue. Witness the proliferation of direct vent stoves, air exchangers, and outside air provisions for space heaters. 2) Gas stoves outgas as do wood stoves except gas stoves don't seem to reach the high temperatures that wood stoves do. Consequently, we've found that some gas stoves outgas long after their first prolonged firing. 3) People are increasingly sensitive to air pollutants. Asthma cases among children are increasing . 4) Many stoves are installed during cold seasons when opening doors and windows to air out a house is impractical and is a bush league solution in the eyes of our customers. 5) It is disconcerting for customers to see large quantities of smoke billowing from a stove even when an installer and owner's manual explain that is is normal. (SNAFU)! 6) Other appliances both heating and non heating do not produce the smoke during outgassing that wood and gas hearth stoves do. 7) While adjusting the burn quality in a new gas stove our installers are continually exposed to outgassing in large quantities. Due to time constraints for installations, exposure to outgassing is difficult to avoid. This smoke is not healthy to breathe. It may be interesting to note that we were never so conscious of outgassing until gas stoves became popular. Proper gas stove installation necessitates that we run them for the first time. This has definitely made us more aware of what our customers are experiencing. We think that it is high time for manufacturers to address techniques for reducing and elimination outgassing. If outgassing is eliminated by cleaning parts more thoroughly , so be it. If outgassing is eliminated by changing products and processes, so be it. If outgassing is completed at the manufacturing level by baking the product, so be it. Even if eliminating outgassing is accompanied by higher costs, so be it. We feel that it is wrong to poison our customers and installers with each new stove. Having seen no improvement in the last 25 years, it is obvious that this issue is glossed over, excused, and avoided. Why don't we put an end to outgassing stoves rather than seek excuses and exceptions for our products? Thank you for posting this to the subscriber dialogue area. Scott W. Nichols Nichols Hardware, Inc. 5 Main St. Lyme, NH 03768