EPA new wood stove requirements!

I think the EPA adopted the B415 standards of Canada for furnace's which uses cordwood. A majority of central heaters on the market right now have firebox sizes from 6 to 8+ cuft. which make it almost impossible to pass. I think as newer technology is worked into design, firebox sizes will decrease and heat output will increase with the burning of the smoke. I'm excited to see furnace's move in this direction. Yes they will become more expensive but the benefits are worth it.

I noticed that myself BG. I have the owner's manual for my Napoleon and most stoves you look up on line have some kind of rating information on their web sites, but it would have been nice to just find them on the list. My concern right now is that my Napoleon 1100 will not pass the 2020 standards, as is true of many other stoves being sold today as EPA certified. I have no doubt Wolf will change their product line to stay in business but where will that leave me when I need something like a secondary air tube on a model they can no longer sell? My bet is they won't make spare parts for it for very long because the repair parts will never be as profitable as a new stove. The business choice becomes to drop that particular product in favor of something that still makes money. In my case lots of the parts are identical to the parts for the larger models that will pass 2020 standards but naturally some parts need to be a different size just to make the fire box bigger. Those are the bits I worry about. This has caused me to redesign my floor around my new stove so that I can easily extend the hearth for another stove to fit. It is easier when I am in the process of building than it would be 8 years from now when something fails that I can no longer replace.

Wondering out loud . . . wondering how many folks in the "Government is gonna take our woodstoves and tell us we can't burn wood" camp will be rushing out to buy a woodstove before the government steps in.

Does anyone have an estimate from a reliable source that gives the percentage of particulate matter that comes from wood smoke?

begreen said:

That would depend on where the sample was taken wouldn't it? I think in SLC they were saying something like 18% but let me check.

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I knew it wasn't going to be an easy straight forward answer and would probably be regional but figured you'd know where to start looking .

SLC?

Is anyone aware of any non-catalytic stoves that have achieved less than 2 grams/hour?

I don't see anything in the rule about open fireplaces. I understand open fireplaces are effectively unregulated because they're used little enough that their total PM contribution is relatively small.

However, open fireplaces are arguably the main cause of negative perceptions of wood burning. While we're talking about 4.5 grams per hour now and ultimately 2 grams per hour of particulates, more typical ranges for open fireplaces are 30-60 grams per hour. And while not used often, there's a lot of them (~50% of new houses according to the Census bureau, although that figure includes gas fireplaces).

So when you have a cold snap (often accompanied by still air, and especially inversion layers that trap smoke and smog near the ground) where everybody with a normally unused open fireplace runs out to the store for an armload of wax-impregnated press logs to sit in front of, the air can get nasty fast, and the EPA gets a wave of demands to take action.

begreen said:

What kind of cordwood and based on heat output average?

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The EPA FAQ says they haven't defined a cordwood test yet, so currently it remains a cribwood test.

I looked up the current particulate matter test a few months back out of curiosity. If I remember right, it used a defined stacking method to fill the stove up with 2x4 and 4x4 douglas fir, and I assume at a specified moisture content range, and I think the stove was to be on a scale to determine test load weight. A warm up burn is allowed, and the test starts once you add the test load.

Quadra-Fire Millennium 3100 is listed as 1.1 gr/hr.
Note that in the EPA list it is called the Hearth And Home Technologies 3100 ACC series, not the QuadraFire 3100.

I see that Jotul USA have an $800 off sale on some of their models today (just in case anyone might be interested

I read so many of you saying that the problem is not the emission standards on stoves, but rather bad burning practices with approved stoves. I'm sure you're right... and that of course that won't change, no matter how many grams per hour emission is dictated by a laboratory somewhere.

It makes me wonder if it might not have been better to do something like issue wood burner's licences, where someone has to take a simple hour-long tuition, for a nominal fee to cover costs, on how to properly use their stove and then they get a licence to burn before they can buy a woodstove... just like you need a licence to have a car. Again, just like driving, people who are found not to be burning correctly could be fined and possibly even risk losing their licence?

Just a thought.

Its roughy 10 percent

iamlucky13 said:

iamlucky13
New Member
Joined:
Jan 27, 2015
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13
Loc:
Western Washington
Is anyone aware of any non-catalytic stoves that have achieved less than 2 grams/hour?

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Harman TL-300
Average Emissions 1.1 Grams Per Hr.
Emissions on Low 0.8 Grams Per Hr.

So many stoves meet the new emissions requirement, but then some of the favourite and popular stoves like the Super 27 will have to undergo a dramatic redesign. I wonder what path Pacific Energy will take ?

Maybe a consensus can be made to push out the deadline, maybe adding another phase to go to 4.0 in 2020 and to 2.0 in 2025 giving the manufactures another 5 years to meet the requirement.

I hope there is a change to this as it currently sits to give all manufactures more time to adjust, if not many may go out of business.

begreen said:

Nothing about fireplaces? That's a smoking hole you could drive a truck through.

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That's where the real money is at. If you take away all the rich people's decoratvice fireplaces there will be well funded uproar. Instead they pick on the little kid, the stove guys.

BrotherBart said:

The EPA has stated that fireplaces are so inefficient that they don't even consider them heaters, therefore not subject to their regs for solid fuel heaters.

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Wow, I can't believe I actually agree with the epa on something

begreen said:

I wouldn't worry too much. Napoleon is not going to stop selling parts instantly. Often spare parts are a profit item for companies.

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And what would stop people from buying "scrap metal" shaped like a Napoleon from Canada and getting it shipped down there? Just thinking out loud. Does the epa have teeth down there to go door to door checking emissions?

Plow Boy said:

The EPA has stated that fireplaces are so inefficient that they don't even consider them heaters, therefore not subject to their regs for solid fuel heaters.

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Plow Boy said:

Wow, I can't believe I actually agree with the epa on something

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The comment would be funny, except I'm fairly certain most of the pressure to reduce wood stove emissions comes not from any significant issue with the current wood stove emissions, but from fireplace emissions and older stove emissions.

saskwoodburner said:

And what would stop people from buying "scrap metal" shaped like a Napoleon from Canada and getting it shipped down there? Just thinking out loud. Does the epa have teeth down there to go door to door checking emissions?

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In my area, at least, installing a wood stove requires a mechanical permit and an inspection. I assume in many other states, as well.

It's generally easy to get around. I wouldn't have bothered, even though I was doing everything to code anyways, except I didn't have time to do the installation myself, and the dealer required I show them the mechanical permit before they'd schedule the installation.

Other than that, the EPA could presumably respond to an air quality complaint and fine you if they find you installed a stove that didn't comply with the current regulations at the time of install, but it's highly unlikely they would.

The main teeth of the regulation would be the control over manufacturers and dealers.