RE: Building stoves and the EPA

[firefighterjake]

I haven't seen the home-made poster up at the local general store yet . . . but last year around this time there was a welding/metal shop advertising woodstoves for sale . . . apparently they were hoping to cash in on the high heating oil prices and were building woodstoves out of their shop.

I guess with the rainy weather day I'm just in a thinking sort of mode . . . and so I was wondering . . . since I highly doubt these stoves were tested to UL specs or run by the EPA for clean burning technology . . . can anyone decide to build their own woodstove and/or sell it without having it tested . . . or without using clean burning technology?

 

[Danno77]

nobody has to pay for UL listing if they don't want to. They can be EPA exempt woodstoves as well. As far as those things go they don't hinder you having a woodstove making company. I don't know about the other regulations, so there could be other reasons you can't do it. Liability is always a big deal, so I imagine that does play some role in it, but I dunno.

 

[BrotherBart]

I don't remember now where I saw it but I read somewhere that if you make under fifty stoves a year you don't have to get EPA certification or exemption.

 

[Todd]

Insurance companies may not allow installation if not EPA approved.

 

[madrone]

In Oregon, it's illegal to sell or install a used stove that's not either EPA certified, or exempt. I can't find anything specific about new ones, though. I'd guess that the rules are pretty much the same, but it's interesting that everything on the state's wood stove pages refer to used stoves.

 

[IBCINSP]

All appliance must be listed and labeled prior to issuing a building permit for installation