How much does it cost to EPA test a stove?

[mar13]

Does anybody have an idea as to how much it costs to EPA test a new stove design? I just wonder how much of a "damper" that puts on design innovation if the cost of modifying a design is high because of required EPA testing .

It'd be nice if there were some review board that could just give thumbs up to a change that sensibly shouldn't hurt air quality. (Of course, the cost is probably relative to the size of the company, as an auto manufacturer would likely not think long about a cost of this scale.)

I suppose BKVP could give a ballpark figure.

 

[brenndatomu]

I imagine it varies...but I've heard $30 to $50k per test...

 

[mar13]

I imagine it varies...but I've heard $30 to $50k per test...

Ouch. And there isn't much room for error when trying to get under the 2g/hr limit.

I imagine that many of these stove companies aren't rolling in dough to begin with.

I guess one way to promote stove innovation would be for someone to develop a more affordable and acceptable way to test their pollution levels.

 

[brenndatomu]

I would have to think the bigger company's have their own in house test equipment to do R n D tests with...then go to outside "approved" test lab once things are dialed in...

 

[begreen]

I would have to think the bigger company's have their own in house test equipment to do R n D tests with...then go to outside "approved" test lab once things are dialed in...

That's correct. Even smaller companies like Woodstock do a lot of internal testing first. I had read somewhere that testing was much more expensive, especially for the newest EPA phase, but haven't been able to find that thread. The figure of ~ $100K is what I remember.

 

[begreen]

Ah, here is one link for the previous phase. I would expect the 2020 phase is much more than $100K due to additional testing for cord wood.
https://woodheat.org/emissions-testing.html

 

[Newburnerwisconsin]

Ah, here is one link for the previous phase. I would expect the 2020 phase is much more than $100K due to additional testing for cord wood.
https://woodheat.org/emissions-testing.html

Big government always means more costs for companies and consumers. Never fails.

 

[begreen]

That is because the polluters just trash things and move on leaving the health, environmental cleanup costs to be born by all of us. It would be great if companies and industries shouldered this responsibility from the get-go, but very few do.

 

[jetsam]

That is because the polluters just trash things and move on leaving the health, environmental cleanup costs to be born by all of us. It would be great if companies and industries shouldered this responsibility from the get-go, but very few do.

Not to mention that when the EPA forced stove companies to figure out how to reduce emissions, it cut our wood use almost in half. That is a big win for the common man who has to get his own wood dropped and hauled and split and stacked.

And remember when a 12 hour 'burn' was achieved by banking coals and shutting the stove down? Or getting up in the night to add wood? Hah! Don't miss that.