Will Alaska be the next Washington?

KaptJaq said:

I guess it is better to do nothing and wait for the axe to fall...

I like scrounging wood, splitting with a maul, stacking, and burning. I don't want that taken away because some guy down the block burns green wood poorly. If I can work with the town to create something that works and is enforceable I will try before burning is outlawed here.

KaptJaq

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You are thinking correctly.

I live on a dead end street.

Out of 8 houses I think 3 or 4 of us burn wood.

A few years back the house next to me was built..like a 500k house...I think 6 kids all under 7.
Anyways I don't want to smoke them out and so far I don't think I have and so far no complaints..I have yet to have the chance to meet them.

We all have at least 5 acres but his house is maybe only 800 ft downwind from me.
I'm glad I have the epa approved stove now and not my old BBK smoke dragon..huge diff!

begreen said:

Open fireplace burning is the first things to go down during a burn ban here.

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That's great, but you have to admit, winters are a little different in the Seattle area than they are in the Northeast. I would be willing to be the mindset is a little different as well.

begreen said:

OWB are not banned in WA state, just the ones that don't pass EPA Method 28 WHH or ASTM E2618. So far no company has invested in the testing required, though some are close. Greenwood's Frontier CX, made in WA, passes this standard. It's made for indoor use, but all it needs is a shed to be an OWB. I think we'll see more companies testing to Method 28 now that the bans on the smokiest OWB are extending to other states. FWIW, I live in rural WA and am glad for this ruling. In Western WA we live between mountains that hold in smoke during inversions. The cleaner we can keep the air the better, for all of us. If your neighbor is smoking up the neighborhood and tells you to go screw, what then, start a pig farm?

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This is from your state's web site on OWBs:
Are any outdoor wood-fired hydronic heaters legal in Washington?

Not at this time.

So no OWBs are legal in WA state, which to me and most people out here in the real world, means that they are banned.

You want to legislate clean air in your region, that's great. Have at it. The problem is that you holier than thou Washington voting majority and politicians want to shove this type of legislation down everyone else's throats via the likes of the EPA, regardless of the need, desire, or wants of other states and other regions.

As the saying went in the American Revolution: Don't tread on me.

And as others have pointed out above, laws and regulations on stoves and boilers does little in regard to how they are used and the actual amount of smoke they produce. All of the EPA testing is done in a non-typical laboratory environment, specifically to pass limited testing standards in non-typical burning environments. Why are the set up that way? Because of lobbying of politicians by companies wanting regulatory advantage on the competition. Similar to the reasons why chainsaws were regulated by the EPA. No one was crying for anyone to regulate small engine smog. The level of smog from hand held small engines is tiny. But enter John Deere, who had a cleaner burning 2-stroke engine technology. So they lobbied for the EPA to create a national standard, based on their engines' ability. So Stihl and Husky scrambled and came up with newer engines that met those standards, and oh, then JD dropped out of the hand held engine game. In the end? Many companies were forced out of the small engine tool business. It cost other companies a lot of money to change the technology, and those costs are being passed onto the consumer who has to pay a MUCH higher price for similar size chainsaws, trimmers and blowers. And why? Because JD wanted to corner the market. Is the air really any cleaner because a small engines burns cleaner? I cannot find any actual data on that.

I used to live in Santa Clara, CA where all wood burning appliances are banned. And I mean they are outright BANNED. You cannot build any new structure in that county with any type of wood burning appliance. Period. No OWBs, no indoor boilers, no fireplaces, no wood stoves, no nada. Zip. Do they go on the bandwagon to ban wood burning appliances nationally? No. Do they try to legislate their rules and regulations on the rest of the state or the country? No. So I do not see why the Puget Sound in Washington (and in many places in New England) have to insist on stomping on the rest of the state of Washington, New England, or the rest of the US regarding wood burning requirements, restrictions and legislation. But that seems to be the case. Its like the passing of prohibition. A small lobby group gains control of passing legislation that no one wants, and it becomes the law of the land. And hence my relating this type of restrictive legislation to the Nazi party. A small group controls the majority, and crams their ideals down everyone else's throats.

begreen said:

Also wrong. If the wood furnace passes requirements it is permissible.

• 2.5 grams/hour for catalytic furnaces
• 4.5 grams/hour for non-catalytic furnaces

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/....html#To_sell_indoor_wood_and_pellet_furnaces:

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How many EPA certified furnaces are available? The standard Englander or even Yukon? no.