EPA compliance question

[Frostbit]

I see several manufacturers make "non-compliant" wood stoves.

My questions are, just what does the EPA mandate with them? Do they meet emissions requirements? If not, how can they be made and sold?

Someone want to fill me in, please?

 

[webby3650]

I believe they are for "recreational use only" not intended for home heating. You know, kinda like a fire pit, and that is simply how it will perform. It's a box that will hold a fire, kinda.

 

[BrotherBart]

When the EPA regs were formulated back in the eighties there was a problem. What about fireplaces, grills and such? The long and short is that they decreed that anything that had an air to fuel ratio of 35 to 1 or greater was not subject to the regs and was "certified by the manufacturer as EPA exempt". A company that will remain nameless, but starts with a V, ran right through that hole like a freight train. And so stoves with fixed ratios of 35:1 or greater came into being.

I don't think the appliances will survive an anticipated update of the regulations in the future.