EPA’s Residential Wood Heater Program Slammed by Office of Inspector General

[JRHAWK9]

Earlier this month I received an email from "Green Heat News" which had embedded in the article the Inspector General's report. I thought it was quite intriguing. Below is a link to the PDF.

https://files.constantcontact.com/40708e8b001/0db950e4-f795-49aa-acfa-2acfd756f781.pdf

Then just last week I was forwarded the link below by another Kuuma owner. It appears this whole testing program needs to figure things out. It's a shame how they almost bankrupted a company who makes the best d*mn wood furnace in the country by simply moving the finish line all of a sudden and not telling them about it until their 5 year renewal was up. They were forced to stop selling/producing their furnace until they could re-test and be re-certified; which they did, 6 months later. However, the lab screwed up and/or misinterpreted the EPA’s testing guidelines related to weight of wood required per test burn and they may now have to re-test yet again in 5 years.

Investigation raps EPA’s wood burner testing: Federal watchdog confirms many complaints aired by Lamppa Manufacturing

REGIONAL— The Environmental Protection Agency’s testing program for wood stoves and other wood-burning devices is ineffective and is putting the public’s health at risk. …

www.timberjay.com

 

[brenndatomu]

they may now have to re-test yet again in 5 years.

At a cost of another $50-100k...the EPA bull(y) really needs to be turned into a steer.
They nit pick the only wood furnace manufacturer to legit pass the test, almost to death, and then let big companies get away with whatever. Sounds like someone got their palms greased.

 

[yooperdave]

What a crock of doo! Chalk it up to more overreach of the government?

In all of the decades of burning and using wood stoves/furnaces, the Kuuma is the first product I have encountered that actually lives up to it's claims.

Sure seems like the epa has an axe to grind with Lamppa manufacturing; you'd think they would welcome them with open arms and shower them with awards, accolades and approval instead of making things more difficult for them.

But of course, if the regulations are open to interpretation, things usually go south in a hurry....just look at building inspectors for any proof of that!

 

[lampmfg]

What a crock of doo! Chalk it up to more overreach of the government?

In all of the decades of burning and using wood stoves/furnaces, the Kuuma is the first product I have encountered that actually lives up to it's claims.

Sure seems like the epa has an axe to grind with Lamppa manufacturing; you'd think they would welcome them with open arms and shower them with awards, accolades and approval instead of making things more difficult for them.

But of course, if the regulations are open to interpretation, things usually go south in a hurry....just look at building inspectors for any proof of that!

Wait until we share everything. You can't even make it up. Our own EPA was willing to put the cleanest burning wood furnace in the world out of business literally weeks after we passed the Inflation Reduction Act targeted to support Green Energy companies like us over a technicality from a 5-year-old test that had no bearing on emissions.

Shoutout to @JRHAWK9, who helped by allowing us to use some of his wood for the impromptu testing that the EPA wouldn't even allow an extension for, even though they no how long of a process it is to undertake.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Sure seems like the epa has an axe to grind with Lamppa manufacturing; you'd think they would welcome them with open arms and shower them with awards, accolades and approval instead of making things more difficult for them.

I'm guessing it's just plain incompetence and trying to figure things out on the fly.

I agree, you'd think they'd want to use them as an example of how things should be done. They were burning clean LONG before they had to.
(broken link removed)

I've had mine for 9 heating seasons now, and it's like a swiss time piece of wood burning furnaces in regards to operation and function. Very consistent with no surprises and so dang easy to operate. I've burned hard woods, soft woods, cut up pallets, dimensional lumber scraps and never any issues. No flying barometric dampers across the basement, no building cribs for "best results", no buttons to press when reloading. Simply load, close the door and walk away with the same results. Every. Single. Time.

Shoutout to @JRHAWK9, who helped by allowing us to use some of his wood for the impromptu testing that the EPA wouldn't even allow an extension for, even though they no how long of a process it is to undertake.

👍

 

[stoveliker]

This is concerning. I don't have a kuma, not have seen one in real life. But I've seen the reviews and mfg engagement here.

When the letter of the law overrides its intentions, we have a problem.

 

[brenndatomu]

Wait until we share everything. You can't even make it up. Our own EPA was willing to put the cleanest burning wood furnace in the world out of business literally weeks after we passed the Inflation Reduction Act targeted to support Green Energy companies like us over a technicality from a 5-year-old test that had no bearing on emissions.

I see you have added more info...just shameful how this has went down!
(broken link removed)

 

[TomMcDonald]

Wasn't the EPA rendered essentially powerless as a statutory body following a 2022 Supreme Court Decision? Or did that not have any real world bearing on its operations?

 

[blades]

Until some one or company has enough extra $$$$ laying around to challenge them on particulars and a way to get it throught the courts in a timely manner ( that is an oxymoron in itself) the epa will continue with their heavy handed illegal mandates. Not being political here just a statement of facts as I see it. There are several other gov. agencys that over step as well. Being a biz owner for 50+ years i have run into all kinds of pasture patties from local gov. to federal gov. and insurance co. and banking as well. It is annoying , expensive and a huge waste of time and $$.

 

[lampmfg]

Nothing like an additional $100k+ out of nowhere, all while not allowing us to sell to find out the same exact thing. It should be criminal! The best part is that the testing company messed up again (+/- 10% test fuel load density was the way they have tested for at least the past decade only to find out it's only + and not -, which would've been easy for us to adjust had we/they known), requiring us to test again in 5 years. They (EPA) should pay us the $100k instead for all the help we have provided them to understand their furnace testing procedures.

Now they allow a new model with multiple burns over .014 that will require retesting for certification renewal. All the while, we made sure to get all of ours below .014, so we would never have to test it again only to find out that we do. What a racket!

 

[JRHAWK9]

wow, just plain wow. As you sure 100% sure Intertek did not know? They are a for profit, right? Maybe they like the return business every 5 years. I seriously doubt that's what's going on, but one never knows.

 

[brenndatomu]

thing like an additional $100k+ out of nowhere, all while not allowing us to sell to find out the same exact thing. It should be criminal!

Agreed!

The best part is that the testing company messed up again (+/- 10% test fuel load density was the way they have tested for at least the past decade only to find out it's only + and not -, which would've been easy for us to adjust had we/they known), requiring us to test again in 5 years. They should pay us the $100k instead for all the help we have provided them to understand their furnace testing procedures.

Or at the very least, the next test is on us!
Almost seems like, based on their track record, this lab is inept.

Now they allow a new model with multiple burns over .014 that will require retesting for certification renewal. All the while, we made sure to get all of ours below .014, so we would never have to test it again only to find out that we do. What a racket!

"Racket" is being VERY polite about it...

 

[JRHAWK9]

"Racket" is being VERY polite about it...

In place of "racket" I read "bunch of bull$hit".

 

[brenndatomu]

In place of "racket" I read "bunch of bull$hit".

Yup, still being too polite though...

 

[lampmfg]

Wasn't the EPA rendered essentially powerless as a statutory body following a 2022 Supreme Court Decision? Or did that not have any real world bearing on its operations?

Doubtful - our experience is they do what they want when they want. As a Federal Agency, the states are powerless against them!

 

[brenndatomu]

Doubtful - our experience is they do what they want when they want. As a Federal Agency, the states are powerless against them!

Booooo!

 

[blades]

They are a federal agency period, they do not have the authority to create laws or mandates unless same are authorized by congress. They do not have a blank slate to create what they think they want and say this the new law of the land. What they do is threaten and intimadate ( sound familar ?), problem there is it costs green stamps to fight back.

 

[blades]

I wonder how many palms were greased with the other co that did not make the .014

 

[ABMax24]

The EPA has almost infinite resources at their disposal, they have, can, and will continue to bankrupt companies that they believe to violate the Clean Air Act. I've been a part of the Diesel Performance world for the last 12 years, and have seen many people and businesses loose it all at the hand of the EPA. The fight on diesels is ending, very few are willing to risk getting tangled up with the EPA anymore. I think the EPA is looking for a new target of pollution reduction, look at air quality source stats I would say that wood burners are next.

 

[old greybeard]

Silence from the govt loving greenies. Wood stoves will be banned.

 

[stoveliker]

Silence from the govt loving greenies. Wood stoves will be banned.

Wrong.
I posted above. And I'm a greenie, though also critical on the government when appropriate (as in this particular case).

 

[TomMcDonald]

Silence from the govt loving greenies. Wood stoves will be banned.

Governments in Australia are moving towards bans (in one way or others) of wood burning appliances. I would not be surprised in the least if similar actions occur over there.

 

[maple1]

Wow, that's quite a read. Yikes.

 

[lampmfg]

You can’t even make this up. Now the testing company is bailing on furnaces and boilers after all their mistakes. We will see if they make this right with us.

 

[lampmfg]

They are a federal agency period, they do not have the authority to create laws or mandates unless same are authorized by congress. They do not have a blank slate to create what they think they want and say this the new law of the land. What they do is threaten and intimadate ( sound familar ?), problem there is it costs green stamps to fight back.

And that’s exactly what they did to us. This whole certification program is now being changed. It’s a shame that our little company has had to be the lab rat for furnaces. Now we would’ve gladly helped them understand what works and doesn’t with the furnace program (like we have), but it shouldn’t have come at our financial and emotional expense.

https://www.westar.org/wp-content/u...tional-RWS-Workshop-IDC-TEOM-Method-Work.pptx